The film was censored on 30 December 1964 and sent for the 12th National Film Awards ( 1964 ) . However , it got released only on 27 February 1965 . Jayakanthan released the film himself as the distributors backed out citing there were no known actors in the film . It won the Third Best Feature Film at the National Film Awards ceremony . The film is widely considered by the critics as the first neorealistic film in Tamil cinema . It started a " new wave " and is seen as a trendsetter for realistic films in Tamil cinema
12th National Film Awards
12th National Film Awards
Unnaipol Oruvan (1965 film)