Arunagirinathar (film)

Arunagirinathar was born in the town of Thiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu. Arunagiri was attracted to the pleasures of the flesh and spent his youth in pursuing a life of debauchery. He frequently visited the devadasi Maragatham. His sister Aadhilakshmi tries to reform her brother, Arunagiri, so she arranges his marriage with Gnanavalli. Arunagiri was feeling unhappy in his married life. He neglects his wife and continues in his bad ways. He persuades his sister to sell all their property and their house to get money for his dissipation. He reduces himself, his wife and sister to dire poverty. His sister gave him whatever money she earned herself, to make her brother happy. It was said that since he was used to enjoying his life in debauchery, he started to suffer from leprosy and people were avoiding him.

There came a time when his sister had no money to meet his demands for his depraved life. Arunagiri said he was going to end his life because of this. To prevent Arunagiri from killing himself, his sister says that he should sell her in order to have money for prostitutes. Since he had leprosy, prostitutes could avoid him and if that were the case, Arunagiri's sister says she will offer herself to him, to stop Arunagiri from committing suicide. Hearing this shocks him to the core and changes his outlook. Till that time, he was uncaring about the consequences to his family because of his depraved lifestyle. Arunagiri feels guilty and attempts suicide by jumping off a temple tower, when Murugan himself, disguised as a pious young man saves him, cures his leprosy, shows him a path of religious devotion and initiates him to compose the Thiruppugazh, an anthology of songs dedicated to Lord Murugan.[2]

• T. M. Soundararajan as Arunagirinathar
• Master Sridhar as young Arunagirinathar
• Sharadha as Gnanavalli
• B. S. Saroja as Aadhilakshmi
• M. R. Radha as Samanthandam
• C. Lakshmi Rajyam as Maragatham
• R. Manohar as Tamil Pandit
• C. R. Parthiban as Vedan Lord Murugan (@Viralimalai)
• Master Raghunath as Lord Murugan
• Angamuthu as Maragatham's Mother
• N. S. Kolappan as Annamalai

Arunagirinathar was based on the life of the poet of the same name who created Thirupugazh. This was the third film to be produced on the same name and theme. B. S. Moorthy produced the film under the production company Baba Art Productions. The script was written by Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy. T. M. Soundararajan portrayed the title character while Sharadha played his wife, and M. R. Radha and Manohar (credited as R. Manohar) played two egotistical men who face defeat at the hands Arunagirinathar. C. Lakshmi Rajyam played the vamp Maragatham.[2][3]

Arunagirinathar
Soundtrack album by G. Ramanathan and T. R. Papa
Released	1964
Recorded	1964
Genre	Devotional
Length	33:18
Language	Tamil
Producer	G. Ramanathan and T. R. Papa
External audio Official Audio Jukebox on YouTube

Music was composed by G. Ramanathan and T. R. Pappa. Lyrics were written by T. K. Krishnasamy.[4] During the making of the film, T. R. Pappa completed the score of the film after Ramanathan fell ill.[5] The tune of "Muthai Tharu" was composed by Pappa; before the recording, he called the religious preacher Kirupanandha Variyar, who explained every word of the song and T. M. Soundararajan had rehearsals for an entire day before he recorded it.[2] The song is based on Shanmukhapriya raga.[5]

Arunagirinathar was released on 7 August 1964. The film was distributed by Sarathy Pictures in Madras.[1] The Indian Express positively reviewed it for Soundararajan's performance and the music.[3]

• Arunagirinathar at IMDb
• Arunagirinathar at Complete Index to World Film