Gauravam (1973 film)


Gauravam is a 1973 Tamil-language legal drama film, directed by Vietnam Veedu Sundaram, starring Sivaji Ganesan in a dual role. It is an adaptation of the play Kannan Vanthaan. The film was a blockbuster at the box office and the third highest grossing film of the year.

Plot

Madras High Court barrister Rajinikanth is a tour de force criminal defense lawyer who has never lost a case. He is a self-made man with a rags to riches story. He is well respected by other lawyers and is a terror to his opponents in the court.
His only unfulfilled ambition is the prestigious position of judgeship and has all the qualifications of being a judge, with, perhaps, an exaggerated ego being his only character flaw.
Kannan is his nephew who is brought up like a son by the childless Rajinikanth and his wife. Rajinikanth tutors Kannan in law and wants his ward to be as successful as he is. Kannan is an antithesis of Rajinikanth; he is a loving, loyal, god-fearing young man, who occasionally appears in pro bono cases to help defend poor people who can't afford a lawyer.
One day, Rajinikanth is shocked to learn that an undeserving lawyer Rangabashyam has been made the high court judge, instead of him. Meanwhile, a man named Mohandas murders his wife and beseeches lawyers to appear on his behalf and save him. Rajinikanth feels that the bar council has insulted his prowess in jurisprudence and decides to seek his revenge by gaming the system and getting Mohandas acquitted, despite the latter's clear guilt. Mohandas is acquitted by the court, thanks to Rajinikanth's expertise in law. This deeply hurts Kannan, who does not say anything at that time out of respect for his uncle.
Later, Mohandas's fiancé dies in her bathtub by accident. Mohandas is arrested under suspicion that he has repeated his crime. Rajinikanth appears on Mohandas's behalf again. But this time around, Kannan protests and walks out of the house to become the prosecution lawyer facing Rajinikanth, convinced that the loyalty to his profession supersedes the loyalty to his adopted father. In the climactic court battle, Kannan defeats Rajinikanth due to his meticulous preparation as well as Mohandas neglecting to mention a critical surprise witness. Rajinikanth is particularly infuriated when Kannan taunts him asking if he'd like an adjournment to prepare to cross examine that witness. Rajinikanth's ego doesn't allow him to seek adjournment, handing Kannan the victory.
His very first loss proves too much to handle and an anguished Rajinikanth succumbs to death, just before Kannan brings him the news of his appointment as a judge.

Cast

Gowravam was adapted from the play Kannan Vandhaan. Sivaji Ganesan's style of smoking a pipe in the film was inspired by that of T. S. Krishna, an industrialist.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan.

Reactions

The film was directed by Vietnam Veedu Sundaram and considered a major triumph in the history of Tamil cinema and in the filmography of Sivaji Ganesan. In later years, Gauravam has been much parodied & paid homage to via skits and television episodes. In a brilliant piece of writing, Kannan is portrayed as a romancing devotee a-la Lord Krishna, while Rajinikanth is a single-minded hard-working atheist. Kannan's victory on purely technical grounds despite Rajinikanth's enormous legal expertise demonstrates the eventual triumph of good over evil. Ganesan later reprised the role of Rajinikanth in the Doordarshan television series Meendum Gowravam.