Naan Avanillai — 50 Tamil movies to watch before you Die — 15

Naan Avanillai

No. No. No. I am not speaking about the crappy remake directed by Selva with Jeevan (2007) in the lead. This is a classic of K.Balachander and Gemini Ganesan. Gemini was one of the most underrated actors in Tamil movie world as two giants — Sivaji and MGR overshadowed him, but he carved a niche for himself when it came to romantic movies. K.Balachander, on the other hand, cast in some of the most memorable performances. In fact, he was the most favourite actor of K Balachander next only to Nagesh . Velli Vizha, Iru Kodugal and Punnagai were a few examples of K Balachander bringing out the impressive acting skills of this versatile actor. But the most memorable of all would be “Naan Avan Illai.”

Naan Avanillai (1974)

Naan Avanillai was based on a Marathi play Tu Mi Nahvech written by Prahalad K.Atre adapted to suit the Tamil audience. The story starts in the courtroom where a man named Nanjil Nambi (Gemini Ganesan) is accused of cheating women by marrying them and robbing them after the wedding. The first man claims Nanjil Nambi to be his brother David Asirvatham who ran away after marrying a hearing and voice impaired woman. Nanjil Nambi dumps his lawyer to conduct the argument by himself while public prosecutor (Senthamarai) unfolds the case through different women cheated by David Asirvatham. Vijaysree (Varalakshmi) and her family through a marriage bureau as Lakshman Sharma, Ammukutty (Jayabharathi) and her brother (Kamal Hassan in a supporting role) as a naval officer Chatruganan Menon, Rani (Jayasudha) and her mother as Hariharadas Swamigal (claiming as Krishna’s avatar), Violet Solomon (a widow) as Jack Solomon (an Anglo-Indian) are the different women cheated by David.

Pic courtesy: Wiki Commons

The only argument that Nanjil Nambi makes against the prosecution is that he and David Asirvatham are two different people. He even brings his wife, Thanammal (Gandhimathi) as his alibi. The Judge (Poornam Viswanathan) gets confused over the way he escapes each prosecution through his intelligence, whereas his daughter Salima (Lakshmi) admires the intelligence of Nanjil Nambi. Salima had met David Asirvatham as Akbar Ali (an Urdu poet). Akbar Ali even cheats her father through a money order. What happens, in the end, is unfolded in an entertaining and comic screenplay. Unveiling the climax in this article would not do justice to the movie.

The movie was produced by Gemini Ganesan under his Sri Narayani productions with music from MS Viswanathan and a whole lot of actors like MN Rajam, Thengai Srinivasan, Asokan etc., doing beautiful cameos.

Why is it so special?

1. Naan Avan Illai is a comic thriller. It may sound oxymoronish but a thriller can be comic too and Naan Avan Illai fits the bill perfectly. The movie perfectly paced with a wonderful dose of comic scenes.
2. The movie also brought the acting skills of Gemini Ganesan as he was previously cast in stereotypical romantic roles. The scene in which the inspector and the lawyer try to find his mother tongue is hilarious.
3. While Varalakshmi and Jayabharathi portray the naive women, Jayasudha sizzles in her role as a wronged disciple. In fact, Jayasudha steals the show in the small role provided to her. Lakshmi’s role was quite interesting as someone who has a crush on a criminal.
4. The movie had a beautiful musical score with two hit songs — “Radha Kadhal Varadha” and “Naan Chinnanchiru Pillai” by MS Viswanathan.

Why is it on the list?

1. There has been a host of movies where the protagonist and the antagonist are the same. But this one stays right at the top where the story is made believable by an excellent screenplay. The real hero of the movie is the screenplay and not the actors.
2. One of the best films of Gemini Ganesan as an actor and Gemini himself claimed that this as is best performance ever in few of his interviews. He comes in 9 different disguises, and each character portrays a different facet of this versatile actor
3. The screenplay, casting and acting are so impeccable that till the final scene the audience is made to think that David and Nanjil Nambi are two different people.
4. A must watch comic thriller from K Balachander’s stable.

