Gauravam (1973 film)

Gauravam
Directed by	Vietnam Veedu Sundaram
Produced by	S. Rangarajan
Written by	Vietnam Veedu Sundaram
Starring	Sivaji Ganesan Nagesh Major Sundarrajan Ushanandini Pandari Bai
Music by	M. S. Viswanathan
Cinematography	A. Vincent
Edited by	R. Devarajan
Production company	Vietnam Movies
Distributed by	Vietnam Movies
Release date	25 October 1973[1]
Running time	136 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Gauravam (lit. Prestige) is a 1973 Tamil language legal drama film directed by Vietnam Veedu Sundaram,^[2] starring Sivaji Ganesan in a dual role. The film was blockbuster at box-office and third highest-grossing film of the year.

Plot

Madras high court lawyer Rajinikanth (Sivaji Ganesan) has never lost a case in the court. He is a self made man with a rags to riches story. Hence he does not ask for favours from anyone, except in the aspiration of being appointed as a Judge/Justice of Madras High Court, where he expects the Bar Council of the court to favour him. Kannan (Sivaji Ganesan) is his nephew who is brought up like a son by the childless Rajinikanth and his wife. Kannan is an antithesis of Rajinikanth; he is a god fearing, amiable, domesticated young man.

Rajinikanth is shocked to know that an undeserving person Rangabashyam has been promoted as High court judge. Meanwhile, Mohandas (Major Sundarrajan) murders his wife and beseeches lawyers to appear on his behalf and save him. Rajinikanth feels that the Bar council has not recognized his prowess in jurisprudence and decides to seek his revenge by gaming the system and fighting for Mohandas despite the latter's guilt. Mohandas is thus acquitted by the court, thanks to Rajinikanth's expertise in law. This deeply hurts Kannan who does not say anything at that time out of respect for his uncle.

Under unnatural circumstances, Mohandas's fiancé dies in the bath tub. Once again Mohandas is convicted. Once again, Rajinikanth appears on Mohandas's behalf. But this time around, Kannan protests and walks out of the house to become the prosecution lawyer facing Rajinikanth. Kannan defeats Rajinikanth due to his meticulous preparation as well as Mohandas neglecting to mention some very important details about the case which he believed to be irrelevant and Rajinikanth's pride (gowravam) not allowing him to ask for some more time to study the new developments.

His very first defeat at the hand of Kannan proving too much to handle, an anguished Rajinikanth succumbs to death, just before the news of him being appointed as a judge is announced showing that his pride (gowravam) was paramount to him and he lived and died with it.

Cast

• Sivaji Ganesan as Rajinikanth and Kannan
• Nagesh as Rajinikanth's Assistant
• Major Sundarrajan as Mohandoss
• Ushanandini as Radha
• Pandari Bai as Chellama
• Senthamarai
• Neelu
• V. K. Ramasamy
• Rama Prabha as Kathambari
• Jayakumari as Kalpana
• Y. G. Mahendra as Kannan's Driver
• Vijayan
• Poornam Viswanathan as Climax Judge
• Veera Raghavan
• ISR as Insurance Agent

Production

Gauravam was adapted from the play Kannan Vandhaan.^[3] Sivaji Ganesan's style of smoking a pipe in the film was inspired by that of T. S. Krishna, an industrialist.^[4]

Soundtrack

The music composed by M. S. Viswanathan.^[5]

Reactions

The film was directed by Vietnam Veedu Sundaram and considered a major triumph in the history of Tamil cinema and in the filmography of Sivaji Ganesan. In later years, Gauravam has been much parodied & paid homage to via skits and television episodes. In a brilliant piece of writing, Kannan is portrayed as a romancing devotee a-la Lord Krishna, while Rajinikanth is a single-minded hard-working atheist. Kannan's victory on purely technical grounds despite Rajinikanth's enormous legal expertise demonstrates the eventual triumph of good over evil. Ganesan later reprised the role of Rajinikanth in the Doordarshan television series Meendum Gowravam.^[4]

References

External links

• Gauravam on IMDb