Alaigal Oivathillai

Alaigal Oivathillai
Promotional poster
Directed by	P. Bharathiraja
Produced by	R. D. Bhaskar
Screenplay by	P. Bharathiraja
Story by	Manivannan
Starring	Karthik Radha Thiagarajan Silk Smitha Kamala Kamesh
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	B. Kannan
Edited by	R. Bhaskaran
Production company	Pavalar Creations
Distributed by	Pavalar Creations
Release date	18 July 1981
Running time	139 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Alaigal Oyivathillai (lit. Waves don't cease) is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by P. Bharathiraja. The film stars debutant actors Karthik and Radha in the lead roles. The movie was a blockbuster and Ilaiyaraja's music and songs were highly praised. The story and dialogues written by veteran writer and director Manivannan. The film became a cult classic. The film received eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.

Plot

Vichu (Karthik) belongs to a poor Hindu family in coastal Tamil Nadu. Vichu's mother (Kamala Kamesh) teaches music to make a living. Then comes Mary (Radha), the sister of a rich, influential man David (Thiagarajan), who returns home a year after pursuing her education in the city . Mary starts learning music from Vichu's mother, and after a series of interesting events, Vichu and Mary fall in love with each other. David's wife Elissy (Silk Smitha) hears about this and strictly forbids Mary from having any dealings with Vichu. However things start getting worse when Vichu and his friends officially ask David for Mary's hand in marriage. Enraged, David thrashes Mary and arranges her wedding with another man. He also violently injures Vichu and tries to kill him. How the lovers unite braving all the obstacles is what makes the rest of the movie.

The movie also conveys subtle hints of power-play in villages and class/caste/religious barriers that divide and even oppress those deemed lower in status. David is shown as a rapist, who cleanly gets away with raping his maid with Elissy's tacit support, when she stood "guard" and tried to divert the maid's husband from realizing what was going on. The rape victim and her husband, knowing David's power and influence in the village, realize that it was futile to confront him-and-except for a sarcastic comment, otherwise quietly left without making a scene. Except for Elissy's soft attempts to make him regret while expressing her personal remorse, nothing more was said about the rape, but in a show of hypocrisy, David the rapist himself later proclaims morality and Christian values, in an attempt to prevent his sister Mary from marrying Vichu.

Cast

• Karthik as Vichu
• Radha as Mary
• Thiagarajan as David (Voice over by P. Bharathiraja)
• Silk Smitha as Elissy
• Kamala Kamesh as Vichu's mother
• Renu Chandra
• Deepak
• Yunes
• Ranga
• Ramesh
• Purushothaman
• Periya Karuppu Thevar
• Vellai Subbiah

Production

Karthik, son of actor Muthuraman and newcomer Radha made their acting debuts with this film.^[1][2] When Muthuraman asked Karthik if he would accept the film, Karhik readily agreed without giving it a second thought.^[3] Suresh was initially approached for the lead role but he opted to do Paneerpushpangal.^[4][5] Thiagarajan, who worked as regional manager of Polydor made his acting debut with the film.^[6]

The script for the film was written by Manivannan, one of the assistants in the film. Manobala who was one of the assistants in the film recalled that director Bharathiraja asked assistants to make a set with swaying lotuses for the song ‘Ayiram Thamarai'. He and Manivannan ran from pillar to post to get it ready. They peeled off a plantain sheath and stuck lotus stems to it then both of them raised and swayed the lotus flowers from underwater. As no instruction was given, they remained in the water and finally when they came out, the crew had already left.^[7]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja while he wrote the lyrics alongside Vairamuthu and Gangai Amaran. The songs from the film remains famous till date. The song "Putham Pudhu Kaalai" was later reworked for Megha (2014).^[8][9] The song was also reused as "Halke Se Bole" in Hindi film Paa (2009).^[10] Also, that tune was directly lifted for making the song 'Vellichillum Vithari', in a Malayalam film named Ina (1982). The song "Kadhal Oviyam" was reused as "Meri Zindagi" in Hindi film Aur Ek Prem Kahani (1996).^[11] The song "Aayiram Thamarai" was reused in Vaigai (2009).^[12][13] Unfortunately, the starting of this song "Aaiyram Thamarai" in the Tamil version has a sound mixing/recording flaw that can ben observed easily listening through headphone compared to the telgu version. The song "Vaadi En" was remixed by Dhina in Sandai (2008).^[14]

Awards

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

• Best Film (first prize) - R. D. Bhaskar
• Best Director – P. Bharathiraja
• Best Music Director – Ilaiyaraaja
• Best Lyricist – Vairamuthu
• Best Cinematographer – B. Kannan
• Best Story Writer – Manivannan
• Best Debut Actor (Male) – Karthik
• Best Debut Actor (Female) – Radha

Popular culture

The film was included by Behindwoods in the list "Top 20 Best Love Stories in Tamil".^[15] In a comedy scene from Chinna Pasanga Naanga (1992), Goundamani sings "Vaadi En" in gibberish lyrics trying to pass off as his own tune but Senthil identifies the song.^[16] In Saroja (2008), when Premji Amaren dreams about any girl he meets, the song "Aayiram Thamarai" will be running in background.^[17]

Remakes

The film was remade in Telugu as Seethakoka Chiluka by Bharathiraaja himself with Karthik and Aruna Mucherla in the lead. It was also remade in Hindi as Lovers with Kumar Gaurav and Padmini Kolhapure. For the Hindi remake, music was provided by RD Burman.

References

External links

• Alaigal Oivathillai on IMDb