Oru Thalai Ragam

Oru Thalai Raagam (lit. 'One Beat Melody', fig. One Side Love) is a 1980 Tamil-language Indian romance film written by T. Rajendar, produced and directed by E. M. Ibrahim. , the film stars Shankar, Roopa, Chandrasekhar, Usha Rajendar and Ravindran. The film earned critical acclaim and became a superhit at the box office.[1]

Oru Thalai Raagam
Promotional poster
Directed byT. Rajendar
Produced byE. M. Ibrahim
Written byT. Rajendar
Screenplay byTeam Mansoor Creations
Story byT. Rajendar
(Dialogues)
StarringShankar
Thyagu
Chandrasekhar
Usha Rajendar
Roopa
Ravindran
Music byT. Rajendar
CinematographyRobert
Rajasekharan
Edited byD. Raj
Production
company
Mansoor Creations
Distributed byMansoor Creations
Release date
  • 2 May 1980 (1980-05-02)
Running time
145 min
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

Oru Thalai Raagam is the heart breaking love story of Subhadra and Raja, played by (Roopa) and (Shankar) respectively. They are classmates and their colleagues/classmates include Ravindran, Chandrasekhar, Kailash, Thyagu and others. The day starts for them at the Railway Station, where they all catch the train to the college. Raja sincerely loves Subhadra, but she does not reciprocate as she is an introvert as well as she is afraid of society's backlash. Moreover, her mother's character isn't spoken good by the same people. Even though Subhadra loves Raja, she always tries to insult him whenever opportunity comes, but on the positive side, she sometimes shows her feelings for him as well.

Raja's life becomes hell as he couldn't concentrate on his studies and he is not taking care of his health as well as he gets affected by liver jaundice. Raja cuts a sorry figure among his colleagues and all of them want Subhadra to accept Raja's love. Later Raja's health deteriorates as he still neglects to have proper food and rest. Finally, college days are over for the batch and Subhadra decides to proclaim her love. She gets in the train and see Raja sitting in the compartment and she happily starts speaking with him saying to accept his love and seek apology for her indifferent behavior, but it was too late as Raja dies during her proclamation.

Cast

Production

The film was entirely shot at AVC college in Mayiladuthurai where Rajendar was an alumnus.[2] The film marked the acting debut of Shankar, Roopa, Thyagu and Ravindran.[3][4]

The film marked the debut of T. Rajender as writer and composer. The film's producer E. M. Ibrahim agreed to produce this film on the basis of one condition that Ibrahim himself will be credited as director while Rajender would be credited as the film's screenwriter and music composer. During the shoot, since Ibrahim had no prior experience of film direction, Rajender shot the whole film.[5]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by T. Rajendar. [6] The songs became successful and made Rajender popular as a composer.[2] Rajender recalled that though he had composed the score for the film, his name was not credited for background score in the film which made him swear not to watch the film again which he follows till date, Post this album T. M. Soundararajan has lost his market he was criticised by greats because of singing such a awful songs.[5]

SongSinger(s)LyricsDuration
"En Kathai" T. M. Soundararajan T. Rajendar 3.24
"Ithu Kuzhanthai" S. P. Balasubrahmanyam 4.38
"Kadavul Vazhum" P. Jayachandran 5.00
"Kudaiyile Karuvaadu" Malaysia Vasudevan 3.25
"Manmadan" Jolly Abraham 4.13
"Nan Oru Raasiyilaa Raja" T. M. Soundararajan 4.24
"Vasamilla Malar Ithu" S. P. Balasubrahmanyam 4.48

Release and reception

Oru Thalai Ragam was released on 2 May 1980.[7] Ananda Vikatan rated the film 50 out of 100.[8] The film completed 365 days of run in several theatres.[9][4] Initial days after the release saw low responses at the box office. But the film became "super hit" afterwards.[10][11]

Critic Baradwaj Rangan mentions the film in his book Conversations with Mani Ratnam as an example of a love story where the lead characters hardly speak at all.[12] Film historian S. Theodore Baskaran felt that Oru Thalai Ragam and Nammavar were the "two most representative Tamil films about students".[13]

References
  1. P George, Daniel (15 October 2010). "Days of Liberty are now history-Kodambakkam Landmark Is Latest To Go". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  2. Saqaf, Syed Muthahar; Balaganessin, M. (4 August 2014). "A film star visits his Alma Mater". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  3. Pradeep, K. (3 April 2015). "In a brand new role". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  4. Kumar, P. K. Ajith (26 June 2010). "The circle of life". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  5. "பிளாஷ்ஃ பேக்: ஒருதலை ராகம் படத்தை பார்க்காத டி.ராஜேந்தர்" [Flashback: T Rajendar never saw the film Oru Thalai Ragam]. Dinamalar. 27 June 2016. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  6. Gopalakrishna, P. S. (23 January 2014). "In reference to film music". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  7. Ramji, V. (28 April 2018). "ஒருதலை ராகம் - அப்பவே அப்படி கதை!". Kamadenu. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  8. "சினிமா விமர்சனம்: ஒரு தலை ராகம்". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 25 May 1980. Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  9. "The lover boys of Indian cinema-100 years of Indian cinema". Galatta Cinema. December 2012.
  10. Preminda Jacob (2008). Celluloid Deities: The Visual Culture of Cinema and Politics in South India. Lexington Books. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-7391-3130-5. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  11. Rao, Subha J. (30 July 2011). "The real reel deal". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  12. Rangan, Baradwaj (2013). Conversations with Mani Ratnam. Penguin Books. pp. 33–34. ISBN 9788184756906. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  13. Joshi, Namrata (27 February 2016). "Where is the student in Indian cinema?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 July 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
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