Anbe Vaa (1966 film)

This article is about the 1966 film. For the 2005 film, see Anbe Vaa (2005 film).

Anbe Vaa
File:Anbe Vaa poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	A. C. Tirulokchandar
Written by	Aaroor Das (dialogues)
Story by	A. C. Tirulokchandar
Produced by	M. Murugan M. Kumaran M. Saravanan
Starring	M. G. Ramachandran B. Saroja Devi
Cinematography	S. Maruthi Rao
Edited by	R. G. Gope
Music by	M. S. Viswanathan
Production company	AVM Productions
Distributed by	AVM Productions
Release date	14 January 1966
Running time	174 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹ 3 million
Box office	₹ 3.3 million

Anbe Vaa ([Come, My Love] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a 1966 Indian Tamil romantic comedy film written and directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar. The film features M. G. Ramachandran and B. Saroja Devi in the lead roles, while S. A. Ashokan, Nagesh, Manorama and T. R. Ramachandran play supporting roles. The plot is broadly based on the 1961 American film Come September, directed by Robert Mulligan. The film was produced and distributed by AVM Productions. The soundtrack and score were composed by M. S. Viswanathan.

Anbe Vaa was the first colour film produced by AVM, and their first big-budget production; they had previously focused only on producing films with a modest budget. The film was also the studio's and Tirulokchandar's only collaboration with M. G. Ramachandran. The plot revolves around JB (M. G. Ramachandran), a wealthy industrialist who goes on vacation to his bungalow in Shimla, only to discover that his caretaker had rented his bungalow to someone else and has left for Varanasi with his wife. How JB reacts to this incident forms the rest of the story.

Principal photography for the film began in August 1965. Shooting for the film took place in Shimla, Ooty, and it was the second Tamil film to be shot at Jammu and Kashmir. Filming was completed within five months, the shortest time for a film starring Ramachandran. The film was promoted as "an innovative entertainment film" (Tamil: Oru pudhumaiyaana pozhudhupokku sarithiram).

Anbe Vaa was released on 14 January 1966. The final length of the film was 4,855 metres (15,928 ft). The film received positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised Ramachandran's performance as he was known for doing mainly action-adventure films then. The film grossed ₹ 3.3 million at the box office against a budget of ₹ 3 million. The film was dubbed into Telugu as Prema Manasulu.

Plot

JB (M.G. Ramachandran) is a wealthy industrialist who decides to go on vacation to his residence in Shimla away from his busy life. He lands there only to find that his caretaker (P. D. Sambandam) has rented his house to a Bangalore-based couple, Punyakodi (T. R. Ramachandran) and Pappamma (M. S. S. Bhagyam), who also have a daughter named Geetha (B. Saroja Devi). The caretaker took the rent and left for Varanasi with his wife. The caretaker's daughter, Kannamma (Manorama) and brother-in-law, Ramaiah (Nagesh), are left in charge of the house and the guests. JB decides not to reveal his true identity and pretends to be JB's personal secretary named Balu, and pays the rent for a place in his own house. Ramaiah, who has never seen JB, takes the money and gives Balu JB's room.

Balu keeps playing pranks on Geetha, while also falling in love with her in the process. Geetha too falls in love with Balu, but circumstances and their egos prevent them to expressing it. One day, Balu pretends to suffer from chest pain, which scares Geetha, and she expresses his love for him. Later, when Geetha and Ramaiah go to Balu to enquire about his health, Balu, who then comes out from the bathroom, tells Ramaiah about his prank on Geetha and making her believe that he had chest pain, not knowing that he had said it in Geetha's presence. Angry that she had been betrayed by Balu and believing that even his love for her is false, she brings her friends, who are on a holiday trip to Shimla, to the residence and tries to drive Balu out of the house. When her friends start supporting Balu to nag her, she gets angry and tells her parents to fix her marriage with Sekar (S. A. Ashokan), a relative and an air force pilot.

Geetha reconciles with Balu after he saves her from a wrestler named Sitting Bull. But by the time Balu confesses his love for her, Geetha's engagement is already fixed. Luckily, Sekar turns out to be a school friend of JB, but he also agrees to play along with Balu's trick. Sekar discovers that Balu and Geetha are actually in love with each other and steps aside, wishing the couple a happy life. When Balu is finally revealed as JB, Geetha thinks that the wedding plans are yet another one of Balu's practical jokes and tries to run away. He finds her and clears all the misunderstandings that occurred between them. The two then get married.

