There was a time in Tamil cinema when stalwarts like Sivaji Ganesan, M G Ramachandran and Gemini Ganesan ruled the silver screen with their finest performances. Soon, there came an actor who was going to emerge as the biggest competitor for these actors. It was Jaishankar, who was referred to as ‘South Indian James Bond.’ He carved a niche among the audience with his outstanding acting in his debut film Iravum Pagalum. This film faced stiff competition from two other films — Enga Vettuu Pillai and Pazhani — that were released the same year. But despite the competition, Iravum Pagalum emerged as a commercial success.
Viewers at that time felt that Iravum Pagalum wouldn’t thrive on its box office run in front of films like Enga Vettuu Pillai and Pazhani, especially for superstars like M G R and Sivaji in leads. Iravum Pagalum, directed by Joseph Thaliath Jr, proved these notions wrong and emerged as a huge success.
This low budget movie, produced by Citadel Productions, had a new face as the female lead as well, T K S Vasantha. Joseph had zeroed in on the name of Jaishankar after watching his phenomenal performance in a historical play. The director was highly impressed with Jaishankar’s acting abilities and immediately decided that he will essay the male lead in his film.
Apart from the spell-bounding performance by the cast, the cinegoers loved the storyline of Iravum Pagalum. There is an interesting anecdote behind how the final draft of the film’s storyline was finalised. According to reports, Joseph set up a production company titled Citadel Films. He was highly inspired by the novel The Citadel, written by A J Cronin, and wanted to adapt it into a film.
But he was stopped by the Citadel Films co-founder F Nagoor, who cautioned him that the subject of this novel can be too risky, considering the audience. Joseph, too, thought about the same and they both agreed on the story written by T N Balu instead.
Iravum Pagalum revolves around the story of a college student Rajasekar, who is robbed off of all his wealth by a gang. When he decides to complain about it to the police, he is stopped by his mother. Surprised at this, he decides to unravel the mystery behind it.
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