After discovering her in a railway station, he drags her back home and screams, “ Thaththi thavazha vendiya vayasula nadakka aarumbichutte. Take the line that Padmanabha Iyer says when he realises that his daughter was about to elope with her boyfriend. This florid style of dialogue-writing survived well into the 1980s. ” Looking at his mother’s photo on the wall - she was a cook, who struggled to raise her son - he says, “ Paavam! Sediya maramaakki-naale thavira nizhal-ukku kooda odhungama poyitta !” The lines, too, are of the time: Padmanabha Iyer says that once his children are successful in life, “ vaazhkai-ngara novel- a successful- aa mudichiduven.
For instance, Padmanabha Iyer’s all-encompassing worldview is established by the fact that he welcomes to his house both “Mr Rodricks” and “Mr Sharif”. In the opening minutes, every character is defined with a trait, or three. The film is based on the stage play of the same name by K Sundaram (who later began to be called ‘Vietnam Veedu’ Sundaram), and the “screenplay” is essentially a stage play. In many ways, Vietnam Veedu feels as far away from us as the Vietnam War feels from today’s world events. “ Veedu-ngardhu oru miniature naadu dhaane !” Thus, by focussing on the individuals, he plans to fix the problems in the household.
“ Manushan-a onnaa saethen! India onnaa poachu !” he exults. The map on the other side got built automatically. Nagesh pieced the face of the man together. How? The back of the map had the picture of a man. When she asks him to do it, he succeeds easily. In a scene, Nagesh tears up a map of India and asks Lakshmi to piece it back together.
If the house is a miniature world in Vietnam Veedu, it’s a miniature country in K Balachander’s Navagraham, released the same year. The news of the day was clearly casting a shadow on Tamil cinema. So let’s call this house ‘Vietnam Veedu’,” says Padmanabha Iyer, when there’s a discussion about what to name their bungalow. And from Vaazhkai, we see the ungrateful children, who either do not want to take care of their father or dash his hopes in various ways.įirst, what does the title imply? It’s a reference to the bickering in this large joint family. But the constant conversations he has with his wife Savithri (Padmini), the son who’s seen as a disappointment - these are reminiscent of the great American play. Unlike Miller’s protagonist, however, Padmanabha Iyer is a success, a General Manager at a “ vellaikaaran ” company. From the former, we get an existential flavour, courtesy a middle-aged man faced with the prospect of a career that’s going to end soon. The film feels like Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman crossed with Vaazhkai (1984). Sivaji Ganesan plays ‘Prestige’ Padmanabha Iyer in Vietnam Veedu, which was released on April 11.
#Sivaji ganesan filmography series#
) The other films were Enga Mama (a remake of the Shammi Kapoor superhit, Brahmachari ), Raman Ethanai Ramanadi, Vilaiyaattu Pillai (the last film written by the legendary SS Vasan), Ethiroli (the only time the thespian teamed up with K Balachander), Engirundho Vandhaal, Sorgam (from which you may recall the song, ‘ Ponmagal vandhaal ’), Paadhukaappu ( the last of the actor’s ‘Pa’ series of films with director A Bhim Singh) and the best-remembered of them all, Vietnam Veedu, directed by P Madhavan. (Rajendra Kumar played the character Sivaji Ganesan played in Tamil, and Sivaji played the character portrayed by Muthuraman. Sivaji Ganesan had an incredible nine, if you count his appearance in Dharti, a remake of his own Sivandha Mann. That year, MGR had five releases ( Maattukara Velan, En Annan, Thalaivan, Thedi Vandha Mappillai and Engal Thangam ).
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