Alaigal Oivathillai

Alaigal Oyivathillai (transl. Waves don't cease) is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by P. Bharathiraja, and stars Karthik and Radha in the lead roles, whilst Thiagarajan, Silk Smitha and Kamala Kamesh appear in supporting roles. This film marks the debut of both the lead actors. It follows Karthik as Vichu, a lower-class Hindu boy, falls in love with Mary (played by Radha), a Christian girl. How the lovers unite braving all the obstacles, forms the crux of the story.

Alaigal Oivathillai
Poster
Directed byP. Bharathiraja
Produced byR. D. Bhaskar
Screenplay byP. Bharathiraja
Story byManivannan
Starring
Music byIlaiyaraaja
CinematographyB. Kannan
Edited byR. Bhaskaran
Production
company
Pavalar Creations
Release date
  • 18 July 1981 (1981-07-18)
Running time
139 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

The film portrays subtle hints of power-play in villages and caste and religious barriers that oppress the deemed lower in status. The story and screenplay were written by Manivannan and Bharathiraja, respectively. Bharathiraja provided voice-over for Thiagarajan, while Karthik's voice was dubbed by S. N. Surendar and Radha's voice was dubbed by Anuradha Paudwal. The cinematography was handled by B. Kannan, and editing was handled by R. Bhaskaran. The music for the film is composed by Ilaiyaraaja, and the songs were highly praised, being regarded as one of his best works till date.

Alaigal Oivathillai was released on 18 July 1981 to positive reviews, and became a blockbuster. The film received eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. It went on to become a cult film in later years. Bharathiraja remade the film in Telugu as Seethakoka Chiluka in 1981, where Karthik reprised his role from the original, and in Hindi as Lovers in 1983.

Plot

Vichu belongs to a poor Hindu family in coastal Tamil Nadu. Vichu's mother teaches music to make a living. Then comes Mary, the sister of a rich, influential man David, 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. Despite all the odds against them, Vichu assures Mary that just as the waves do not cease, their love for each other will also never cease. How the lovers unite braving all the obstacles is what makes the rest of the movie.

During the course of these events, David gets aroused by his maid undressing for her bath and enters her bath hut (which had no door lock) and rapes her, with Elissy's tacit support, when she stood "guard" and tried to divert the maid's husband from realizing what was going on, so as to prevent embarrassment and shame to her family. David gets caught red-handed and leaves the scene without a word. The maid's husband enters the bath hut and consoles his violated and weeping wife. David cleanly gets away with the rape and the maid 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

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, Karthik readily agreed without giving it a second thought.[3] Suresh was initially approached for the lead role but he opted to do Panneer Pushpangal.[4][5] Bharathiraja had also contemplated casting Murali in the lead role, but ultimately did not do so.[6] Thiagarajan, who worked as regional manager of Polydor made his acting debut with the film.[7]

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 "Aayiram 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.[8]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album and background score is composed by Ilaiyaraaja. Vairamuthu wrote the lyrics for the songs "Aayiram Thamarai", "Kadhal Oviyam" and "Vizhiyil Vizhundhu" and Gangai Amaran did the same for "Putham Pudhu Kaalai" and "Vaadi En Kappa Kelange". The rest of the songs were written by Ilaiyaraaja apart from composing the film. The songs from the film were remained as one of Ilayaraaja's best works till date.

The song "Putham Pudhu Kaalai" was well praised. In an article from Scroll.in, Sruthisagar Yamunan said about the song, "the first interlude is a soothing flute melody. This was a song made for a romantic situation", but it was not featured in the film.[9] It was later remastered for Megha (2014), in which Ilayaraaja was also the composer.[10][11] The song was also reused as "Halke Se Bole" in the Hindi film Paa (2009).[12] Also, that tune was directly lifted for making the song "Vellichillum Vithari", in a Malayalam film Ina (1982).[13]

The song "Kadhal Oviyam" was reused as "Meri Zindagi" in Hindi film Aur Ek Prem Kahani (1996), which is also composed by Ilayaraaja.[14] The song "Aayiram Thamarai" was reused in Vaigai (2009).[15][16] The song "Vaadi En Kappa Kelange" was remixed by Dhina in Sandai (2008).[17]

