Apoorva Raagangal
Apoorva Raagangal (pronounced [apuːɾʋa ɾaːɡaŋɡaɭ] transl. Rare melodies) is a 1975 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. It stars Kamal Haasan, Sundarrajan, Srividya and Jayasudha, while Nagesh and Rajinikanth, in his feature film debut, play supporting roles. The film revolves around Prasanna (Haasan) who falls in love with the much older Bhairavi (Srividya) while Bhairavi's daughter Ranjani (Jayasudha) is drawn to Prasanna's father Mahendran (Sundarrajan).
For the TV series, see Apoorva Raagangal (TV series).Apoorva Raagangal
K. Balachander
- V. Govindarajan
- J. Duraisamy
N. R. Kittu
- 15 August 1975
146 minutes[1]
India
Tamil
Apoorva Raagangal's theme was based on a riddle featured in the Indian folktale collection Vetala Panchavimshati about a king marrying a woman and his son marrying her mother, and Vetala, the riddler asking Vikramaditya what would be their kinship relations if these couples were to beget children. The film was produced by V. Govindarajan and J. Duraisamy under the Kalakendra Films banner, photographed by B. S. Lokanath and edited by N. R. Kittu; the music is composed by M. S. Viswanathan. Unlike many contemporaneous Tamil films, it was shot entirely in actual houses for their interiors without building sets, as Balachander wanted to convey a more authentic narration.
Apoorva Raagangal was released on 15 August 1975. Despite exploring the concept of relationships between people with wide age gaps, which challenged Indian social mores, it received critical acclaim and became a commercial success, and a breakthrough for Srividya and Haasan. The film won three National Film Awards, including Best Feature Film in Tamil, and three Filmfare Awards South in the Tamil branch: Best Feature Film, Best Director for Balachander and Best Actor for Haasan, and a Special Award for Srividya. It was remade in Telugu as Thoorpu Padamara (1976) where Srividya and Nagesh reprised their roles, and in Hindi by Balachander as Ek Nai Paheli (1984) where Haasan reprised his role.
Plot[edit]
Prasanna is a young man who indulges in several revolutionary activities against the wishes of his father Mahendran, a widower. After Prasanna tells him that, due to the price of rice increasing, he stole rice from a lorry, distributed it to the poor and set fire to the lorry before the police arrived, a disgusted Mahendran helps the police arrest him, widening the already existing rift between them. After his release, Prasanna opts to stay away from his hometown, Bangalore, and reaches Madras.
One day, Prasanna is beaten up for abusing the passengers of a car that splashed water on him. Carnatic singer Bhairavi, returning home after a katcheri, notices him lying unconscious on the roadside, takes him home and her doctor friend Suri treats him. At Bhairavi's request, Prasanna continues to live in her house even after he recovers. He slowly develops passionate feelings for her even though she is much older.
Before Prasanna's arrival, Bhairavi's daughter Ranjani, who believes she was adopted, learns that she is actually Bhairavi's biological daughter born out of wedlock. Unable to digest her mother's hypocrisy, she runs away from home and meets Mahendran in Bangalore while trying to sell some items. She ends up staying at his house for a few days at his request. Impressed by his love for his deceased wife, his longing for his son Prasanna who left him, and his commitment to help her, she expresses a desire to marry him, despite the fact that he is old enough to be her father.
Both Bhairavi and Mahendran reject Prasanna and Ranjani's proposals, citing their age difference and other situations, but with perseverance, Prasanna and Ranjani are able to convince them that their respective marriages could work. Bhairavi is forced to accept Prasanna's proposal when he ends his revolutionary activities and takes up music for her sake, becoming a mridangam player. Prasanna is happy that Bhairavi has accepted his proposal, but Pandiyan, her ex-lover and Ranjani's father, turns up to meet her and to apologise. Prasanna does not allow this and, as Pandiyan is dying from blood cancer, takes him away for treatment at his place. He tells Pandiyan of his plan to marry Bhairavi and seeks his co-operation. Pandiyan agrees not to meet her.
