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Athey Kangal (1967 film)

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Athey Kangal
Theatrical release poster
Directed byA. C. Tirulokchandar
Story byA. C. Tirulokchandar
Produced byA. V. Meiyappan
M. Murugan
M. Kumaran
M. Saravanan
M. Balasubramanian
M. S. Guhan
Starring
CinematographyS. Maruti Rao
Edited byR. G. Gope
Music byVedha
Production
company
Release date
  • 26 May 1967 (1967-05-26)
Running time
175 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Athey Kangal (pronounced [aðeː kaɳɡaɭ] transl. 'The Same Eyes') is a 1967 Indian Tamil-language mystery thriller film written and directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar. The film stars Ravichandran and Kanchana. It focuses on a girl's family being stalked by a masked murderer, and her lover's attempts to apprehend him.

Athey Kangal was produced by A. V. Meiyappan under Balasubramanian & Co, a subsidiary of his company AVM Productions. It was simultaneously filmed in Telugu as Ave Kallu, with Kanchana reprising her role. The film was released on 26 May 1967 and became a major box-office success.

Plot

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A woman named Vasantha finds her husband Ranganathan dead. A masked murderer tries to kill her too, but she escapes from him. Vasantha is left in a state of shock and becomes mentally paralysed. A case is registered and the investigation takes place.

Susi, a college student, along with her friends arrives at Vasantha's for her vacation. There lives her younger paternal uncles Kamalanathan and Vimalanathan, aunt Vasantha, butler Appukutty Nair and a regular visiting Siddha doctor Vedamurthy. During her stay, a series of murders take place at the house with every time a cigar bit being left by the murderer intentionally.

Since Vasantha is the only eyewitness of her husband's murder, her life is in danger. Despite tight security, she is killed by the murderer, who later makes frequent calls to Susi and threatens that she will be his next target. Susi is frustrated by the incidents happening at the house and the threatening phone calls. She requests help from her colleague Baskar, who promises her to help.

Baskar investigates Vimalanathan, Kamalanathan and the inmates of the house. One day, Baskar follows Kamalanathan to a strange house, where he meets a woman. She is revealed to be Kamalanathan's lover Mala, who was rescued some years back by him when she attempted suicide. Kamalanathan keeps quiet as he wants Susi to get married first, only then he would marry Mala.

As a part of investigation, Baskar asks everyone in the house to stay out for a night, to lure the murderer. As expected, the murderer enters Susi's room to kill her. Baskar tries to unmask the murderer, but sees his eyes before he escapes, leaving his mask behind. Baskar finds Vimalanathan murdered at the doorstep.

Kamalanathan rushes everyone to vacate the house following the celebration of Susi's birthday party. On the day of the party, the murderer tries to attacks Susi, but Baskar saves her. Baskar chases the murderer, but loses track. On his way back, he sees Vedamurthy injured at a place. He rescues him and comes home. Everyone is unaware of the reason of the murder, where Baskar insists Kamalanathan in front of everyone to tell about his family which might help them to get a clue of the murders.

Kamalanathan reveals that his father had an extramarital affair with a woman, but the woman and her 10-year-old son died in a fire set by Kamalanathan's elder brother (Susi's father). Baskar theorises that the son may not have died and is actually the murderer killing the family members as vengeance; he also states that the murderer may be present along with them as he plans accordingly knowing the circumstances of the house. Baskar places the murderer's mask on the face of each man present to verify whose eyes match with the murderer's eyes, ultimately exposing Vedamurthy, who was disguised using prosthetics, as the murderer.

Baskar chases the murderer, who gets injured while trying to escape and is struggling to run. While the police shoot the murderer, he disappears in a tunnelway near the garden. Everyone finds a secret room beneath the garden which leads to the murderer's house and his corpse, realising this is how he escaped after committing each murder. Baskar later marries Susi and stays in the same house, while Kamalanathan marries Mala.

Cast

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Production

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AVM Productions built a huge house set for Mehrban (1967); however A. V. Meiyappan felt the richness of the set was never felt in the film so he decided not to dismantle the set. Director A. C. Tirulokchandar who visited the set felt this house would fit in for a film in the thriller genre and decided to make a film on in this set,[5] which became Athey Kangal.[6] The script was completed in one week, and took inspiration from various Hindi horror/thrillers such as Bhoot Bungla (1965), Bees Saal Baad (1962) and Gumnaam (1965). The comedy track was written by T. N. Balu.[7][5] The film was produced by Meiyappan under Balasubramanian & Co, a subsidiary of AVM.[8] The assistant producers were M. Murugan, M. Kumaran, M. Saravanan, M. Balasubramanian and M. S. Guhan. The dialogue was written by Balu, cinematography was handled by S. Maruti Rao, and editing by R. G. Gope.[9][10] Ravichandran, who played the lead role, received a salary of ₹10,000 (equivalent to ₹530,000 or US$6,400 in 2023).[11] It was simultaneously filmed in Telugu as Ave Kallu, with Kanchana as the lead actress in both.[12][13] The final cut of the film measured 4,519 metres (14,826 ft).[8]

