Enga Veettu Pillai

Enga Veettu Pillai (transl. The Son of Our House) is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language masala film[1] written by Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy and directed by Chanakya. A remake of his own 1964 Telugu film Ramudu Bheemudu, it stars M. G. Ramachandran and B. Saroja Devi, with S. V. Ranga Rao, M. N. Nambiar, Rathna and Pandari Bai in supporting roles. The film is about two identical but contrasting twins who were separated at birth, and what happens when they cross paths.

Enga Veettu Pillai
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChanakya
Produced by
Screenplay bySakthi T. K. Krishnasamy
Based onRamudu Bheemudu
by D. V. Narasa Raju
Starring
Music byViswanathan–Ramamoorthy
Cinematography
Edited byC. P. Jambulingam
Production
company
Distributed byEmgeeyaar Pictures
Release date
  • 14 January 1965 (1965-01-14)
Running time
183 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Enga Veettu Pillai was produced by B. Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani. It was the second film to feature Ramachandran in two roles after released 1958's Nadodi Mannan. Cinematography was handled by A. Vincent, and editing by C. P. Jambulingam. The film was primarily shot at Vauhini Studios, and filming was completed within 45 days.

Enga Veettu Pillai was released on 14 January 1965, Pongal day, and emerged a major box office success, running for over 25 weeks in theatres in Chennai,Trichy,Coimbatore,Madurai,Thanjavur,Trichy and thereby becoming a silver jubilee film. It was also the first film that won Ramachandran Best Actor awards from both the Madras Film Fans' and Filmgoer's Associations.

Plot

Ramu is an innocent & cowardly man – the heir to all riches of Poonjolai zamin. He has been raised that way by his sister Susheela and her husband Gajendran. Ramu shivers at the very mention of his brother in law's name and a whiplash is Gajendran's favourite form of punishment. Gajendran wants to get Ramu married to Leela for her wealth and he demands dowry, but she is turned off by his cowardice.

Gajendran plans to take all off Ramu's wealth and kick him out of the house. Ramu over hears this and runaway.

Ilango is a jobless young man, prone to pick a fight and for this reason, he cause trouble for his mother. Ilango chases a thief who steal Leela's purse and Leela takes him home mistaking him as Ramu. Ilango enjoys their attention and does not reveal his true identity to them.

Meanwhile, Santha a village girl finds Ramu who is now unconscious due to hunger and bring him home to his mother Rushyendramani. Ilango teaches a lesson to Gajendran while Ramu learns the ways of the world.

Gajendran is angered as Ilango interferes in factory matters and made him powerless in front of the workers. He beats his wife susheela accusing her for encouraging Ilango. A fight ensues between Ilango and Gajendran, Gajendran leave the house with his sister and daughter, Meena.

Due to this, Susheela fall ill and Gajendran rejects Ilango's request to come home. Ilango decides to leave and reveal that he was not Ramu through a letter to Gajendran. Gajendran kidnaps Govindan who is a friend of Ilango and get to know about his whereabouts. Gajendran's goons kidnap Ramu mistaking him for Ilango.

The rest of the story reveals that Ramu and Ilango are brothers who got separated during their childhood. Ilango, born Lakshmanan, was adopted by a childless couple who renamed him Ilango. Ilango comes to rescue Ramu and after a fight Gajendran see them together and have a change of heart.

The film ends with Ramu marrying Santha and Ilango marrying Leela with the blessings of Gajendran and all family members.

Cast
Supporting actors
Supporting actresses

Production

Enga Veettu Pillai was a remake of the 1964 Telugu film Ramudu Bheemudu.[3] Tapi Chanakya who directed the Telugu version has also directed Tamil version. Sakthi Krishnaswamy wrote the dialogues for the film. A. Vincent was recruited as the director of photography and C. P. Jambulingam edited the film.[4] This was the second film to feature M. G. Ramachandran in dual roles after 1958's Nadodi Mannan.[5] The dual roles consists of a scared heir and a brave man.[6]

The makers were set deadline by producers to complete the film within 45 days to release it in time for the festive occasion of Pongal. Sets were erected in all the floors at Vauhini Studios. For the scene involving both Ramachandrans who cross each other, Vincent used lighting mask technique to shoot the scene.[7]

Once during the shooting, the director found the actors struggling with the words, the director asked Sakthi's assistant to change the words, despite Ramachandran warning him not to. Sakthi heard this, came to him took the dialogue papers, tore them and walked away saying no one can change his dialogues. Ramachandran who watched all this with a smile called the director and told him to go to the writer's house to apologise. Sakthi came back and wrote dialogues that were agreeable to all.[8]

Raja Sandow, wrestler appeared in a small role in the film, his scene in the film is based on the real life incident happened in his life during his experiences of his first stint at acting. Ramachandran who came to know about the incident incorporated it in the film.[9][10] During the shoot of a duet song, B. Nagi Reddy expressed disappointment that the costumes and lyrics were not jelling well in one stanza of a song, during next day Ramachandran completed the shots and Nagireddy was surprised seeing the involvement of Ramachandran.[11]

Soundtrack
Enga Veettu Pillai
Soundtrack album to Enga Veettu Pillai by
Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy
GenreFilm soundtrack
Length31:11
LanguageTamil
LabelHMV
ProducerViswanathan–Ramamoorthy

