Nenjil Or Aalayam

<p>Murali and Seetha are lovers. Murali goes abroad to pursue higher studies in medicine. During his tenure overseas, Seetha is forced by her parents to marry another person. Devastated upon hearing the news, Murali swears a vow of lifelong and devotes himself to save people suffering from . A few years later, a man named Venu happens to be critically ill with cancer and has to be operated upon. The treatment for Venu progresses well until Murali meets Venu’s wife, who is revealed to be Seetha. When Seetha learns that the doctor treating Venu is Murali, whom she had left, she becomes upset. Though Murali does his best to cure Venu, Seetha is worried that Murali might take revenge on her by not providing proper treatment to Venu, who in the meantime, learns of Murali and Seetha’s love. Venu requests Murali to marry Seetha in case the operation is unsuccessful as he does not wish for his wife to become a widow. Seetha becomes infuriated when she discovers Venu’s request and tells Murali that if Venu dies, she will die as well. Murali promises Seetha that he will save Venu even if he has to risk his own life on the line. Murali works hard to save Venu so as not to create a misconception that he killed Venu to be with Seetha. With great difficulty, Murali manages to cure Venu’s cancer successfully. However, when Murali reads the results of the operation, he becomes so thrilled at its success that he unexpectedly dies of high blood pressure due to his over-excitement. Venu and Seetha realise that Murali had sacrificed his life for their happiness and remains in their hearts. Woven into the story is a subplot following a girl, who is in the same hospital Murali works in and undergoes treatment for the same disease that Venu contracted. However, her fate is contrary. In the early 1960s, founded the production company . When discussing with his associates what should be the company’s first film, Sridhar came up with the story of ; however, he later decided that the company’s first film should not be a tragic one, and came up with the lighter (1961). After that film’s success, was revived. Inspired by an American film starring which was entirely set in prison, Sridhar decided to do a film set in a hospital. Sridhar initially planned a different plot line for this film with as an old age character suffering from terminal disease, but since Sridhar was dissatisfied with this plot, he came up with a new plot. Sridhar strictly wanted newcomers/less prominent artistes to star. , though popular in , was a relative “stranger” to Tamil cinema, and was cast as the main character Murali. Sridhar was impressed with ‘s performance in a play, and subsequently selected him for the role of Venu. Sridhar initially wanted to play Seetha and she agreed, but later approached . She accepted as she liked the story. stayed with actor during his early days as an upcoming comedian for three years. Balaji introduced Nagesh to Sridhar, who offered him a role on Balaji’s recommendation. Nagesh revealed that he was initially to play the role of a country bumpkin, but was chosen by Sridhar to play Peter, the hospital attendant. He was paid an advance of (equivalent to 43,000 or US$510 in 2023). S. Rama Rao was originally supposed to play that role, but lost it due to arriving late on the first day of shoot. The screenplay and dialogues for Nagesh’s portions were written by . took place entirely on a hospital set at ‘s . Ganga was the art director, N. M. Shankar was the editor, and was the cinematographer. For the first scene, Nagesh was told to jump from the steps when Sridhar warned him not to do but Nagesh assured he will pull it off. After jumping, he was surprised to see Sridhar missing from the sets and this scene was instead directed by his assistant . Gopu then said he did this to make sure Nagesh should not feel scared to perform in front of Sridhar. The song “Sonnathu Neethaana” is picturised on Devika’s character Seetha playing the , but the close-up shot of the fingers playing the sitar were actually those of . was the first Tamil film to be shot entirely on a single set. Filming was completed in less than 30 days, although accounts vary on how many days were exactly taken to complete the shoot. While film historian and K. S. Sivakumaran of state that the film was completed in four weeks, Ramya Kannan of , and journalist D. B. S. Jeyaraj state the completion time to be 22 and 28 days respectively. According to by and , the film was shot in 15 days, while Bhama Devi Ravi of states it was shot in two weeks. Malathi Rangarajan of said the film was completed in 25 days. The final length of the film’s prints were 14,810 metres (48,590 ft) long. The original soundtrack album and background score for were composed by (a duo consisting of and ), while the lyrics were written by . All the seven songs were composed and completed within one day. The inspiration for the opening line of the song “Engirundhalum Vaazhga” came to Kannadasan when he happened to hear the speech of , the then , on actor at a film function. When Annadurai heard of Ganesan joining the , he wished the latter success by saying, “Sivaji … nee engirundhalum vaazhga …” (Sivaji, wherever you