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On This Day

29 Jun, 2021

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films

Veedu (House) (1988)

Balu Mahendra

Release Date1988
GenreDrama, Social
FormatColour
LanguageTamil
Run Time107 min
Length3039 meters
Censor RatingU
Certificate Date31/12/1987

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After the demise of her parents in a bus accident, Sudha (Archana) lives with her younger sister Indhu (Indhu) and grandfather Murugesu (K A. Chokkalinga Bhagavathar) in a rented house. She is engaged to her colleague Gopi (Bhanuchander) and they plan to marry. Her landlord asks all the tenants to vacate their portions as he plans to construct a new building in the place of the existing one. Sudha gets upset and starts searching for a new house on rent The process drags on as the houses of their choice are beyond their budget and the affordable ones are not to their liking. When Sudha gets upset about the delay, her empathizing colleague lyengar suggests that she should construct a house instead of looking for a house on rent When Sudha is skeptical, he shares his own experience and motivates her to construct a low-cost house. Murugesu owns two house sites in the outskirts of the city, which he bought several years back. Since they already own the land, Sudha and Gopi seek ways and means to raise money to construct the house. They decide to sell one of the plots and apply for a housing loan. For the balance, Sudha decides to pledge her jewels. Iyengar introduces Sudha to a contractor, who draws a plan for the house.

They run from pillar to post for getting approval and finally, manage to get it only after bribing the officer concerned. With all approvals in place, the construction begins. Unexpected rains spoil the progress and result in an escalation of cost. Though Gopi readily offers financial support Sudha refuses as she feels it will affect his sisters' marriage plans. Murugesu also offers help.

Manga (Sathya), a construction labourer working under a supervisor (Oru Viral Krishnarao) is fond of Sudha and tries to help her during the construction. When she finds the contractor stealing construction material from the site, she informs Sudha, which leads to the contractor being asked to quit. However, Manga agrees to complete the work with the help of the supervisor, giving relief to Sudha. The work progresses and with the help of lyengar, Sudha sells the adjacent plot and raises money to continue with the work. Sudha's loan disbursal at the office gets delayed and she goes seeking monetary support Taking advantage of her vulnerability, her superior demands her carnal company for the money he offers, which shocks her and she does not oblige. When her funds are completely exhausted, she decides to stop the construction. However, Gopi comes to know this, takes charge, and goes about the construction work. The house begins to take shape. Murugesu, who is curious to know the progress, visits the site on a Sunday alone and is proud to see his granddaughter's achievement With that satisfaction, he dies while returning home. Sudha gets depressed at his death. When the construction is almost complete and Sudha and Gopi are appraising the progress an official from the Water Board lands there and asks them how they have constructed a house on the site which was earmarked by the Water Board for sinking a borewell, that too after a notice was served to that effect to the Panchayat

Sudha gets shocked and goes to meet the officer who had given permission for construction. She realizes that the officer who had given the permission is not the authorized person, nor was he aware of the notification. Out of greed, he had taken a bribe and forged the signature of his superior on the approval papers. Sudha approaches the Court to save her house, while the officer who issued the approval is sent to jail.

[from the book Pride of Tamil Cinema: 1931 to 2013, by G Dhananjayan, Blue Ocean Publishers, 2014]