Netrikkan

Netrikkan (transl. The Third Eye) is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by S. P. Muthuraman and produced by Kavithalayaa Productions. The film stars Rajinikanth in a double role as father and son with Saritha and Menaka, while Goundamani, Lakshmi and Sarath Babu play supporting roles. It revolves around Chakravarthy, a middle-aged businessman who is a womaniser. In the process, he rapes a girl Radha. The rest of the film revolves around Chakravarthy's son and Radha teaching a lesson to his father to mend his ways.

For the 2021 film, see Netrikann.

Netrikkan
Poster
Directed byS. P. Muthuraman
Screenplay byK. Balachander
Story byVisu
Produced byRajam Balachander
StarringRajinikanth
Lakshmi
Saritha
Menaka
Vijayashanti
CinematographyBabu
Edited byR. Vittal
Music byIlaiyaraaja
Production
company
Release date
  • 15 August 1981 (1981-08-15)
Running time
149 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

The film's story and dialogues were written by Visu and the screenplay was written by K. Balachander. Babu and R. Vittal handled cinematography and editing respectively. The soundtrack and score were composed by Ilayaraja while the lyrics for the tracks were written by Kannadasan.

Netrikkan was released on 15 August 1981 and became successful at the box office. The film received critical acclaim with Rajinikanth's performance as a middle-aged womaniser being widely praised. The film was remade in Telugu as Ahankari and unofficially in Hindi as Rangeela Raja.[1]

Plot

Chakravarthy is a successful textile businessman in Coimbatore. He is also a womaniser and picks up any woman he wants. Meenakshi is his wife, Santosh his son, and Sangeetha his daughter. It doesn't take long for Santosh to find his father's provocative behaviour and tries to mend his father's ways. Radha gets introduced as a candidate for the PRO (Public Relations Officer) interview and eventually gets selected and is sent to Hong Kong for training. Chakravarthy, unable to tolerate his son's growing menace, sets off to Hong Kong for a holiday. Here he meets Radha and at one point ends up raping her. Chakravarthy flies back to India where he is met with a number of changes which all point out to the new general manager. This person turns out to be Radha who has joined with Santosh to teach Chakravarthy a lesson for life. How the duo succeeds in changing Chakravarthy's behaviour forms the crux of the story.

Cast

Production

Netrikann is the inaugural production of K. Balachander's Kavithalayaa Productions.[4] It had Rajinikanth playing the roles of father and son. Unlike other Tamil films where the father's character is portrayed as a clean person and the son has vices, in this film it is the opposite. Balachander produced the film as he felt that the concept had a lot of scope for Rajinikanth to perform.[5] Muthuraman was initially hesitant to direct the film but Balachander encouraged him to do so.[6] Cameraman Babu introduced the mask shots through this film, the film had 90 mask shots.[7]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with lyrics by Kannadasan.[8][9]

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Raja Rani"Malaysia Vasudevan, S. P. Sailaja4:09
2."Theeratha"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:13
3."Ramanin Mohanam"K. J. Yesudas, S. Janaki4:13
4."Mappillaikku"Malaysia Vasudevan, P. Susheela4:15
Total length:16:50

Release and reception

Netrikkan was released on 15 August 1981.[10] Sindhu-Jeeva of Kalki criticised the film for boring visuals, overdose of glamour dance, unintelligible dialogues, lengthy climax chase but praised Rajinikanth's acting and Chalam's art direction.[11] In 1999, the film was screened at a 12-day film festival celebrating Rajinikanth's 25th year in cinema.[12]

References
  1. "Movies that define 'the actor' Rajinikanth". The Indian Express. 6 January 2020. Archived from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  2. Surendran, Anusha (13 April 2016). "Tamil cinema's enduring romance with the double-role". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 14 December 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  3. Ramachandran 2014, p. 120.
  4. "Films". kavithalayaa.in. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  5. Muthuraman, S P (22 December 1999). "Rajini acts in front of the camera, never behind it". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  6. முத்துராமன், எஸ்.பி. "ரஜினியின் சாதனைகள்". Rajini 125 (in Tamil). New Filmalaya. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  7. Sivakumar, B. (4 September 2005). "He has shot many a memorable scene". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  8. "Nettrikan Tamil Film EP Vinyl Record by Ilayaraja". Mossymart. Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  9. "Netrikkann (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Apple Music. 31 December 1980. Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  10. "சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் ரஜினிகாந்த் - ஒரு சரித்திரம் | சூப்பர் ஸ்டாரின் திரைக்காவியங்களின் பட்டியல்கள்". Lakshman Sruthi (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  11. சிந்து-ஜீவா (6 September 1981). "நெற்றிக்கண்". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 44. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  12. Ramachandran 2014, p. 176.

Bibliography
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