During the ’70s and ’80s, the majority of the movies in the Tamil industry were focused on relationships and their issues. Notable directors usually centred their films on such topics and the audience enjoyed it. During that same period, there were also a few movies about women who were forced into sex work, which formed the crux of the plot. One such movie was Avalum Penn Thaane. In 1974, director Durai released this movie, which marked his directorial debut. Avalum Penn Thaane is about a woman who was forced into sex work, ended up becoming an orphan and later died by suicide. When Durai earlier worked as an Assistant Director, he was in Mysuru (then Mysore) for a shoot. That’s when he witnessed some sex workers looking for an opportunity to act in the movie.
When Durai witnessed the scene in Mysuru, he felt sympathetic and knew they were just trying to find their voice to escape from the chaos as a sex worker. It left a mark on his mind, and later when he decided to make the movie, he decided to showcase his lead actress, Sumithra, as a sex worker. It is the story of a young girl who escapes one nightmare and finds herself in another and is later forced into sex work. She falls in love with a good-hearted man and marries him. Her mother-in-law also accepts her. Durai wanted to show that she was offered a second chance in life and wanted to give herself a good life. However, the distributors did not agree. They made the director change the climax and claimed that the audience would not accept if she was shown to live a good life. Instead, the movie shows a tragic ending, where she dies by suicide as she has no choice.
The lead actor in Avalum Penn Thaane was played by R Muthuraman, while Pandari Bai essayed the role of the mother-in-law. MRR Vasu, SV Sahasranamam, Thengai Srinivasan, VK Ramasamy, R Indira Devi, Manorama, SV Ramadas and MN Rajam also starred in the movie. The movie was produced by Sri Panduranga Productions
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