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Manmatha Leelai (transl. Cupid's Tale) is a 1976 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Aalam. A number of actresses debuted on Tamil industry through this film, including Hema Chaudhary, Jayaprada, Y. Vijaya among others. Though the film was criticised for its bold content when it released, it has received cult status with passing years and is considered a trendsetter.

Manmadha Leelai
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	K. Balachander
Written by	K. Balachander
Produced by	P. R. Govindarajan J. Duraiswamy
Starring	Kamal Haasan Aalam
Cinematography	B. S. Lokanath
Edited by	N. R. Kittu
Music by	M. S. Viswanathan
Production company	Kalakendra Movies
Release date	27 February 1976 (1976-02-27) [1]
Running time	161 minutes[2]
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

This article needs an improved plot summary. (March 2021)

The film explores the life journey of a womaniser Madhu and his affairs with various women, including those who are married. The main conflict is between Madhu and his wife Rekha. Balachander's genius lies in objectifying married women of the city whilst creating a loving wife who's torn between accepting her husband and living a separated life after having discovered the travails of her own father. This movie has an very interesting character called Iyer, who works as a subordinate to Madhu. Madhu confesses all his affairs and happenings to Mr. Iyer. Madhu gets relieved after confessing, on the other side Mr. Iyer starts losing his peaceful life and starts calling out names of women in Madhu's affairs. Mr. Iyer quits his job and ends up preaching on how a married life should be.

Cast

• Kamal Haasan as Madhu[3]
• Halam as Rekha[3]
• Hema Chaudhary as Madhavi
• Jayaprada as Kannagi
• Y. Vijaya as Bhargavi (Ms. Wrong Number)
• Reena
• Y. Gee. Mahendra as Petition Kodhandam
• Y. G. Parthasarathy as Rekha's father
• Radha Ravi (credited as M. R. R. Ravi)
• Jayavijaya
• Sudha
• Vinodhini
• Sunanthini
• T. D. Kusalakumari as Rekha's mother
• Praveena Bhagyaraj (uncredited role)

Production

M. R. Radha's son Radha Ravi made his acting debut with the film.[4][5] The coat that Kamal Haasan wears prominently in the film was actually his brother Charuhasan's.[6]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by M. S. Viswanathan.[7] The song "Naadham Ennum" is set in Shree ranjani raga,[8] while "Hello My Dear" is set in Dharmavati.[9]

Reception

The film struggled to get a censor certificate.[10] Even though it stirred up controversies when it was released, it later became a cult classic,[11] and is considered a trendsetter.[12] Kamal Haasan said about the film, "it was an interesting subject. For that period it was unusual, a breaking down of the fidelity stereotypes".[13] After Vijaya Bapineedu acquired the rights to dub the film in Telugu, he edited it down by more than 250 feet (76 m). Though Balachander was disappointed with the dubbed version, titled Manmadha Leela, it fared better than the Tamil original.[14] This was the first of many dubbed Telugu films where Haasan's voice was dubbed by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam.[15][16] The film was dubbed in Hindi as Meethi Meethi Baatein (1977).[17][18]

References

External links

• Manmadha Leelai at IMDb

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