Mahendran, seeing an advertisement placed by Bhairavi about her missing daughter, comes to meet Bhairavi at her house and sees Prasanna's photograph there. He realises they are in love. Mahendran advertises for his missing son. Bhairavi sees the advertisement so she tells Prasanna to get his father's consent before marrying her. They both meet Mahendran, who introduces Ranjani as Prasanna's future mother since she is his future wife. A riddle is explained: Prasanna's wife will be the mother of his father's wife, meaning Ranjani will be the mother-in-law of her own mother and Mahendran will be the son-in-law of his own son. Mahendran asks Prasanna how this riddle is going to be cleared in their case.
During Bhairavi's next katcheri, where Prasanna is a mridangam player, she sings "Kelviyin Nayagane, Indha Kelvikku Badhil Edhayya?" (Oh hero of the question, what is the answer to this question?). Ranjani changes her mind and joins her mother by singing at the concert. Observing this, Prasanna also changes his mind and joins his father. When all these issues are cleared, Pandiyan sends a note to Bhairavi in the middle of the katcheri. Bhairavi searches for him after it ends and finds him dead with a note in his hand, wishing her well with Prasanna. She erases the kumkuma from her forehead to declare herself a widow and leaves with Ranjani, while Prasanna joins Mahendran.
Kannadasan, Jaishankar and members of the Madras-based United Amateur Artistes make "friendly appearances".[2]
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
The Indian folktale collection Vetala Panchavimshati features many stories where the ghost-like being Vetala poses many riddles to Vikramaditya. In the final riddle, a king marries a woman and his son marries her mother; Vetala asks, "If these couples were to beget children, what would be their kinship relations?" and Vikramaditya keeps quiet since it does not have an answer. This riddle inspired K. Balachander to write the script of Apoorva Raagangal, which he would also direct.[6][7][4] V. Govindarajan and J. Duraisamy produced the film under their production banner, Kalakendra Films. B. S. Lokanath was chosen as the cinematographer, N. R. Kittu as the editor, and Ramasamy as the art director.[8][9]
Before the film's release, author N. R. Dasan accused Balachander of plagiarising Verum Mann, a story he had written for the magazine Kannadasan. The matter was taken to the Madras High Court, and Dasan won the case. Although he did not seek money, the judge ordered Balachander to pay him ₹1,000 (equivalent to ₹28,000 or US$340 in 2023) as a fine.[10][11]
Themes[edit]
Apoorva Raagangal explores the concept of relationships between couples with a large disparity in their ages, which challenged Indian social mores.[2][29][30] Although it is based on a Vetala Panchavimshati riddle, it has frequently been compared to the American film 40 Carats (1973), which tells the story of a widow who falls in love with a much younger man.[31][32] In Apoorva Raagangal, Ranjani often poses the riddle "Ennudaya appa yaarukku maamanaro, avarudaya marumagalin appa en maganukku maamanar. Appa avarukkum enakkum enna uravu?" (My father is father-in-law to someone; that person's daughter-in-law's father is my son's father-in-law. What is the relationship between him and me?), summing up the film's theme.[9] While the source riddle in Vetala Panchavimshati does not have an answer,[7] G. Dhananjayan believes the answer to the film's riddle is, "for a husband, the relation is his wife and for the wife, the relation is her husband".[4]
Because one of the lead characters is a Carnatic singer, the film uses various Carnatic music terms as placeholders to carry forward the narrative.[3][33][34] The first is "sarali varisai", referring to the beginner lessons that Carnatic music students learn; "mohanam", meaning enchantment or infatuation, appears when Prasanna falls in love; and the film ends with "mangalam", referring to the closing part of a katcheri.[3] The female lead characters are named after the Carnatic ragas Bhairavi and Ranjani.[35][36] V. Ramji of the Hindu Tamil Thisai believes the scene where Prasanna beats up a man for not standing still when "Jana Gana Mana" (the Indian national anthem) is playing, reflects Balachander's penchant for depicting patriotism.[37] During Pandiyan's first appearance, "Sruthi Bedham" (Change of Sruthi) appears. Historian Mohan Raman said that by including these words, Balachander "meant that the man who changed the course of the story would also the change the industry".[38] Anand Kumar RS, of The News Minute, however, says the term which also means "pitch distortion", was used to symbolise Pandiyan making "an entry at the wrong time".[33]
