Sigappu Rojakkal

Sigappu Rojakkal
Poster
Directed by	P. Bharathiraja
Produced by	J. Padmavathi
Written by	P. Bharathiraja K. Bhagyaraj (dialogues)
Starring	Kamal Haasan Sridevi Goundamani Vadivukkarasi K. Bhagyaraj
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	P. S. Nivas
Edited by	P. Bhaskaran
Production company	K. R. G Productions
Distributed by	K. R. G Productions
Release dates	28 October 1978
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Sigappu Rojakkal (English: Red Roses) is a 1978 Indian Tamil psychological thriller film starring Kamal Haasan and Sridevi. Co-Written and Directed by P. Bharathiraja, music by Ilaiyaraaja and cinematography by P. S. Nivas^[1]

In an era of over-dramatised acting in Tamil films, Sigappu Rojakkal was one of the notable and the best exceptions. The film was a blockbuster and completed a 175-day run at the box office. The film won two Filmfare Awards in the Best Actor and Best Director categories. This film was also remade in Hindi as Red Rose starring Rajesh Khanna and Poonam Dhillon in lead roles.

Plot

Dileep (Kamal Haasan) is a successful businessman with a dark side. He preys on nubile girls; tortures and kills them. These proceedings are video-recorded and watched by his adoptive father and mentor, another deranged woman-hater who, as with Dileep, had a disillusioning experience with the female sex in his past. The old man stays holed up in a far corner of Dileep's mansion watching his son carry out what he is too infirm to do. The murdered girls are buried in Dileep's garden and a rosebush is grown above.

Dileep chances upon an undergarments salesgirl, Sarada (Sridevi), and develops an attraction for her. Sarada, a conservative woman, insists that Dileep must marry her if he wants to have his way with her. The romance proceeds, and appears to be Dileep's salvation before things begin to collapse for him. On his marriage day, Sarada stumbles upon a diary containing details of his deranged life, and names of the girls he had killed scribbled on the walls of one of the rooms in his large house.

Sarada, meanwhile stumbles upon Dileep's father, whom Dileep had told her was retarded and was not to be disturbed, and gets the shock of her life. She somehow manages to shut him in and tries to run out but as she prepares to leave, Dileep returns. As Sarada tries to act normal while planning to escape, Dileep finds that his father has been locked in and when he saves his father, he realizes that Sarada knows the truth about his deeds. A tense chase ensues, which ends in a graveyard in the dead of night, with Dileep stumbling and falling on a cross which pierces him. In the ensuing chase, Dileep is caught by the police.

He is subsequently jailed but gets mentally retarded and loses his bloodthirsty ways. He keeps repeating Sarada's name, as it is his only coherent thought, and all other memories have been erased from his mind.

Cast

• Kamal Haasan
• Sridevi
• Goundamani
• G. Sreenivasan
• Vadivukkarasi
• K. Bhagyaraj

Production

Bharathiraja wanted actor Sivakumar to act in the lead role in the film in spite of his assistant directors preferring Kamal Hassan. But after the director narrated the story, Sivakumar rejected the offer calling it not suitable for him.^[2]

Kamal Haasan had told to Bharathiraja that psychopathic killer should not be singing and dancing but he deflected Kamal's objection saying that the song "Ninaivo oru paravai" was a dream song, shot from the heroine’s point of view.^[3] K. Bhagyaraj was one of the associates in the film and also appeared in a small role.^[4]

Soundtrack

The music composed by Ilaiyaraaja.^[5] When Kamal was singing an English song at a concert, Ilayaraja who witnessed this observed that he sang the higher notes well thus provided him to sing "Ninaivu Oru".^[6][7]

Reception

The film received one of the best scores of 53 from Ananda Vikatan.^[8] Behindwoods wrote: "Kamal Haasan’s memorable turn as a serial killer saw him declare war on the female of the species for their deceitful ways which he has experienced firsthand".^[9]

Remakes

Sigappu Rojakkal was remade in Hindi as Red Rose

In November 2009, Manoj Bharathiraja was announced to be making his directorial debut by remaking Bharathiraja's successful thriller film Sigappu Rojakkal (1978). Manoj narrated his script to actors Ajith Kumar and then Dhanush in late 2009, both of whom were unable to do the film.^[10] After his stint as an assistant director in Shankar's Enthiran in early 2010, Manoj continued fine tuning the script and stated it was not a full remake and only drew inspiration from the original. He also revealed that director Ram had also helped on work with the script, while expressing interest in casting either actors Arya or Atharvaa to portray the lead character.^[11] Further reports in late 2010 claiming that Sakthi Vasu and Shruti Haasan had been finalised by Manoj for the film, also proved to be untrue.^[12]

In October 2014, the film was confirmed to be on the verge of starting shoot with Manoj confirmed as director, while the original film's director Bharathiraja announced that he would produce the venture. G. V. Prakash Kumar was signed on as the music composer, while Rajesh Yadav and Pazhanivel were picked as the project's cinematographer and editor.^[13] The film began production in Chennai during November 2014, with a publicity poster revealing that debutant actor Vishakan would portray the lead role.^[14] Bharathiraja revealed that he would play himself during the film's first half and stated that filming would take place in India and abroad in Switzerland.^[15] He also revealed that the film would not be a sequel, but would tell the story of a youngster who is affected to commit crimes after watching the original film featuring Kamal Haasan.^[16] In January 2016, Manoj stated that work on the film had been postponed.^[17]

Legacy

The success of the film inspired similar themes about psychopathic killers - Moodupani (1980), Kadhal Kondein (2003), Manmadhan (2004), Nadunisi Naaigal (2011).^[18]

Behindwoods included "Ninaivo Oru Paravai" in their list "Kamal's unforgettable songs".^[19]

References

External links

• Sigappu Rojakkal at the Internet Movie Database