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack was composed by Vedha and the lyrics were written by Vaali.[14][15] The song "Ethanai Azhagu" is based on "Pedal Pusher" by The Ventures,[16] and was recorded using 60 instruments.[17] The song "Boom Boom Maattukaran" is based on "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from Mary Poppins (1964).[18] For the song "Pombale Oruthi Irundaalaam", singers A. L. Raghavan and T. M. Soundararajan came up with lines in their first language Saurashtra. The words "Sodija" and "Daakara" in the song are presented as gibberish that Nagesh's character uses to frighten Kanchana's, but they actually mean "Leave me and go" and "I am afraid" in Saurashtra.[19][20]

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Pombala Oruthi"T. M. Soundararajan, A. L. Raghavan 
2."Ethanai Azhagu"T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela 
3."Ennannamo Ninaithen"P. Susheela 
4."Can Can" (Instrumental) — 
5."Boom Boom Maattukaran"P. Susheela 
6."Chinna Penn"T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela 
7."Va Arugil Va"P. Susheela 
8."Kannukku Theriyatha"T. M. Soundararajan 

Release and reception

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Athey Kangal was released on 26 May 1967,[21] and became a major box-office success upon release.[22] Kalki appreciated the film for its opulence, picturisation and colour.[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b Nathan, Archana (15 July 2018). "From 'Athey Kangal' to 'Imaikkaa Nodigal', Tamil cinema has always loved its serial killers". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f ராம்ஜி, வி. (6 August 2018). "அதே கண்கள் – அப்பவே அப்படி கதை!". Kamadenu (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e Guy, Randor (27 June 2015). "Athey Kangal 1967". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  4. ^ "பத்திரிகையாளர் சுதாங்கனின் 'நெஞ்சம் மறப்பதில்லை!' – 86". Dinamalar (in Tamil). Nellai. 12 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ a b சரவணன், ஏவி.எம். (24 April 2005). "கமலைப் பாராட்டமாட்டேன்!" (PDF). Kalki (in Tamil). pp. 44–47. Retrieved 17 July 2024 – via Internet Archive.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ குமரன், ஏவி.எம். (14 April 2019). "ஏவி.எம்., சகாப்தம் (19)". Dinamalar (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  7. ^ Saravanan 2013, p. 196.
  8. ^ a b "1967 – அதே கண்கள் (கலர்) பாலசுப்ரமணியம் அன் கம். ஏ.வி.எம்" [1967 – Athey Kangal (Colour) Balasubramanian & Co. A.V.M.]. Lakshman Sruthi (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  9. ^ Athey Kangal (motion picture) (in Tamil). Balasubramanian & Co. 1967. Opening credits, from 0:00 to 3:40.
  10. ^ Cowie & Elley 1977, p. 256.
  11. ^ Saravanan 2013, p. 197.
  12. ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (18 June 2016). "A director who stood tall". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 19 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  13. ^ Sri (4 May 2005). "Ave Kallu (1967)". Telugucinema.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  14. ^ "Athey Kangal (1967)". Music India Online. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  15. ^ "Athey Kangal". IsaiShop. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  16. ^ Gopalakrishnan, P. V. (15 May 2017). "FIlmy Ripples- Inspired plagiarism in early music". The Cinema Resource Centre. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  17. ^ "இசை அமைப்பாளருடன் சில அனுபவங்கள்!" (PDF). Kalki (in Tamil). 18 November 1979. pp. 24–26. Retrieved 17 July 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  18. ^ S, Karthik. "Tamil [Other Composers]". ItwoFS. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  19. ^ Krishnamachari, Suganthy (23 June 2011). "In fine fettle". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  20. ^ Rangaraj, R (23 June 2020). "Man who rocked Tamil pop, yodelling into hearts". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  21. ^ Saravanan 2013, p. 451.
  22. ^ Ramachandran, T. M. (1968). "Boom In South India". Film World. Vol. 4. p. 60. Archived from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  23. ^ "அதே கண்கள்". Kalki (in Tamil). 18 June 1967. p. 17. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2021.

Bibliography

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