Adutha Varisu
Adutha Varisu (/əduθə vɑːrɪsu/ transl. The next heir) is a 1983 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written by Panchu Arunachalam and directed by S. P. Muthuraman. The film stars Rajinikanth and Sridevi. It is a remake of the 1972 Hindi film Raja Jani, which itself was loosely based on the 1956 American film Anastasia. The film was released on 7 July 1983.
Plot
Kannan, a small-time bounty hunter, is enlisted by the crooked members of a royal family to find a girl to impersonate Radha, the lost princess to the throne so that they can usurp the Zameen's wealth. Kannan comes across a nomadic girl Valli, a tribal dancer and trains her to act appropriately, and introduces her as the lost heiress to the family's head, Queen Mother Rajalakshmi who is Radha's grandmother. Valli falls in love with Kannan. However, when he learns from Valli's adopted parents that Valli is actually Radha, he sets out to protect her and Rajalakshmi from the crooked clan. After Kannan defeats the crooked Zamindar, Rajalakshmi proposes marrying Radha to Kannan and both assume the throne as the new king and queen.
Cast
- Rajinikanth as Kannan
- Sridevi as Radha / Valli
- Jaishankar as Rathnakumar
- Cho Ramaswamy as Ramanna
- S. Varalakshmi as Rajalakshmi
- Vasantha as Rathnakumar's wife
- Raveendran as Pratap
- Silk Smitha as Usha
- Senthamarai as Diwan
- V. K. Ramasamy as Foster father of Valli
- Manorama as Foster mother of Valli
- V. Gopalakrishnan as Vijay
- C. L. Anandan as Veeraiyan
- S. V. Ramadas as Muthukaruppan
- S. S. Chandran as Kannan's colleague
- LIC Narasimhan as Sundaram
- S.R. Veeraraghavan as Dr. Gowtham
Production
Adutha Varisu is a remake of the 1972 Hindi film Raja Jani, which itself was loosely based on the 1956 American film Anastasia (1956). The film was produced by Dwarakish.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The disco song "Aasai Nooru Vagai" was remixed by Yuvan Shankar Raja for Kurumbu (2003). The song "Dan Dana Dan" from the Hindi film Department (2012) too was adapted from "Aasai Nooru Vagai".
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Pesa Koodathu" | Panchu Arunachalam | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela | 4:35 |
| 2. | "Vaa Raja Vandhu Paaru" | Vaali | S. Janaki | 4:26 |
| 3. | "Vaazhga Raja Vaazhga Rani" | Panchu Arunachalam | S. P. Sailaja, S. Janaki | 4:30 |
| 4. | "Kaveriye Kavikuyiley" | Panchu Arunachalam | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | 4:35 |
| 5. | "Aasai Nooru Vagai" | Panchu Arunachalam | Malaysia Vasudevan | 4:31 |
| 6. | "Ennaiah ABC" | Vaali | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | 4:28 |
| Total length: | 27:05 | |||
Release and reception
Adutha Varisu was released on 7 July 1983. Kalki criticised the film for lack of originality.
The film was an average grosser at the box office.
References
Bibliography
- Nayak, Satyarth (2019). Sridevi: The Eternal Screen Goddess. India: Penguin Random House. ISBN 9789353056780.
- Ramachandran, Naman (2014) [2012]. Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography. New Delhi: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-342111-5.