Edhir Neechal (1968 film)

Maadhu is a destitute orphan who performs odd jobs in a multi-family tenancy for his living and education. For the services he renders, he's allowed to sleep under the stairs of the tenancy without any rent. He attends college with the help from one of his college professor and kind people that share roof in that tenancy he lives. Among few people who understand his situation, and are ready to help are Sabapathy and Nair. He overhears one of the tenants speaking to her husband of getting him married to their daughter Paru who is said to be psychologically challenged. He forcefully makes his mind to love their daughter even before they propose a marriage, so as to calm himself that the girl is none other than the girl he loved and not some unknown psychologically challenged girl. How she proves that she's indeed a normal person and also helps Maadhu to prove his worth forms the rest of the plot.

• Nagesh as Maadhu[2]
• Muthuraman as Nair[3]
• Sundarrajan as Sabapathy[4]
• Srikanth as Kittu[4]
• M. R. R. Vasu as Kumaresan
• Sowcar Janaki as Pattu Mami[4]
• Jayanthi as Paru
• Manorama as Renu
• S. N. Lakshmi
• V. S. Raghavan
• Thengai Srinivasan (Guest appearance)

Edhir Neechal was a play written by K. Balachander,[5][6][7] inspired by Sombhu Mitra's play Kanchanranga.[8] Nagesh, who acted in Balachander's play,[9] returned to the film adaptation,[10] which was written and directed by Balachander, and produced by Kalakendra Movies.[11] R. Muthuraman played the Malayali cook Nair, reprising the role originally played by Raman.[9] Balachander considered Sowcar Janaki's role to be "a total contrast to the parts she was doing then, where she was always in tears."[12] Cinematography was handled by N. Balakrishnan, editing by N. R. Kittu and art direction by Ramaswamy.[11]

The music was composed by V. Kumar, with lyrics by Vaali.[13][14] The song "Aduthathu Ambujatha Parthela" is set in the Carnatic raga known as Mohanam,[15] and attained popularity.[16] Although P. B. Sreenivas' cinematic career was declining in the late 1960s, B. Kolappan of The Hindu described "Thamarai Kannangal" as "one of his finer numbers during this period."[17]

Edhir Neechal was released on 12 December 1968.[11] The following week, The Indian Express wrote, "The film, which has a few touching scenes and some interesting twists, is on the whole satisfying", though they criticised the music.[18] Ananda Vikatan, in a review dated 29 December 1968, praised the performances of the cast, particularly Nagesh, Sreekanth and Janaki.[4] The film was commercially successful.[16]

Film historian Mohan Raman considered Edhir Neechal to be one of several films where Balachander established Nagesh, a comedian, as a "serious actor".[19] It was remade in Telugu as Sambarala Rambabu (1970),[9] and in Hindi as Lakhon Me Ek (1971).[20] The characters Pattu Mami and Maadhu became iconic in Tamil cinema.[21] Stage actor Maadhu Balaji adopted the prefix "Maadhu" after the character of the same name.[22]

• Sundararaman (2007) [2005]. Raga Chintamani: A Guide to Carnatic Ragas Through Tamil Film Music (2nd ed.). Pichhamal Chintamani.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Edhir Neechal at IMDb