Or Iravu

Production

Or iravu (lit. one night) was a stage play written by Annadurai. It was originally written for K. R. Ramasamy's Krishnan memorial drama company by Annadurai . Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar of AVM productions decided to make a film based on the play. Annadurai was paid 10,000 Rupees for writing the screenplay. Annadurai went to AVM studios and wrote the entire script and dialogues totaling 300 pages in a single night. The screenplay was later modified by the director and the producer of the film. This was the third film to be made based on Annadurai's plays, after Velaikaari (1949) and Nallathambi (1949). P. Neelakantan, who had begun working for AVM in the 1947 film Nam Iruvar as assistant director, made his debut as director with this film. Per Annadurai's recommendation Velaikari's lead actor K. R. Ramasamy was hired to play the hero. Akkineni Nageswara Rao and T. S. Balaiya played supporting roles in the film. The completed film was 14,980 feet in length.

Plot

The play Or iravu depicted events that happen in a single night. Older incidents were depicted using flashbacks. However, in the film version, flash backs were replaced with a linear narration. Or iravu tells the story of a thief who breaks into a rich man's house without knowing that the rich man is his own father who had abandoned him and his mother long ago.

Cast and crew

Reception

The film was a box office failure. However, it was received well by critics and contemporary writers of Annadurai. After seeing the film Kalki Krishnamurthy praised Annadurai as "Tamil Nadu's Bernard Shaw". Writing about the film in his biography, the film's producer Meyyappan explains the reasons for its failure:

Soundtrack

The music was composed by R. Sudharsanam. Lyrics were by Mahakavi Bharathiyar, Bharathidasan, T. K. Shanmugam, K. P. Kamatchi Sundharam & Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam. Singer is K. R. Ramaswamy. Playback singers are V. J. Varma, K. Devanarayanan, M. L. Vasanthakumari, T. S. Bagavathi & M. S. Rajeswari.