Swami Ayyappan was the highest-grossing film of 1975.
The critically-acclaimed film popularised the shrine of Sabarimala, not only in Tamil Nadu but in other South Indian states too.
The 70s witnessed many Tamil spiritual films. On 18 October 1971, three films – Sivaji’s Babu, MG Ramachandran’s Neerum Neruppum, Jaishankar’s Veetukku Oru Pillai and KS Gopalakrishnan’s Aathi Parasakthi – were released. Aathi Parasakthi surpassed the other three films in terms of collection. This is because the film’s storyline was based on Hindu mythology and spirituality. One other film of that time, which managed to make an impact on the audience was Swami Ayyappan. It was released in 1975. The spiritual and devotional film completed 48 years of its release recently.
Swami Ayyappan was the highest-grossing film of 1975. The ensemble star cast of the film included Karan, Gemini Ganesan, Thikurichi Sukumaran Nair, Srividya, Lakshmi, Sukumari, Sudheer, Raghavan, Rajashree, Baby Sumathi and K Balaji. With P Balasubramaniam as the director, the film was shot simultaneously in both Tamil and Malayalam languages. The critically-acclaimed film popularised the shrine of Sabarimala (Kerala), not only in Tamil Nadu but other South Indian states too.
Karan, who starred in films like Nammavar and Kadhal Kotthi, acted in many Malayalam and Tamil films under the name Master Raghu at an early age. He received the Kerala Government Award for Best Child Actor for Swami Ayyappan. Baby Sumathi played the female protagonist in Bhagyaraj’s films. She also began her acting career as a child artist and went on to be seen in many Tamil and Malayalam films. It is pertinent to note that the singer DM Soundararajan also made an appearance in this film.
Master Devarajan composed the music for Swami Ayyappan. The songs depicting Ayyappan’s grace were well received. Interestingly, the song Harivarasanam sung by KJ Yesudas later began to be played in Sabarimala Temple. It used to be played every night before closing the gates of the temple. A huge box-office success, the film garnered positive reviews and is still hailed as one of the finest works done in the Tamil film industry.