Annakili

Annakili
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Devaraj–Mohan
Screenplay by	Panchu Arunachalam
Story by	R. Selvaraj
Produced by	P. Thamizharasi
Starring	Sivakumar Sujatha
Cinematography	A. Somasundaram
Edited by	B. Kandasamy
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Production company	S. P. T. Films
Release date	14 May 1976
Running time	134 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Annakili is a 1976 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film, directed by Devaraj–Mohan and written by Panchu Arunachalam from a story by R. Selvaraj. The film stars Sivakumar and Sujatha with S. V. Subbaiah, Srikanth, Thengai Srinivasan and Fatafat Jayalaxmi in supporting roles. It was produced by S. P. Thamizharasi under the production banner SPT Films. The film's soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, who made his debut in film. A. Somasundaram and Kandasamy handled cinematography and editing respectively.

When Ilaiyaraaja met Panchu Arunachalam, the latter asked if the former had composed any songs; Ilaiyaraaja casually sang a bunch of songs, one of which was "Annakkili Unnai Theduthe". An impressed Panchu Arunachalam decided to write a film story to accommodate these songs, which became Annakili. The film was released on 14 May 1976 and became a commercial success. It was screened at the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India in 1978. It was remade in Telugu as Rama Chilaka (1978).

Plot

Annakili, a village girl, falls in love with a teacher Thyagarajan. Due to circumstances, Thyagarajan marries another girl. Azhagappan, a womaniser creates a misunderstanding about Annakili among the villagers; the rest of the film shows how Annakili proves her innocence.

Cast

Production

When Ilaiyaraaja met Panchu Arunachalam, the latter asked if the former had composed any songs; Ilaiyaraaja casually sang a bunch of songs, one of which was "Annakkili Unnai Theduthe". An impressed Panchu Arunachalam decided to write a screenplay based on these songs and on the story Marathuvechi written by R. Selvaraj to accommodate these songs; the film would be titled Annakili. While scouting for various locations, it was Sivakumar who finally zeroed in and suggested a village Thengumarahada situated at Kovai district which had only 10 homes and mostly has huts where they primarily shot the film except for the climax which was shot in Chennai and Salem Ratna Studios. The filming was completed within a month. The film was made on a shoestring budget under ₹4 lakh (worth ₹4.7 crore in 2021 prices) The climax, featuring a theatre being set on fire, was inspired by the film Kannagi.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, who made his debut as composer with this film, and the lyrics were written by Panchu Arunachalam. When Arunachalam was in search of new composer who could deliver new kind of music, it was Selvaraj who suggested Raaja's name. Arunachalam added "Ilaiya" (Ilaiya means younger in Tamil) as prefix in his name Raaja and he named as "Ilaiyaraaja" to differentiate from the already established composer A. M. Rajah. For the soundtrack, Ilaiyaraaja applied the techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamil folk poetry and folk song melodies, which created a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms.

The song "Machanai Paartheengala" was originally composed and sung at a marriage by Ilaiyaraaja and his orchestra even before the film's release. The song "Sonthamillai Banthamillai" is based on Nadanamakriya raga. Arunachalam revealed he wrote lyrics for the song "Sondhamillai" even before its tune was composed while lyrics for songs "Machanai", "Annakili Unnai" and "Suttha Samba" were written after its tunes were composed. When the song "Annakili Unnai" was being recorded, during the first take the studio faced a power cut though it was recorded in second take but the song was not recorded clearly as the recorder's assistant forgot to plug in the switch but it was finalised in third take. The song "Sonthamillai Banthamillai" was deleted during the first release of the film; however after fans demanded the song it was later again added into the film.

The soundtrack became hugely popular and its success established Ilaiyaraaja as a leading composer in Tamil cinema. The violin portions of the title song were used by K for the "Bar Anthem" in Mugamoodi (2012).

Release and reception

Annakili was released on 14 May 1976. Many distributors refused to buy the film as they felt it looked like an art film which led Arunachalam to sell the film to new distributors at a lower price. Ananda Vikatan, in a review dated 30 May 1976, was positive towards the film, particularly the performances of Sujatha, Sivakumar and Srikanth, but felt it would have been better in colour. According to Sivakumar, the response for first two shows were poor, it picked up only in third day due to positive word-of-mouth. The film ran successfully for 25 weeks and celebrated silver jubilee and it ran for 205 days in Irudhaya Theatre at Kovai. It won the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil, and also received ₹1 lakh (equivalent to ₹30 lakh or US$38,000 in 2023) subsidy from the government of Tamil Nadu.