Cinema Paithiyam

Cinema Paithiyam (transl. Cinephile) is a 1975 Indian Tamil-language drama film, directed by Muktha Srinivasan. The film stars Jaishankar and Jayachitra. It is a remake of the Hindi film Guddi (1971).^[1] The film was released on 31 January 1975 and became a commercial success.

Cinema Paithiyam
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Muktha Srinivasan
Screenplay by	A. S. Prakasam
Story by	Gulzar
Produced by	A. L. Srinivasan
Starring	Jaishankar Jayachitra
Cinematography	V. Selvaraj
Edited by	V. P. Krishnan
Music by	Shankar–Ganesh
Production company	A. L. S. Productions
Release date	31 January 1975 (1975-01-31)
Running time	152 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Jaya is a cinephile. So obsessed is she with cinema, that she worships the popular actor Jaishankar, believing all that he portrays on screen, to be his real self. He becomes the ideal man of her dreams, and she even tattoos his name in her arm. Hell breaks loose when she refuses to marry Natarajan, the boy arranged by her brother and her sister-in-law. At this juncture, her uncle steps in, taking it upon himself to show her the true world, by taking her on a trip around the real life of a star.

Cast

• Sivaji Ganesan as himself^[2][a]
• Jaishankar as himself
• Major Sundarrajan as Sivalingam
• V. K. Ramasamy as Chidambaram
• Cho as Ramani^[3]
• Kamal Haasan as Natarajan^[4]
• Senthamarai as himself
• Neelu as Kadha kaalatchebam singer
• Sowcar Janaki as Lakshmi
• Jayachitra as Jaya
• S. Varalakshmi as Teacher
• P. R. Varalakshmi as Kamala^[5]
• Sachu as Pappa^[6]
• S. N. Parvathy as Teacher
• Jayalalithaa as herself^[7][a]
• K. Balaji as himself^[a]
• Manorama as Ponnamma / Junior artist agent
• A. Sakunthala as herself^[7][a]
• A. Bhimsingh as himself^[a]
• P. Madhavan as himself^[a]
• C. V. Rajendran as himself^[a]
• T. K. S. Natarajan as Bhoopathy (uncredited)^[8]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Shankar–Ganesh, with lyrics by Kannadasan.^[9]

Song	Singers
"En Ullam Azhagana"	Vani Jairam
"Naan Ariyatha"	T. M. Soundararajan
"I Will Sell My Beauty"	L. R. Eswari

Release and reception

Cinema Paithiyam was released on 31 January 1975.^[10] Kanthan of Kalki positively reviewed the film, comparing it favourably to the Hindi original.^[11] Kumudam praised the performances of Kamal Haasan, Jayachithra and Sowcar Janaki and added that Guddi was pleasant and sweet; however Cinema Paithiyam lacked it.^[12] Jayachitra later claimed in an interview that this film ran for 100 days at Devi-Sridevi Complex in Madras, and that "this was the first Tamil black-and-white film that ran for so long in that theater complex".^[13]

Notes

1. This actor makes a guest appearance.