Puthiya Paravai

<p>Gopal is a rich businessman to India from Singapore on a . He meets Latha, another traveller who has been accompanied by her father Ramadurai. Gopal and Latha find that they like each other, so Gopal invites them to stay at his mansion in , which they accept. One day, Latha discovers that Gopal becomes agitated whenever he sees an onrushing train and demands to know why. He explains that the reason behind this is his first wife. Gopal recalls that, after losing his mother, in sorrow he had been wandering aimlessly at Singapore. He fell in love with Chitra, a nightclub singer, and they married in the presence of her brother Raju. But to Gopal’s dismay, Chitra always came home inebriated, and despite his repeated requests, had little respect for tradition and family values. When Chitra showed up drunk for Gopal’s birthday party, he tried to control her, but she refused to co-operate; Gopal’s father died of a heart attack after seeing Chitra’s behaviour. Irritated by Gopal, Chitra later tried to leave him; he caught up and begged her to change her decision, but Chitra berated him for controlling her, and he slapped her. Later that night, he heard that Chitra committed suicide on a railway track, and this hurts him a lot. Latha sympathises with Gopal and accepts his love. The engagement of Gopal and Latha is fixed. While the reception is being held at Gopal’s mansion, a woman claiming to be Chitra arrives, accompanied by her uncle Rangan. Gopal’s engagement with Latha is cancelled after Rangan convinces everyone that the woman is indeed Chitra. Gopal says she is an impostor and shows Chitra’s death certificate as proof, but Rangan reads in the certificate that though the corpse was disfigured beyond recognition, Gopal insisted that it was Chitra so it was declared to be her. Rangan’s actions convince Gopal’s police officer friend Kumar, although Gopal is adamant that his wife is dead. “Chitra” and Rangan become disruptive and Gopal gets frustrated, fearing that Latha might leave him because his “wife” has turned up. After many failed attempts to expose the impostor, Gopal reveals the truth to everyone: when he slapped Chitra, not knowing she was suffering from a heart condition, she died immediately. Gopal realised that he had inadvertently killed his wife. To avoid arrest, and safeguard the honour of his family, he manipulated the murder to appear like a suicide on a railway track and fabricated the necessary evidence to show that Chitra committed suicide. With everyone believing his story, Gopal orders Kumar to arrest the Chitra impostor. However, Latha reveals herself as a police officer investigating Chitra’s death based on the complaint filed by Raju, who suspected she could not have committed suicide. Ramadurai is Latha’s senior posing as her father, Rangan is the local investigating officer, and the Chitra impostor is Rangan’s aide, Sarasa. Together, they staged an entrapment to get the killer’s confession because there was no clinching evidence. Latha confesses to a dejected Gopal that though she initially pretended to love him, his good nature impressed her and she truly loves him; she promises that she will wait for him till he returns after completing his jail term. Gopal is relieved, but is still arrested. The 1958 British film , directed by , was a global success, especially in India. It inspired the film (1963) whose screenplay was written by Rajkumar Mitra. The screenplay was acquired by ‘s company Sivaji Films (later renamed ) to be remade in . In mid-April 1963, Sivaji Films announced the remake, titled , with Dada Mirasi as its director. While the screenplay was written by Nannu who also worked as associate director, Shanmugham, a relative of Ganesan, also made inputs to the screenplay, and wrote the dialogues. The script was written to be substantially different from the original, with regards to the portrayal of romance between the lead characters. was the third production for Sivaji Films after the films (1958) and (1962). K. S. Prasad, N. M. Shankar, and Ganga were hired as the cinematographer, editor and art director respectively. Any role that is unusual, unconventional has a special appeal for me, a character like the one I played in . Maybe it has something to do with my own psyche. I love complex characters. While Sivaji Ganesan played the male lead Gopal, was cast as Gopal’s love interest Latha at Shanmugham’s suggestion. According to Ganesan’s eldest son , Ganesan “always thought of as classy and sophisticated,” which was why he cast her as a “modern woman” in . “Before that Sowcar had only acted in homely roles”. Janaki was “exasperated” after acting in so many “glycerine-laced