Annakili

Annakili
Release poster
Directed by	Devaraj Mohan
Produced by	P. Thamizharasi
Written by	Panju Arunachalam
Story by	R. Selvaraj
Starring	Sivakumar Sujatha
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	A. Somasundaram
Edited by	B. Kandasamy
Production company	S. P. T. Films
Release date	14 May 1976
Running time	134 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Box office	Rs.4 Lakhs

Annakili
Film score by Illayaraja
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	23:54
Label	EMI The Gramaphone Company of India Limited

Annakili is a 1976 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Devaraj Mohan, starring Sivakumar, Sujatha and Phataphat Jayalaxmi in lead roles.

The film was produced by SP Thamizharasi under the production banner "SPT Films". The film stars Sivakumar, Sujatha in lead roles with Sreekanth, Thengai Srinivasan and SV Subbiah playing supporting roles. The film's story was written by R. Selvaraj and the screenplay, dialogues and lyrics were written by Panchu Arunachalam. A. Somasundaram and Kandasamy handled cinematography and editing respectively.

The film revolves around Annakili who falls in love with teacher Thyagarajan. Due to circumstances, Thyagarajan marries another girl. Azhagappan, a womaniser creates misunderstanding about Annakili among villagers, rest of the film shows how Annakili proves her innocence. The film was released on 14 May 1976 with a reel length of 3,654 metres (11,988 ft) and became a commercial success at box office. The film was screened at Indian Panorama Film Festival in 1978.

The film's soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja who made his debut as composer with this film.

Credits adapted from The Hindu:

During the discussion at Mahabalipuram, Selvaraj narrated the story of Maruthavachi to Panchu Arunachalam who liked the plot and decided to produce the film. Selvaraj and Arunachalam wanted S. P. Muthuraman to direct the film as he was busy with other commitments, Selvaraj chosen duo Devaraj Mohan to direct the film. The film was entirely shot at Thengumarada near Sathyamangalam and was produced under the budget of 400000 with Devaraj Mohan being paid 7500 together and Ilayaraja and Selvaraj both receiving 2500 as remuneration. According to producer G. Dhananjayan in his book Pride of Tamil Cinema, the scene of Annam offering her lover to Sumathi was inspired from 1962 film Senthamarai and the climax scene of the theatre getting burnt was similar to the climax of Kannagi (1942).

The film's soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja who made his debut as composer with this film and lyrics were written by Panchu Arunachalam. Selvaraj insisted to have Pavalar Brothers to compose the music but Panchu selected Rasaiyya to compose as he felt it was not appropriate to have three brothers to compose music. Panchu Arunachalam added "Ilaiya" (Ilaiya means younger in Tamil language) as prefix in his name Raaja and he named as "Ilaiyaraaja" because in the 1970s there was one more music director A. M. Rajah who was a popular one. For the soundtrack, Ilaiyaraaja applied the techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamil folk poetry and folk song melodies, which created a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms. The song "Machanai Paartheengala" was originally composed and sung at a marriage by Ilaiyaraaja and his orchestra even before the film's release. Raja wanted Lata Mangeshkar to sing the title song however due to her non-availability he chose Janaki to sing the song. Although before choosing Janaki, the famous folk artist at that time L. R.Eswari was preferred. Eswari apparently rejected as the music direction is by a newcomer. Ilaiyaraaja after that never used L.R.Eswari for ever. The violin portions of the song were used by music director K for the song "Bar Anthem" in Mugamoodi (2012). The song "Sonthamillai Banthamillai" is based on Nadanamakriya raga. All the songs were well received with Dhananjayan noting that the songs "helped tremendously in film's success".

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