Sakalakala Vallavan

Sakalakala Vallavan
Poster
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
Distributed by AVM Productions
Release date
 14 August 1982
Running time
 138 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil

Sakalakala Vallavan (lit. Master of all Arts) is a 1982 Indian Tamil-language masala 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]

Plot

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).

Cast

Production

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]

Themes

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]

Soundtrack

Sakalakala Vallavan
Film score by Ilaiyaraaja
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Length 28:35

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with lyrics by Vaali.[9] The song "Nila Kayuthu" is set in the carnatic raga known as Madhyamavati.[10] "Ilamai Edho Edho" remains one of the most popular New Year-themed songs in Tamil cinema.[11][12] The soundtrack cover shows Kamal Haasan, as he appears in that song.

Side A
No.TitleSinger(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.TitleSinger(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" – 

Release and reception

Sakalakala Vallavan was released on 14 August 1982.[13] Despite facing competition from another Muthuraman-directed film Enkeyo Ketta Kural, released on the same day, both films succeeded commercially.[14] Sakalakala Vallavan ran for over 175 days in theatres.[15] Film historian G. Dhananjayan considered the film to have grossed over ₹1 crore (equivalent to ₹13 crore or US$1.9 million in 2017).[16] Ananda Vikatan, in a review dated 5 September 1982, rated the film 42 out of 100.[17]

Legacy

Sakalakala Vallavan widened Kamal Haasan's audience base from the "classes" to a hero of the "masses".[18] G. Dhananjayan noted that while Haasan was then considered an "A-centre star", the film took him "to the B and C centres".[19][lower-alpha 1] 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."[21] Sakalakala Vallavan inspired the tite of a 2015 film which was not related to this film.[22] Sudhir Srinivasan of The Hindu noted that both films were "about a gold-hearted villager and his taming of an urban woman".[23] Title also inspired a show aired on Kalaignar TV.[24] 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.[25]

Notes

  1. ↑ In Tamil cinema terminology, audiences are categorised into three centres: A centre (audiences in urban places like Chennai or Coimbatore), B centre (audiences in semi-urban places) and C centre (rural audiences).[20]

References

  1. ↑ Rose Telugu Movies (26 July 2013). "Palleturi Simham – Telugu Full Length Movie – Kamal hassan,Ambika". Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2018 – via YouTube.
  2. 1 2 முத்துராமன், எஸ்பி. (15 June 2016). "சினிமா எடுத்துப் பார் 62: கதைக்காக நடிகர்!" [Try making a film 62: Actor for the story!]. The Hindu Tamil. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  3. ↑ Swaminathan 2003, p. 28.
  4. ↑ Saravanan 2013, p. 257.
  5. ↑ Venkateswaran, N. (6 November 2011). "Big Shots, Hot Spots". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  6. ↑ "Scenes from a city: When Madras was in the movies". The Times of India. 22 August 2009. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  7. ↑ Prabhakar, Bhavani (7 June 2018). "AVM Garden Villa opens its doors for public events". The News Today. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  8. ↑ Raghavendra, M. K. (2017). Beyond Bollywood: The Cinemas of South India. HarperCollins. p. 40.
  9. ↑ Ilaiyaraaja (1982). "Sakalakala Vallavan". AVM Audio. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  10. ↑ Sundararaman 2007, p. 148.
  11. ↑ Saravanan 2013, p. 261.
  12. ↑ Rangan, Baradwaj (1 January 2018). "Southern Lights: Best New Year Songs". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  13. ↑ Saravanan 2013, p. 256.
  14. ↑ Anand, N (21 August 2017). "An August Season". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  15. ↑ Selvaraj, N. (20 March 2017). "வெள்ளி விழா கண்ட தமிழ் திரைப்படங்கள்" [Tamil films that completed silver jubilees]. Thinnai (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  16. ↑ Suganth, M. (10 August 2016). "Man who introduced Raaja and reinvented commercial cinema". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  17. ↑ "சினிமா விமர்சனம்ச: கலகலா வல்லவன்" [Movie Review: Sakalakala Vallavan]. Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 5 September 1982.
  18. ↑ Swaminathan 2003, p. 27.
  19. ↑ Suganth, M. (26 July 2015). "Panchu Arunachalam is the man who invented Rajinikanth as an actor". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  20. ↑ Pillai, Sreedhar (3 September 2016). "Return of the native". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  21. ↑ "I make very angry social statements in my films - Kamal Haasan". The Free Press Journal. 7 November 2015. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  22. ↑ "Title tricks". The Hindu. 19 July 2015. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  23. ↑ Srinivasan, Sudhir (1 August 2015). "Sakalakala Vallavan: Old, crass and hostile". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 December 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  24. ↑ Nath, Parshathy J. (6 March 2013). "The right angle". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  25. ↑ "Music to his ears". The Hindu. 14 June 2013. Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2018.

Bibliography

  • Saravanan, M. (2013) [2005]. AVM 60 cinema (in Tamil) (3rd ed.). Rajarajan Pathippagam.
  • Sundararaman (2007) [2005]. Raga Chintamani: A Guide to Carnatic Ragas Through Tamil Film Music (2nd ed.). Chennai: Pichhamal Chintamani. OCLC 295034757.
  • Swaminathan, Roopa (2003). Kamalahasan, the consummate actor. Rupa & Co.
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