Pallavi Anu Pallavi

Pallavi Anupallavi is a 1983 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Mani Ratnam in his directorial debut. It stars Anil Kapoor, Lakshmi, Vikram and Kiran Vairale in lead roles. The film depicts an urban romance in a refreshing and more natural manner than the films of those times and interweaves it with plots points like marital separation and a younger man falling in love with a slightly older woman. Balu Mahendra and Ilaiyaraaja were the film's cinematographer and music composer, respectively. The soundtrack and background score by Ilaiyaraaja are considered amongst his greatest works.The film earned huge critical acclaim from award committees.

Pallavi Anupallavi
Poster
Directed byMani Ratnam
Produced byT. Govindarajan
Written byMani Ratnam
Starring
Music byIlayaraja
CinematographyBalu Mahendra
Edited byB. Lenin
Production
company
Venus Pictures
Release date
1983
Running time
140 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageKannada

Plot

Having pledged his love for college girl Madhu (Kiran Vairale), Vijay (Anil Kapoor) finds himself entwined in a close friendship with Anu (Lakshmi), a married woman separated from her husband. Vijay grapples with the definition of love, treading the fine line between trust and attraction, amidst tremendous societal pressure. He is confused about his feelings for Anu, yet wants Madhu as his life partner. Amid all this is his youthful streak of rebellion, ready to take on the world despite the society's extreme reaction, which creates more grief than good. The movie is lauded for its open ending.

Cast

Production

After completing his MBA and beginning work as a management consultant, Mani Ratnam was keen to enter the film industry and thus accepted the invitation of his friends Ravishankar and Raman (the sons of director B. R. Panthulu and musician Sundaram Balachander respectively) to co-write the script of a Kannada film they were making, titled Bangarada Gani. Featuring Vishnuvardhan, Lakshmi, Ambareesh and Roja Ramani in the lead roles. The film was never completed and was later shelved. Mani Ratnam then decided to branch out as a director himself and wrote a script entirely in English, during a single month in 1980.[2] With the script of the film which he intended to make in Tamil, Ratnam first met Kamal Haasan to play the film's protagonist, after his friend Kitty arranged a meeting with the actor. Haasan demanded major changes to the script if he were to play the lead role, and introduced Ratnam to his brother Charuhasan, who pledged to help find the script a producer. Ratnam revealed that he was open to the idea of selling the script to a popular director so that he could learn about film-making during the production process, but his meetings with K. Balachander, P. Bharathiraja and J. Mahendran[3] were not successful. Haasan had later claimed that he was unable to work in Pallavi Anupallavi due to his commitment to Raja Paarvai (1981) and around the same time "also getting into Hindi films".[4]

Ratnam subsequently met several producers. The script was rejected by over twenty studios, including Rajkannu of Sri Amman Creations and Gowri Shankar of Devi Films. Subsequently, Ratnam's uncle Krishnamurthy and T. Govindarajan of Venus Films agreed to finance the film under the condition that he made it as a low-budget Kannada film. While P. C. Sriram was his original choice for cinematography, the producers insisted on an established cinematographer. Mani Ratnam then approached Balu Mahendra. Ratnam also convinced B. Lenin (who was incidentally his neighbour), to work as the editor, since he had been impressed with his editing of Mahendran's Uthiripookkal (1979).[3] Thotta Tharani who happened to meet Ratnam during the shoot of Raja Paarvai, which the director had gone to watch, joined the team next. For the music, Ratnam had initially signed a prominent composer who scored music for Kannada films, but wriggled out of the contract after being unimpressed by his work in another film during the period. Ratnam asked Balu Mahendra to introduce him to Ilaiyaraaja, who agreed to do the film for one-fifth of his usual remuneration.

While selecting the cast, Ratnam approached Lakshmi, with whom he had worked during the making of Bangarada Gani to portray the lead character with whom the younger man falls in love. Lakshmi was a well-established star at the time, and her coming on board, prompted Krishnamurthy to agree to financing the film. Anil Kapoor was chosen to portray the male protagonist after Ratnam was impressed with his performance in the Telugu film Vamsa Vruksham (1980). Anil Kapoor also helped bring Kiran Vairale on board when Suhasini turned down the role. Vikram who had been Lakshmi's costar in the eponymous Julie that had made her a household name, was roped in to play the role of her stranger husband. Rohit, the son of Srinath, was a child actor in the film and appeared in Mani Ratnam's first shot.[3]

Ratnam did not know Kannada before directing the film but learned it "on the job", as he extensively researched literature for the script at the USIS and British Council offices in Chennai.[5] With the help of his associate Shivanand, he was able to convert the English dialogues into Kannada and help Anil Kapoor and Kiran Vairale perform to their respective lines, in a language unfamiliar to them. The film was shot in Coorg and Bangalore, close to Venus Films' distribution centre in the city. Towards the end, the film ran into financial difficulties and it took twenty one months to finish the final three days of the shoot, owing to call-sheet conflicts.[3]

Soundtrack
Pallavi Anu Pallavi
Soundtrack album by
Ilaiyaraaja
Released1983
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length17:02
LabelSaregama

Ilaiyaraaja composed the film's background score and soundtrack, the lyrics for which were penned by R. N. Jayagopal.[6] In his biographical book Conversations with Mani Ratnam, Ratnam revealed that Balu Mahendra introduced him to Ilaiyaraaja. Ratnam told Raja that he was doing a Kannada film with a very small budget but wanted him to compose the music, while also confessing that he could not afford to pay the latter's market price. Raja agreed to work for one-fifth the amount he was getting at the time.[7] The composer would go on to collaborate with the director for nine more films, including acclaimed Tamil films like Mouna Ragam (1986), Nayakan (1987), Agni Natchathiram (1988), Anjali (1990) and Thalapathi (1991).[8]

Track list
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Nagu Endide"R. N. JayagopalS. Janaki4:23
2."Hrudaya Rangoli"R. N. JayagopalS. P. Sailaja4:06
3."Naguva Nayana"R. N. JayagopalS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki4:10
4."O Premi O Premi"R. N. JayagopalS. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:23
Total length:17:02

Release

The film was released in January 1983 and experienced moderate success at the box office, performing well in bigger cities and not so well in smaller towns and the villages.[3] Over the years with television becoming popular, it gained cult status owing to the subsequent popularity of the director and the actor.

Awards
1982–83 Karnataka State Film Awards

Legacy

Pallavi Anu Pallavi was dubbed in Telugu with same title and in Tamil language as Priya oh Priya.[9] Idea Cellular has used the tune of Naguva Nayana as their theme music for the advertisements.[10][11]

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gollark: You would not believe how many people end up running PotatOS despite people shouting "NO, VIRUS" then spreading it everywhere via disks.

References
  1. Rangan 2012, p. 289.
  2. "Pallavi Anu Pallavi's script was originally written in English". The Times of India. 28 March 2015. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  3. Rangan 2012, pp. 12–16.
  4. Haasan, Kamal (20 October 2012). "'Of course Velu Nayakan doesn't dance'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  5. Melwani, Lavina (26 September 2015). "Up close and personal with Mani Ratnam". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  6. "Pallavi Anu Pallavi (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – EP". iTunes. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  7. Rangan 2012, pp. 15–16.
  8. Rangan 2012, pp. 289–291.
  9. Vasudev, A. (2002). Cinemaya. p. 81.
  10. Srinivasan, Karthik. "Indian Advertisements". Itwofs. Archived from the original on 26 July 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  11. Venkateswaran, Vikram. "Happy Birthday Mani Ratnam: Tamil Cinema's Constant Gardener". The Quint. Retrieved 14 September 2018.

Bibliography
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