are, live long). The song “Muthana Muthallavo” was written by Kannadasan in 10 minutes at a railway station, and recorded in 20 minutes. “Sonnathu Neethaana” is based on the . Once when Kannadasan was late to the studio for song recording, an upset Viswanathan rebuked him and said he would not ask Kannadasan for lyrics any more. When Kannadasan learned of this, he met Viswanathan and presented him with lyrics beginning with “Sonnathu Neethaana? Sol… Sol…” ( ), which impressed Viswanathan. Lakshmi Palecanda, writing for the magazine , considered that the song reflects “accusation, sorrow, and disillusionment.” Portions of the song “Ninaipadhellam” are based on the raga. The album received positive reviews from critics and contributed to the film’s success. Film critic , writing for , opined that “Engirundhaalum Vaazhga” had set “the precedent for several generations of jilted lovers”. P. K. Ajith Kumar of stated, “Just as [Susheela] does not need to know the language to sing a song perfectly, we need not know Tamil to enjoy her songs like … Sonnathu neethanaa… ( [ ] )”. Rajadhyaksha and Willemen called “Engirundhaalum Vaazhga” “a classic number about unrequited love.” Following Viswanathan’s death in July 2015, the news agency wrote that “Ninaipadhellam” was “memorable for the deep sense of solace it offered to wounded hearts.” Anand Venkateswaran of noted, “MSV’s style is less about making words sit in a meter than about a musical empathy with the meaning. Could anyone else have set to tune the first line of ‘Sonnadhu nee daana’, of (Muthuraman, 1962)?” A critic from noted Kannadasan had an uncanny ability to deliver perfect situational songs and cited “Sonnathu Neethaana” as an example. was released on 26 January 1962, coinciding with the of India. It was previously scheduled for 29 December 1961. According to Sridhar, the response during the first week was average but it picked up in the second week; the film ultimately ran for 175 days in theatres. To celebrate the film’s successful outing at the box office, the film’s crew members created an advertisement thanking the people who came to watch the film and appreciated it; the advertisement was issued in ‘s official magazine, , on 9 February 1962. Encouraged by the film’s success, Sridhar wished to screen the film at the , thus the screenplay was translated into in time for the festival. Sridhar sent Sarma, one of his administrative managers, to France to attend the screening of the film on his behalf. received positive feedback from critics for its innovative storytelling. On 18 February 1962, the Tamil magazine appreciated the film, mentioning it was an innovative film made like American films and a sincere attempt to improve the taste of filmgoers for quality films. On 8 April 1962, called the film “refreshingly different. What makes it better is, what it does not have”, such as “star value”, and involved or insipid dialogue. The reviewer praised the performances of Devika and Kalyan Kumar, and noted that though there were clichés, “the presentation is racy and superb.” Kanthan of lauded the film for its making and the cast performances, praising Sridhar for casting less prominent actors in leading roles. won the and the for Sridhar at the . Additionally, it won in two categories at the Film Fans’ Association Awards: Best Film and Best Director (Sridhar). Sridhar remade in as (1963) and in as (1966). It was also remade in as (1976) by , and in as (1977) by S. K. A. Chari. -based Indian filmmaker was keen on remaking in English and Hindi, effecting some marginal changes in the film treatment. Mundhra met Sridhar to ask for the rights to the film’s script only to learn that Sridhar had assigned it to a film financier for a paltry sum, for eternity. The financier demanded an exorbitant fee for giving up the rights. The fee amounted to 75% of Mundhra’s budget. Whether Sridhar made a comedy or a tragedy, love was his basic theme. It may look now, that (as in ) a woman’s former lover would turn out to be the very doctor who has to operate on her husband. But at that time, it was totally off the beaten track. He has been an inspiration to all future filmmakers, including myself. attained in Tamil cinema and became a trendsetter for fast-paced filmmaking and . The film became a major breakthrough in Nagesh’s career, and the film critic believed that his role as a ward boy “established his position” among Tamil cinema’s prominent actors. In 2004, Baradwaj Rangan wrote “A or a or a , Sridhar films all, in those days was considered the work of a genius with form.” In July 2007, S. R. Ashok Kumar of asked eight acclaimed directors were asked to list ten films they liked most. Directors , and listed the film among their favourite films. Ravikumar was quoted saying, “Sridhar’s depicts the supremacy of love.” K. Hariharan, director of the L. V. Prasad Film and Television Academy in Chennai, noted in 2011, “The only film that could stake claim [in the 1960s] to an individual ‘love story’ was probably Sridhar’s powerful [ ] ! And even here ‘sacrifice’ takes the upper hand!” It was one of the films featured in artist ‘s book , a compilation of articles on cinema which won a certificate award at the .</p>