Azhiyatha Kolangal is a 1979 Indian Tamil-languagecoming-of-age film directed by Balu Mahendra, starring Pratap K. Pothen and Shoba. Kamal Haasan played a guest role in the film. The film was Balu Mahendra's second directorial venture and his first in Tamil. Partly autobiographical, the film dealt with the events that happen during the adolescence of three friends who live in a small village. In addition to directing the film, Balu Mahendra wrote the screenplay and shot the film. The film was released on 7 December 1979. Upon release, Azhiyadha Kolangal received critical acclaim, and was premièred at the "Indian Panorama" of the International Film Festival of India in 1980.
Plot
Gowrishankar, a managing director of a company in Madras, receives a letter from his childhood friend Pattabi. The story goes into flashback mode where he along with Pattabi and another friend Raghupathi live in a small village. The three teenage friends are attracted to Indumathi, a school teacher who comes to their village, and try to impress her. Situations lead to Raghupathi's death by drowning.
After the critical and commercial success of his directorial debutKokila, Balu Mahendra decided to make a film in Tamil, that was partly autobiographical according to him. It was during this time, he was approached by J. Mahendran to shoot Mullum Malarum, the latter's directorial debut. Initially hesitant to work inTamil films, Balu Mahendra accepted the offer, thus entered the Tamil film industry as a cinematographer. Because of his commitments with Mullum Malarum, he shelved his directorial venture. After the success of Mullum Malarum, he revived the project and named it Azhiyadha Kolangal. The film was produced by Devi Films of Devi Theatre Complex. The film was shot at Pettavaithalai, Sirugamani and Inungoor near Trichy in 27 days within the budget of 8 lakhs. The central characters of the film are played by three adolescent boys, who are in the verge of sexuality. Shoba, played a small role as a school teacher. Kamal Haasan played a guest role as a token of friendship for Balu Mahendra and his portions was shot in a day at three locations. Apart from direction, Balu Mahendra assumed his usual responsibility of cinematography and wrote the screenplay, while D. Vasu edited the film.
Azhiyadha Kolangal opened to critical acclaim and was commercially successful too. Along with Uthiripookkal it was the only Tamil film to be shown at the International Film Festival of India in 1980. The film's camera work was considered to be very innovative and was very different from other Tamil films that had come before. The film is widely considered to be one of Mahendra's "masterpieces".
