Nireekshana

Nireekshana is a 1982 Indian Telugu-language romantic drama film co-written, directed, filmed, and edited by Balu Mahendra. Produced by Linga Raju, the film stars Bhanu Chander and Archana. Allu Ramalingaiah, P. L. Narayana and Rallapalli play supporting roles. The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film is later remaked in Malayalam language named Yathra. The film won two Nandi Awards. The film was dubbed and released in Tamil, under the title Kanne Kalaimane.

Plot
The story unfolds as Murali Krishna, a convict, now free from jail, tells his tragic love story to his fellow passengers in a school bus. An orphan and a forest officer by profession, he falls in love with a local tribal woman, Tulasi, during his stay at a forest area. They decided to get married, and he sets off to tell his best friend about his plans.

On his way back, the police inspector (Narra Venkateswara Rao) arrest him as a suspected naxalite criminal, who looks similar to Murali Krishna. There he accidentally kills a policeman and gets life imprisonment. During his early days at jail, he writes a letter to Tulasi asking her to forget him. When his prison term was about to complete, he writes a letter to see if she waits for him. After long years of torment in the jail he goes to meet Thulasi. Does she still wait for him? That's the question of his fellow passengers, too. At the end, she does wait for him, and welcomes him with lamps.

Cast

 * Bhanu Chander as Murali Krishna (forest officer)
 * Archana as Tulasi (tribal woman)
 * P. L. Narayana as Tulasi's father
 * Rallapalli
 * Allu Ramalingaiah as Church Father
 * Narra Venkateswara Rao as D. Arjun Rao (Inspector)
 * Kaikala Satyanarayana as Jailer
 * Nirmalamma
 * P. J. Sarma
 * B. Saroja Devi
 * Ranjitha
 * K. K. Sarma
 * Anju
 * Preethi
 * Keerthy Meenakshi
 * Sumathi
 * Malleswari
 * Seethalakshmi

Production
Archana acted for most of the film without wearing a blouse. The film was also inspired by the human rights violations that occurred during the Emergency period (1975–77).

Soundtrack
The music and background score was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The lyrics were written by Aatreya. The audio was published digitally by Aditya Music and Mango Music. The song "Aakasham Enatido" is adapted from Malayalam song "Thumbi Vaa" which Ilayaraja originally composed for Malayalam film Olangal (1982) also directed by Mahendra.

Reception
Reviewing the Tamil-dubbed version Kanne Kalaimaane, Jayamanmadhan of Kalki appreciated Balu Mahendra's cinematography, said Archana had incredible eyes, and Bhanu Chander was "o.k".

Accolades
Balu Mahendra won the Best Cinematographer, and Archana won the Special Jury Award.