The trailer of the digitally-restored blockbuster MGR film Rickshawkaran, was launched recently at Devi Paradise, the same theatre where the original film was released 45 years ago on May 29, 1971. The re-release of the film is planned to coincide with the centenary celebrations of MGR on January 17, 2017. Two die-hard fans of the charismatic actor, P. Mani and T. K. Krishnakumar (Kwality Cinema) are the people behind this project. “Films like Rickshawkaran must be kept alive. The inspiration for the restoration was the great response to stemmed from the response to films like AayirathilOruvan and Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban when they were re-releasedlast year,” says the duo.
The film, directed by M. Krishnan Nair, ran into trouble in 1968 during its making, due to a difference of opinion between MGR and R. M. Veerappan, the producer. The conflict reportedly had to do with MGR insisting on bringing in Jayalalithaa; Veerappan, however, stuck to his guns and made it with Manjula playing the heroine. . The film also starred Ashokan, Major Sundarrajan, Cho, Manohar, ‘Thengai’ Srinivasan and Padmini. Rickshawkaran , thanks to the delay,is said to have taken so long to complete that the film’s earlier version had MGR using a pulled rickshaw rather than the more modern cycle rickshaw. The film was halted for almost a decade before its revival. One of the film’s memorable sequences has MGR protecting Manjula from goons, by fighting them while sitting on his rickshaw.
The songs by MS Viswanathan—’Angey siripavargal sirikattum’, ‘Azhagiya Tamil magal ival’, ‘Kadaloram vaangiya kaatru’ and ‘Pambai udukkai kotti’—all went on to become classics.
R. M. Veerappan, who turned 90 last month, also doubled as the screenplay writer. He remembers the making of ‘Azhagiya Tamil magal’. “We shot it on a huge set that was almost 40-feet high. It was a delight for the fans to see their ‘Thalaivar’ stand tall with Manjula alongside. Spending a lakh for a song was unheard of in those days, but it was a special number that merited such spending.”
Rickshawkaran , as the title indicates, is about a good rickshaw man, and was in line with the actor’s many other films in which he plays a good samaritan who fights for the rights of the downtrodden. MGR plays the role of an ex-military officer, who happens to witness the murder of a rickshaw puller. The film details how he unearths the mystery behind the murder, and also puts an end to a prostitution ring and judicial corruption .
