Any genre has an innumerable number of films in its kitty. When it comes to brother-sister sentiment, as soon as you pronounce the name of the genre, a Tamil cinema fan would immediately be reminded of a movie called 'Pasamalar' starring the legendary Sivaji Ganesan and Savitri. In Tamil Nadu, whenever you see a brother and sister with extreme affection, you could hear people say "As if they are Pasamalar siblings". How did this film become so personal to ordinary people? 

Raju and Radha (played by Sivaji and Savitri). Two lovely souls born as siblings live for each other as they lose their parents at a very young age. In films with such characters, one could see a lot of artificial dialogues. But 'Pasamalar' conversations are very natural with dialogues written by Aaroor Dass.

'Nadigar Thilagam' Sivaji Ganesan as brother Rajasekharan delivers an exceptional performance as always. His transformation from a poor factory worker to the owner of a factory is one of the highlights of the film. With 'Nadigaiyar Thilagam' Savitri at the other end as his naughty sister, the audience are in for a treat.

When Raju learns that his sister is in love with his friend Anand (played by Gemini Ganesan), he behaves like a 'typical brother' by thrashing Anand inside a room. Brothers are always like that. However, when he understands that their love is deep, he decides to get them married. This adds the much needed 'realism' to the movie. 

When they begin to live as a joint family, a lot of problems arise between them. Though some of them seem a bit dramatic and unreasonable, it connects well with the family audience. Raju and Radha badly want to see each other but are stopped by their families. Many women could relate this to their real life.

How can you stop the evergreen song "Malarndhum Malaraadha" from playing in your mind when there is a discussion on Pasamalar? The fabulous duo Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy did a splendid job with songs like "Malargalai Pol Thangai" and a background score that carries the emotions to the audience as it is.

The climax scene. Any movie needs a moving climax so that the plot remains in the heart of the viewer for a long time. In Pasamalar, the brother and sister finally meet, share emotions for one last time and die holding each other's hands. Director Bhimsingh makes the audience part of this family right from the first frame and when this end happens to the greatest siblings, no one can hide the sympathy and be seen without shedding tears.

Tamil Cinema has seen many more films with the 'brother-sister love' plot after Pasamalar. Be it Vijay's action-thriller 'Thiruppachi' or Sivakarthikeyan's fun-filled 'Namma Veettu Pillai', the genre is evergreen. It has always born fruits and taken heroes and technical teams to the next level when handled properly. The seed called 'Pasamalar' is so powerful.