| Kadal Meengal | |
| Director: | G. N. Rangarajan |
| Screenplay: | Panchu Arunachalam |
| Story: | T. Damodaran |
| Producer: | R. Shantha |
| Starring: | |
| Cinematography: | N. K. Viswanathan |
| Editing: | K. R. Ramalingam |
| Music: | Ilaiyaraaja |
| Studio: | K. R. G. Art Productions |
| Runtime: | 137 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Tamil |
Kadal Meengal is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by G. N. Rangarajan, starring Kamal Haasan, Sujatha, Nagesh and Swapna. It is a remake of the 1980 Malayalam film Meen,[1] and also draws inspiration from the Hindi film Trishul (1978).[2] The film revolves around a man seeking revenge on his father for abandoning the former's mother. It was released on 5 June 1981.[3]
Selvanayakam alias is a poor but hard-working fisherman who is in love with Bhagyam from the same fishing hamlet. After a tiff with the locals, Selvam moves to a neighbouring village for fishing and is feared dead during a cyclone. Selvam returns alive after a while and unable to find Bhagyam, marries another woman. Bhagyam has borne his child but lives in isolation away from the life of Selvam who has grown to be a rich businessman. After several years, Bhagyam's son Rajan finds out about his father whom he despises for having deserted his mother. He vengefully joins his father's rivals and enters into a long confrontation with his father in business and in personal life as well.
The makeup for old look of Kamal Haasan was done by R. Sundaramoorthy who revealed the look is inspired from a character from the 1980 film Babylon.[4]
The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.[5] [6]
Sindhu-Jeeva of Kalki praised Kamal Haasan's acting, Viswanathan's cinematography and Ilaiyaraaja's music but felt unit who worked a lot in the idea of taking gold and making jewellery not realising it is just clay and concluded Meen (fish) in Malayalam, Karuvadu (dried fish) in Tamil.[7]