tales”, and readily accepted to act in when approached by Ganesan. Janaki portrayed Gopal’s wife Chitra and her decoy Sarasa. Mirasi, who made a as Gopal’s father, initially objected to Ganesan’s desire to cast Janaki because he felt the actress, then known mainly for sentimental roles, would not fit the stylish character of Chitra. But Ganesan remained adamant as he felt Janaki was perfect as Chitra and was supported by Aaroor Dass, so Mirasi half-heartedly agreed. After seeing Janaki’s performance in the song “Paartha Gnaabagam Illaiyo”, he began to appreciate her. Janaki added her own subtle distinctions and inputs to her role as portraying an out-and-out seductive vamp, according to her, would have felt deplorable. for took place at Neptune Studios and , though filming also took place at . It was filmed in . The majority of costumes were tailored and brought from Singapore and England. On the first day of shooting, Janaki did not like the dress tailored for her, and instead opted for a black she bought in Hong Kong a few months earlier. This was the dress she wore during the filming of “Paartha Gnaabagam Illaiyo” after it was given some embroidery. The tuxedo worn by Ganesan in the film was ordered from London. For the filming of the song “Unnai Ondru Ketpen”, he smoked so as to set the mood for the song’s feel. As Gopal, he did not actually play the piano onscreen, and only gave the impression that he was doing so. For some scenes in the film, Saroja Devi was made to walk with mincing steps and flutter her eyelashes. After the climax was finished, Aaroor Doss immediately requested Ganesan and Mirasi to do the sequence again with the addition of the dialogue “Pennmaye! Nee Vaazhga! Ullame Unakku Oru Nanri” ( ). When Ganesan asked the reason for including it, Aaroor Dass mentioned that Gopal would be looked upon by the theatre audiences in a negative light if he did not say anything to confirm his love for Latha. Understanding the dialogue’s essence, Mirasi then re-filmed the climax and included it. The film was processed at Gemini Color Laboratory. The final length of the film was over 4,400 metres (14,400 ft). In her 2002 book , Lalitha Gopalan noted that the male protagonists in Indian films use the piano to express their desire with no regard to the consequences and cited Sivaji Ganesan in as an example for the same. According to s Sudhir Srinivasan, the film being titled ( ) reflects “Tamil cinema’s fascination for fauna when it comes to titles”. The film’s music was composed by (a duo consisting of and ) while the lyrics were written by ; and are the only singers featured in the soundtrack. The first song recorded was “Chittu Kuruvi”. “Paartha Gnaabagam Illaiyo” is inspired by ‘s version of ” “. The song includes and style music. Philips, an guitarist, played the guitar for “Aha Mella”. “Unnai Ondru Ketpen” has a piano introduction while its interlude includes saxophone music. Viswanathan played the piano off-screen for the song. It is set in , a . The heavily orchestrated “Engey Nimmadhi”, at that time, had the highest number of instruments used for recording. Choir singers from the and areas of Madras (now ) were used in the song. According to film historian , “Kannadasan could not get the right words nor was there a tune ready and Sivaji came to the composing and did a pantomime of what he would like to do and thus was born the line and the song”. Cellist R. Selvaraj, whose father was a part of the orchestration for “Engey Nimmadhi” said 250 instrumentalists were used for playing different instruments in sync. Other sources state that Viswanathan used over 300 instruments for the song. Instruments used included the , , , bass, , , , , , , , , and . Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy tried over 100 different ways of composing the tune of “Engey Nimmadhi” before the song was recorded. It is set in , a . S. S. Vasan of compared the sombre moments in the song to that of “Mujhko Is Raat Ki Tanhai Me” from (1960). Music composer and singer said “Engey Nimmadhi” was an example of “the unconscious yet natural and healthy fusion that was happening to cinema music at the hands of music directors.” “Paartha Gnaabagam Illaiyo” was later in “Yae Dushyanta”, composed by for (2010). Singer performed “Aha Mella” live at “Two to Tango”, an October 2016 concert organised by the of Madras South. The soundtrack received positive response from critics; all the songs were successful, especially “Engey Nimmadhi”. The songs were featured in a charity concert held by M. S. Viswanathan at the Kamaraj Arangam in Chennai on 14 July 2012. Susheela has named “Paartha Gnaabagam Illaiyo” and “Unnai Ondru Ketpen” as among