Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai

Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai (transl. Once Again a Love Story) is a 1985 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by Pratap K. Pothen in his directorial debut, and produced by Raadhika. They also star as the lead characters. The script was co-written by Pothen along with Somasundareshwar. The film revolves around the relationship between two mentally challenged people.

Not to be confused with Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai.

Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai
Poster
Directed byPratap K. Pothen
Produced byRaadhika
Written byPratap K. Pothen
Somasundareshwar
StarringPratap K. Pothen
Raadhika
Music byIlaiyaraaja
CinematographyP. C. Sreeram
Edited byB. Lenin
Production
company
Artiste Corporation
Release date
  • 15 February 1985 (1985-02-15)
[1]
Running time
130 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The cinematography and editing were handled by P. C. Sreeram and B. Lenin respectively. At the 32nd National Film Awards, the film won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director. It was theatrically released on 15 February 1985.

Plot

Sarasu (Raadhika) born to a rich eccentric businessman Badirnath (Dakshinamurthy) is a mentally challenged child. Unable to cope with her condition, Badrinath admits her in a home for such children and is taken care by a Christian Missionary Principal (Charu Haasan) and a guardian Juju Thatha (Ronni Patel), a kind old man. Sarasu meets Ganapathi or Guppi (Pratap K. Pothen), another intellectually challenged orphan and they strike a rare affection for each other and become inseparable.

Year pass by Badrinath and his wife come to take Sarasu for their son's wedding engagement. Sarasu innocently insists that Guppi should also accompany her and Guppi is reluctantly accommodated at the insistence of the Principal.

At the wedding party, Guppi and Sarasu bump into the engaged couple and notice their clandestine affair. Sarasu insists her parents to get her married with Guppi. In a weird twist of things the idea appeals to the guests and Badrinath agrees and Sarasu and Guppi's marriage takes place.

Guppi and Sarasu are sent to Korakunda, a mountain village along with Juju Thathta as their guardian. Korakunda is an unusual village inhabited by strange people; Manohar (Y. G. Mahendran), the photographer with a vintage tumbled-down box camera who specializes in taking the photos of the dead for the bereaved. Nylux Nalini, a footloose women who has illicit affairs, Kitney, a person of indeterminable age who files kites, the village headman and a few others.

Guppi and Sarasu get into a physical relationship and Sarasu becomes pregnant. One day in the woods, the drunken village headman tries to molest Sarasu and Guppi, who sees it throws a boulder on his head and kills him. Guppi is condemned to life in jail. Sarasu, separated from Guppi is in distressed agony. She is admitted for delivery in a hospital and Guppi, on special permission visits her. In their own innocent way they try to relive their past happier moments. She dies delivering a baby.

Guppi, unable to understand death, tries to revive her and when he fails and finds her motionless, snatches the newly born child and flashes the sharp edge of the blood-bottle menacingly at others. But he is quickly overwhelmed and taken back to the prison. Guppi never talked or laughed after the death of his Sarasu and dies after few years in the Jail.

Cast

Production
It was a gem of a thought. Who exactly is mad? It's a question of relative madness. I plumped in for two retardeds [sic]. I thought I'd get them married and make them discover love, almost like Adam and Eve. They don't know about sex.

—Pratap Pothen, on the film's origins[3]

Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai marked the directorial debut of Pratap Pothen.[4] He said that he "could find no lead actor for it, so I did it myself." Pothen portrayed negative roles in Telugu films in order to raise funds for the film.[5] The script was co-written by Somasundareshwar. He recalled that during the sets of Panneer Pushpangal (1981), Pothen promised him that he would direct a film based on his script.[6] The cinematography was handled by P. C. Sreeram.[7] The film was shot over the period of a year.[5] During the film's production, Pothen and Raadhika fell in love and got married; however they got divorced in 1986.[8]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and the lyrics were written by Gangai Amaran.[9]

No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Adhikaalai Nerame"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki04:01
2."Aathadi"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam04:12
3."Azhagana Indha"Gangai Amaran04:36
4."Devan Sabayiley"Kalyan04:13
5."Kutti Onnu"Saibaba04:38

Reception

At the 32nd National Film Awards, the film won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director.[10] The 1991 book Indian Cinema by the Directorate of Film Festivals says Pratap Pothen brought "superb craftsmanship" to his "sensitively told stories" such as Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai.[11]

gollark: People *sometimes* donate to charity, but rarely.
gollark: Not in significant amounts. And mostly not effective charities.
gollark: Yes, people are often really bad at interacting civilly with people who disagree with them.
gollark: They're with DS now, they can't respond to you.
gollark: One alternative interpretation I read somewhere was coordination problems - people don't do much because they feel like it won't be useful unless other people also do.

References
  1. Dhananjayan 2014, p. 282.
  2. ஜெயந்தன், ஆர்.சி. (17 August 2018). "இயக்குநரின் குரல்: ஜனகராஜைக் கண்டுபிடிக்க சி.ஐ.டி.யாக மாறினேன்!". The Hindu (Tamil). Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  3. Shiva Kumar, S. (3 July 1987). "Resurrection". The Indian Express. p. 12.
  4. "பிரதாப் போத்தன் 100 - ஸ்பெஷல் ஸ்டோரி!". Dinamalar (in Tamil). 17 March 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  5. Elias, Eshther (5 April 2014). "The comeback man". The Hindu. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  6. Ramesh, Deepika (6 January 2015). "K. Rajeshwar Interview: Future Perfect". Silverscreen.in. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  7. Umashanker, Sudha (19 November 2001). "Lens view of a life". The Hindu. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  8. "Heroines who fell for their directors". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  9. "Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai (1985)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  10. "32nd National Film Award" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  11. Indian Cinema. Directorate of Film Festivals. 1991. p. 17.

Bibliography
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