Marupakkam

<p>Ambi, who lives in Delhi with his wife Sweetie, arrives at to meet his father Vembu Iyer who recently suffered a stroke and was paralysed after getting a message that Ambi separated from his wife. Ambi, feeling guilty, comes to see his father. A few weeks earlier, Ambi, who married Sweetie, came with her to meet his orthodox parents Vembu and Janaki. Vembu insulted Sweetie and, unable to accept it, she decided to return immediately to Delhi and forced Ambi to leave with her. At Delhi, they continued quarrelling over it and finally separated. When Vembu got the news, he was upset and suffered a stroke. In the present, the doctor recognises that there is another side to Vembu’s life. His son’s separation from his wife reminded him of his separation from his beloved first wife Avayam. Slowly, Ambi understands that his father is longing to see has erstwhile wife, because though paralysed, Vembu keeps tapping his fingers as steps for a dance. Vembu now recollects his past. Vembu and Avayam loved each other and got married against the wishes of Vembu’s mother. While Vembu sang well, Avayam sang and danced well. Both kept enjoying their singing and dancing, which was not liked by Vembu’s mother whose husband abandoned her for a dancer many years back. Avayam’s continued interest in singing and dancing angered her, and she accused Avayam of behaving like a prostitute. When Avayam protested, Vembu slapped her and threw her out of his house for opposing his mother, whom he respected dearly. Avayam walked out and filed for divorce. In court, Vembu accused her of moral turpitude to justify the divorce petition, which hurt Avayam deeply and they got separated. Though separated, Vembu felt guilty of wrongly accusing Avayam. Ambi’s friend Murthy proposes that Ambi should bring Avayam so that his father can see her once before he dies. However, Janaki refuses. When Vembu’s situation deteriorates. the doctor and others feel that his hours are numbered and is awaiting his death. However, Vembu hangs on to life. Murthy learns that Avayam Is now a famous dancer named Chitralekha and goes to meet her. In the meanwhile, knowing Vembu’s grave condition, Sweetie returns home in traditional attire and seeks forgiveness from Janaki and Vembu. Janaki is happy that her daughter-in-law is back and Vembu is also happy, but still not satisfied. That is when Murthy brings Avayam. Looking at Avayam, Vembu is excited and feels relieved that she has forgiven him. Avayam holds Vembu’s hand tightly, which was tapping all along awaiting her return. As a fan of ‘s stories, filmmaker approached him with a desire to adapt his novel for the screen; Parthasarathy however suggested the novella , and Sethumadhavan, who had read the story before, read it again and agreed to make it into a film. The title could not be retained due to a different film with the already having released in 1990, so was chosen. The film was produced by the and , Sethumadhavan, in addition to directing, also wrote the screenplay. Cinematography was handled by D. Vasanth Kumar, and editing by G. Venkitaraman, while the background music was composed by . When offered the role of Vembu Iyer by Sethumadhavan, , who had read the source material, readily accepted as he thought it would be a challenging role. He consulted dentists in deciding for his make-up. Though the story is primarily set in Kumbakonam, the film was shot in Madras. Made on a shoestring budget of ₹12 lakh (worth ₹2.7 crore in 2021 prices), filming was completed in 14 days. won three awards at the which took place in 1991: Golden Lotus Award for , Silver Lotus Award for (Sethumadhavan), and Silver Lotus Award for (Jayabharathi). It was the first Tamil film to win the Best Film award. Sivakumar was a strong contender for the , but lost to for . Sethumadhavan won the Film Fans Association Award for Best Director, and Sivakumar won for Best Character Actor. The film was featured at the in 2003 as part of a retrospective tribute to Sethumadhavan. was theatrically released on 6 March 1992. N. Krishnaswamy of wrote the following week, “Sethumadhavan’s narration is designed to be impressive. Based on Indira Parthasarathy’s novella, the script of tries to be offbeat by withholding information and by cutting back and forth time.” The Tamil magazine , in a review dated 15 March 1992, applauded as a sharply focused film on the subject without any diversion with good editing, superb acting, re-recording at the right places and nice presentation. The reviewer said only Sethumadhavan could translate a simple but meaningful story by Indira Parthasarathy into an amazing film like this, and felt more such films like this must come in Tamil cinema. Another Tamil magazine, , called it a “masterpiece” from Sivakumar, and said his career could be divided into two eras: “pre- and post- “. Movieman of appreciated Sethumadhavan’s direction for eschewing “The costumary, loud, artificial theatrics of the usual Kodambakkam Tamil film” while also praising the acting of star cast, Vaidyanathan’s background score, Vasanthakumar’s cinematography “that make a fine film at every level”.</p>