her favourite songs that she had recorded. “Paartha Nyabagam Illayo” was recreated in (2023). was released on 12 September 1964, and was distributed by Sivaji Films themselves. It was originally slated to be released in , owned by Ganesan and his family. However, the Hindi film was already running there successfully, and its lead actor requested Ganesan to allow his film to continue running at Shanti since “no other theatre in the city had such facilities”. Ganesan obliged, and instead released in the now non-existent Paragon Theatre, which underwent refurbishment for two weeks before the film’s screening. was later dubbed in as . did not open well as audiences were unwilling to accept Gopal killing his wife and Latha deceiving him. However, after this the film’s reception improved; initially released at only 60 theatres, this was later increased to 100. It had a theatrical run of 132 days at Paragon, 76 days at the theatres Krishna and Sayani, and for eight weeks in all major centres in Madras. Due to its successful run at Paragon, (1964), which was also running at the same theatre, had to be removed after completing 70 days. received mainly positive reviews upon release. In a review published on the day of its release, the critic from wrote about the film’s central mystery, “[W]hen it is revealed after seven songs[,] a lot of love-play and familiar kitchen comedy, it loses its suspense and does not amount to much.” The critic praised the performances of Ganesan and the supporting cast but criticised the comic subplot featuring Nagesh, the dialogue, lyrics, songs and make-up, and concluded, “The photographer and the art director seem to have a weakness for the colour red, but otherwise have done a good job.” On 1 October, Dinakaran, writing for the magazine , found the film to be truly . He praised the performances of Ganesan and Janaki, noting that the former pulls it off with effortless ease. He however, criticised Nagesh and Manorama’s comedy, finding it dry. On 4 October, Shekar and Sundar of the magazine jointly reviewed the film. Sundar appreciated the cast performances, Mirasi’s direction, the photography and the colour, and Shekar was particularly appreciative of Ganesan and Janaki’s performances, the night scenes and the set designs, but mildly critical of Nagesh’s comedy. Sundar concluded that the film could be accepted intellectually, but found it emotionally tough to accept due to the climax. Writing for in a review dated 10 October, T. M. Ramachandran praised the performances of Ganesan as Gopal and Janaki as both Chitra and her decoy, but said there was “nothing much to write” about Saroja Devi. He said the film’s pre- portions were generic, but “the story begins to grip only after the interval” and applauded the as “thought-provoking”. Ramachandran added that Nagesh “fails to provoke laughter with his antics”, but concluded his review by appreciating the colour processing by Gemini. Footage from was screened at Ganesan’s 80th birthday celebrations held at Kalaignar Arangam, Chennai in 2008. The film was re-released on 23 July 2010 to commemorate the ninth anniversary of Ganesan’s death. The negatives of the film were “cleaned up at a lab” prior to release, and the film was released at Shanthi Theatre, where it could not originally be released in 1964. It earned public acclaim and had a strong opening, running to one-hundred percent theatre occupancy for three days, and became a commercial success. The film was screened at the in on 14 September 2014. is frequently screened on Tamil television channels, most notably . Many scenes from the film, especially those involving Sivaji Ganesan and Saroja Devi were parodied many times. One notable parody is the comedy track from (2009), which featured and , who imitate Latha and Gopal respectively. The parody became popular and was frequently screened on comedy channels like and . In (2000), Kailash ( ) watches “Chittu Kuruvi” on television but changes the channel after imagining that Gopal’s face morphs into that of Thenali ( ). In (2011), Kaatu Poochi ( ) watches the film’s climax on television before stealing the television set. Scenes from are featured in the film (2014). In the of the television show , the show’s host and singer imitate Latha and Gopal’s mannerisms. Saroja Devi’s pronunciation of the name “Gopal” also attained popularity, and was imitated by Vijayalakshmi ( ) in (2018). who was present during the story narration alongside V. C. Shanmugam and Sivaji Ganesan was impressed with the way Dada Mirasi narrated the plot and decided to incorporate this as comedy scene in his directorial (1964) where Nagesh narrates a horror story to T. S. Balaiah.</p>