Arangetram (film)

Arangetram is a 1973 Tamil-language family drama film directed by K. Balachander, starring Prameela, Sivakumar, S. V. Subbaiah, Kamal Haasan and M. N. Rajam in prominent roles. The film marked Kamal Haasan's first adult role, while, along with Prameela, Jayachitra, Jayasudha, Sashikumar and Achacho Chitra made their debuts in Tamil cinema. V. Kumar composed the music for the film, which was the last Balachander film he worked on.

The film told the story of a young woman who is forced to become a prostitute in order to support her conservative, but extremely poor Brahmin family. It carried hard hitting messages and very bold scenes and was controversial at the time of its release, but became a commercial hit. The film was featured as part of the Tamil Nadu government's information campaign promoting family planning.

Synopsis

Lalitha is the eldest daughter of a pious and conservative Brahmin family. She has eight siblings and poverty rules reign. Her aunt comes with her unmarried daughter and starts living with them. they are a spendthrift and creates lots of problem. She decides to take up the family mantle and goes to work. She starts work as a office help. she travels to Madras to meet a politician for requesting her brothers medicine seat. She was advised to go home. Another person promises to get a seat for her brother but forces her to something else. she tries to commit suicide and drops it when she talks with her brother. she leaves to Hyderbad with a promotion. Due to family needs and ill fate, she ends up as a prostitute but manages to settle all her brothers and sisters. when she returns home for a visit, her mom realises something is different with lalitha. when Kamals marraige with the local girl is fixed her aunt makes trouble and spreads the truth with all. her aunt wanted to marry her daughter to kamal. Her family ditches her when they come to know about her dark side. Thangavelu, a man who was once rejected by her marries her. She loses her sanity in the end.

Cast

• Prameela as Lalitha
• S. V. Subbaiah as Ramu Shastrigal
• Sivakumar as Thangavelu
• Kamal Haasan as Thyagu
• Sashikumar as Pasupathi
• M. N. Rajam as Visalam
• Sundari Bai as Janaki
• Jayachitra as Mangalam
• Jayasudha as Devi
• Senthamarai as Nadesa Udaiyaar
• Achacho Chitra as Meenu
• Girija as Girija
• Neelu as a music teacher
• Gemini Mahalingam
• Harikrishna
• Jaishankar as himself (Special appearance)
• Lakshmi as herself (Special appearance)

Production

T. S. B. K. Moulee in an interview in 2014 told that Balachander, who used to watch Moulee's plays, wanted him to write a comedy track for the film as he liked Moulee's style of writing. Moulee, however, felt that the film did not warrant any separate comedy as it would "dilute its seriousness" and did not work on the film.

Music

Arangetram's music was composed by V. Kumar. It marks the last collaboration between Kumar and Balachander. Kannadasan had written the lyrics.

Song	Singers	Duration (mm:ss)
Aaramba Kaalaththil	S. P. Balasubramaniam, P. Susheela	3:01
Mappilai Rakasiyam	L. R. Easwari, T. V. Rathinam	3:20
Aandavanin Thottathile	P. Susheela	3:14
Moothaval Nee	K. Swarna, Trichy Loganathan	3:13

Remakes

Balachander remade this film in Hindi as Aaina with Mumtaz playing the lead supported by Rajesh Khanna and Kamal Hassan. This was Kamal Haasan's debut Hindi film. Later he was launched as a hero with Ek Duuje Ke Liye by K. Balachander.

External links

• Arangetram at IMDb