Deiva Magan

The Bengali novel Ulka by Nihar Ranjan Gupta had been adapted for the screen three times; a 1957 Bengali film by the same name, a Hindi film called Meri Surat Teri Ankhen (1963) and a Tamil film titled Thayin Karunai (1965), all of which failed commercially. Despite the films' poor performances, director A. C. Tirulokchander was interested in adapting the novel and wrote a screenplay that was largely different from those of the previous films.[4] The film was produced by Periyanna of Shanthi Films,[5] and the dialogues were written by Aaroor Dass. The cinematographer was Thambu, the editor was B. Kanthasamy, and the art director was A. Balu.[6] The film's working title was Uyiroviyam before it was retitled Deiva Magan.[7]

Sivaji Ganesan portrayed three roles; Shankar and his sons Kannan and Vijay.[1] This was the second time Ganesan has portrayed three roles in one film; the first occasion was Bale Pandiya (1962).[8] For the characterisation of Kannan, he drew inspiration from Quasimodo, the protagonist of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), making Kannan aggressive with "roughness and brute strength", while Vijay's body language was taken from that of C. V. Sridhar.[5]

Periyanna initially wanted to the film to be made in colour but it was filmed in black and white at Ganesan's suggestion.[5] The makeup for the scarred characters portrayed by Ganesan was done by R. Rangasamy and his son Jayanth Kumar.[9] Rangasamy gave Ganesan's characters different looks; Shankar's look is sophisticated while Kannan was given a slightly darker skin tone than Vijay's. The original idea was for Kannan to resemble Quasimodo in the 1939 adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame but Ganesan insisted the filmmakers reduce the character's unattractiveness after trying out prosthetics. He wanted viewers to sympathise with Kannan for his shortcomings without feeling repulsed by the character.[5] Kannan is a sitar player but Ganesan did not know how to play the instrument; he pretended to play it instead.[10]

There were difficulties in filming the scene in which Kannan is hiding in a cupboard and gestures to Shankar to give a cheque to Vijay; the scene required Ganesan to change his look between takes because the camera could not be moved, meaning he had to stand in one spot, mouth his lines, quickly change his attire and makeup to play the second character, stand in the same place and act. To ease the process, he asked Tirulokchander to stand in for him. Kanthasamy told Tirulokchander this seven-minute-long scene needed trimming but after re-watching it several times, Tirulokchander refused because he could not find what to cut and liked the way Ganesan performed as the three characters.[5][7] The final cut of the film was initially 4,700.01 metres (15,420.0 ft); after five cuts by the Censor Board, it was brought down to 4,695.84 metres (15,406.3 ft).[11]

According to the Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan, most films in which one actor portraying multiple roles often have problems like impersonation and identity confusion, but the lack of these problems in Deiva Magan was an achievement for the director. The reviewer praised Ganesan's triple-role performance, mainly that of Vijay, and also appreciated Jayalalithaa's performance but said Pandari Bai was under-used. The reviewer concluded the filmmakers had tried to build a hall with only one pillar and that pillar was Ganesan.[3] The Indian Express's reviewer praised Ganesan's performance as Shankar, along with the performances of Pandari Bai and Nagesh, but said the latter had "little to do with the story". The reviewer praised the set designs, Thambu's cinematography, and Viswanathan's music, concluding that Tirulokchander "can relax for having directed a successful commercial melodramatic film".[2] After watching the film, C. V. Sridhar appreciated Ganesan's performance as Vijay, saying only he "could have done it so beautifully".[5]

At the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Deiva Magan won the Third Best Film award and Ganesan won the Best Actor award.[18] The film was selected as India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film nomination for the 42nd Academy Awards; it was the first Tamil film to be submitted by India in the Best International Feature Film category.[5][19]