Balachander said Pandiyan's first shot was deliberate and representative of Rajinikanth making his first appearance in cinema.[39] According to critic Naman Ramachandran, the character is not entirely villainous despite popular belief since he commits no villainous act on screen. Having deserted Bhairavi after impregnating her offscreen, in the present he voluntarily agrees to stay away from her after realising she is content with Prasanna. Ramachandran said three things that happen soon after Pandiyan's death prove he is not a villain: the music playing in the background is the type usually played when a sympathetic character dies; Bhairavi erases her kumkuma, like any Indian woman would upon becoming a widow; and Pandiyan is found to be holding a note saying his last wish is to see the raga and tala meet, referring to the proposed joint performance of Bhairavi the singer and Prasanna the mridangam player.[40] Dhananjayan considers the entire story of the film is conveyed through the song "Kelviyin Nayagane".[41]
Remakes[edit]
In 1976, Apoorva Raagangal was remade by Dasari Narayana Rao in Telugu as Thoorpu Padamara; Srividya and Nagesh reprised their roles.[70] In 1984, the film was remade in Hindi as Ek Nai Paheli by Balachander himself, with Haasan reprising his role.[67]
Legacy[edit]
Apoorva Raagangal became a landmark in Tamil cinema, and a breakthrough for Srividya and Haasan.[71][72][73] The Times of India wrote that it was "innovative for the way it brought out the O Henry sort of twist in the plot. [...] It was experimental in bringing out complexities involved in relationships and how certain relationships, no matter what, do not leave you and emerge abruptly to create new equations."[30] Chitra Mahesh of The Hindu wrote that it "was bold and unapologetic about love transcending age, caste and all barriers one can think of".[74] In 2011, after Balachander had been given the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff called the film one of his best and wrote, "Many filmmakers of that time would have hesitated to touch a subject like this, particularly at a time when relationships were still being gingerly tested on celluloid. But not K Balachander."[75] The scene where a drunk Suri talks to his own shadow and hurls the empty glass at it while saying "Cheers" led to filmgoers imitating him and throwing cups on the lobby walls in theatres.[76][77]
In 2003, Rediff wrote, "In an era where every other moviemaker claims to have come up with a daring, original, premise, this 28-year-old film is worth remembering. A trademark K Balachander film, this was the first to showcase Kamal's histrionic abilities."[78] In 2015, Tamil Canadian journalist D. B. S. Jeyaraj wrote, "Though Nagesh has acted in many different roles in Balachander films, one sequence that is perhaps best remembered is the drunkard-doctor of [Apoorva Raagangal]."[79] Director Mani Ratnam credited Balachander, with Mahendran and C. V. Sridhar, for "weaning the audience away from theatricality", citing a scene in Apoorva Raagangal as an example: "The shadow of the woman upstairs drying her hair falls across the path of the rebellious young man sneaking out of the house. It is enough to stop him. This scene could have been dramatic, with lot of dialogue. Instead you get a silent visual."[80] The film was novelised in 2008 by Vikatan Prasuram.[81]
Apoorva Raagangal has been referenced in other Rajinikanth films. In Athisaya Piravi (1990), Yama (Vinu Chakravarthy) has to restore Kaalai (Rajinikanth) to life by putting him in the body of a lookalike. He shows him numerous alternatives, one of which is Pandiyan from Apoorva Raagangal; Kaalai refuses after learning that Pandiyan is going to die of blood cancer.[82] In Petta (2019), Kaali (Rajinikanth) opens the gates to a house in a scene that director Karthik Subbaraj confirmed was inspired by Pandiyan's first scene in Apoorva Raagangal.[83]