Kizhakku Vaasal

Kizhakku Vaasal
Theatrical release poster
Directed byR. V. Udayakumar
Screenplay byR. V. Udayakumar
Story byM. S. Madhu
Produced byT. G. Thyagarajan
G. Saravanan
StarringKarthik
Revathi
Khushbu
CinematographyAbdul Rehman
Edited byAnil Malnad
Music byIlaiyaraaja
Production
company
Release date
  • 12 July 1990 (1990-07-12)
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Kizhakku Vaasal (transl. East Gate) is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed and co-written by R. V. Udayakumar. The film stars Karthik, Revathi and Khushbu. It was released on 12 July 1990 and ran for over 175 days in theatres. In 1992, the film was remade in Hindi as Mere Sajana Saath Nibhana and in Kannada as Sindhoora Thilaka. In 1995, it was remade in Telugu as Chilakapachcha Kaapuram.

Plot

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Ponnurangam is a folk singer who performs with his mini troop in villages occasionally for festivals. He works part-time as a labourer for Vijayakumar. He has a crush on Selvi, the daughter of Valliyuran, the rich headman of a neighbouring village and the brother-in-law of Vijayakumar . Selvi looks down upon Ponnurangam and tries to pull a prank on him by asking his mother to meet her father with a wedding proposal. But Ponnurangam's mother is beaten by Valliyuran's men while she visits his house with the marriage proposal and she later dies in her sleep due to the trauma.

Thaayamma is a holy lady in the village and worshipped as a god that comes down to give them orders periodically. She leads a cloistered life and does not visit anyone. Ponnurangam befriends her and both spends more time together.

Meanwhile Selvi repents her actions and falls for Ponnurangam, but he becomes dejected with life. At the time, Vijayakumar arranges his spoilt son's (Thiyagu) marriage with Selvi to end their feud of 20 years and also to grab all of their properties through his son. Ponnurangam is asked to perform at Valliyuran's house the night before the wedding. Selvi apologises to Ponnurangam for his mother's death and gives him money which he coldly rejects. Thiyagu sees them together. There is a fight between the families and the wedding is called off. Next day, Thiyagu and his men attack Ponnurangam and stab him in the back with a poisoned knife. Thaayamma takes care of Ponnurangam and shares her story.

At past Thaayamma was an orphan and is found by Janagaraj, who is a street performer. They go from house to house begging for food. One day a lonely woman, Sulakshana, (a secret mistress of the village high man – Vijayakumar) accepts Thaayamma as her own daughter and Janagaraj as her brother, and makes them stay in her own house. After 10 years, Thaayamma attains puberty and some days later finds Sulakshana's estranged life. She and Janagaraj attempt to leave her house, but Sulakshana suddenly falls ill and this stops their exit . After Sulakshana's death, Vijaykakumar, the head of the village, tries to take advantage of Thaayamma. But Thaayamma keeps dodging him and keeps herself chaste.

Now, Ponnurangam wants to marry Thaayamma, as love developed between the two. Knowing about the love, Vijayakumar tries to thwart them by abducting Thaayamma. He kills Ponnurangam's friend Maakan (Chinni Jayanth), but he is then attacked by the angry villagers and beaten up. The last scene shows Ponnurangam and Thaayamma leaving the village and walking away together.

Cast

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Production

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Manobala was originally supposed to direct Kizhakku Vaasal; due to his commitments to Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai, he could not take up this film, and was replaced by R. V. Udayakumar.[1][2] The production was plagued with various problems. The set which was built for the film was burnt; storywriter M. S. Madhu suffered from fits after witnessing the fire. Actress Sulakshana was admitted to hospital due to nose bleeding. Udayakumar was hospitalised due to a car accident and he went into coma for one month. After recovery, he completed the climax of the film.[3][4]

Soundtrack

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Ilaiyaraaja composed the soundtrack.[5][6] All the songs are set in Carnatic ragas; "Ada Veettukku" and "Pachamala Poovu" are in Sankarabharanam,[7][8] "Paadi Parantha" and "Thalukki Thalukki" are in Keeravani,[9] and "Vanthathe Oh Kungumam" is in Mohanam.[10][11] "Ada Veettukku" was inspired by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 25th symphony, 1st movement.[12][13] For the Telugu-dubbed version Thoorupu Sindhooram, all songs were written by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry.[14]

