Naanal

<p>Four jailbirds escape from prison to take revenge on the judge who sentenced them. They take over his house, and the film builds around the judge and his family escaping from them. was a play written by and inspired by the film (1955). After the release of , Balachander decided to adapt as the story for his next play after being impressed by the plot. was later adapted by him into a film with the same name after the producer Velumani felt it had potential. marked the feature film debut of . When the film was submitted to the for certification, an official raised objection against the film’s concept, believing it may influence criminals in real life to take revenge in a similar manner and instructed Balachander to change the story and film it again. Balachander, who was shocked by this decision as the film was nearing its release, made changes to the film like redubbing lines of “Judge” and replacing it with “Durai” while also shooting a flashback scene to show the reason for the criminals’ anger against the film’s protagonist in one day and added it in the film. After making these changes, the certification was given. Music was composed by . wrote, “[ ] had a knack for compiling data, making lists and turning them into poetry”, citing “Vinnukku Melaadai” in as an example. was released on 24 December 1965. T. M. Ramachandran of positively reviewed the film, praising Sundarrajan’s performance more than the other cast members. gave the film a less positive review, comparing it unfavourably to the source play. The film did not do well at the box-office. The storyline of ‘s play was inspired by .</p>