Sigappu Rojakkal (Details)

Language: Tamil

Release Date: 10th October, 1978

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Sridevi, Goundamani, K. Bhagyaraj, Kanchana, Vadivukkarasi

Director: Bharathiraja

Music: Ilayaraaja

Dialogues: Bhagyaraj

TRIVIA

Bharathiraja deliberately decided to direct a film set in a city in order to avoid being type casted. Being inspired by the story of a serial killer Raman Raghav, he wrote this film where dialogues were written by his then assistant Bhagyaraj.

Sigappu Rojakkal (Red Roses) title appears over a woman’s scream while blood drips over a white rose. The background is the house of Dileep (Kamal Haasan), a flamboyant looking businessman who visits jail on his birthday to distribute sweets to the prisoners. Later he walks into his office, ogles at the female interview candidates. The glittering outside looks of him is a perfect disguise for his dark inside.

He accidently meets Sharadha (Sridevi), who is working in a garment shop, and tries to woo her. She is a naïve working woman who is living in the city alone. As the film progresses, we get to know more about Dileep and the more we get worried about Sharadha. We empathize with her, as she falls in love with Dileep, as she gets married to him, as she enters his mysterious house. The whole sequence of her inside his house is ghastly.

It’s brilliant how Bharathiraja doesn’t let us empathize with Dileep’s character until the last frame. There is a flashback on Dileep’s childhood, how his childhood experiences has turned him into a psycho killer. But it comes across as an information rather than justifying his behavior. A true dark shade played by Kamal Haasan.

Even the filmmaking, especially the editing is stylish as compared to Bharathirajaa’s previous two films. Especially the crosscuts which is done at several instances throughout the film. Ilaiyaraaja’s background score and the cat’s meows just makes this one of the best psychological thrillers in Tamil.

The movie is available on Amazon Prime!