Padikkadha Medhai

<p>Chandrasekar, a wealthy stockbroker, lives with his wife Parvathi, three sons (Thyagu, Sridhar and Raghu), their wives and two daughters (one widowed and another unmarried). Rangan, an uneducated and naïve orphan, is raised as a family member and he in return is very dedicated to this family, especially his adopters – Chandrasekar and Parvathi. Parvathi promises her dying poor friend that her friend’s daughter Lakshmi would be married to Parvathi’s son. But since her son loves another woman, Rangan agrees to marry Lakshmi to keep up Parvathi’s word. On the day of his younger daughter’s betrothal, Chandrasekar loses heavily in the stock market. The engagement is cancelled by the groom’s father seeing the sudden change of fortunes. The fate of the house changes dramatically as the creditors storm the house, demanding repayment of their money. The sons’ behaviour also changes drastically. Though Raghu and Lakshmi take good care of Chandrasekar and Parvathi, the other family members insult them now and falsely accuse Lakshmi of stealing valuables. Lakshmi pleads with Rangan to leave the household, but he refuses. Understanding the situation, Chandrasekar and Parvathi forcibly send Rangan and Lakshmi away to enable them to live in peace, away from the turmoil. The naïve Rangan leaves and obtains work in a factory. He saves money to gift Chandrasekar his favourite cigars which he could not live without. When Rangan presents the cigars, he is reprimanded for being a spendthrift by Chandrasekar’s family. Rangan leaves with a broken heart. Rangan misses Chandrasekar’s family and tries to come to their help on every occasion. Chandrasekar is pulled into more litigation; unable to take the stress, he dies. Parvathi is neglected by her children; when she falls ill, Rangan gets her treated. The creditors announce a public auction of Chandrasekar’s house to recover their dues, and the sons do nothing to save their house. Rangan saves the factory owner’s son (whose engagement to Chandrasekar’s daughter had been cancelled) from an accident. The owner offers Rangan money, but he makes him realise that money is not everything; with Lakshmi, he convinces him to have his son marry Chandrasekar’s younger daughter. The owner buys Chandrasekar’s house in the auction and gifts it to Rangan for saving his son, who in turn gives them to Chandrasekar’s family. Rangan unites everyone and gets appreciation for his unconditional love for the family. is a remake of the 1953 film , based on the novel of by . After producer N. Krishnasamy bought the rights to remake the film in Tamil, he approached to write the dialogues. Sridhar, after watching , declined Krishnasamy’s offer, citing scheduling conflicts and concealing his dislike of the film, and instead recommended his then assistant . agreed to star in the remake after being impressed by . He also recommended as director. The producer initially wanted a glamorous actress to play the female lead, but Gopalakrishnan suggested and threatened to leave if she was not signed. Bhimsingh gave Gopalakrishnan complete freedom while writing the dialogues. The music was composed by . The song “Engiruntho Vanthan”, set in raga, is based on ‘s poem of the same name. was released on 25 June 1960. positively reviewed the film, particularly for Ganesan’s performance. Kanthan of appreciated Gopalakrishnan’s dialogues and the performances of the various cast members, including Ganesan’s, but criticised the music, saying “Ore Oru Oorile” was the only memorable song. said that though everyone did a good job, it was Ganesan’s acting which stays in their eyes even after the reviewer left the theatre. C. V. Sridhar appreciated Gopalakrishnan for learning the art of converting a script into success. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres. is considered a trendsetter in Tamil cinema for films where a faithful uneducated servant helps the family in times of dire need and thus brings a change in their fortunes, demonstrating that education is not needed for a good character. Films which followed the trend include (1983), (1984), (1987) and (1989).</p>