asking if he would like an adjournment to prepare to cross examine that witness. Rajinikanth's ego does not allow him to seek adjournment, handing Kannan the victory. His first loss proves too much to handle and an anguished Rajinikanth succumbs to death, just before Kannan brings him the news of his appointment as a judge. Cast Sivaji Ganesan as Barrister Rajinikanth and Advocate Kannan Ushanandini as Radha Pandari Bai as Chellamma Major Sundarrajan as Mohandas V. K. Ramasamy as Kanagambaram Nagesh as Gopal Iyer Senthamarai as Inspector Karunakaran Rama Prabha as Kathambari Jayakumari as Kalpana Y. G. Mahendran as Kannan's driver Neelu as Neelakandan/Neelakundu K. Vijayan as Dr. Balakrishnan Poornam Viswanathan as Judge in climax Veeraraghavan as Judge I. S. Ramachandran as Kalyanam Comedy Shanmugam as Pithambaram Production Kannan Vandhaan was a stage play. Sundaram, who wrote the play, returned to direct the film adaptation, titled Gauravam. The title of the film, which translates to prestige, was taken from the play and film versions of Sundaram's Vietnam Veedu where there is a character named Prestige Padmanabhan. Sivaji Ganesan's style of smoking a pipe in the film was inspired by that of an industrialist T. S. Krishnan, and his hairstyle was inspired by T. S. Narayanaswami, an industrialist then associated with India Cements. Gauravam was the first film where Ganesan and Y. G. Mahendran acted together. Ganesan's home, Annai Illam, also features in the film. Soundtrack The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan, with lyrics by Kannadasan. The song "Palooti Valarthakili" was initially recorded with a different singer; Viswanathan found his voice did not match with Ganesan's acting, so he recorded the song again in T. M. Soundararajan's voice. Release and reception Gauravam was released on 25 October 1973, Diwali day. Kanthan of Kalki positively reviewed the film, particularly for Ganesan's performance as Rajinikanth. The film became a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres. Ganesan won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. Legacy Ganesan reprised the role of Rajinikanth in the Doordarshan television series Meendum Gowravam. Dialogues from this film were used for the teaser of the 2022 film Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam. References Bibliography External links 1970s legal drama films 1970s Tamil-language films 1973 films Films scored by M. S. Viswanathan Indian courtroom films Indian films about revenge Indian films based on plays Indian legal drama films