The critically acclaimed Vaazhapirandhaval was an in-house production of R.R. Pictures, owned by the ‘dream girl of south Indian cinema’ T.R. Rajakumari and her brother, T. R. Ramachandran, better known as Ramanna.
Ramanna began his career as an audiographer and graduated to filmmaking when his sister started the studio. He made movies in Tamil and Hindi with some hits, some misses. One of his acclaimed movies was Vaazhapirandhaval , which featured his wife B.S. Saroja and sister Rajakumari.The story was written by Simha, and the dialogues by Vindhan. The lyrics were by Ka. Mu. Sharif, and the music was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao and G. Ramanathan. The cinematographer was leading lensman of the day M.A. Rehman along with T.K. Rajabathar, another Ramanna sibling.The costumes were designed by M. Natesan, who later turned producer and made movies with MGR under the banner Natesh Art Pictures.
Vaazhapirandhaval was shot at Vauhini Studios, and A. Krishnan and Mohanasundaram handled the audiography. The dances were choreographed by veteran B. Hiralal and performed by Kusalakumari, another member of Ramanna’s family, who acted in many movies even as a child and is today in her 70s.
Well-known singers M.L. Vasanthakumari, P. Leela, Jikki, Ratnamala, A.P. Komala, Ganasaraswathi, T.A. Mothi, Parthasarathy, and Nagoor E.M. Hanifa sang the film’s songs.
The story is about a young woman called Geetha, who is in love with Raja, a boy from a rich and important family. His parents object to their marriage but destiny unites them. As quickly, they are separated and Geetha has to live alone. An evil moneylender makes amorous advances but Geetha resists, and finally leaves home after her father’s death to search for her husband.
She is reduced to begging and one day arrives at the doorstep of a woman called Sumathi, an old acquaintance. They recognise each other and are talking when the husband emerges from the house. He turns out to be Raja, now married to Sumathi. How they solve this conundrum is the rest of the plot.
T.R. Rajakumari gave an excellent performance in the lead role, along with Saroja, who played Sumathi.
The film had good music with a song rendered by P. Leela and T.A. Mothi becoming popular. Also a comic song by Chandrababu about making movies became a hit.
The film was not a major success, but attracted much attention.
Remembered for: the interesting storyline, excellent performances by Rajakumari and B.S. Saroja, fine direction by Ramanna, and pleasing music.
