Iru Kodugal

Iru Kodugal (transl. Two lines) is a 1969 Tamil-language Indian drama film directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Gemini Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, Jayanthi, Nagesh, V. S. Raghavan, S. N. Lakshmi and others. The story revolves around one man who was married to two women.[1] Iru Kodugal won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil, the first film by Balachander to win the award.[2] The film which was based on a stage play of same name became a superhit. It was remade in Kannada as Eradu Rekhegalu, in Telugu as Collector Janaki and in Hindi as Sanjog.

Iru Kodugal
Theatrical release poster
Directed byK. Balachander
Produced byN. Selvaraj
B. Duraisamy
N. Krishnan
V. Govindarajan
Screenplay byK. Balachander
Based onIru Kodugal
by Joseph Anandan
StarringGemini Ganesan
Sowcar Janaki
Jayanthi
Music byV. Kumar
CinematographyN. Balakrishnan
Edited byN. R. Kittu
Production
company
Kalakendra Movies
Release date
  • 2 October 1969 (1969-10-02)
Running time
176 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

Gopinath (Gemini Ganesan) falls in love with Janaki (Sowcar Janaki) and they get married in Kasi. The marriage is not accepted by Gopinath's mother and the couple gets separated. Janaki is pregnant and her father (V. S. Raghavan), realising that no man will marry Janaki a second time, decides to make her a collector. Gopinath meanwhile had moved to South India, where he later married Jaya (Jayanthi) by hiding his previous marriage. They live a happy life with their three children and Jaya's father. Gopinath works as a clerk in the collector's office. A new collector arrives at the office, and it turns out to be Janaki. They tend to work together, until one of the employees in Janaki's office, Babu (Nagesh), spreads a rumour stating that there is an affair between Janaki and Gopinath. This rumour reaches Jaya and she is completely disturbed. Jaya discovers the secret of Gopinath's affair with Janaki. Meanwhile, the sons of both Janaki and Jaya, Ramu and Prabhakar drowned in water and have been admitted to Hospital. Somehow Jaya manages the disturbance of the secret and accepts Janaki as her sister. But Ramu dies in hospital while Prabhakar survives. Jaya gives Janaki her son as a gift. Janaki and Prabhakar leave for abroad as Janaki received her duty abroad.

Cast

Production

Iru Kodugal was based on the stage play of same name written by Joseph Anandan.[4] In a scene in the film Sowcar Janaki's character meets the Chief Minister. Balachander wanted to bring in former Chief Minister C. N. Annadurai (he died 1969) for the scene but did not want to use a body double in his place. The Chief Minister is not seen in the scene, only a voice sounding like Annadurai's is heard and a pair of glasses on the table and a pen in the foreground are seen.[5]

Soundtrack

The music was scored by V. Kumar who composed four songs for the film. Vaali wrote the lyrics.[6][7]

No.SongSingersLength
1"Moondru Thamizh Thoondri"T. M. Soundararajan, A. L. Raghavan, K. Suvarna04:58
2"Naan Oru Gumastha"T. M. Soundararajan02:50
3"Punnagai Mannan"Jamuna Rani, P. Susheela05:04
4"Kavidhai Ezhudhiya"P. Leela, P. Susheela02:37

Awards

Release and reception

Iru Kodugal was released on 2 October 1969.[10] The film was a commercial success.[11] It was remade in Kannada as Eradu Rekhegalu, in Telugu as Collector Janaki and in Hindi as Sanjog.[12]

The Indian Express praised Balachander for adapting the play very well: "No doubt they are very good dramatic moments but there is tendency to overdo the symbolism" and went on to praise the performances of the lead actors.[13] Malathi Rangarajan appreciated Janaki's performance "stomped the screen and stole our hearts [..] came up with a stellar performance".[14]

Legacy

Clips from Iru Kodugal were screened along with clips from other films such as Server Sundaram (1964), Arangetram (1973), Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974), Avargal (1977) and Azhagan (1991) at a function held in Balachander's honour at Tiruchirappalli in January 2015,[15] a month after his death.[16] Balachander later used the song "Punnagai Mannan" as the title for his 1986 film of the same name.[17]

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References
  1. Murugesan, Deepauk (23 April 2011). "Trois". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  2. Rangarajan, Malathi (2 May 2011). "The granddaddy of Tamil films". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  3. Rangan, Baradwaj (10 November 2017). "Aramm Movie Review". Film Companion. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  4. Vijaykumar, Sushila. "Crossing Linguistic Borders: K. Balachander's Multilingual Filmography" (PDF). p. 127. ISBN 978-81-922741-5-7. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  5. Srinivasan, Meera (15 September 2009). "Significant contribution to Tamil theatre, cinema". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  6. "Iru Kodugal (1969)". Raaga.com. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  7. "Iru Kodugal". JioSaavn. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  8. Ashok Kumar, S. R. (25 December 2006). "Still ready to act: Sowcar Janaki". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  9. India Who's who. INFA Publications. 2000. pp. 282, 286.
  10. "Iru Kodugal". The Indian Express. 2 October 1969. p. 5.
  11. Bharathi, Veena (13 October 2013). "Celebrating a big screen beauty". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  12. "Remembering the prodigy: 10 most memorable films of K Balachander". Hindustan Times. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  13. "Cinema". The Indian Express. 4 October 1969. p. 12.
  14. Rangarajan, Malathi (8 March 2014). "Women of Steel". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  15. Srinivasan, G. (22 January 2015). "Rich tributes paid to Balachander". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  16. "K Balachander: The man who gave us Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan dies". The Economic Times. Press Trust of India. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  17. Ashok Kumar, S. R. (10 February 2006). "At 100, going strong". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
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