Gaayathri
Gaayathri is a Tamil film directed by R. Pattabhiraman. It stars Rajinikanth and Sridevi in the lead roles. Once again, Rajini plays a cruel husband of Sridevi. Jaishankar plays a guest role in this movie. Singer Sujatha Mohan made her debut as a singer through this film at the age of 12. The movie was based on the story "Gayathri", written by Sujatha Rangarajan. According to Panchu Arunachalam, this was the movie that turned Rajini's fortunes as seeing the audience's favorable response to Rajini (Villain) over Jaishankar (hero), he decided to cast him in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri.
| Gaayathri | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | R. Pattabhiraman |
| Produced by | Vijaya-Meena |
| Written by | Panchu Arunachalam |
| Story by | Sujatha |
| Starring | Rajinikanth Jaishankar Sridevi Rajasulochana |
| Music by | Ilaiyaraaja |
| Cinematography | Vinayagam |
| Edited by | B. Kanthasamy |
Production company | Vijaya Meena Films |
Release date | 7 October 1977 |
Running time | 122 Minutes |
| Language | Tamil |
Plot
Rajarathnam (Rajinikanth) is a rich man who lives with his sister Sarasu (Rajasulochana) and a young house maid in Chennai. Her sister arranges a marriage for him with Gaayathri (Sridevi), who lives in Trichy. Soon after they marry, Gaayathri moves to Rajarathnam's house and gets shocked to find that things are not what they actually seem, but there is something fishy with the family. Rajarathnam is a blue-film producer who records the bedroom scenes of himself with his wife (Sridevi), without her knowledge and sells it on the black market. Gaayathri initially believes Rajarathnam, but later discovers that he was already married to a woman who has become mad now. Ganesh (Jaishankar) comes to know about this and tries to free Gaayathri from the hands of Rajarathnam. But, unfortunately Gaayathri dies in the end.
Cast
- Sridevi as Gaayathri
- Rajinikanth as Rajarathnam
- Jaishankar as Ganesh cameo appearance
- Rajasulochana as Sarasu, Rajarathnam's Elder Sister
- S. A. Ashokan as Shama Iyer
- Rajee as Indra
- Venniradai Moorthy as Chellappa & Krishnaswamy
- M. N. Rajam as Gaayathri's Mother
- Delhi Kumar as Gaayathri's Father
- Tiger Prabhakar
Soundtrack
All lyrics are written by Panchu Arunachalam; all music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Kaalai Paniyil Aadum" | Sujatha Mohan | 4:00 |
| 2. | "Vaazhve Mayama" | B. S. Sasirekha | 3:57 |
| 3. | "Aattam Kondattam" | P. Susheela | 4:06 |
| 4. | "Unnai Thaan" | A. L. Raghavan, S. Janaki | 3:40 |