Sivappu Malli

Sivappu Malli (transl. Red Jasmine) is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Rama Narayanan for AVM Productions, starring Vijayakanth, Chandrasekhar, Shanthi Krishna, Aruna and S. S. Chandran. A remake of the Telugu film Erra Mallelu (1981), it revolves around two men starting a revolution against their village chiefs and the owner of a factory in the neighbouring village. The film was released on 15 August 1981.

Sivappu Malli
Poster
Directed by	Rama Narayanan
Screenplay by	Rajshekar
Story by	Madala Ranga Rao
Produced by	M. Saravanan M. Balasubramaniam
Starring	Vijayakanth Chandrashekar Shanthi Krishna S. S. Chandran Aruna
Cinematography	Lokesh
Edited by	Vellaichami
Music by	Shankar–Ganesh
Production company	Balasubramaniam & Company
Release date	15 August 1981 (1981-08-15)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Sathyanathan, Punyakodi and their partners are an atrocious lot. They keep suppressing the villagers and do not even allow them to get proper education due to fear of losing control over the village. On the other hand, Ranga and Tyagu are honest factory workers who lead the fight against the factory owner for the labourers' rights. The clash between the two sections of society reaches a level where Sathyanathan and a gang plot to eliminate Ranga and Tyagu. They manage to do away with Tyagu; however, Ranga is too smart for them. How Ranga manages to punish the wrong doers is what the second half of the film is all about.

Cast

• Vijayakanth as Ranga
• Chandrashekar as Tyagu
• Shanthi Krishna as Mallika
• Ramarajan
• Aruna
• Anuradha
• S. S. Chandran
• Sangili Murugan
• Vennira Aadai Moorthy
• Gundu Kalyanam
• K. K. Soundar

Production

K. Veerappan, a production executive at AVM Productions, saw the Telugu film Erra Mallelu (1981) and told AVM insiders it was very good; having faith in his words, M. Saravanan bought the remake rights without watching the film.^[1] However, Saravanan did not produce the remake, titled Sivappu Malli directly under AVM, but the subsidiary Balasubramaniam & Company. Saravanan wanted Kamal Haasan to portray the lead role, but he declined due to unavailability of dates; the role went to Vijayakanth.^[2] The film's puja was held on 20 July 1981, and principal photography was completed within 35 working days, well before the already fixed 15 August release date.^[1][3] Though Vijayakanth was already acting in Saatchi (1983) when he accepted Sivappu Malli, despite both films being shot in different towns, he would film for Sivappu Malli in the evening at Maduranthakam after filming for Saatchi in Salem.^[4] Editing was handled by Vellaichami.^[5] While discussing about crediting lead actors' names, Chandrasekhar's brother Pandian was insistent about having his brother's name to be placed first in opening credits; due to this reason both Vijayakanth and Chandrasekhar were left uncredited. The makers wanted Vijayakanth's voice to be dubbed by a voice artist; however Vijayakanth insisted to dub for himself, he attended dubbing session during the shoot of Jadhikkoru Needhi.^[6]

Themes

Sivappu Malli revolves around the themes of communism and marxism.^[7][8]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Shankar–Ganesh, with lyrics by Vairamuthu.^[9][10]

Track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Erimalai Eppadi Porukkum"	T. M. Soundararajan, T. L. Maharajan	6:20
2.	"Rendu Kannam Santhana Kinnam"	K. J. Yesudas, P. Susheela	4:39
Total length:			10:59

Release and reception

Sivappu Malli was released on 15 August 1981.^[11] Sindhu and Jeeva, reviewing the film for Kalki, appreciated Lokesh's cinematography and Vellaichami's editing, especially Lokesh's use of slow motion shots.^[12]

Legacy

The song "Erimalai Eppadi Porukkum" became the theme for Vivek's character in Singam (2010).^[13][14]

References

1. சரவணன், ஏவி.எம். (29 May 2005). "சூப்பர் ஸ்டாரின் பெருந்தன்மை!" (PDF). Kalki (in Tamil). pp. 60–63. Retrieved 10 May 2023 – via Internet Archive.
2. Saravanan 2013, pp. 242–243.
3. Saravanan 2013, p. 244.
4. "சிவப்பு மல்லி படப்பிடிப்பில் விஜயகாந்த் காட்டிய சின்சியாரிட்டி". News18 (in Tamil). 22 November 2022. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
5. Saravanan 2013, p. 245.
6. விஜயகாந்த் (22 January 2006). "வலி... வருத்தம்... வாழ்க்கை!" (PDF). Kalki (in Tamil). pp. 88–91. Retrieved 5 March 2024 – via Internet Archive.
7. Maderya, Kumuthan. "Rage against the state: Historicizing the "angry young man" in Tamil cinema". Jump Cut. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
8. Damodaran, Karthikeyan; Gorringe, Hugo (2017). "Madurai Formula Films: Caste Pride and Politics in Tamil Cinema". South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal. doi:10.4000/samaj.4359. S2CID 149120258. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
9. "Sivappu Malli Tamil Film EP Vinyl Record by Shankar Ganesh". Macsendisk. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
10. "Sivappu Malli". JioSaavn. 30 September 1981. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
11. Saravanan 2013, p. 242.
12. சிந்து; ஜீவா (30 August 1981). "சிவப்பு மல்லி". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 49. Archived from the original on 31 July 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
13. "எப்போதும் நெஞ்சில் நிழலாடும் விவேக்கின் காமெடி கலாட்டாக்கள்". Maalai Malar (in Tamil). 17 April 2021. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
14. "ஜ(ம ) னங்களின் கலைஞன் – வேங்கடகிருஷ்ணன்". Vikatakavi (in Tamil). 17 April 2021. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2022.

Bibliography

• Saravanan, M. (2013) [2005]. AVM 60 Cinema (in Tamil) (3rd ed.). Rajarajan Pathippagam. OCLC 1158347612.

External links

• Sivappu Malli at IMDb 
• Sivappu Malli at Rotten Tomatoes