Tamil
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Ada Veettukku"VaaliIlaiyaraaja4:13
2."Pachamala Poovu"R. V. UdayakumarS. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:26
3."Thalukki Thalukki"R. V. UdayakumarS. P. Balasubrahmanyam5:01
4."Paadi Parantha"R. V. UdayakumarS. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:55
5."Vanthathe Oh Kungumam"R. V. UdayakumarK. S. Chithra4:40
Total length:23:15
Telugu
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Tala Vakita"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:15
2."Vacchene"K. S. Chithra4:44
3."Paccha Pacchani"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:49
4."Poddu Vali Poye"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:38
5."Thalukku"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:38
Total length:23:04

Release and reception

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Kizhakku Vaasal was released on 12 July 1990.[15] N. Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express wrote, "The film moves leisurely at a pastoral face but without boring you. Though not without a cinematic craft, it manages to retain a flavour of reality and of some human interest".[16] P. S. S. of Kalki praised the film, saying not only is there quality in Udayakumar's screenplay, dialogue and direction; acknowledging that we will see more surprises, we seem to be welcoming the younger generation.[17] Despite being released on the same day as Anjali, the film became a commercial success,[18] running for over 175 days in theatres.[19]

Accolades

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Tamil Nadu State Film Awards[20]
Cinema Express Awards[21]

Remakes

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In 1992, Kizhakku Vaasal was remade in Hindi as Mere Sajana Saath Nibhana and Kannada as Sindhoora Thilaka. In 1995, it was remade in Telugu as Chilakapachcha Kaapuram, despite already having been dubbed in the language as Thoorpa Sindhooram.[22]

References

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  1. ^ மனோபாலா (30 November 2015). "நான் உங்கள் ரசிகன் 10". Kungumam (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 21 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  2. ^ மனோபாலா (7 December 2015). "கமல் தந்த சந்தோஷம்... ரஜினி தந்த அட்வைஸ்!". Kungumam (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 22 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  3. ^ "கிழக்கு வாசல் படப்பிடிப்பின்போது விபத்தில் சிக்கினார் உதயகுமார்" [Udayakumar was involved in an accident while filming Kizhakku Vaasal]. Maalai Malar (in Tamil). 26 February 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  4. ^ மனோபாலா (14 December 2015). "நடிகைக்கு திடீர் கல்யாணம்....... பகீர் இயக்குனர்!". Kungumam (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  5. ^ "Kizhakku Vaasal (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Ilaiyaraaja". Apple Music. 1 January 1990. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  6. ^ "Kizhakku Vaasal". IsaiShop. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  7. ^ Sundararaman 2007, pp. 121, 151.
  8. ^ Mani, Charulatha (22 November 2013). "Catchy and classical". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  9. ^ Sundararaman 2007, pp. 151, 160.
  10. ^ Sundararaman 2007, p. 165.
  11. ^ Mani, Charulatha (16 September 2011). "A Raga's Journey — Magical Mohanam". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  12. ^ Vivek, T. R. (31 March 2018). "Why many Ilaiyaraaja songs sound as if they emerged from a jam session with Salil Chowdhury". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  13. ^ Shekar, Anjana (7 March 2021). "Tamil film music and plagiarism: What fans feel about recurring issue". The News Minute. Archived from the original on 3 October 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  14. ^ "Thoorupu Sindhuram". Spotify. January 1990. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Kizhakku Vaasal". The Indian Express. 12 July 1990. p. 5. Retrieved 8 July 2019 – via Google News Archive.
  16. ^ Krishnaswamy, N. (20 July 1990). "Kizhakku Vaasal". The Indian Express. p. 7. Retrieved 27 February 2019 – via Google News Archive.
  17. ^ பி.எஸ்.எஸ். (12 August 1990). "கிழக்கு வாசல்". Kalki (in Tamil). pp. 28–29. Archived from the original on 22 February 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  18. ^ "'கிழக்கு வாசல்', 'அஞ்சலி' 30 ஆண்டுகள்: ஒரே நாளில் வெளியாகி வெளுத்து வாங்கிய படங்கள்!". Hindu Tamil Thisai (in Tamil). 12 July 2020. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  19. ^ Rajendran, Gopinath (5 May 2018). "Where is today's great comedian?". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  20. ^ "Chinnathambi bags six awards". The Indian Express. 30 October 1992. p. 3. Retrieved 14 February 2021 – via Google News Archive.
  21. ^ "Cinema Express Awards presented". The Indian Express. 5 May 1991. p. 3. Retrieved 22 February 2021 – via Google News Archive.
  22. ^ Arunachalam 2020, p. 240.

Bibliography

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