“Puthiya Vaarpugal” (1979) Film Review

Those who have been reading the series of articles on Illaiyaraja on Sigaram – Exploring the Enigma called Illaiyaraja – would be aware that Bharathiraja’s 1979 film, Puthiya Vaarpugal is still regarded as a landmark film.

It marked Bharathiraja’s fifth film and his fourth Tamil film. It also marked his debut as a producer with his new banner, Manoj Creations. It also marked the debut of K.Bhagyaraj as a lead actor and the acting debut of the lead actress, 16-year old Rati Agnihotri. Apart from that, the film also featured the acting debut of Chandrasekar and childstar Haja Sherrif. It also marked the acting debut of Manobala and K.Rangaraj – both assistants to Bharathiraja at the time.

Gangaiamaran was first considered for the title role, but this was changed to K. Bhagyaraj on the eve of the shooting. On completion of the shoot, Bhagyaraj was unable to do the dubbing as his mother had passed away. Bharathiraja then asked Gangaiamaran to dub for Bhagyaraj.

G. Srinivasan, the husband of dance choreographer Puliyoor Saroja, played the film’s antagonist, with KK Soundrajan, Goundamani, Janagaraj and Usharani also in the cast.

Shanmugamani (K. Bhagyaraj) arrives at a small rural settlement to join the local school as a state-paid teacher. He soon meets Jyothi (Rati Agnihotri) and the initial attraction soon turns to love. However, the lecherous town elder (Srinivasan) has a few scores to settle with Jyothi and decides to use the blossoming love between Shanmugam and Jyothi to his own advantage. In a surprising turn of events, the stakes suddenly become high and Jyothi is forced to make some tough decisions.

Rati was still a school learner at the time and Bharathiraja got her father’s permission for her to act on condition that the film shooting is completed within a month – Bharathiraja completed the entire shoot in 22 days. Despite this tight timeframe, it is more than evident that Puthiya Vaarpugal was a film many years ahead of its time.

Although the screenplay follows a unhurried pace, the film maintains rapt attention throughout because of a few factors; The powerful script and the strong acting performances transform everyday life to riveting drama. In addition, P.S. Nivas’s artistic cinematography gives the film a huge boost.

K.Bhagyaraj shows great acting depth in his first fully-fledged role while Rati Agnihotri delivers the kind of performance that she sadly could not replicate in subsequent films. G Srinivasan has the required venom for his role while KK Soundar delivers a power-packed portrayal as Rati’s father. Goundamani, who initially appeared to be just the antagonist’s comic assistant, soon shows his acting depth as his role morphs into a powerful character role.

It is an impressive debut for Chandrasekar and Haja Sherrif while Usharani shines in her portrayal of the young social activist.

Illaiyaraja, who had less than 40 films to his credit at the time of the film’s release is in scintillating form in his soundtrack and very creative background score. The songs Vaan Megangalle, Idhayam Poguthey and Tham thana nam have since gone on to attain classic status.

Puthiya Vaarpugal is a landmark film for good reason – It is a brave deviation from the commercial cinema format while still providing enthralling entertainment.

The film has a story by R. Selvaraj, screenplay by Bharathiraja and K. Bhagyaraj and scripting by K. Bhagyaraj. This best-of-all approach has created a brilliant script within a very creative screenplay where the characters are well developed and very realistic.

Puthiya Vaarpugal is an unmissable film for movie enthusiasts, as the film’s influences on subsequent films are easy to identify.

Puthiya Vaarpugal scores 8 points out of 10.