Suriya and Mamitha Baiju’s Vishwanath & Sons has a 1964 musical link. Read here

If you’ve watched Suriya and Mamitha Baiju’s Vishwanath & Sons, chances are one little musical reference caught your ear around the interval. The song Viswanathan Neethi Venum may sound like a fresh addition to the film, but its roots go all the way back to a beloved 1964 Tamil classic, Kadhalikka Neramillai.

Vishwanath & Sons revives a classic Kadhalikka Neramillai line — Here’s the story

The newer song in Vishwanath & Sons takes inspiration from the line Viswanathan Velai Vendum from the original film’s Maadimele. And the story of how that line came about is every bit as entertaining as the song itself.

Directed and written by CV Sridhar (along with Chitralaya Gopu), Kadhalikka Neramillai was a full-blown comedy of errors, with an ensemble cast featuring Balaiah, Muthuraman, Nagesh, Rajasree, Sachu, Ravichandran and Kanchana. The plot revolves around Viswanathan, an estate owner determined to see his daughters, Nirmala and Kanchana, married to wealthy men.

Naturally, things don’t quite go according to plan. Nirmala falls for Ashok, a not-so well off man. Knowing Viswanathan may not approve of the match, Ashok pretends to be the heir to a wealthy businessman. His friend Vasu joins the elaborate ruse, posing as Ashok’s fictional millionaire father, Chidambaram. Things become even more chaotic when Vasu discovers that the woman he loves, Kanchana, is actually Viswanathan’s other daughter.

The film’s music, composed by the legendary Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy duo with lyrics by Kannadasan, became an integral part of its enduring appeal. Among the memorable numbers was Maadimele, a lively rock-and-roll song sung by PB Srinivas. But the song was far from a carefully planned composition.

Viswanathan and his wife had been away in Yercaud for a week while Kannadasan, Sridhar and Gopu were waiting to get started on the film’s songs. When Viswanathan finally returned and walked into the Chithralaya office, Kannadasan greeted him with a playful complaint, “Ennappa... Viswanathaa... Velai kodu...” , which roughly translates to “Viswanathan, give me some work.”

Sridhar immediately spotted the potential. Rather than letting the line pass as a throwaway joke, he suggested that it should become the opening of a song. He then decided to name Balaiah’s character Viswanathan, giving Kannadasan’s impromptu line an even more obvious comic punch.

And just like that, Maadimele began to take shape, with the phrase Viswanathan Velai Vendum becoming one of its memorable hooks. And Kadhalikka Neramillai was hardly a one-film wonder. The comedy became a major success and was subsequently remade in several Indian languages, including Hindi as Pyar Kiye Jaa, Telugu as Preminchi Choodu, Kannada as Preethi Madu Thamashe Nodu and Marathi as Dhum Dhadaka.

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