| Kalyana Parisu | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Sridhar |
| Written by | Sridhar |
| Produced by | S. Krishnamoorthy T. Govindarajan Sridhar |
| Starring | Gemini Ganesan B. Saroja Devi |
| Cinematography | A. Vincent |
| Edited by | N. M. Shankar |
| Music by | A. M. Rajah |
Production company | Venus Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 194 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ₹1 lakh |
Kalyana Parisu (transl. Wedding Gift) is a 1959 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Sridhar. The film stars Gemini Ganesan and B. Saroja Devi while K. A. Thangavelu, Vijayakumari, M. Saroja, S. D. Subbulakshmi, A. Nageswara Rao and M. N. Nambiar play supporting roles. A triangular love story, it is about two close sisters whose lives turn upside down when they both fall in love with the same man. Out of respect, the younger sister decides to sacrifice her love, unknown to the elder sister.
Kalyana Parisu was the directorial debut of Sridhar, who co-produced it with his partners S. Krishnamoorthy and T. Govindarajan under Venus Pictures. It also marked the cinematic debut of T. A. Sadagoppan (later known as Chitralaya Gopu) who worked as associate writer, and the debut of A. M. Rajah as a music composer in Tamil. Cinematography was handled by A. Vincent, and editing by N. M. Shankar.
Kalyana Parisu was released on 9 April 1959. It was critically acclaimed, particularly for eschewing formulaic Tamil cinema conventions like long dialogues and fixed-point cinematography in favour of short verses with simple words and camera mobility. The film was commercially successful, running for over 25 weeks in theatres and thereby becoming a silver jubilee film. At the 7th National Film Awards, it won the Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film in Tamil.
Kalyana Parisu emerged a milestone in Tamil cinema, and the breakthrough for Saroja Devi and Rajah. Its success led to Sridhar launching his own production company Chitralaya, and set the pattern for his later works in which he repeated the motif of the eternal triangle and unrequited love. The comedy subplot written by Gopu involving Thangavelu and M. Saroja gained popularity, and was sold separately on audio cassettes and vinyl records. The film was later remade by Sridhar in Telugu as Pelli Kanuka (1960) and Hindi as Nazrana (1961), and in Malayalam by J. Sasikumar as Sammanam (1975).
- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1998, p. 360.