''Kanyakumari'' is a 1974 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

-language film written by

M. T. Vasudevan Nair Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-I ...

and directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan. It stars

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

in the lead role of the protagonist and

Rita Bhaduri Rita Bhaduri (4 November 1955 – 17 July 2018) was an Indian film and television actress.she has also work in Gujarati cinema. Career She initially appeared as supporting actress in various Bollywood films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 199 ...

in the female lead. It was the debut film of

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decad ...

The film deals with the a man who makes sculptures where he meets a girl who sells bangles and pearls on the sea shore and falls in love with him. This is the first

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

role of Haasan in Malayalam language films after his appearance as a child artist in '' Kannum Karalum''. He also received his first

Filmfare award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

for this movie. This movie was also

's debut in cinema.

Plot

Sankaran a sculptor, who comes to

Kanyakumari Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...

to work under a contractor and a group of tourists who reach the place. Sankaran falls in love with a poor vendor of necklaces made of sea shells Parvathi. An orphan Parvathi is brought up by Kannamma her maternal grandmother. Veerappan the foster son of Kannamma, keeps tormenting Parvathi, destroying the necklaces she makes. Sankaran decides to marry Parvathi once his work is complete. He hopes to leave Kanyakumari with Parvathi. In the meanwhile, Veerappan attempts to sell Parvathi to Frederick, a depraved sportsman camping at the guest house on the beach. Parvathi manages to escape this attempt. Jayan son of a rich businessman, comes to Kanyakumari seeking solace. He happens to meet his lover Rajani, now wife of Somasundaram, a wealthy businessman. It was this broken love affair that turned Jayan into a wreck. Rajani was forced to marry the old businessman man to save her family from a financial crisis. The immoral relationship between Frederick and the young wife of a North Indian businessman forms the sub-plot of the film. Jayan who happens to see this is threatened by Frederick and is warned not to interfere in his personal matters. Jayan makes friends with Swami, an itinerant sanyasi. Both of them take pity on Parvathi and they try to save her Veerappan and Frederick. Events take a cruel turn. One night, Frederick accosts Parvathi while she was alone on the beach and attempts to rapes her. Sankaran who hears her screams rushes to the spot. He hits Frederick with his sculptor’s hammer killing him at once. Sankaran taken away by the police and Parvathi staring at him with eyes full of tears.

Cast

as Sankaran *

as Parvathi *

Prem Nawas Prem Nawas (born Abdul Wahab) was an Indian actor and producer in Malayalam cinema, and the younger brother of Malayalam cinema actor Prem Nazir. His parents were Shahul Hameed and Asmabeevi. He lost his mother at a very young age, and his fath ...

as Jayan *

Sankaradi Chandrashekaran Menon, better known by his screen name Sankaradi (14 July 1924 – 8 October 2001), was an Indian actor. He was a veteran Malayalam comedian and character artist, who had over 700 Malayalam films to his credit. He dominated the ...

as North Indian businessman * Murali das as Frederick *

Veeran Veeran was an Indian actor and dubbing artist in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in more than 100 films. He appeared in character roles as well as villain roles. Filmography * '' Akalangalil Abhayam'' (1980) * ''Rakthamillatha Manushyan'' (1979 ...

as Somasundaram *

Manimala Manimala is a small town and a village in Kottayam district in the Indian state of Kerala, situated about from the nearest town Kanjirappally. It's declared as a folklore village since 2011 by the central government to promote folklore. Ge ...

as Rajani *

Pala Thankam Pala Thankam (1941 – 10 January 2021) was an Indian actress in Malayalam movies. She was one of the prominent supporting actresses, singers and dubbing artists in the late 1960s and 1970s in Malayalam and Tamil movies. She acted in more than 1 ...

as Kannamma * N. Govindan Kutty as Veerappan *

Alummoodan Alummoodan (15 March 1933 3 May 1992) was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam films. He had acted in more than 100 films and mainly did comedy roles. Background Alummoodan was born to Alummoottil Joseph and Rosamma in Changanacherry. He wa ...

as Bhaskaran *

as Tourist *

Mallika Sukumaran Mohamallika Pillai (born 4 November 1954), better known as Mallika Sukumaran is an Indian actress and businesswoman, known for her works in Malayalam cinema. She debuted in 1974 with the Malayalam film '' Utharayanam'' by G. Aravindan. Since t ...

as Tourist * K. G. Menon as Swami * O. Ramadas * M. O. Devasia * Ashok Kumar * Appachan * Maala * Madhumathi * Rajani * Vijayalakshmi * Meena Kumari * Baby Radhika * Sindhu * Sherly

Production

''Kanyakumari'' was written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair, directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan, and produced by K. S. R. Moorthy under Chithranjali Films. Cinematography was handled by P. L. Roy. The entire film was shot at

city and surroundings. This movie was also

's debut in cinema.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

M. B. Sreenivasan Manamadurai Balakrishnan Sreenivasan (19 September 1925 – 9 March 1988), or MBS, was a South Indian music director who worked mainly in the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He was born to an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family on 19 Septe ...

and the lyrics were written by

Vayalar Ramavarma Vayalar Ramavarma (March 25, 1928 – October 27, 1975), also known as Vayalar, was an Indian poet and lyricist of Malayalam language. He was known for his poems which include ''Sargasangeetham'', ''Mulankaadu'', ''Padamudrakal'', ''Aayisha'' a ...

and

Release and reception

''Kanyakumari'' was released on 26 July 1974. The film went on to become a box office hit. In 2014, B. Vijayakumar of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote, "Kamal Haasan and Rita Bhaduri impressed with their natural style of acting. Alummoodan, as a waiter in the guest house, created moments of laughter."

Awards

;

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

Kamal haasan won

Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam The Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam is an award instituted in 1972, presently annually at the Filmfare Awards South to an actor via a jury. This given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for performers ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0279166, Kanyakumari 1970s Malayalam-language films 1974 films Films directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan Films scored by M. B. Sreenivasan Films with screenplays by M. T. Vasudevan Nair