Aalayam was produced by Sunbeam Productions, owned by A Bhim Singh. His associates Thirumalai and Mahalingam directed the film, while Bhim Singh wrote the screenplay. It was based on the popular stage play Nenje Nee Vaazhgha by ‘Bilahari’ S Raman, many of whose plays were also made into films.
It deals with Ramalingam (Major Sundararajan), an honest and principled man, working as a clerk in a company. He values integrity and discipline in his life. But his honesty is put to the test when his son-in-law, Raghu, approaches him to bail him out of an issue. Raghu misplaced some money in the bank in which he works, and he requests Ramalingam to give him the money, so he can make good the loss. Ramalingam expresses his inability to raise such an amount at short notice. At that instant, a businessman approaches Ramalingam with a bribe of ₹5000 to get his work done. Ramalingam sends him away in a rage. His daughter Kamala and wife keep pressurising him to help Raghu. The inner conflicts that torture Ramalingam forms the rest of the film.
A popular stage actor named Gopalarathnam played a typist in the film and the role was so popular that he came to be known as ‘Typist’ Gopu for the rest of his life. This film won the National Film Award For Best Feature Film in Tamil, and Tamil Nadu State Film Award For Best Film.
The film was edited by A Paul Duraisingam, and was photographed by G Vittal Rao.
Music was composed by TK Ramamurthy (of the Viswanathan-Ramamurthy duo) and the lyrics were by Kannadasan. The film had three songs, all sung by TM Soundararajan.
