Thaneer Thaneer is a 1981

1981 in film

-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....

 Indian Tamil language

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by K. Balachander starring Saritha

Saritha

Saritha is a South Indian actress. She has acted in at least 141 feature films, and was cast in the television serial Selvi in 2005. Her mainstream career spanned from 1979 to 1989, when she took a break to marry Indian actor and producer Mukesh and raise their two sons...

, Shunmugham, V. K. Veeraswami and Radha Ravi

Radha Ravi

Radha Ravi is a Tamil film and television actor, who played supporting roles throughout his career. He is the son of yesteryear actor, M. R. Radha and the uncle of Vasu Vikram and halfbrother of Raadhika Sarathkumar. He is a chief member of the South Indian Film Artistes' Association...

. The film, based on a story by Komal Swaminathan was filmed by B. S. Lokanathan and featured music by M. S. Viswanathan

M. S. Viswanathan

Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan , is a Tamil music director. He is popularly known as "Mellisai Mannar" . His major works over the past five decades have been in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films...

. It was released during Diwali

Diwali

Diwali or DeepavaliThe name of the festival in various regional languages include:, , , , , , , , , , , , , popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-December for different reasons...

 1981.

Thanneer Thanneer deals with issues such as water scarcity and political corruption

Political corruption

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

. Inhibitants of a drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

-ridden village in Tamil Nadu, Athipati, try a cooperative method to bring water to their village, but their attempts are thwarted by unscrupulous politicians who try to use the water problem for their political gains. The film has been highly critically acclaimed and considered a "classic", which fetched several accolades including two National Film Awards

National Film Awards

The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...

 and two Filmfare Awards South

Filmfare Awards South

Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the South Indian film industry. The awards are separately given for Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films...

. Balachander has revealed that there is no existing copy of the ngeative of the film anymore.

Plot

Thaneer Thaneer is a political drama and a universal human story. This is a film about greed, power and powerlessness. When a remote village faces severe water shortages, the inhabitants adopt all possible means to bring their problem to the attention of the authorities. But the process soon reveals the apathetic attitude of politicians, bureaucrats and the press alike. A convict wanted for the murder of a local landlord turns the villagers' plight to his advantage and begins a co-operative scheme to transport water in a cart from a spring ten miles away.

Reviews

Featuring fine performances, this film fared well at many international festivals where it was screened. Audiences were moved by the film's realistic depiction of life in rural India, far removed from the exotic dream world of much popular cinema.

Awards

• National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil
  National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil
  The following lists the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. The year in the header refers to the date when the film was censored and submitted for the awards, without of regard of when the award was presented. Apart from the Silver Lotus Award "Certificate of Merit" was also given...
  
  
• National Film Award for Best Screenplay
  National Film Award for Best Screenplay
  The National Film Award for Best Screenplay winners:-References:...
  
   - K. Balachander
• Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil
• Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil - K. Balachander
• Cinema Express Award for Best Film – Tamil
  Cinema Express Award for Best Film – Tamil
  The Cinema Express Best Film Award is given as a part of its annual Cinema Express Awards for Tamil films.-Winners:...