Bairavi
Bairavi is a 1978 Indian Tamil-language film directed by M. Bhaskar, and produced by Kalaignanam, who also wrote the story and dialogues. It stars Srikanth, Rajinikanth, Sripriya and Geetha. Geetha was introduced in this film. Srikanth played the role of the villain. Sudheer, Manorama and Suruli Rajan played other major roles. The film was released on 8 June 1978.[1]
| Bairavi | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | M. Bhaskar |
| Screenplay by | Madurai Thirumaran |
| Story by | Kalaignanam |
| Produced by | Kalaignanam |
| Starring | Srikanth Rajinikanth Sripriya Geetha |
| Cinematography | K. S. Bhaskar Rao |
| Edited by | M. Vellaisamy |
| Music by | Ilaiyaraaja |
Production company | Vallivelan Movies |
| Distributed by | Subramania Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 124 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Plot
Mookaiyah and his sister Bairavi are the children of a drunkard. They are separated after Bhairavi gets lost in an accident. Following this, Mookaiyah becomes a servant of a local landlord Rajalingam. Mookaiyah is a loyal servant and does whatever is asked of him. Rajalingam forces Mookaiyah to abduct a young girl from a neighbouring village, Bhagyam. Rajalingam rapes her in the Mookaiyah's absence. Maanikam, Bhagyam's adopted brother, comes to know about the incident. When the police investigate Maanikam, Mookaiyah discovers that Bhagyam is Bairavi. Then he immediately approaches Rajalingam and forces him to marry Bairavi; he was not ready to accept it at first but after a while he promises to Mookaiyah that he will marry Bairavi.
As Mookaiyah was the person who abducted Bairavi, the police suspect that he is the culprit, comes to Rajalingam's house to know about Mookaiyah. Rajalingam also alleges to the police that Mookaiyah only raped Bairavi. The police therefore arrest Mookaiyah, based on Rajalingam's testimony. Meanwhile, Rajalingam plans to kill Bairavi, who is in an unconscious state in hospital. If Bairavi become conscious and testifies to the police then he will be punished, so he kills her. After knowing about his adopted sister's murder, Maanikam vows to take revenge on Mookaiyah, whom he believes to be responsible for Bairavi's death. Meanwhile, Mookaiyah escapes from jail knowing about the incident. He then sets out to kill Rajalingam in revenge for his sister's death.
Cast
As per the credits order:
- Srikanth as Rajalingam[2]
- Rajinikanth as Mookaiyah[2]
- V. K. Ramasamy as Meenatchi's father
- Suruli Rajan as Pannai
- Sudheer as Maanikam
- Sripriya as Pavunu[2]
- Manorama as Meenatchi
- Y. Vijaya as Leela
- Geetha as Bairavi[2]
- T. K. Ramachandran as the father of Mookaiyah and Bairavi
- K. Natraj as Sandiyar
Production
Kalaignanam, who was impressed with Rajinikanth's acting style, went straight ahead casting him in the lead role for Bhairavi, and paid him an advance. Initially, Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar agreed to give financial support for Bhairavi but when he heard Rajinikanth is the lead actor, he withdrew the support and advised Kalaignanam to stop the film or change the actor and questioned him for choosing a villain in the lead role and hero as villain (Srikanth was acting as hero those days) and he assured that it will be a huge loss. Kalaignanam approached Muthuraman to play negative role but he refused to portray a negative character, Srikanth was finally selected for the role. M. Bhaskar made his directorial debut with this film.[3][4][2]
Music
The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. All the lyrics were written by Kannadasan except Kattapulle written by Chidambaranathan.[5]
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Kattapulle" | T. M. Soundararajan, S. Janaki | 4:11 |
| 2. | "Nandooruthu" | T. M. Soundararajan | 4:41 |
| 3. | "Oru Padhiyil" | S. Janaki | 3:56 |
| 4. | "Yezhukadal Nayakiye" | S. Janaki | 4:33 |
| Total length: | 17:35 | ||
Release
Bairavi was released on 8 June 1978,[1] and distributed by Subramania Films.[6] A 35-foot high cutout of Rajinikanth was built at Plaza Theatre by S. Thanu to promote the film. In the posters, Rajinikanth was referred to as "Superstar", although he was initially against it.[7][8][9]
References
- Ramachandran 2014, p. 76.
- Ramachandran 2014, p. 75.
- "Sivajirao to Sivaji" (PDF). Ananda Vikatan. pp. 22–25. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- "கலைஞானம் தயாரித்த பைரவி: கதாநாயகனாக நடித்து சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் ஆனார் ரஜினி" [Kalaignanam produced Bairavi: Rajini portrayed lead role and became 'Superstar']. Maalai Malar (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
- "Bairavi Tamil Film EP Vinyl Record by Ilayaraaja". Mossymart. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- "பைரவி". Dina Thanthi (in Tamil). 22 July 1978. p. 7. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
- "சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் பட்டம் எனக்கு வேண்டாம்!: ஏற்க மறுத்தார், ரஜினிகாந்த்!" [I don't want the tag of Superstar: Rajini refused to accept it]. Maalai Malar (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 18 March 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
- "The bigger, the better". The Hindu. 16 September 2016. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- Ramachandran 2014, pp. 76–78.
Bibliography
- Ramachandran, Naman (2014) [2012]. Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography. New Delhi: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-342111-5.