Chennai: Tamil film director C. Rudhraiah, who took inspiration from the French New Wave Film Makers, and made two remarkable films—Aval Appadithan and Gramathu Athiyayam—died here on Tuesday. He was 67 and is survived by his wife, a daughter and son.
‘Aval Appadithan’, espousing the idea of feminism, failed to make any impact in the box-office though the stars of the film included Kamal Hassan, Rajinikant, Sivachandran and Sripriya. Kamal Hassan sang ‘Panneer Pushpangale’, one of the finest film songs, in the music of Ilayaraja.
“It was released on a Deepavali Day in 1978. But its second release achieved the success,” said Tamil writer Vannanilavan, who along with Ananthu wrote the dialogues for the film. Vannanilavan said Rudhraiya was a great admirer of French New Wave Film Makers, who were known for their iconoclastic ideas and experiments on social ideas.
“He watched all the films of the New Wave film movement and sought replicate the ideas in Tamil,” he said. Vannanilavan said despite their busy schedule Kamal Hassan, Rajinikant and Sripriya agreed to work for the film.
Though a trailblazer and all the songs of his films were hits, Rudhraiya could not make a come back after the failure of ‘Gramathu Athiyayam’.
Ilayaraja scored music for both ‘Aval Appadithan’ and ‘Gramathu Athiyayam’ and the zenith of his creativity manifested in all the songs that continue to haunt the music lovers even after over three decades.
‘Uravuagal Thodarkathi’, ‘Panneer Pushpangale’ and ‘Vaazhkai Odam Chella’ in ‘Aval Appadithan’ are known for their melody and philosophical touch.
In ‘Gramathu Athiyayam’, Kamal Hassan’s elder brother Chandrahasan played a role and acted for the song ‘Vaadatha Rosapoo’. The other songs are ‘Ootha Kaathu Veesaiyile’, ‘Aathu Metule’ and ‘Poove Ithu Poojai Kalaime’. A feel of rustic charm merging with modern music equipments make the tunes memorable.