Trivia

1. Gemini Ganesan produced this movie, but it was not a commercial success. Now the film is considered to be a classic, and it was remade with Jeevan in the lead in 2007. The remake was a commercial success leading to a second part in 2009. The movie was remade as Budivanta (2008) in Kannada. Naan Avan Illai was the only movie produced by Gemini Ganesan. The movie fetched the Best Actor Filmfare Award for Gemini.
2. Gemini Ganesan was born into a rich family in Pudukottai. But he was raised by his Grand Father’s brother Narayana Swami Iyer. Narayana Swami Iyer’s daughter is Muthulakshmi Reddy, India’s first woman doctor. Gemini got married to Bobji when he was 20 while he wanted to become a Doctor. His debut role was the role assistant director (to Javert Seetharaman) in Miss Malini. Gemini Ganesan’s lead role was a double role in Manam Pol Mangalyam (1953) and he met Savithri.
3. Gemini Ganesan was legally married thrice. He initially didn’t accept his relationship with Pushpavalli, a famous Telugu actress and the heroine of Miss Malini. It came to light when Pushpavalli’s daughter Rekha (Hindi actress) let it out in an interview. When Gemini was enquired about it, he accepted that he had a relationship with Pushpavalli. He married Juliana, a 35-year-old woman when he was 79. He had 7 daughters and a son through this 4 relationships.
4. Gemini Ganesan initially worked as a production executive with Gemini Studios. He actually started acting as a villain in Thai Ullam in which RS Manohar was the hero. Gemini was even a villain against Asokan in Modern Theatres’ Vallavanakku Vallavan.
5. Gemini was an avid cricketer. He captained an Madras Christian College (MCC) cricket team. He had eight children out of which Dr.Kamala Selvaraj and Rekha are the prominent personalities.
6. Kamal Hassan is credited as a dance master in “Naan Avan Illai” but which song did he choreograph is not known. He is even credited as Asst.Director in some of the Balachander movies like Nootrukku Nooru (1971).
7. The real story writer Prahalad Atre is not credited in the opening or end credits. In fact, interestingly there is no credit for the story. K.Balachander is credited only for Screenplay, Dialogue and Direction. The story is said to be based on a true story as reported by newspapers.
8. PR Varalakshmi, a popular actress in Tamil serials, started her career with KS Gopalakrishnan’s Vaazhayadi Vaazhai (1972). Although she had some good roles in Ore Saatchi (1974), Naan Avanillai (1974), Navarathinam (1977) and Manitharil Ithanai Nirangala (1978), she never got her due in Tamil Cinema. In one of the interviews to The Hindu, she opined that she didn’t have anyone to guide her and she chose to play inconsequential roles. She did a lot of roles as a mother to lead actors and then it continued to play similar roles in Tamil TV Serials. She has acted in more than 600 films across South Indian languages and Hindi.
9. Jayasudha was born as Sujatha Nidudavolu, on 17th December, 1958. Her aunt is Vijaya Nirmala (famous Telugu actor and director) and Jayasudha started her career as a child artist in a Telugu movie, Pandati Kapuram (1972). She made her Tamil debut with K Balachander’s Arangetram (1973). K Balachander cast her in powerful roles in movies like Sollathan Ninaikiren (1973), Naan Avanillai (1974) and Apoorva Ragangal (1975). At the same time, she had some brilliant roles in Telugu like Jyothi (1976) and Idhi Kaatha Kadu (1979, remake of Avargal). Dasari Narayana Rao repeatedly cast her in his movies and made a movie in her name, Jayasudha (1982). Jayasudha’s first marriage with Rajendra Prasad didn’t go well as intended and the match was made by Dasari Narayana Rao. But after divorce, she married Nitin Kapoor, cousin of Jeetendra, in 1985. They had two kids Nihar and Shreyean. Jayasudha continued to act in important roles in many movies but her best in Tamil was Ninaithale Inikkum (1979) Andhimandharai (1996). She acted as Rajinikanth’s sister in Pandian (1992) that didn’t do well at the box-office. She joined politics, served as a Congress MLA in Andhra Pradesh and now part of YSR Congress. She is quite choosy about her roles these days. Her roles in Bommarillu (2006), Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013), Shatamanam Bhavati (2017) and Srinivasa Kalyanam (2018) were appreciated.
10. As there are no credits for the original story, the movie’s story is said to be inspired by Tu Mi Nahvech. Tu Mi Nahvech was made into a Marathi movie in 1962 . The Marathi play and movie was said to be inspired by a real life episode of a conman by the name Madhav Kazi. Interestingly, the producers of Naan Avanillai (2007), sued Yash Raj Films that they copied the storyline for Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl. I will leave you to comprehend the irony here.

Read the entire list from this link
https://medium.com/sylvianism/50tamilmovies/home

References

1. Gemini Ganesan — Lothario of Tamil Cinema known as the King of Romance — The Independent.
2. Naan Avanillai Movie credits.
3. Grill Mill: P. R. Varalakshmi — SR Ashok Kumar — The Hindu
4. PR Varalakshmi — Andru Kanda Mugam
5. Jayasudha — Andru Kanda Mugam
6. What can a heroine do in a love story being offered these days, says Jayasudha — Interview to The Hindu
7. Yash Raj Films dragged to Court for alleged copyright infringement in ‘Ladies v. Ricky Bahl’ — Prashant Reddy