Paasam

This article needs an improved plot summary. (July 2022)

The story depicts the extraordinary love of a son towards his mother. Gopi is brought up in a juvenile home, as he accidentally commits a murder. After his release he searches for his mother and brother, but is unable to trace them. He lands in the same village, where his brother Raghu lives and works as a government officer. He falls in love with his friend Kali's sister, Chandra, but Kali refuses the alliance, accusing him of being an orphan. Raghu and Chandra are to be engaged. Angry at being thwarted and not knowing that Raghu is his brother, he joins Swaminathan in trying to trap Raghu in a burglary case. Ironically, both Raghu and Gopi do not know the true identity of Swaminathan. It is he who had thrown away his wife Shanta, their mother, several years ago. Several truths are revealed when Gopi meets his mother face to face. Is he able to set things right?

The music was composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy and lyrics were written by Kannadasan.^[1]

Paasam was released on 31 August 1962,^[2][3] and distributed by Emgeeyaar Pictures in Madras,^[4] delayed from a 24 August release.^[5] The film failed commercially because fans of Ramachandran could not digest seeing his character dying and considered it anticlimactic.^[6][7] Ramanna received hundreds of letters from fans condemning him. He said the film's ending not only made him understand the actor's dominance, "but also that one could not say things that are in contradiction with people's sentiments".^[8]