Cast

Lead actors

• M. G. Ramachandran as JB/Balu
• Saroja Devi as Geetha

Male supporting actors

• S. A. Ashokan as Sekar
• Nagesh as Ramaiah
• T. R. Ramachandran as Punyakodi
• P. D. Sambandam as the bungalow caretaker

Female supporting actors

• Manorama as Kannamma
• T. P. Muthulakshmi as the nurse who looks after Geetha's parents
• Madhavi as one of Geetha's friends
• M. S. S. Bhagyam as Pappamma

Production

Development

The 1961 American musical film Come September, featuring Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida and directed by Robert Mulligan, was a worldwide box office success, especially in Chennai. The film narrated the tale of Robert (Hudson), an American millionaire, who arrives at his villa for his vacation. His girlfriend, Lisa (Lollobrigida), has given up waiting for him and has decided to marry another man. Robert's villa manager, Maurice (Walter Slezak), converts the villa into a hotel when Robert is away. A group of young American girls trying to fend off a gang of boys, led by Tony (Bobby Darin). A. C. Tirulokchandar, who was then a screenplay writer for AVM Productions, adapted the screenplay of Come September.

Javar Seetharaman provided additional inputs to the film's screenplay. Director S. P. Muthuraman had worked as an assistant director to Tirulokchandar in the film. The original budget of the film was ₹ 600,000. Aaroor Das wrote the film's dialogues. S. Maruthi Rao, R. G. Gope and A. K. Shekar were in charge of the cinematography, editing and art direction respectively. Raghuram made his cinematic debut with this film, working as an assistant choreographer.

Casting

"I found him [M. G. Ramachandran] smiling throughout the storytelling session. At the end he said, ‘I'll do it. We will be mere puppets in your hands and the credit will go only to you.' ‘AV' was a smashing hit, and I was moved when he repeated the words at the film's 100th day function."

 – Tirulokchandar, on how Ramachadran was cast.

Anbe Vaa marked the first instance that AVM wrote a script to suit an actor's image and acting style; in their earlier films they used to choose an actor based on the script that was written. When Tirulokchandar wrote a single line of the film's script, A. V. Meiyappan suggested to Tirulokchandar to approach M. G. Ramachandran for the lead role. Tirulokchandar found the suggestion intriguing as the script did not have any of the aspects that Ramachandran was known for as he was then doing films mainly based on action-adventure, social and family drama themes which portrayed him as a champion for the downtrodden. He readily accepted the role and was excited about doing it. Ramachandran gave his priority dates for the filming schedules. He was paid a salary of ₹ 300,000-325,000 for his participation in the film; however, it was his only collaboration with both Tirulokchandar and AVM Productions.

Ramachandran initially recommended K. A. Thangavelu for the role of Punyakodi, but M. Saravanan, one of the film's producers, said that his father, A. V. Meiyappan, wanted T. R. Ramachandran to do the role. M. G. Ramachandran then accepted the decision and told Saravanan not to tell T. R. Ramachandran about his initial choice. M. G. Ramachandran also recommended Jayalalithaa for the role of Geetha, but the producers did not agree with it. So, Ramachandran finalised B. Saroja Devi for the role, which was accepted by the producers.

Filming

Anbe Vaa was the first film of AVM Productions to be made in Eastman Color. Principal photography for the film began with a puja ceremony held on 12 August 1965. Filming was completed within five months, the shortest time period for any film starring M. G. Ramachandran. Ramachandran was given special permission to go by car to shoot the film in exotic locations in Shimla. It was a privilege allowed only to the governor of the state. With that permission the entire unit went to Shimla. The song "Pudhiya Vaanam" was shot in the small hill station of Kufri, which is located 13 kilometres from Shimla. Part of the song was also shot for two days at Mall Road, Shimla.

