Manmadha Leelai (1976 film)

Manmatha Leelai (transl. Cupid's Tale) is a 1976 Indian Tamil-language romantic sex comedy film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Aalam. A number of actresses debuted on Tamil industry through this film, including Hema Chaudhary, Jaya Prada, Y. Vijaya among others. It was released on 27 February 1976.[2] Though the film was criticised for its bold content when it released, it has received cult status with passing years and is considered a trendsetter.

Manmadha Leelai
Theatrical release poster
Directed byK. Balachander
Written byK. Balachander
Produced byP. R. Govindarajan
J. Duraiswamy
Starring
CinematographyB. S. Lokanath
Edited byN. R. Kittu
Music byM. S. Viswanathan
Production
company
Kalakendra Movies
Release date
  • 27 February 1976 (1976-02-27)
Running time
161 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

The film explores the life journey of a wannabe womaniser Madhu and his attempted affairs with various women where he fails invariably, including those who are married.

The main conflict is between Madhu and his wife Rekha. The many woman he flirts with and those who flirt with him are doing so for many different reasons. One has a drunkard husband who has no interest in her while other is merely living her fantasy of being in an extra-marital relationship through phone while another is an ultra-modern hippie cultured women. He, however, does not manage to consummate with any of them. He confesses all his problems to his secretary Mr. Iyer who resigns unable to bear his torture. In the end, his now pregnant wife finds out about his attempted philandering and decides to leave him only to find out that her role-model father has had a life long affair with their long term servant maid which her mother has chosen to ignore. Seeing that men are no better and considering that her husband is yet to consummate, she decides to go back to her husband who vows to become a reformed man.

Cast

Production

M. R. Radha's son Radha Ravi made his acting debut with the film.[4][5] The coat that Kamal Haasan wears prominently in the film was actually his brother Charuhasan's.[6]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by M. S. Viswanathan, with lyrics by Kannadasan.[7][8] The song "Naadham Ennum" is set in Shree ranjani raga,[9] while "Hello My Dear" is set in Dharmavati.[10]

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Manaivi Amaivathellam"K. J. Yesudas4:29
2."Naathamenum"Vani Jairam4:12
3."Hello My Dear Wrong Number"K. J. Yesudas, L. R. Eswari4:22
4."Manmadha"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam5:02
5."Netru Oru Menagai"A. V. Ramanan4:38
6."Sugam Thanaa"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela3:56
Total length:26:39

Reception

The film struggled to get a censor certificate.[11] Even though it stirred up controversies when it was released, it later became a cult classic,[12] and is considered a trendsetter.[13] Kamal Haasan said, "it was an interesting subject. For that period it was unusual, a breaking down of the fidelity stereotypes".[14] After Vijaya Bapineedu acquired the rights to dub the film in Telugu, he edited it down by more than 250 feet (76 m). Though Balachander was disappointed with the dubbed version, titled Manmadha Leela, it fared better than the Tamil original.[15] This was the first of many dubbed Telugu films where Haasan's voice was dubbed by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam.[16][17] The film was dubbed in Hindi as Meethi Meethi Baatein (1977),[18][19] which fared reasonably well.[20] Kanthan of Kalki called it a problematic story but gets specialised by skill in creating characters and added there is nothing special about it as a screenplay but Balachander has added innovation to the film by sticking the scenes quickly.[3]

Dropped remake

In the late 2000s, K. Balachander reached out to Siddharth about remaking the film. The actor's refusal meant that the project was dropped.[21]

References
  1. Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul (1998) [1994]. Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema. British Film Institute and Oxford University Press. p. 428. ISBN 0-19-563579-5.
  2. "Manmadha Leelai". Screen 4 Screen. Archived from the original on 23 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  3. காந்தன் (21 March 1976). "மன்மத லீலை". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 63. Archived from the original on 28 July 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  4. Rangarajan, Malathi (8 March 2012). "Refrains, old and new". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 17 April 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  5. Raman, Mohan (3 January 2015). "KB: Kollywood's Discovery Channel". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  6. "'மன்மத லீலை' கோட் குறித்த சுவாரசியப் பின்னணி: கமல் பகிர்வு". Hindu Tamil Thisai (in Tamil). 8 May 2020. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  7. "Manmatha Leelai Tamil Film EP Vinyl Record by M S Viswanathan". Mossymart. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  8. "Manmatha Leelai". Gaana. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  9. Mani, Charulatha (26 October 2012). "Six-note splendour". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  10. Mani, Charulatha (9 November 2012). "Twice as nice". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  11. S, Srivatsan (10 July 2019). "When K Balachander wanted to write for OTT platforms". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  12. Lakshmi, V (8 July 2012). "New twist to old tales". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  13. Suganth, M (8 August 2012). "The '80s are back!". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  14. Shivkumar, S. (25 August 2005). "Set to score a perfect ten". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 15 May 2006. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  15. Sri (14 November 2007). "Exclusive : Interview with Vijayabapineedu". Telugucinema.com. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  16. Pradeep, K. (26 March 2009). "Chit chat with S. P. Balasubramaniam". Andhravilas. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  17. Murali, S. (25 September 2020). "S.P. Balasubrahmanyam: The end of an era". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  18. Narayan, Hari (21 November 2016). "Some lesser known SPB magic for you". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  19. "சினி மசாலா". Kalki (in Tamil). 28 October 1979. p. 7. Archived from the original on 28 July 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  20. Piousji (12 August 1979). "Khaas Baat". Sunday. p. 51. Archived from the original on 20 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  21. "Takkar star Siddharth calls Kamal Haasan, the first and original pan-India star". OTTPlay. 5 June 2023. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
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