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Dhakam

aka Thirst 1972 144’ b&w Tamil d/s Babu Nanthancode pc Kavya Chitra sc K.K. Raman st/c T. Vaiyadurai lyr Bharati, Poovai Senguttuvan m M.B. Srinivasan lp R. Muthuraman, Nandita Bose, Sundarrajan, Pandharibai, Rajakokila, Renuka Parvathi, Jayaseelam

The blind Sekhar (Muthuraman) lives with other orphans in a Gandhian ashram, where he forms a special bond with little Sharada (Bose). They eventually get married and she tries to make a living as a saleswoman in Madras, but city life is too much for them and they return to the ashram. Sharada dies, having donated her eyes to a blind person. Nanthancode and Vaiyadurai devised this film while on the staff at the Madras Film Institute and shot it in Gandhigram against the beautiful Sirumalai hills. An influential effort to establish a Tamil art cinema, paving the way for later films like Aval Appadithan (1978). Composer Srinivasan’s speciality of the group song is evident in the hits Vanam namadhu thanthai and Bharata samudayam.

Film