Athey Kangal

A woman finds her husband dead. The masked murderer tries to kill her too but fails, and he escapes. The woman is now in a state of shock and mentally paralysed. A murder case is registered and the investigation takes place. Susi, a college girl, comes home for vacation with her friends. She lives with her three younger paternal uncles – the murdered man, Kamalanathan and Vimalanathan – and her aunt, the murdered man's wife. Susi's parents had died years ago.

A series of murders take place at Susi's house with every time a smoking cigar bit being left by the murderer intentionally. Police suspect the visiting doctor, a Siddha doctor close to Kamalanathan's family, butler, et cetera. Since Susi's aunt is the only eyewitness of the murderer, her life is in danger. Despite tight protection, she is killed by him. The murderer frequently calls Susi and threatens that her time is up and he is nearing her to kill her. Susi is frustrated by the incidents at her home and the threatening phone calls. Her lover Baskar promises to help.

Baskar investigates Vimalanathan, and later Kamalanathan; he follows him to a strange house and a woman who wanders like a ghost. She is actually Kamalanathan's lover, who was rescued some years back by him when she attempted suicide. Kamalanathan keeps quiet as he wants Susi to get married first, then only marry his lover. Baskar sends everyone out of Susi's house for a night to lure the murderer. As expected, he enters Susi's room to kill her. Baskar fights and tries to unmask the murderer, managing only to retrieve his mask and see his eyes before he escapes. Baskar finds Vimalanathan murdered at the doorstep.

Kamalanathan and Susi plan to vacate the house after celebrating Susi's birthday party. On the day of the party, the murderer attacks. Baskar chases him but loses track. He sees the Siddha doctor injured at a place who claims that the murderer attacked him and fled. No one knows why the murders are happening and who kills every member of their family. The Siddha doctor urges Kamalanathan to tell about his family which might help to find who is the murderer.

Kamalanathan reveals that his father had an extramarital affair with a woman and they had a son. But the woman and her ten-year-old son died fifteen years ago, in a fire set by Kamalanathan's elder brother (Susi's father). Baskar theorises that the son may not have died and is actually the murderer killing the family members as revenge; he concludes that the murderer is present in the hall where all are gathered. Baskar places the murderer's mask on the faces of all the men in the hall to verify whose eyes match with the murderer's eyes, ultimately exposing the "Siddha doctor" as the illegitimate son and therefore the murderer.

Baskar chases the murderer who gets injured trying to escape; while he is struggling to run, the police shoots him and he disappears suddenly. Everyone finds a secret room beneath the garden which leads to the Siddha doctor's house, and find the murderer lying dead due to the gunshot; everyone figures out that this is how he escaped after committing each murder. Baskar later marries Susi, while Kamalanathan marries his lover.

A. V. Meiyappan of AVM Productions wanted to produce a thriller in Tamil inspired by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, and made in colour. Director A. C. Tirulokchandar said he had a detective story ready, and it was launched as the film Athey Kangal.[2] It was produced by Meiyappan under Balasubramanian & Co, a subsidiary of AVM.[3] The assistant producers were M. Saravanan, M. Balasubramanian and M. S. Guhan. The dialogue was written by T. N. Balu, cinematography was handled by S. Maruti Rao, and editing by R. G. Gope.[4] Ravichandran was cast as the male lead Bhaskar, and Kanchana as the female lead Susila.[5] It was simultaneously filmed in Telugu as Ave Kallu.[6] The final cut of the film measured 4,519 metres (14,826 ft).[3]

The soundtrack was composed by Vedha and the lyrics were written by Vaali.[7][8] The song "Ethanai Azhagu" is based on "Pedal Pusher" by The Ventures,[9] and "Boom Boom Maattukaran" is based on "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from Mary Poppins (1964).[10] For the song "Pombale Oruthi Irundaalaam", singers A. L. Raghavan and T. M. Soundararajan came up with some lines in Saurashtra, their mother tongue. The words "Sodija" and "Daakara" in the song sound like some gibberish that Bhaskar's friend uses to frighten Susila, but in Saurashtra the words mean "Let me go" and "I am afraid".[11]

Athey Kangal was released on 26 May 1967,[12] and became a major box-office success upon release.[13] Film historian Randor Guy praised it for the "tight narration and deft direction of ACT, and the impressive performances of the cast".[14]

• Athey Kangal on IMDb