Athaiya Mamiya Completes 49 Years: This Chitralaya Gopu-directorial Film Had An Amusing Plot

Tamil film Athaiya Mamiya has completed 49 years of its release today. It was released on August 16, 1974. The director of the film was Chitralaya Gopu. The film featured Jaishankar and Ushanandini in lead roles. The film is about a man named Shankar, who returns from America after completing his studies. His parents want him to marry as soon as possible. Shankar’s father wants him to marry his sister’s daughter Chandra, and his mother wishes that he marries her niece Malathy. Both families have decided to persuade Shankar by staying at his parent’s house on the day of his arrival. The situation becomes comical as both families try to convince Shankar. Ending the dilemma, Shankar reveals that he fell in love with a woman named Usha, and has already married her. His father is the most furious of all and throws his son out of the house. The ending of the film has an unexpected twist.

The film is written solely for the purpose of entertainment, it does not have much logic. The film’s dialogues are full of comic elements.

The role of Shankar is played by Jaishankar, and Usha is played by Ushanandini. The rest of the cast includes VS Raghavan, MN Rajam, Manorama, Vennira Aadai Moorthy, Nagesh, Sachu, Srikanth Gandimathi, Thengai Srinivasan, Sukumari and M Bhanumathi.

According to reports, a Tamil-speaking woman from Madras named Amudha Ganesan came to Chitralaya Gopu. She wanted him to make a film based on the script she wrote, to which he agreed. The film turned out to be Athaiya Mamiya, which Amudha Ganesan produced with her. The film is a hit of its time, as it ran for 10 weeks in the theatres. The music for the film was composed by MS Vishwanathan, and the lyricist for the songs was Vaali.

Chitralaya Gopu was also a close friend of the film’s screenwriter CV Sridhar. The reports say that Gopu has contributed to almost all of Sridhar’s films. The two were childhood friends, and they went to the same school in Chengalpattu. Sridhar wrote stage plays during the initial years, in which the comic parts were written by Gopu.