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Iravum Pagalum
Iravum Pagalum
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joseph Thaliath Jr.
Story by	T. N. Balu
Produced by	Joseph Thomas
Starring	Jaishankar; C. Vasantha
Cinematography	B. B. Lucas
Edited by	P. Radhakrishnan; M. Vellaisaamy
Music by	T. R. Pappa
Production; company	Citadel Films
Release date	14 January 1965;
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Iravum Pagalum (transl. Night and Day) is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film directed by Joseph Thaliath Jr. The film stars then newcomers Jaishankar and C. Vasantha, while S. A. Ashokan, Nagesh, Gandhimathi and Pandari Bai play supporting roles. In the film, a college student's house is robbed, and his mother prevents him from reporting it to the police. Suspicious, he sets out to unravel the mystery behind his mother's silence. The film was released on 14 January 1965 and became a commercial success.

Plot

Rajasekar is a wealthy college student who lives with his widowed mother Maragadhavalli and leads an untroubled life; he is in love with Parimala, his classmate. One night, Rajasekar and Maragadhavalli are robbed of their wealth by a gang. As Maragadhavalli prevents Rajasekar from reporting this incident to the police, he sets out to unravel the mystery behind his mother's silence.

Cast

Male cast^[1]

Jaishankar as Rajasekar
Ashokan as Govindan
Ramdas as the calvary leader
Nagesh as Balu
Baskar as Gopal
Viswanthan as the office manager

Male support cast^[1]

Ennathe Kannaiah, Muthukoorthan, Prabhakar,
Vasanthan, P. K. S. Mani, and Master Sridar.

Female cast^[1]

C. Vasantha as Parimala
Gandhimathi as Chandra
Pandari Bai as Maragadhavalli
Mallika as Kamala's mother
Baby Bhavani as Kamala
Ramamani Bai as the maid

Dance^[1]

Sakunthala

Production

Joseph Thaliath Jr. set up a production company named "Citadel Films", the name being inspired by the A. J. Cronin novel The Citadel. He wanted to adapt that novel into a Tamil film, but Citadel Films co-founder F. Nagoor dissuaded him from doing so as he felt the subject was "risky". He instead suggested a crime thriller, which became Iravum Pagalum. Due to the film's low budget, Joseph chose to cast newcomers. Joseph cast theatre actor Subramaniam Shankar in the lead role, christening him Jaishankar and marking the actor's film debut. C. Vasantha was cast as the female lead, also making her film debut.^[2] Thengai Srinivasan was also cast in what would have been his film debut, but was removed after distributors were not supportive of him.^[3] Suruli Rajan, in his film debut, appeared uncredited.^[4] The film was produced by Joseph Thomas under the Citadel banner, photographed by B. B. Lucas, and edited by P. Radhakrishnan and M. Vellaisaamy.^[1] The final length of the film was 4,509.67 metres (14,795.5 ft).^[5]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was composed by T. R. Pappa. The lyrics were written by Alangudi Somu.^[6]

Track listing
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Iravu Varum"	T. M. Soundararajan	3:45
2.	"Kaalai Neram Oruvan"	P. Susheela, T. M. Soundararajan	4:04
3.	"Koothaadum Kondaiyile"	Sirkazhi Govindarajan, P. Susheela	3:03
4.	"Kunguma Kolam"	T.M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela	3:15
5.	"Ullathin Kathavugal"	T. M. Soundararajan	3:36
6.	"Iranthavanai Sumanthavanum"	S. A. Ashokan	3:21

Release and reception

Iravum Pagalum was released on 14 January 1965, Pongal day.^[7] Despite facing competition from other Pongal releases such as Enga Veettu Pillai and Pazhani,^[8]^[9] the film became a commercial success.^[10] The Indian Express said on 6 February 1965, "Iravum Pagalum, despite a muddled script, is above the level of the run-of-the-mill suspense thrillers and has obvious box office potential".^[11]