Kamal Haasan and Sridevi in Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980)

Kamal Haasan and Sridevi in Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980)

Released 42 years ago today, on 6 November 1980, the film's title roughly translates to The Colour of poverty is Red, a social satire discussing the ills of society. The movie was simultaneously shot in Telugu as Aakali Rajyam (Kingdom of Hunger), which released a year later on 9 January 1981. 

The film was a commercial success, winning three Filmfare Awards South and Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. It was remade in Hindi as Zara Si Zindagi (1983) with Haasan reprising his role, and Balachander again directing - but Sridevi was replaced with Anita Raj! While the Tamil film was a success, the Hindi translation (by Gulzar no less) tanked. 

K. Balachander was so instrumental in Sridevi's career, she credited him for making her an actress and thanked him for taking a chance on her and changing the course of her career. 

With the passing of Sridevi, there can no longer be a 'new' Sridevi film, so it forces us to dig through the archives to find a treasure trove of her Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. Her Kannada films were mostly dubbed Tamil/Telugu movies and... to be frank, not that great. 

The combination of K Balacander, Kamal Haasan and Sridevi is cine-gold. Check it out. 

Sridevi with mentor K. Balachander in Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980)

 

Sridevi on the sets of the Tamil film Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980) with director K. Balachander. 

See earlier post when the two talk about the other; Sridevi talks about how the director changed her life; he talks about what a brilliant child she was!  

Released 40 years ago on 6 November 1980.

Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu (The colour of poverty is red) is a 1980 Indian Tamil film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Sridevi, with Pratap K. Pothen, R. Dilip and S. Ve. Shekher in supporting roles. The film was simultaneously shot in Telugu as Aakali Rajyam (Kingdom of hunger), released the following year. Kamal Haasan picked up two awards for the film - for the same role, in Tamil and Telugu. Yet again, Sridevi did not win any awards despite a flawless performance. 

Sridevi with K Balachander on the sets of Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980)

Sridevi with K Balachander on the sets of the Tamil film Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980) 

Sridevi and Kamal Haasan in Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980)

Sridevi and Kamal Haasan in the Tamil film Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980)

Sridevi and Kamal Haasan in Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980)

Sridevi and Kamal Haasan in K Balachander's Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980).

Below, rare picture of Sridevi on the set of the film with the cast and crew.