Blast from the past: Nallavan Vaazhvaan (1961)

Star cast: M.G. Ramachandran, Rajasulochana, M.R. Radha, M.N. Nambiar, E.V. Saroja, D. Balasubramaniam, Lakshmiprabha, Lakshmirajam, C.T. Rajakantham, S. Rama Rao, M.N. Krishnan, R.M. Sethupathi, Seethalakshmi

Nallavan Vaazhvaan is a crime thriller written by C. N. Annadurai, based on the story by Na. Pandurangan. The movie is about a man (MGR), who gets sent to prison by a lecherous man (M. R. Radha), on false charges. M. R. Radha plays the role of a womaniser who is after two women: his clerk’s (D. Balasubramaniam) daughter, E.V. Saroja, and Rajasulochana (who is in love with MGR and is soon to marry him). MGR then escapes from police custody and the inspector, who’s after him (M. N. Nambiar) is in love with E.V. Saroja. How MGR eventually proves his innocence and emerges victorious is what Nallavan Vaazhvaan is about.M. R. Radha excelled in his role as the villain. He stole the show with his characteristic dialogue delivery (written by Aringnar Anna). The fight scenes in the climax between him and MGR, that were shot under water by the talented G. Durai, received a lot of accolades. were shot well by cinematographer G. Durai. The film was produced and directed by noted filmmaker P. Neelakantan under his home banner, Arasu Pictures. The director, incidentally, has directed MGR in as many as 17 movies, with most of them turning out to be hits.

Music was by T. R. Pappa, with lyrics by K.D. Santhanam, A. Maruthakasi, M. K. Athmanathan and Kavi Rajagopal. The film also saw Vaali writing two songs in an MGR movie for the first time. After this, he went on to write many more for the star, with some of them becoming all-time hits.

The choreography was by P. S. Gopalakrishnan and G. Devarajan, while the production was supervised by Mohan Gandhi Raman, who was a close associate of Pa. Neelakantan before becoming a director himself.

Music was a positive for this film, out of the eight songs, some, like the duet ‘Kutrala aruviyile…’, turned out to be big hits. Another duet with peppy lyrics and a catchy tune ‘Adichirukku Nallathoru Chance-u’, filmed on Saroja and her lover (Nambiar), sung by A. L. Raghavan and S. Janaki, became a hit too. Saroja’s Bharatanatyam dancing in this song was quite appreciated. For Nambiar, the role of a lover was a marked difference from the usual villain roles.

Despite the interesting story, good dialogues by Anna and good performances by MGR, Rajasulochana, M. N. Nambiar, and E. V. Saroja, the film ran only for 80 days at the box office, which, for an MGR movie, was not considered a success at that time.

Remembered for: The music of T. R. Pappa, and good performances by MGR, M. R. Radha, and Nambiar.