The soundtrack album was composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy and the lyrics were penned by Vaali and Alangudi Somu.[12] The song "Naan Aanaiyittal", written by Vaali, had two versions; the film version had word "kadavul" (god) and Ramachandran did not agree to use the word but later relented after being requested by Vaali, but it got changed into the word "thalaivar" (leader) in audio records.[11] The song remains one of the famous songs from the film.[13] The song "Kumari Pennin" was remixed by Srikanth Deva in Perumal (2009).[14]

Track list[15]
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Naan Aanaiyitaal"VaaliT. M. Soundararajan05:05
2."Kankalum Kaavadi"Alangudi SomuL. R. Eswari, Chorus05:08
3."Kumari Pennin"VaaliT. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela05:50
4."Malarukku Thendral"Alangudi SomuL. R. Eswari, P. Susheela04:59
5."Naan Maanthoppil"VaaliT. M. Soundararajan, L. R. Eswari05:56
6."Penn Ponaal"VaaliT. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela04:13
Total length:31:11

Release and reception

Enga Veettu Pillai was released on 14 January 1965, Pongal day, and distributed by Emgeeyaar Pictures in Madras.[16][17] The film emerged a major box office success, running for over 25 weeks in theatres, thereby becoming a silver jubilee film. It sold 1.2 million tickets in Madras and yielded record ₹5 million in entertainment tax revenue (about 10 per cent) to the exchequer.[18] Sekar and Sundar of the Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan, in their review dated 24 January 1965, called it the best film which the reviewer have seen in Tamil cinema on the theme of an imposter to that point. The reviewers felt the film had newness in its scenes, and overall it was a film which entertains the audience and occupies a special place among the good films in Tamil cinema.[19] Enga Veettu Pillai was the first film for Ramachandran that won him Best Actor awards from both the Madras Film Fans' and Filmgoer's Associations.[20]

Legacy

Enga Veettu Pillai inspired several later Tamil films which focused on the theme of identical twins separated at birth and then crossing their paths when they grow up.[21] The films which followed similar theme were Kalyanaraman (1979), Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey (1983) and Rajadhi Raja (1989).[11] The basic storyline of Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) was noted for its similarity with Enga Veettu Pillai as its female lead, portrays identical twins instead of male. This prompted Chakrapani to remake the film in Telugu and Tamil as Ganga Manga (1973) and Vani Rani (1974).[22] The whip used by Ramachandran attained popularity in Tamil cinema, as did the scene where his character uses it to threaten to whip Nambiar's character.[23]

Footage of the song "Naan Aanaiyittal" was interposed in Villu (2009).[24] Following Vaali's death in 2013, The Hindu included "Naan Aanaiyittal" among his best songs in their collection, "Best of Vaali: From 1964 – 2013".[25] The Telugu film Nene Raju Nene Mantri was dubbed in Tamil as Naan Aanaiyittal, named after this film's song.[26]

References
  1. Patrick, Sylvian (7 November 2019). "Enga Veettu Pillai — 50 Tamil Movies to watch before you die — 12". Medium. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  2. Balabharathi 2015, p. 310.
  3. Krishnamoorthy, Suresh (21 May 2014). "Fifty years of a trendsetting blockbuster Ramudu Bheemudu". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  4. Dhananjayan 2011, p. 228.
  5. Balabharathi 2015, p. 308.
  6. Balabharathi 2015, pp. 309–310.
  7. Narasimham, M. L. (2 December 2012). "I worked with three Chief Ministers". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 December 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  8. Raman, Mohan V. (13 April 2013). "The power of the pen". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  9. Guy, Randor (5 October 2013). "The forgotten heroes". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  10. "MGR and Sandow". The Hindu. 13 August 2010. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  11. Dhananjayan 2011, p. 229.
  12. "Enga Veettu Pillai". Saregama. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  13. "Popular even today". The Hindu. 19 January 2007. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  14. Sundaram, Malathy. "Perumal Music Review". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 8 November 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  15. "Enga Veettu Pillai (1965)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  16. ஜூரி (5 June 2015). "எங்க வீட்டுப் பிள்ளை 50 ஆண்டுகள் நிறைவு: மறுபடியும் முதல்லேருந்தா?". Hindu Tamil Thisai. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  17. Ramachandran, T. M. (7 August 1965). "M. G. R.'s unique triumph". Sport and Pastime. p. 337.
  18. "MGR, man of the masses". The Hindu. 17 January 2018. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  19. சேகர்; சந்தர் (24 January 1965). "சினிமா விமர்சனம்: எங்க வீட்டு பிள்ளை" [Movie Review: Enga Veettu Pillai]. Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  20. "Tit-Bits". Sport and Pastime. 7 August 1965. p. 52.
  21. Sekhar, Arunkumar (7 February 2018). "Double trouble". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  22. "Sivaji Ganesan's Vani Rani: Doomed From The Start". Silverscreen.in. 11 September 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  23. Maderya, Kumuthan (2010). "The MGR phenomenon". Jump Cut. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  24. "Villu Movie Review". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  25. "Best of Vaali: From 1964–2013". The Hindu. 19 July 2013. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  26. "MGR connection in Rana's 'Naan Aanaiyitaal'". Business Standard. IANS. 11 July 2017. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.

Bibliography
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