Sakalakala Vallavan | |
---|---|
Directed by | S. P. Muthuraman |
Produced by | M. Kumaran M. Saravanan M. Balasubramaniam |
Written by | Panju Arunachalam |
Starring | Kamal Haasan Ambika Raveendran Thulasi |
Music by | Ilaiyaraaja |
Cinematography | Babu |
Edited by | R. Vittal |
Production company | |
Release date | |
Running time | 138 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Tamil |
Sakalakala Vallavan (transl. Master of all Arts) is a 1982 Indian Tamil-languagemasala film directed by S. P. Muthuraman. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Ambika in lead roles with Raveendran, Tulasi, Silk Smitha and Y. G. Mahendra portraying supporting roles. The film was produced by M. Saravanan, M. Balasubramanian and M. S. Guhan under the production company AVM Productions.
The film revolves around Velu, a villager who takes revenge against Geetha and Palani for molesting his sister. The film's script was written by Panchu Arunachalam. The film's score and soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja with songs like 'Ilamai Idho' and 'Nethu Raatri' remaining popular in Tamil Nadu.
Babu and R. Vittal handled cinematography and editing respectively. The film was a blockbuster and ran for over 175 days in theatres. It also made Kamal Haasan popular among the masses. The film was dubbed in Telugu as Palleturi Simham.[1]
Agriculturist Velu (Kamal Haasan) goes to extremes to attain revenge against his devious landlady and her family. He is an upright young man, but when his family gets cheated out of money and his sister gets raped by the landlord's son, he decides it's time to take a stand. Donning various disguises, he—with help from his sister Valli (Tulasi) and friend Poonae (Y. G. Mahendran) – sets out seeking justice against the landlord and her confrontational daughter Geetha (Ambika) and son Pazhani (Raveendran).
AVM Productions made the film to prove that Kamal Haasan was a 'master of all arts', keeping with the title Sakalakala Vallavan, which translates to the same.[2][3] It was Panchu Arunachalam who came up with the title.[4] The song 'Ilamai Edho Edho' was shot in a large king's court set created for a Kannada film, after suitable modifications to show it as a five star hotel.[2] Shooting locations included Pollachi in Coimbatore,[5]Kodambakkam in Madras (now Chennai),[6] and the AVM Garden Villa in Madras.[7]
Sakalakala Vallavan follows the 'taming of the shrew' paradigm that was popular in Tamil cinema as early as the 1960s: 'the city-bred girl making fun of the rustic and the latter turning the tables on her'.[8] Film producer and writer G. Dhananjayan compared the film to the William Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew for following the same concept.[9]
Sakalakala Vallavan | |
---|---|
Film score by | |
Released | 1982 |
Recorded | 1982 |
Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
Length | 28:35 |
Label | AVM Audio |
Producer | M. Kumaran M. Saravanan M. Balasubramaniam |
The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with lyrics by Vaali.[10] The song 'Nila Kayuthu' is set in the carnatic raga known as Madhyamavati.[11] 'Ilamai Edho Edho' remains one of the most popular New Year-themed songs in Tamil cinema.[12][13] The soundtrack cover shows Kamal Haasan, as he appears in that song.
Side A | |||
---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
1. | 'Ilamai Edho Edho' | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Chorus | |
2. | 'Nila Kayuthu' | Malaysia Vasudevan, S. Janaki | |
3. | 'Kattavandi' (female) | S. P. Sailaja | |
4. | 'Amman Koyil' | Ilaiyaraaja |
Side B | |||
---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
1. | 'Nethu Rathiri' | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | |
2. | 'Kattavandi' (male) | Malaysia Vasudevan | |
3. | 'Nila Kayuthu' | Malaysia Vasudevan, S. Janaki | |
4. | 'Disco Music' | – |
Sakalakala Vallavan was released on 14 August 1982.[14] Despite facing competition from another Muthuraman-directed film Enkeyo Ketta Kural, released on the same day, both films succeeded commercially.[15]Sakalakala Vallavan ran for over 175 days in theatres.[16] G. Dhananjayan considered the film to have grossed over ₹1 crore (equivalent to ₹14 crore or US$2.0 million in 2018).[17]Ananda Vikatan, in a review dated 5 September 1982, rated the film 42 out of 100.[18]
Sakalakala Vallavan widened Kamal Haasan's audience base from the 'classes' to a hero of the 'masses'.[19] G. Dhananjayan noted that while Haasan was then considered an 'A-centre star', the film took him 'to the B and C centres'.[20][a] Despite the film's success, Haasan thought little of the film, feeling he was a 'paid performer and not an actor'. He added, 'It cleared certain notions in my head about the mistakes I shouldn’t make.'[22]Sakalakala Vallavan inspired the tite of a 2015 film which was not related to this film.[23] Sudhir Srinivasan of The Hindu noted that both films were 'about a gold-hearted villager and his taming of an urban woman'.[24] Title also inspired a show aired on Kalaignar TV.[25] In June 2013, A. Muthusamy of Honey Bee Music enhanced the songs from their original version on the film's soundtrack album to 5.1 surround sound.[26]