Nadu Iravil (/nədʊ ɪrəvɪl/ transl. In the middle of the night) is a 1970 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film, directed and produced by S. Balachander. The film's story was written by him and dialogue was written by Ve. Laxmanan, who also composed the music.[1] It is based on Agatha Christie's 1939 novel And Then There Were None.[2]

Nadu Iravil
Poster
Directed byS. Balachander
Based onAnd Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie
Produced byS. Balachander
StarringS. Balachander
Major Sundarrajan
Pandari Bai
Sowcar Janaki
CinematographyK. V. S. Reddy
Edited byK. Govindasamy
Music byS. Balachander
Production
company
S. B. Creations
Distributed byS. B. Creations
Release date
  • 1970 (1970)
Running time
148 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

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Dhayanandam is a rich man who takes care of his wife Ponni, they have no children. Dr. Saravanan was the close friend of Dhayanandam, he tells about his blood cancer and he dies in 20 days. All Dhayanandam's assets are going in vain. Dr. Saravanan gives an idea, to call all his relations and they have come. Unfortunately, they are murdered one by one in the night.

Cast

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  • Major Sundarrajan as Dhayanandam
  • Pandari Bai as Ponni (Dhayanandam's wife)
  • S. Balachander as Dr. Saravanan
  • Sowcar Janaki as Ragini
  • Cho Ramaswamy as Servar Mose
  • V. Gopalakrishnan as Ranga Rajan, (Somanathan's Son-in-law/Leela's husband)
  • V. R. Thilagam as Leela (Ranga Rajan's wife)
  • M. S. S. Pakkiyam as Neelamegham's wife
  • E. R. Sahadevan as Neelamegham
  • K. Vijayan as Aravindhan (Vadivambal elder son)
  • V. S. Raghavan as Jambulingam (Dhayanandam's younger brother / blind man)
  • Sadhan as Kalyam (Aravindan's younger brother)
  • Kottappuli Jayaraman as Joseph (Dhayanandam's house servant)
  • Maali alias Mahalingam (Mohanambal's son)
  • S.N.Lakshmi as Vadivambal (Dhayanandam's sister)
  • C. V. V. Banthulu as Somanathan
  • Kalpana as Anu Radha (Neelamegham's daughter)
  • S. R. Janaki as Mohanambal (Dhayanandam's sister in law)
  • Ramanujam as Mottaiyan
  • Saroja as Pankajam (Mottaiyan's daughter)

Production

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After the success of Bommai (1964), S. Balachander launched a film named Nadu Iravil the same year. It was based on the 1939 novel And Then There Were None, by the British writer Agatha Christie.[3][4] Unlike the novel, it features the characters in an urban house rather than being stranded on an island.[5]

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack was composed by S. Balachander, while the lyrics for the songs were written by Ve. Laxmanan.[6]

Song Singer Length
"Kann Kattum Jadaiyile" P. Susheela 06:11
"Kann Kattum Jadiyile" (pathos) 07:00
"Naalu Pakkam Yeri" L. R. Eswari 04:27
"Naalu Pakkam Yeri" – 2 03:23

Release and reception

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Though Balachander completed the film in 1964–1965, no distributor was willing to buy it, prompting him to distribute the film himself. Nadu Iravil was eventually released in 1970 and became a major success, prompting several distributors who earlier rejected the film, to return and beg Balachander for distributing it.[3] The Indian Express wrote, "The movie succeeds as a very good entertainer entirely due to the directorial work of S. Balachander and Reddi's camera".[7]

References

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  1. ^ Vijayakumar, B. (28 September 2014). "Panchathantram: 1974". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  2. ^ "Author of incredible reach". The Hindu. 24 October 2008. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  3. ^ a b Sampath, Vikram (2012). Voice of the Veena, S. Balachander: A Biography. Rupa & Co. p. 77. ISBN 978-81-291-1936-0.
  4. ^ Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul (1998) [1994]. Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema. British Film Institute and Oxford University Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-19-563579-5.
  5. ^ "Aboard the mystery train". The New Indian Express. 23 November 2017. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Nadu Iravil". Tamil Songs Lyrics. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  7. ^ "Cinema". The Indian Express. 16 May 1970. p. 10. Retrieved 22 January 2019 – via Google News Archive.
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