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Annakili
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Wikipedia article
'Annakili' is a 1976 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film, directed by DevarajMohan and written by Panchu Arunachalam from a story by R. Selvaraj. The film stars Sivakumar and Sujatha with S. V. Subbaiah, Srikanth, Thengai Srinivasan and Fatafat Jayalaxmi in supporting roles. It was produced by S. P. Thamizharasi under the production banner "SPT Films". The film's soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, who made his debut as film composer with this film while the story was written by R. Selvaraj and the screenplay and lyrics were written by Panchu Arunachalam. A. Somasundaram and Kandasamy handled cinematography and editing respectively.
When Ilaiyaraaja met Panchu Arunachalam, the latter asked if the former had composed any songs; Ilaiyaraaja casually sang a bunch of songs, one of which was "Annakkili Unnai Theduthe". An impressed Panchu Arunachalam decided to write a film story to accommodate these songs; the film would be titled 'Annakili'. Annakili was released on 14 May 1976 and became a commercial success. The film was screened at the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India in 1978. It was remade in Telugu as 'Rama Chilaka' (1978).
Plot
The movie revolves around Annakili, who falls in love with teacher Thyagarajan. Due to circumstances, Thyagarajan marries another girl. Azhagappan, a womaniser creates a misunderstanding about Annakili among the villagers; the rest of the film shows how Annakili proves her innocence.
Cast
*Sivakumar as Thyagarajan
*Sujatha as Annakili
*S. V. Subbaiah as Vadivel Ambal
*Srikanth as Magudapathy
*Thengai Srinivasan as Azhagappan
*Venniradai Moorthy as Azhagappan's right hand man
*Senthamarai as Madasamy
*Fatafat Jayalaxmi as Sumathi
*Manimala as Thyagarajan's sister
*M. N. Rajam as
*S. N. Lakshmi as Thyagarajan's mother
Production
When Ilaiyaraaja met Panchu Arunachalam, the latter asked if the former had composed any songs; Ilaiyaraaja casually sang a bunch of songs, one of which was "Annakkili Unnai Theduthe". An impressed Panchu Arunachalam decided to write a film story to accommodate these songs; the film would be titled 'Annakili'. The climax, featuring a theatre being set on fire, was inspired by the film 'Kannagi'.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, who made his debut as composer with this film, and the lyrics were written by Panchu Arunachalam. Arunachalam added "Ilaiya" (Ilaiya means younger in Tamil language) as prefix in his name Raaja and he named as "Ilaiyaraaja" to differentiate from the already established composer A. M. Rajah. For the soundtrack, Ilaiyaraaja applied the techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamil folk poetry and folk song melodies, which created a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms. The song "Machanai Paartheengala" was originally composed and sung at a marriage by Ilaiyaraaja and his orchestra even before the film's release. The violin portions of the song were used by music director K for the "Bar Anthem" in 'Mugamoodi' (2012). The song "Sonthamillai Banthamillai" is based on Nadanamakriya raga.
Release and reception
'Annakili' was released on 14 May 1976. 'Ananda Vikatan', in a review dated 30 May 1976, was positive towards the film, particularly the performances of Sujatha, Sivakumar and Srikanth, but felt it would have been better in colour.
References
Bibliography
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