Kalyanaraman (1979 film)

Did You Know?

• When Doordarshan Kendra Madras announced a telecast of the film in April 1980, many students wrote letters asking it not be shown during exam season, and a bomb threat was later found to be a hoax.
• Ananda Vikatan rated the film 57 out of 100, praising Haasan's performance, Viswanathan's cinematography, and Rangarajan's direction.

Plot

Kalyanam is the naive, infantile son of Chinnadurai, a wealthy tea estate owner. Realising his son cannot manage the estate, Chinnadurai tries to get him married, but Kalyanam loves Shenbagam, a worker on the estate. The estate manager conspires with Perumal and cook Samipillai to kill Chinnadurai. On his deathbed, Chinnadurai reveals he abandoned his first wife Rajalakshmi and Kalyanam's twin brother Raman in Madras, advising Kalyanam to go there.

Kalyanam reveals this to Samipillai, who leaks it to the manager. Samipillai hires actors Kittu and Rangamani to pose as Raman and Rajalakshmi. Kalyanam overhears the gang gloating and runs to inform the police, but they corner and murder him. Shenbagam witnesses the killing and becomes mentally unstable; the gang cuts off the tongue of young Kuppu, rendering him mute.

Kalyanam, now a ghost, travels to Madras and finds Raman, telling him what happened. Raman arrives at the estate, exposes the frauds, and poses as Kalyanam's ghost to threaten Samipillai, who joins him. The manager's gang attacks Raman, but Kalyanam temporarily enters Raman's body, giving him power to fight. The gang is arrested due to Kuppu's testimony, and Raman marries Shenbagam.

Production

Panchu Arunachalam had dates for Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth for a potential film, but the actors did not want to appear together, so Arunachalam produced one film for each; the Haasan film became Kalyanaraman. Haasan recommended G. N. Rangarajan, assistant to S. P. Muthuraman, to direct, making it Rangarajan's directorial debut. The concept was based on Idhu Nijama (1948) and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976). Haasan played twin brothers and had his teeth fashioned by dentist G. Janakiraman for the role of Kalyanam. The film was shot prominently at Ooty, with a fight sequence at a 300-foot-high cliff at Coonoor Estate.

Soundtrack

The music for Kalyanaraman was handled by Ilaiyaraaja, with Panchu Arunachalam penning the lyrics. The track "Kaathal Vanthiruchu" takes loose inspiration from Uriah Heep's "Lady in Black". "Kathal Deepam" uses the Carnatic raga Natabhairavi, while "Ninaithaal Inikkum" is based on Suddha Dhanyasi and "Malargalil Aadum" on Shuddha Saveri. For the Telugu version Kalyana Ramudu, Rajasri wrote all the lyrics. Ilaiyaraaja's son Yuvan Shankar Raja later remixed "Kaathal Vanthiruchu" for the 2006 film Vallavan.

Legacy

Film historian G. Dhananjayan stated that Kalyanaraman established the comedy horror genre in Tamil cinema. The film was remade in Hindi as Ghazab (1982) and in Kannada as Sriramachandra (1992). A sequel, Japanil Kalyanaraman, was released in 1985, becoming the first sequel in Tamil cinema.