Sadhu Mirandal


Sadhu Mirandal is a 1966 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film directed by the duo Thirumalai-Mahalingam. It was produced by A. Bhimsingh, who also wrote the screenplay based on a real incident about a man being murdered for money by two friends in a moving car. The film stars Nagesh and T. R. Ramachandran in the lead roles. It became a critical and commercial success, and was later remade in Hindi as Sadhu Aur Shaitaan.

Cast

Main cast

On 13 November 1958 in Madras, Suryanarayana, a bank official, was murdered for money by his friend Narayana Swamy and associates Vijayakumar and Joginder, while travelling via Narayana Swamy's car after taking a large sum of cash from his bank's head office in Parry's Corner to his branch in T. Nagar. Joginder was never apprehended, but Vijayakumar and Narayana Swamy were. This incident became known as the "Suryanarayana Murder Case", and inspired A. Bhimsingh to write a screenplay. He produced it under the banner Sree Venkateswara Cinetone as the film Sadhu Mirandal, which his assistants Thirumalai and Mahalingam directed. The dialogues were written by Usilai Somanathan. Art direction was handled by H. Shantaram, editing by A. Paul Durai Singham and cinematography by G. Vittal Rao. The final length of the film was.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by T. K. Ramamoorthy, while the lyrics were written by Alangudi Somu and Thanjai Vanan. Ramamoorthy earlier composed for films with M. S. Viswanathan and this was his first film as a solo music director. One song, "A for Apple... B for Biscuit... C for Chocolate...", written by Thanjai Vaanan and sung by A. L. Raghavan and L. R. Eswari, attained popularity, as did "Arulvaaye Nee Arulvaaye", sung by M. Balamuralikrishna.

Release and reception

Sadhu Mirandal was released on 14 April 1966, and was distributed by Sun Beam. The film became a commercial success, and received critical acclaim. Film historian Randor Guy said it would be remembered for "its interesting storyline with its surprising twist, pleasing music and excellent performances by Ramachandran, the kids, Nagesh and Kalpana."