Pattina Pravesam (transl. Entering a City)[3] is a 1977 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. It is based on the play of the same name, written by Visu and staged the same year. The film stars Delhi Ganesh, Sivachandran and Sarath Babu, all making their cinematic acting debuts. It was released on 9 September 1977. The plot is similar to the 1965 film The Conquerors of the Golden City, directed by Getin Gurtop and the 1964 film Birds of Exile (Gurbet Kuslari in Turkish) by Halit Refig.[4]
A village family consisting of a widow, her four sons and daughter, are lured into living in a city. Each member goes through their own troubles in the city and on being completely disillusioned with city life, the family returns to their village.[5]
Pattina Pravesam was written and directed by K. Balachander, and based on the play of the same name which was written by Visu and staged in 1977,[7][8] by Stage Creations.[9] The film adaptation was produced by R. Venkataraman under Premalaya Films,[7] and marked the cinematic acting debuts of Delhi Ganesh, Sivachandran and Sarath Babu.[10]S. V. Subbaiah was originally cast in the role Ganesh portrayed in the play, but died before production could begin, so Ganesh reprised his role.[11][12]Kathadi Ramamurthy, who played a character named "Innocent Dhandapani" in the play, also reprised his role in the film.[13]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by M. S. Viswanathan and the lyrics were written by Kannadasan.[14][15] The song "Vaan Nila" was well received and attained cult status.[7]
Pattina Pravesam was released on 9 September 1977.[16] The magazine Ananda Vikatan gave the film a rating of 52 out of 100.[7] It was later selected for screening at the Tashkent Film Festival.[17]
Notes
^While the runtime is given as 146 minutes in the 1978 book Indian Films,[1] it is given as 126 minutes at the Complete Index to World Film.[2]
References
^Dharap, B. V. (1978). Indian Films. Motion Picture Enterprises. p. 133.
