Kulama Gunama

1971 film by K. S. Gopalakrishnan

26 March 1971 (1971-03-26)

Running time

128 minutesCountryIndiaLanguageTamil

Kulama Gunama (transl. Caste? Or Character?) is a 1971 Indian Tamil-language drama film, directed by K. S. Gopalakrishnan and produced by M. Aasam. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar, Padmini and Vanisri. It is a remake of the 1968 Telugu film Thalli Prema.^[1] The film was released on 26 March 1971.^[2]

Plot

Sivaji is a highly respectable man in his village. He works tirelessly for the welfare of his society and hardly spends time with his wife Padmini. Padmini has no child after many years of marriage. Jaishankar is Sivaji's younger brother and is in love with Vanisri, daughter of Nambiar, who is the owner of a grocery store. Nambiar adulterates almost all his products in his shop and sells them at high prices. People have no choice but to buy his stuff for their daily life as this is the only grocery shop in the entire village. Sivaji puts a stop to this by inaugurating a grocery shop owned by the village cooperative society, after which Nambiar begins to incur losses as people no longer buy from his shop. After knowing that his daughter is in love with Sivaji's brother, Nambiar plans to make use of this to separate the brothers. Sivaji is initially reluctant to this marriage, but agrees eventually after talking to Vanisri and learning about her good character. After their marriage, Padmini and Vanisri lead the family like non-biological sisters. Vanisri pays no heed to her parents who wanted a separate share for Jaishankar and herself. Their motive goes in vain. Both Padmini and Vanisri conceive at the same time and during the child birth, ironically, Vanisri's baby is stillborn. Unknown to Vanisri, Padmini gives her son to her. Nambiar persuades Jaishankar to ask for his family share and Sivaji is shocked to hear this. Sivaji, in an emotional climax, gives his brother 2 choices, either to choose him or his entire family wealth in a subtle way. In the end, it is revealed that Vanisri knows the fact that her son is indeed Padmini's and they all live together happily.

Cast

Sivaji Ganesan as Chinnathambi
Jaishankar as Raja
Padmini as Seetha
Vanisri as Lalitha
M. N. Nambiar as Nallakannu
C. K. Saraswathi as Sengamalam
Nagesh as Kalimann
K. D. Santhanam as Village Head
G. Sakunthala as Doctor
A. K. Veerasamy as Villager
K. V. Srinivasan as Villager
P. R. Varalakshmi as Dancer

Soundtrack

The music was composed by K. V. Mahadevan, with lyrics by Kannadasan.^[3]

Song	Singers
"Sorgathil Mayangum"	T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela
"Ulagil Irandu Kiligal"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki, T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela
"Pillai Kali Theera"	P. Susheela, 'Soolamangalam' Rajalakshmi
"Maathuru Ramakka"	P. Susheela, S. Janaki

References

^ Arunachalam, Param (2020). BollySwar: 1981–1990. Mavrix Infotech Private Limited. p. 822. ISBN 9788193848227.
^ "எம்ஜிஆர், சிவாஜி இரண்டாம் இடம்; ஆதிபராசக்திதான் முதலிடம்". Hindu Tamil Thisai (in Tamil). 15 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
^ "Kulama Gunama". JioSaavn. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.