Classic Wednesday : MGR - One among thousands

In this week on Classic Wednesday, lets take a look at MGR starrer Aayirtahil oruvan. A 1965 film, it became a blockbuster. A trendsetting movie which brought MGR and Jayalalithaa together on screen for the first time. They became a celebrated duo on screen after that.Directed by B R Panthulu, film also featured Nambiar, R S Manohar, Nagesh and Madhavi Krishnan. It was a critical and a commercial success, and ran for more than 100 days in Chennai theatres and other cities.

A digitised version of the film was released in 2014 and ran for 190 days.As Manimaran who fights for oppressed, MGR sizzled the show. His sword fights with Nambiar are very much popular even today.Produced by Padmini Pictures, the movie had music by Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy. And all the songs are popular even today. Adho Andha Paravai Polae is chartbuster. Forty-nine years after the original theatrical release, the film was digitally enhanced for a planned re-release in January 2014.

Apart from scope conversion from 35 mm to digital scope, the film also had a completely re-recorded background music played out by an assistant of M S Viswananthan. Ask any MGR fan his favourite among MGR films, he would say immediately Ayirathil Oruvan.