Karagattakaran

Karakattakaran
Karakattakaran
Directed by	Gangai Amaran[1]
Produced by	Karumari Kandasamy J. Durai
Written by	Gangai Amaran
Starring	Ramarajan Kanaka Goundamani Santhana Bharathi Chandrasekhar Senthil Kovai Sarala Kanthimathi Shanmuga Sundaram
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	A. Sabapathy
Edited by	B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan
Production company	Vijaya Movies
Distributed by	Vijaya Movies
Release dates	16 June 1989
Running time	138 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Karakattakaran (The Karagattam Dancer) is a 1989 Tamil film written and directed by Gangai Amaran and produced by Karumari Kandasamy and J. Durai.The film stars Ramarajan, debutant Kanaka in lead roles while Goundamani, Senthil, Santhana Bharathi, Chandrasekhar, Kanthimathi and Kovai Sarala play supporting roles. Its story is about a male Karagattam dancer who falls in love with a female Karagattam dancer who reciprocates his feelings, but unfortunate circumstances and their egoistic nature prevents them from confessing their love for one another. How they overcome forms the rest of the story.

The soundtrack was composed by Ilayaraja and all the songs were well-received and, in particular, the song "Maanguyilae Poonguyile" has become a classic. The film was released in June 16, 1989 and was a blockbuster and completed a 425-day run at the box office

Plot

The story is a romantic comedy set in rural Tamil Nadu and revolves around a dance troupe who perform the Tamil dance form of karakattam.

Cast

• Ramarajan as Muththaiyaa
• Kanaka as Kamakshi
• Santhana Bharathi as Chinraasu
• Chandrasekhar as Kamakshi's uncle
• Goundamani as Thangavelu
• Senthil as Naathas
• Kovai Sarala
• Shanmuga Sundaram
• Kanthimathi
• Kokila as Chandrasekhar's wife
• Ragapriya

Production

Gangai Amaran revealed that he didn’t plan anything for the movie and went on scene by scene and also said that Ilayaraja had composed the music without knowing the plot.^[2] Kanaka, daughter of late actress Devika made her acting debut with this film.^[3]

Soundtrack

The music composed by Ilaiyaraaja.^[4] All the songs especially "Maanguyile Poonguyile" became famous and still remain as chartbusters till date. The song "Ooru Vittu" is based on Shanmugapriya Raga while "Mariyamma" is based on Mayamalavagowla Raga.^[5][6]

Ilayaraja later adapted "Maanguyile" as "Endhirayyo" for the Telugu film Shiva Shankar (2004).^[7] The song "Nandhavanathil Oru" was adapted by Yuvan Shankar Raja as "Muttathu Pakkathile" in Kunguma Poovum Konjum Puravum (2009).^[8] The song "Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandhu" was remixed by Natarajan Shankaran in Kappal (2014).^[9][10]

Themes

Musicians (top) and Dancers (bottom) known for their contributions in Karagattam.

Karakattam (Tamil: கரகாட்டம் or "karakam (கரகம் 'water pot') dance") is an ancient folk dance of Tamil Nadu performed in praise of the rain goddess Mariamman. The performers balance the water pot on their head very beautifully.^[11] Traditionally, this dance is performed in two types - Aatta Karakam is danced with decorated pots on the head and symbolizes joy and happiness and is mainly danced for entertainment, while the Sakthi Karakam is performed only in temples as a spiritual offering. Similar to Thillana Mohanambal (1968), this film showed the traditional arts of folk dance.^[12][13][14]

Release

Distributors refused to buy the film as they felt that the rural setting and full length comedy would not be acceptable.^[12][13] The film ran for one year in Natana Theatre at Madurai.^[13]

Reception

Behindwoods wrote: "Gangai Amaran’s classy direction, a simple and neat story, good performance of Ramarajan and Kanaga, believable stunt scenes, Ilayaraja’s excellent songs and finally Goundamani, Senthil’s comedy made this movie a block buster".^[12]

Legacy

Karagattakaran became cult film for bringing the art of "Karagam" into prominence.^[15] The film became one of the successful films in the career of Ramarajan.^[16] The comedy sequences from the film especially the joke revolving around Banana still remains as cult classic.^[17][18] The success of the film prompted Gangai Amaran to direct Villu Pattukaran (1992) which featured more or less same cast and crew from the previous film.^[19] The car Chevrolet Impala, 1960's model used in the film became popular after the film's release.^[20] In an interview to Hindu in 2002, Somasundaram, real-life Karagattam dancer was critical of the film stating that it is an "insult to the dance form".^[21]

In an interview to a television channel, Venkat Prabhu was asked if he would ever remake Karakattakaran, he said that it would be extremely difficult to do justice to the original. Regarding the casting, in place of Goundamani and Senthil, he said he would prefer Santhanam and Premji respectively.^[22]

In popular culture

In a comedy scene from Thangamana Raasa (1990), Goundamani who is jailed for petty crime, dreams of singing under the music of Ilaiyaraja, he sings "Maanguyile" to Vinu Chakravarthy.^[23] In Saroja (2008), when the friends witness the car which they are going to travel, the theme music of Karagattakaran is used as background music for the scene.^[24] Ooru Vittu Ooru Vanthu (1990) also directed by Gangai Amaran was named after a song from the film.^[25] The scene where Shanmugasundaram pleads ignorance about himself to his sister (Gandhimathi) has been parodied by various mimicry artists in various shows.

References

External links

• Karagattakaran lyrics and audio
• Listen to Songs Online

Bibliography

• Dhananjayan, G. (2011). The Best of Tamil Cinema, 1931 to 2010: 1931 to 1976. Galatta Media. ISBN 978-8192104300.