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Ayirathil Oruvan
1965 174’ col Tamil d B.R. Panthulu p Padmini Pics. sc K.J. Mahadevan dial/co-lyr R.K. Shanmugham c V. Ramamurthy co-lyr Vali, Kannadasan m Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy lp M.G. Ramachandran, Jayalalitha, R.S. Manohar, M.N. Nambiar, Madhavi, L. Vijayalakshmi, Ramarao, Nagesh
The heroic doctor Manimaran (MGR) helps some wounded rebels against the dictator of Naithal Nadu, Chengappan (Manohar), who accuses the doctor of leading the rebellion and puts him in jail. The tyrant’s daughter, Poonkodi (Jayalalitha), falls in love with the good doctor, who is totally preoccupied with the struggle to liberate his motherland. When a pirate ship attacks the town, the tyrant enlists the help of the rebels, promising them freedom but breaks that promise as soon as victory has been secured. The rebels then escape and join up with the pirate leader (Nambiar), Manimaran becoming his second in command. But the good doctor sends all the loot allotted to him to the village folk in his motherland to help them fight Chengappan. When Poonkodi falls into the pirates’ hands, Maniraman has to protect her from his colleagues’ concupiscence and he kills the pirate captain in a duel, his rebel comrades overpowering the rest. They all return home and defeat Chengappan in a sea battle. The film’s rebel tune ‘Ado andha paravai pole paada vendum’ (‘We should sing like free birds’) became a popular freedom song.