Director: K. Balachander; Producer: Rajam Balachandar, Pushpa Kandaswamy; Cinematographer: R. Raghunath Reddy; Editor: Ganesh, Kumar; Cast: Sivakumar (Actor), Suhasini Maniratnam, Sulakshana, Manimala, Indira, Meera, Srilekha, Meenakshi Paatti, Prathap Pothan, Delhi Ganesh, Janakaraj, Sivachandran, T.S. Raghavendar, Vairam Krishnamurthy, Charle, Harihara Subramanyam, Santanam, Ramani, Krishnan, Sundaramurthy
Duration: 02:27:35; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 36.972; Saturation: 0.127; Lightness: 0.408; Volume: 0.160; Cuts per Minute: 22.758
Summary: Musical melodrama in the genre of Dasari
Narayana Rao’s Megha Sandesam (1982)
and K. Vishwanath’s revivalist stories
advocating ‘traditional’ notions of ‘classical’
artistry. The classical singer J.K. Balaganapathi
(Sivakumar) falls in love with Sindhu (Suhasini
in one of her best known screen roles), a folkmusic
teacher. His barren wife Bhairavi
(Sulakshana) attempts suicide and he
renounces his affair, only to seek refuge in
drink, which entails degrading scenes such as a
forced strip tease and the singing of nonclassical
folk songs in exchange for alcohol.
Bhairavi then sacrifices herself for the sake of
her husband’s music and asks Sindhu to help
save the artist. Nevertheless, the film follows
the convention of passing off male infantilism
as evidence of a commitment to ‘traditional
values’. Women sacrificing themselves for the
sake of an immature man’s singing ability can
be seen, against the grain of the film, as raising
critical questions about arrogantly patriarchal
fantasies, mainly through the performances of
the two main female protagonists.
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