Kalai Kovil

<p>An impoverished man rises from by becoming a , but almost loses it in the lap of a danseuse and the lavishness of liquor. After the success of (1964), its producer and director decided to make his next directorial venture based on the life of a musician. His frequent collaborator, writer met up with him at to discuss their next project which he wanted to be a comedy, but Sridhar told him to listen to the story he already finished writing, the story that became the film . Gopu was assigned as the film’s assistant dialogue writer. After listening to the story, composer decided to produce the film along with Ganga under the banner Bhagyalakshmi Productions. Ganga also worked as the art director, while Viswanathan was credited as “Visu” for his role as producer in the posters and opening credits. Cinematography was handled by Balu, and editing by N. M. Shankar. played the offscreen for Muthuraman. was Sridhar’s initial choice for the lead role; since he did not turn up on the sets on the first day of the shoot, he was replaced with who initially refused to play the role as he was asked to sport a fake beard which he was not comfortable with but later relented. The soundtrack was composed by (a duo consisting of M. S. Viswanathan and ) and the lyrics were penned by . The song “Deviyar Iruvar” is set in the known as , while “Thangaratham Vanthathu” is set in . was the violinist of the latter song, which attained popularity. He felt diffident in playing the classical-themed song as he was then more comfortable with westernised songs. was released on 25 September 1964. The film received positive reviews from critics who praised the music, performances of the cast, the screenplay, dialogues and direction by Sridhar. On 2 October 1964, praised the first half, but criticised the second half, saying the film maintained a “richly musical and at times absorbing” tone till the second half, when “scripter-director Sridhar’s hands, like that of the hero in the movie, begin to slip”. The reviewer called the songs composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy “a delight to the ears”, but felt they did not exploit the veena, “the very soul of the film”, fully. They also lauded Balu’s cinematography, Ganga’s art direction and the performances of Subbaiah and Nagesh, saying they “try to salvage the film, but in vain”. The film was commercially unsuccessful.</p>