Sigappu Rojakkal

Sigappu Rojakkal
Poster
Tamil	சிகப்பு ரோஜாக்கள்
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 date	28 October 1978
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Sigappu Rojakkal (English: Red Roses) is a 1978 Indian Tamil-language psychological thriller film starring Kamal Haasan and Sridevi in lead roles. Co-written and directed by P. Bharathiraja, it features 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 exceptions. The film completed a 175-day run at the box office. It won two Filmfare Awards in the Best Actor and Best Director categories.

This film was dubbed in Telugu as Erra Gulabilu.^[2] It was remade in Hindi as Red Rose starring Rajesh Khanna and Poonam Dhillon in lead roles.

The movie was reported to be loosely inspired by Raman Raghav's grisly crimes and Kamal Haasan plays the role of Dileep who is traumatized by women's behavior in his childhood and later a psychopath misogynist who kills women after having sex with them.^[3]

Plot

Dileep (Kamal Haasan) is a successful industrialist who runs a company named "Minerva", he is a humble man, but with a dark side. He preys on beautiful girls; have sex with them 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 gender 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 garments salesgirl, Sarada (Sridevi), and develops an romantic 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. Marrying Sarada Dileep brings her to his own home and all on a sudden Sarada comes to know about Dileep's past life by accidentally entering a room where in wall everything about him is scribbled by himself.

On the same day Sarada stumbles upon Dileep's father who was watching Dileep's sex video in a room where their gardener was also present, they try to catch her and she somehow manages to shut their room's door 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 as Dileep, a wealthy man who have sex with women but later kills to quell his psychopathic lust.
• Sridevi as Sarada, a poor Hindu conservative girl who works in a shop named 'Roopsagar'.^[4]
• Goundamani as Dileep's Minerva company's manager, a man who irritates 'Chitra', a girl working in 'Minerva' goes lost after working a few days there.
• G. Sreenivasan as Dileep's adult life's step-father, a successful business-magnet who later becomes a woman-hater for his wife's adultery.
• Vadivukkarasi as Dileep's real mother, a cantankerous woman who hates Dileep. As a teenager Dileep runs away from his home after the woman behaves roughly with him.
• K. Bhagyaraj as a waiter, a simple man who works in a restaurant where Dileep visits.

Production

P. Bharathiraja, whose first two directorial ventures – 16 Vayathinile and Kizhakke Pogum Rail – were set in villages, chose to make his third film, the thriller Sigappu Rojakkal in a different genre to avoid being labelled by people as a director of "village-based films".^[5] He wanted actor Sivakumar to act in the lead role in the film, despite his assistant directors preferring Kamal Hassan. But after Bharathiraja narrated the story, Sivakumar rejected the offer, feeling it was not suitable for him.^[5][6] Haasan claims to have known the story of the film six years before shooting began.^[7] Shooting took place at a bungalow in T. Nagar.^[8]

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.^[9] K. Bhagyaraj was one of the associates in the film and also appeared in a small role.^[10]

Soundtrack

The music composed by Ilaiyaraaja.^[11] When Haasan was singing an English song at a concert, Ilayaraja who witnessed this observed that he sang the higher notes well, and thus provided him to sing "Ninaivo Oru Paravai".^[12][13]

Reception

In a review dated 19 November 1978, the Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan rated Sigappu Rojakkal 53 out of 100.^[14] 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".^[15]

Remakes

Sigappu Rojakkal was remade in Hindi by Bharathiraja himself as Red Rose (released in 1980).^[16]

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.^[17] 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.^[18]

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.^[19] The film began production in Chennai during November 2014, with a publicity poster revealing that debutant actor Vishakan would portray the lead role.^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[22] In January 2016, Manoj stated that work on the film had been postponed.^[23]

Legacy

The success of the film inspired similar themes about psychopathic killers - Moodupani (1980), Kadhal Kondein (2003), Manmadhan (2004), Nadunisi Naaigal (2011).^[24] Footage from Sigappu Rojakkal was also used in Yugam (2012).^[25] The line "Kuthunga Yesamaan Kuthunga, Indha Ponnungale Ippadithaan Kuthunga" from the song "Ivaluga Imsai Thaanga Mudiyala" in Kalakalappu (2012) was named after the dialogue of the same name in Sigappu Rojakkal.^[26]

References

External links

• Sigappu Rojakkal on IMDb