Athey Kangal (transl. Same Eyes) is a 1967 Indian Tamil-language mystery thriller film written and directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar. The film stars Ravichandran and Kanchana. It focuses on a girl's family being stalked by a masked murderer, and her lover's attempts to apprehend him.

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Athey Kangal
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	A. C. Tirulokchandar
Story by	A. C. Tirulokchandar
Produced by	A. V. Meiyappan
Starring	Ravichandran Kanchana
Cinematography	S. Maruti Rao
Edited by	R. G. Gope
Music by	Vedha
Production company	Balasubramanian & Co.
Release date	26 May 1967 (1967-05-26)
Running time	175 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Athey Kangal was produced by A. V. Meiyappan under Balasubramanian & Co, a subsidiary of his company AVM Productions. It was simultaneously filmed in Telugu as Ave Kallu. The film was released on 26 May 1967 and became a major box-office success.

Plot

A woman named Vasantha finds her husband Ranganathan dead, where the masked murderer tries to kill her, but escapes. Vasantha is left in a state of shock and becomes mentally paralysed. A case is registered and the investigation takes place. Susi, a college student, arrives at her hometown for vacation with her friends. She lives with her three younger paternal uncles – Ranganathan, Kamalanathan and Vimalanathan – and her aunt Vasantha. Susi's parents had died years ago. A series of murders take place at Susi's house with every time a cigar bit being left by the murderer intentionally. The police suspect the visiting doctor, a Siddha doctor Vedamurthy (who is close to Kamalanathan's family), butler Appukutty Nair among others.

Since Vasantha is the only eyewitness of the murderer, her life is in danger. Despite tight security, she is killed by the murderer, who frequently calls Susi and threatens that he is nearing her to kill her. Susi is frustrated by the incidents at her home and the threatening phone calls. Her lover Baskar promises to help. Baskar investigates Vimalanathan, and later Kamalanathan; he follows him to a strange house and a woman who wanders like a ghost. She is actually Kamalanathan's lover Mala, who was rescued some years back by him when she attempted suicide. Kamalanathan keeps quiet as he wants Susi to get married first, only then would he marry Mala. Baskar sends everyone out of Susi's house for a night to lure the murderer. As expected, he enters Susi's room to kill her.

Baskar fights and tries to unmask the murderer, managing only to retrieve his mask and see his eyes before he escapes. Baskar finds Vimalanathan murdered at the doorstep. Kamalanathan and Susi plan to vacate the house after celebrating Susi's birthday party. On the day of the party, the murderer attacks Susi. Baskar chases him, but loses track. He sees Vedamurthy injured at a place, who claims that the murderer attacked him and fled. No one knows why the murders are happening and who kills every member of their family. Vedamurthy urges Kamalanathan to tell about his family which might help him find the identity of the murderer. Kamalanathan reveals that his father had an extramarital affair with a woman and they had a son, but the woman and her 10-year old son died 15 years ago in a fire set by Kamalanathan's elder brother (Susi's father).

Baskar theorises that the son may not have died and is actually the murderer killing the family members as vengeance; he concludes that the murderer is present in the hall where all are gathered. Baskar places the murderer's mask on the faces of all the men in the hall to verify whose eyes match with the murderer's eyes, ultimately exposing Vedamurthy as the illegitimate son and murderer. Baskar chases Vedamurthy, who gets injured trying to escape; while he is struggling to run, the police shoots him, but he disappears suddenly. Everyone finds a secret room beneath the garden which leads to Vedamurthy's house, and find him lying dead due to the gunshot, realising this is how he escaped after committing each murder. Baskar later marries Susi, while Kamalanathan marries Mala.

Cast

Production

A. V. Meiyappan of AVM Productions wanted to produce a thriller in Tamil inspired by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, and made in colour. Director A. C. Tirulokchandar said he had a detective story ready, and it was launched as the film Athey Kangal.[5] The script was completed in one week, and took inspiration from various Hindi horror/thrillers such as Bhoot Bungla (1965), Bees Saal Baad (1962) and Gumnaam (1965). The comedy track was written by T. N. Balu.[6] The film was produced by Meiyappan under Balasubramanian & Co, a subsidiary of AVM.[7] The assistant producers were M. Saravanan, M. Balasubramanian and M. S. Guhan. The dialogue was written by Balu, cinematography was handled by S. Maruti Rao, and editing by R. G. Gope.[8][9] Ravichandran, who played the lead role, received a salary of ₹10,000 (equivalent to ₹450,000 or US$5,700 in 2020).[10] It was simultaneously filmed in Telugu as Ave Kallu.[11] The final cut of the film measured 4,519 metres (14,826 ft).[7]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Vedha and the lyrics were written by Vaali.[12][13] The song "Ethanai Azhagu" is based on "Pedal Pusher" by The Ventures,[14] and "Boom Boom Maattukaran" is based on "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from Mary Poppins (1964).[15] For the song "Pombale Oruthi Irundaalaam", singers A. L. Raghavan and T. M. Soundararajan came up with lines in their first language Saurashtra. The words "Sodija" and "Daakara" in the song sound like gibberish that a character uses to frighten another, but they actually mean "Let me go" and "I am afraid" in Saurashtra.[16][17]

Release and reception

Athey Kangal was released on 26 May 1967,[18] and became a major box-office success upon release.[19] Kalki appreciated the film for its opulence, picturisation and colour.[20]

References

Bibliography

• Cowie, Peter; Elley, Derek (1977). World Filmography: 1967. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 978-0-498-01565-6.
• Saravanan, M. (2013) [2005]. AVM 60 Cinema (in Tamil) (3rd ed.). Rajarajan Pathippagam. OCLC 1158347612.

External links

• Athey Kangal at IMDb