Revisiting Moondram Pirai: 30 lesser-known facts about the making of the Kamal Haasan - Balu Mahendra classic
With the cult classic about to complete 4 decades, we give you some interesting trivia and observations on its conception, making, post-production, and business.
Moondram Pirai was the first film independently produced by G. Thyagarajan and G. Saravanan's production banner, Sathya Jyothi Films.
Balu Mahendra later stated that Moondram Pirai was inspired by the suicide of his wife, actress Shoba; who was 17 years old at the time of her death in 1980.
Many speculated that the climax of the film was a clear allusion to how Shoba left Mahendra without warning.
Kamal Haasan has stated that, when Mahendra narrated the story of Moondram Pirai to him, he listened to Mahendra for about twenty minutes before accepting the role of the male lead Cheenu.
The role of Bhagyalakshmi, the female lead, was first offered to Sripriya, who could not accept the role due to her prior commitments, before Sridevi was chosen for it.
Silk Smitha, who had done around 20 films by then and considered only for performing item numbers, was cast in a significant role as the headmaster's sexually-frustrated wife for the first time.
Moondram Pirai was predominantly shot in Ooty and Ketti, a small town situated close to the former. Some parts were also shot in Bangalore.
Mahendra did not find hiring a train expensive at that time; as a result, he hired a train for the film's scene where Kamal and Sridevi depart for Ketti, and another train for the film's climax.
The film's climax was shot in Ketti railway station over 3 days.
Although it was raining on the day the climax was shot, Mahendra decided to continue shooting the scene even though the rain was not part of the film's script.
Smitha's voice was dubbed by Anuradha in post-production.
Mahendra apparently supervised Anuradha's dubbing session and taught her the methods to emote the dialogues for Smitha in the film.
While the film was under production the team was scoffed at for making a film about a youth falling in love with an amnesiac, and that the film would not be a box office success.
A. Ramaswamy and D. Vasu were in charge of art direction and editing respectively.
When asked about the reason amnesia was chosen for a disability, Mahendra said the disorder is used as a camouflage and as an excuse to portray relationships in the film.
Raja's album for the film has become a cult classic over the years.
Kannae Kalaimane, which is based on the Kapi raga, and has shades of the raga Natabhairavi, was apparently written by Kannadasan in 'about 2 minutes' time, after listening to the story and situation.
According to Kannadasan's daughter Kalaiselvi, the song was written with his wife in mind.
Kannadasan was present at the recording session of the song, which took place in September 1981.
Kanne Kalaimaane was the last recorded song, which Kannadasan wrote before his death in October 1981.
Poongatru Puthiranadhu was based on the Sindhu Bhairavi raga.
Ponmeni Uruguthey, which was also based on the Sindhu Bhairavi raga and picturised on Haasan and Smitha, developed cult status.
In 2006, Mahendra said that the inclusion of the song in the film was 'absolutely unnecessary', stating that the sole reason for its inclusion was the presence of Smitha to help promote the film.
The original soundtrack edition of Moondram Pirai does not include the song 'Ponmeni Uruguthey', but re-releases of the soundtrack on iTunes and Raaga.com do so, as the fourth and third tracks.
Moondram Pirai uses intense violin music in both its opening and closing credits.
Mahendra remade the film in Hindi as Sadma the very next year, with Kamal Haasan, Sridevi and Smita reprising their roles.
The songs 'Kanne Kalaimane' and 'Ponmeni Uruguthey' were re-used in same tunes by Ilaiyaraaja in its Hindi remake Sadma (1983).
'Poongatru Puthithanathu' was replaced by 'Ae Zindagi Gale Laga Le' in the Hindi remake, an original composition for Sadma.
Sexuality and the repression of desire are conspicuous dominant motifs in Moondram Pirai, similar to Balu Mahendra's previous film Moodu Pani (1980),
Moondram Pirai was given an 'A' (adults only) certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification.
The film was released on 19 February 1982. It was a box office success and had a theatrical run of 329 days.
According to Sathya Jyothi Films, Moondram Pirai received its highest distributor share in Chennai and Coimbatore.
The film was also screened at FILCA, a Film Festival held at Thiruvananthapuram in September 2014.
Moondram Pirai was dubbed into Telugu under the title Vasantha Kokila.
The dialogue told by Smitha's character to Cheenu, 'You haave a verrry strrong physique, you know', attained popularity following release.
Eight Tamil film directors, in 2007, were asked to list their all-time favourite Tamil films; two of them – Mani Ratnam and Ameer – named Moondram Pirai.[
Although no print of Moondram Pirai has survived, Moondram Pirai is still available on home video.
Writer K. V. Vijayendra Prasad stated that he got the idea to write the story of the Telugu film Simhadri (2003) while watching Moondram Pirai.
The film won two National Film Awards: Best Actor for Haasan, and Best Cinematography for Mahendra.
It also won the Best Director Award for Mahendra at the Filmfare Awards, and five Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, including Best Film (third prize), Best Actor (Haasan) and Best Actress (Sridevi).
Balu Mahendra's Telugu film Nireekshana (1982) was dubbed and released in Tamil as Kanne Kalaimane.
In a comedy scene from Run (2002), Mohan (Vivek) imitates Haasan's mannerisms from the climax scene in Moondram Pirai to make his friend Shiva (R. Madhavan) recognise him but fails.
In a similar tribute scene from the Malayalam film Kochi Rajavu (2005), Harisree Ashokan's character uses the same mannerisms to make Dileep's character recognise him
While Moondram Pirai was 143 mins long, Sadma was two minutes shorter.
The 2012 Bollywood film BARFI was loosely based on Sadma. Priyanka Chopra did what Sridevi did, and Ranbir played a role similar to that of Kamal Hassan. *
Mahendra wanted Dimple Kapadia for the Hindi remake, Sadma, but the latter rejected the offer.
