Thirumalai Thenkumari

<p>Ten to twelve families from different walks of life, different age groups and different languages unite for a , beginning with and going as far as . At each place, they stop at a pilgrimage site to fulfill their prayers. At each spot, a family is faced with a challenge that falls upon them due to their forgetfulness or irresponsibility and a reminder of such is provided. was among the earliest in , and took inspiration from the 1969 film . Unlike the original, it was given a “religious twist”, with its premise focusing on a group of passengers who embark on a pilgrimage across South India, visiting places like and . The film was actually shot in the places depicted onscreen, as opposed to using sets. Since it was previously believed in the that writer-director ‘s films were successful only because of their star casts and “mammoth” scales, rather than his directorial skills, he made this film, which featured mostly newcomers, to silence his critics. Cinematography was handled by W. R. Subba Rao, the art direction by Ganga, and the editing by T. Vijayarangam. The film, which was produced by C. Paramasivan under the banner Sree Vijayalakshmi Pictures, was completed within a month. The soundtrack was composed by . He based the song “Thirupathi Malaivaazhum” on the . The song “Madhurai Arasaalum” is a , i.e. set in multiple . “Thirupathi Malaivaazhum” and “Madhurai Arasaalum” were written by Ulundurpettai Shanmugam. was released on 15 August 1970. The film was a commercial success, and won in three categories at the : (Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan), (Sirkazhi Govindarajan), and a .</p>