No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Aayiram Thamarai"VairamuthuS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki4:30
2."Darisanam Kidaikatha" (Female)IlaiyaraajaS. Janaki1:12
3."Darisanam Kidaikatha" (Male)IlaiyaraajaIlaiyaraaja1:50
4."Kadhal Oviyam" (Version 1)VairamuthuIlaiyaraaja, Jency Anthony4:38
5."Kadhal Oviyam" (Version 2)VairamuthuIlaiyaraaja, Jency Anthony1:51
6."Lambodhara"IlaiyaraajaS. Janaki0:53
7."Putham Pudhu Kaalai"Gangai AmaranS. Janaki4:34
8."Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa"IlaiyaraajaGuruvayoor Rajam, S. Janaki2:03
9."Thothiram Paadiye"IlaiyaraajaIlaiyaraaja, B.S Sasirekha0:47
10."Vaadi En Kappa Kelange"Gangai AmaranIlaiyaraaja, Gangai Amaran, Bhaskaran, Jency Anthony4:45
11."Vaazhvellam Aanandame"IlaiyaraajaIlaiyaraaja, S. Janaki1:27
12."Vizhiyil Vizhundhu"VairamuthuIlaiyaraaja, B.S Sasirekha4:03

Release and reception

Alaigal Oivathillai was released on 18 July 1981.[18] In a review dated 2 August 1981, Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan rated the film 50 out of 100.[19] The then chief minister M. G. Ramachandran applauded the performance of Smitha, and encouraged her to perform more similar roles.[20]

Awards
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

The film was included by Behindwoods in the list "Top 20 Best Love Stories in Tamil".[21] 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.[22] In Saroja (2008), when Premji Amaren dreams about any girl he meets, the song "Aayiram Thamarai" plays in the background.[23]

Remakes

The film was remade in Telugu as Seethakoka Chiluka by Bharathiraaja himself with Karthik reprising his role.[24] Bharathiraaja also remade it in Hindi as Lovers.[25]

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References
  1. Raghavan, Nikhil (23 April 2011). "Baby steps to fame?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 November 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  2. "Radha and Karthik made their debut in the same film". The Times of India. 15 June 2018. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  3. Ramanujam, Srinivasa (5 July 2018). "Wouldn't advise Gautam to do adult comedies like 'Iruttu Araiyil Murattu Kuthu', says dad Karthik". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  4. "Suresh is Ajith's villain". IndiaGlitz. 15 October 2009. Archived from the original on 23 November 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  5. Suresh. "Interview". Behindwoods (Interview). Interviewed by Jyothsna. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  6. "Kadal Pookkal". Cinema Today. Archived from the original on 4 August 2004. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  7. Rangarajan, Malathi (9 October 2002). "It's all about choices". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  8. Saravanan, T. (9 January 2011). "Always in reckoning". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  9. Yamunan, Sruthisagar (10 March 2019). "Ilaiyaraaja at 75: His preludes and interludes changed the way we listened to Tamil film music". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 28 September 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  10. Kumar, S. R. Ashok (13 September 2013). "Audio Beat: Megha — Musical cloudburst". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  11. "Ilayaraja reuses his classic song !". Behindwoods. 2 May 2013. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  12. Kini, Nandan. "A Novel Score". Planet Radio City. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  13. "IV Sasi's Ina (1982), AT Ummer borrows from Ilaiyaraja". Old Malayalam Cinema. 9 June 2010. Archived from the original on 11 November 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  14. Patrick, Sylvian (20 June 2018). "Projekt Ilaiyaraaja 9/365 — Aur Ek Prem Kahani". Medium. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  15. "Vaigai – An appealing love tale based on true incidents". Kollywoodtoday. 21 June 2009. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  16. "Sabesh and Murali's musical journey". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  17. theedsanan (1 February 2010). "Sanda – Vaadi En Kappa". Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2015 – via YouTube.
  18. "முதல் படத்துல ஒரு திட்டு கூட வாங்கலை - நடிகை ராதாவின் 'அலைகள் ஓய்வதில்லை' ப்ளாஷ்பேக் பேட்டி". Hindu Tamil Thisai. 18 July 2019. Archived from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  19. "சினிமா விமர்சனம்: அலைகள் ஓய்வதில்லை!". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 2 August 1981. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  20. Ramesh, Neeraja (23 September 2019). "Decoding Silk Smitha for Gen Z". The Times of India. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  21. "TOP 20 BEST LOVE STORIES IN TAMIL". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  22. DjKeeshan (28 December 2014). "Goundamani Senthil Comedy Chinna Pasanga Naanga Movie". Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2015 – via YouTube.
  23. Saroja (DVD)
  24. "Which language film won Bharathiraja his first National award?". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  25. "Ranbir's forgotten romance in Bachna Ae Haseeno". Rediff. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
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