A masala thriller in psychedelic colours!

Athey Kangal (Those same eyes,1967; Tamil)

1967 was still in the era of the golden years of the silver screen. This time around Eastman colour film came to be introduced into the Tamil cinema, introducing more psychedelic vibrancy to the already gaudy colours synonymous with Indian culture and dressing. It was Tamil cinema's time to exhibit their pretty and suave actor in dizzying shades of pink, turquoise, beige and orange. Even the grass appeared greener than life. This flick shows only the filthy rich Indians in European clothes dressed to the nines in all frames. The ties are narrow, so are the pants and the ladies salwar, which look more like running compression garments!

The mansion they reside in befits the abode of royalty, complete with a very tall ceiling and Gothic structures. The large black and white tiles, like a giant checkers board which was in vogue these days, is seen here. The strategic placement of lights seems to accentuate the scare component of this Tamil 'whodunnit' thriller. Unfortunately, in their zest to give the audience their monies worth and satisfy all quarters, the thriller component failed miserably.

It starts with an unorthodox fashion of showing a silhouette of a man hanging from the ceiling and his wife screaming to high heavens. The wife is strangled, but she avoids death as her assailant escaped after the commotion she raised. The deceased two brothers Kamalanathan (Asokan) and Vimalanathan (Ramdas), the family doctor (Balaji), the butler, a family friend who was a traditional healer and a police inspector, come to the scene. The route of entrance and escape is determined. A smoking cigar is retrieved from the window. Soon after that, the deceased's niece Susila (the pretty Kanchana) reaches the house with her college friends.

After that, it becomes draggy and torturous to watch. The mystery plot thickens when the widow who becomes psychologically disturbed is killed.

Susila befriends Baskaran (our Malaysian input, Ravichandran), a singer and his friend Caesar (Nagesh, who acts as an Anglo-Indian lady for a reasonable length of the movie to qualify for a rented house reserved for married couples only!).

Soon everybody appears to be a suspect - symbolically holding a smoking gun. Kamalanathan acts funny, soon to be found to have a clandestine affair, and both brothers are at loggerheads for the inheritance. Finally, Vimalanathan is killed, and Susila keeps getting death threats on the phone.

After all the singing, dancing, comedy by Nagesh et al., Baskaran identifies the murderer by convincing every remaining man in the household to cover their faces exposing only the eyes - as everyone is all too familiar with the eyes of the murderer. But, to their surprise, they found the traditional healer had those same eyes.

After the usual swashbuckling, he confessed that he was the illegitimate son of the Kamalanathan's father. He was out for revenge as the eldest brother (who died in the starting scene) had burnt his mother alive when she had demanded her rights as the lady of the house.

As I am a sucker for a good murder story ala Agatha Christie, I remember being fascinated with it during RRF days. Some comical moments were scene when you see Susila and her friend perform community service like cleaning the dirt road and painting the walls in the best of their silk saree, bangles and jewellery! And there were a lot of electric guitars, go-go, twisting, yodelling and even can-can dancing (ala Moulin Rouge) going on. All the songs in the film are classics and sound soothing to the ears.

Sample of songs:
Boom Boom Mattukaran
Kannukku Theriyadha
Oh Ho Ethanai Azhagu
Vaa Arugil Vaa
Pombala Oruthi
Ennenna Vo
Can Can Song
Chinna Penn Oruthi Sirikkiraal (this song only appeared in the Telugu version)

Trivia for you...

Kanchana 1967
(ex-Indian Airline air hostess)

The heroine of this movie, the vivacious, talented 150 films starred Kanchana, who used to rule the screen in Tamil, Malayalam, Telegu, Kannada and Hindi, had an ugly legal battle with her family. As a result, she had renounced worldly life and had immersed herself in salvation and prayers.

Gory historic details or gore fest?

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