Savi, an editor who worked for the Tamil magazine, Ananda Vikatan, accompanied the production unit and published an article on the making of the film. It was considered as an interesting publicity at that time. Shooting also took place in Jammu and Kashmir, making it the second Tamil film after Then Nilavu (1960) to be shot there. Although the story is set in Shimla, 95% of the film was shot in Ooty. "Naan Paarthathilae" was one of the few songs in the film that was shot outdoors as Ramachandran did not want to attract attention due to the fan following he had. During the shooting of the film in Ooty, Ramachandran bought sweaters for all the cast and crew members from his own money.

The production unit, which was composed of 20 crew members, along with Tirulokchandar, M. G. Ramachandran, Saroja Devi and Savi, first travelled to Delhi by flight. From Delhi, they travelled to Kalka by train. After reaching Kalka, the production unit then travelled to Shimla for which three first generation Chevrolet Impalas were used. The skating scenes in the film involving Ramachandran and Saroja Devi were completed in two days. Both Ramachandran and Saroja Devi were initially hesitant to perform the scene but were encouraged by the locals to bravely attempt the scene, even if it meant falling down a few times. In post-production, the sound effect of the horses' footfall in "Rajavin Paarvai" was designed by Meesai Murugesan.

Music

Untitled

The film's soundtrack and score were composed by M. S. Viswanathan while the lyrics were written by Vaali. The soundtrack was released under the label of Saregama. A book containing the lyrics of the film's songs was also released.

The soundtrack received positive critical reception. G. Dhananjayan, in his book The Best of Tamil Cinema, said all the songs were hugely popular and contributed to the film's success. Film critic Randor Guy of The Hindu called the songs as "melodious", descibing it as one of the film's major plus points. He said the song "Puthiya Vaanam", filmed on M. G. Ramachandran, had "a political touch" and was "brilliantly photographed by master lens man S. Maruthi Rao." He also called "Rajavin Paarvai" as a "hit number."

Meera Ramanathan of Behindwoods.com wrote, "If he [T. M. Soundararajan] gave a mellifluous and emotionally high sibling reflection in Malarthum Malaratha in Pasa Malar, he matched it with Rajavin Paarvai Rani en Pakkam in Anbe Vaa." Another reviewer from Behindwoods.com, Rekhs, wrote that "Rajavin Paarvai" "[...] takes us back to not just the 60s but a time when reel life transported us to a dream world of escapism and 100% entertainment."

IndiaGlitz described "Naan Parthathile" as a "timeless masterpiece from TMS-MSV-Vaali combo." On the song "Pudhiya Vaanam", IndiaGlitz wrote, "When we think of ‘vaanam’, the immediate song that pops into our head is ofcourse ‘pudhiya vaanam pudhiya bhoomi’. And why this song? MGR makes a wonderful appearance and enthralls the audience. Even today there is no replacement for this song from the movie Anbe Vaa. What a commanding role he has in the song!" On "Love Birds", IndiaGlitz wrote, "The first thing that hits our mind talking about birds in Tamil songs, we cannot miss 'Love birds, love birds, Thakathimitha'."

Tracklist

All lyrics are written by Vaali

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Adios Good Bye"	Ms. Liban Bindey	03:17
2.	"Anbe Vaa"	T. M. Soundararajan	04:23
3.	"Love Birds"	P. Susheela	03:39
4.	"Naan Paarthathilae"	T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela	04:05
5.	"Nadodi Nadodi"	T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela, A. L. Raghavan, L. R. Eswari	06:49
6.	"Once A Pappa"	A. L. Raghavan and Chorus	01:19
7.	"Pudhiya Vaanam"	T. M. Soundararajan	04:06
8.	"Rajavin Paarvai"	T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela	04:34
9.	"Vetkammilai"	P. Susheela and Chorus	03:33
Total length:			35:45

Release

Anbe Vaa was released on 14 January 1966. The final length of the film was 4,855 metres (15,928 ft). The film was promoted as "an innovative entertainment film" by the producers. AVM Productions sold the film's distribution rights for ₹ 3.3 million, which was the highest amount in the Tamil film industry then. Although the film had a theatrical run of 21 weeks and was a box office success, AVM Productions earned only a profit of ₹ 300,000 due to the large budget of the film. The film was dubbed into Telugu as Prema Manasulu.

The film was screened on 18 April 2010 at the South Indian Film Chamber Theatre for the Dignity Film Festival held in Chennai along with Madhumati (1958), Kadhalikka Neramillai (1964), Server Sundaram (1964) and Thillana Mohanambal (1968).

