Vanambadi

Meena, a young woman, escapes from the clutches of a womanising Zamindar. She attempts suicide and is saved by an elderly couple, who adopt her. They wish her to wed their nephew Sekhar, and the wedding is arranged. But during the ceremony, another man shows up claiming Meena to be his wife. She is arrested for the attempted murder of the Zamindar. But she says she does not know him. Her adoptive brother Mohan and a friend Nithyanandham try to solve the mystery. Meena runs away from the family to relieve them of the anguish she has caused them and they later find her as a stage/playback singer calling herself Kausalya Devi. But Kausalya Devi claims she has never seen them before. How they resolve the mystery forms the rest of the story.

Vanambadi is a remake of the Bengali film Sesh Porichoy.^[4][5] It was produced by K. Murukesan and Kannadasan,^[6] directed and photographed by G. R. Nathan, written by Valampuri Somanathan, and edited by S. Surya.^[7] It was the last film for T. R. Rajakumari as an actress.^[2]

The soundtrack was composed by K. V. Mahadevan and the lyrics for all songs were written by Kannadasan.^[8][9] The song "Gangaikarai" is set in Abheri raga,^[10] and "Thookanna Kuruvi" is set in "Suddha Dhanyasi with Charukesi".^[11] For the song "Kadavul Manithanaga", Kannadasan initially wrote the lyrics "Avan Kadhalithe Vedhanaiyil Saaga Vendum" to which singer T. M. Soundararajan objected as he was religious and would not sing lines which degrade god and suggested changing the lyrics. Kannadasan finally changed the lyrics to "Vaada Vendum".^[12]

Vanambadi was released on 9 March 1963.^[7] Kanthan of Kalki positively reviewed the film, saying the titular skylark was singing well.^[13] The film was commercially successful, and Devika was particularly appreciated for playing the double role.^[1]