A widow living in Ooty, leads a peaceful life with her two sons. Muthulingam, a tourist who visits the place rapes her. In the act, she dies leaving her two sons who witness the murder. The older son Ramu is raised by his maternal uncle while the younger brother Arun joins a blind music teacher as he has great interest in music. Years later, he becomes a great singer. Meanwhile, Ramu is trained effectively by his uncle learning martial arts with the intention of avenging the death of his mother as he very well remembers the culprit's face. With a turn of events leading to both sons joining and taking revenge for their mother's death forms the rest of the story.
Archana made her Tamil cinema debut with the film.[2] The film, unlike Balu Mahendra's previous offbeat ventures, was an "outright commercial picture". He later claimed that he made the film to prove his critics that he could make such films.[3] Hence he titled the film Neengal Kettavai (transl. What you asked for).[4] A few scenes were shot at the VGP golden beach.[2] The song "Oh Vasantha Raja" was shot at Brihadisvara Temple, Gangaikonda Cholapuram.[5]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.[6][7] The song "Kanavu Kaanum" is based on "Kasme Vaade" from the Hindi film Upkar (1967).[8][9] For the dubbed Telugu version Kodama Simhalu, the lyrics were written by L. Aathma Rao and Rajasri.[10]
Neengal Kettavai was released on 28 June 1984.[11]Kalki caustically commented, "Balu Mahendra, idhaiyaa kettom?" (Balu Mahendra, is this what we asked for?).[1] Despite the film's box-office success, Mahendra opted to continue making offbeat films.[3]