Critical reception

On 6 August 1966, Ananda Vikatan wrote, "The film was an English film in Tamil... The film does not have any story. One can spend three hours in an entertaining manner with this film..." Randor Guy, in his review, wrote, "The screenplay was brilliantly written by ACT. MGR’s performance as the rich man posing as a tenant was impressive. Nagesh was inimitable. Saroja Devi looked glamorous in her glossy make-up and costume." and concluded that the film would be "Remembered for the impressive performances by MGR, Nagesh and Saroja Devi, melodious music, interesting storyline and screenplay, picturesque cinematography which captured the beautiful landscape of the Himalayan region, and the fabulous sets in true AVM style." G. Dhananjayan wrote in his book, "The film stood out for its comedy, memorable songs and dances, rich making and locations. Being an out-and-out entertainer made this film a grand success."

Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com called Saroja Devi, "A style icon" and rated her performance as "her best", comparing it with her role in Enga Veettu Pillai (1965). Sify called Nagesh's on-screen chemistry with M. G. Ramachandran in the film "fantastic", further elaborating that, "In this film the MGR-Nagesh scenes according to a veteran distributor brought repeat audiences to the theatres. He played the hero's sidekick and was simply terrific." Behindwoods.com called the friendship between M. G. Ramachandran and S. A. Ashokan in the film as "a perfect example". IndiaGlitz said the film was "A classic romantic entertainer Tamil film patrons wouldn’t want to forget."

Legacy

M. G. Ramachandran, who specialised in films based on action and family subjects, enacted several comedy scenes for the first time in his career through this film and proved his ability to handle comedy as well. Anbe Vaa was also one of the many films of Ramachandran to propagate his ideologies in his election campaigns. The film became a trendsetter for romantic films in Tamil, which focused mainly on conflicts between lovers and entertainment aspects. Films which followed the trend include Kushi (2000), Lovely (2001), and Thiruda Thirudi (2003).

Mani Ratnam, M. S. Guhan's daughter Aruna Guhan, Prabhu Deva and Sundar C. ranked Anbe Vaa as among their favourite films. The costumes that Ramachandran used in the film, as well as the carriage used for "Rajavin Paarvai" are preserved in AVM Studios. Scenes from the film were interposed in Villu (2009). The Hindu included "Pudhiya Vaanam" as among the "Immortal songs of TMS", and also among lyricist Vaali's best songs under the collection, "Best of Vaali: From 1964 - 2013". "Rajavin Paarvai" became a cult song and is frequently played on music channels.

References to Anbe Vaa are made in various films. In Raja Kaiya Vacha (1990), Raja (Prabhu) is seen watching "Rajavin Paarvai" on television. In Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga (1999), Kundalakesi (Goundamani) imagines himself as M. G. Ramachandran from "Pudhiya Vaanam" by dancing with children which results in him being mistaken for a kidnapper by the police. In Dhool (2003), Vikram's character, Aarumugam, echoes a single line, "Pudhiya Vaanam", to signal to his friends of his arrival in their locality. A clip from the song "Love Birds" is featured in the Venkat Prabhu film Saroja (2008). A portion of "Rajavin Paarvai" is used the song "Vaa Machi" from Onbadhule Guru (2013).

In 2002, a quiz programme called "Pudhiya Vaanam Pudhiya Bhoomi" aired on DD National and on DD Podhigai to help develop tourism in Tamil Nadu. In 2005, another film called Anbe Vaa, starring actors Thendral, Sridevika and Vivek in the lead roles, was released to an average critical response, but was a box office success. In 2009, a television series called Anbe Vaa was aired on STAR Vijay every Monday-Thursday at 8:00 pm. The 1988 film Puthiya Vaanam, starring Sivaji Ganesan, was named after the song of the same name. Films like Rajavin Parvaiyile (1995) and Love Birds (1996) were also named after the film's songs.

Bibliography

• Dhananjayan, G. (2011). The Best of Tamil Cinema, 1931 to 2010: 1931–1976. Galatta Media. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul (2014). Encyclopaedia of Indian cinema. Routledge. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ramachandran, Naman (2012). Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-81-8475-796-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Anbe Vaa at IMDb