Thalapathi

For the 2013 film, see Thalapathy (2013 film).

Thalapathi
File:Thalapathi-cover.jpg Thalapathi DVD cover
Directed by	Mani Ratnam
Written by	Mani Ratnam
Produced by	G. Venkateswaran
Starring	Rajinikanth Mammootty Arvind Swamy Jaishankar Amrish Puri Srividya Bhanupriya Shobana Geetha
Cinematography	Santosh Sivan
Edited by	Suresh Urs
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Production company	G. V. Films
Release date	November 5, 1991 (1991-11-05)
Running time	157 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Box office	₹21.6 crore

Thalapathi (Translation: Commander) is a 1991 Indian Tamil film written and directed by Mani Ratnam and produced by G. Venkateswaran under the banner of G. V. Films. It stars Rajinikanth, Mammootty and Shobana in the lead roles with Arvind Swamy, Srividya, Amrish Puri, Bhanupriya, Nagesh, and Charuhasan essaying supporting ones. The theme is loosely based on the friendship between Karna and Duryodhana of the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. The score and soundtrack were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film, which notably features the last collaboration of Mani Ratnam and Ilaiyaraaja, was dubbed and released in Telugu and Hindi as Dalapathi. The film, being set in a contemporary milieu at the time of its release, emerged as a critical and commercial success during its theatrical run.

Plot

Surya (Rajinikanth), the abandoned child of fourteen-year-old unwed mother Kalyani (Srividya), is brought up by a generous lady living in the slums. He grows up to become a fearless kind-hearted slum king who fights the injustice that takes place daily. These qualities lead him to cross swords with the local don Devarajan (Deva) (Mammootty). Deva's friend Ramana is fatally beaten up by Surya, and he threatens Surya that he will find himself in a dangerous situation if the friend was laid to rest. His friend passes away, and Surya gets placed in prison. However, when Deva discovers Ramana's offense, he decides to get Surya released from jail.

Surya is surprised to see Deva send his own man to get him out from jail, and there he tells Surya, Nyayamnu onnu irrukku (there is such a thing called justice). From that moment, Deva surrenders his ego and offers his hand of friendship to Surya. Surya pledges that he has nothing else but his life to give his new friend. From then on Deva makes Surya his "Thalapathi" (commander). Meanwhile Surya falls for a local girl Subbulakshmi (Shobana). They soon fall in love and their relationship continues. Surya and Deva virtually rule the town with their muscle and their sense of justice. In the eyes of the government, they are anti-social elements. Arjun (Arvind Swamy), posted as the new district collector, plans to arrest both so that he can end their brutal activities. But his opportunities are in vain.

At this time, Deva and his wife go to Subbulakshmi's house asking for her betrothal to Surya. But her father refuses stating he cannot marry his daughter to a person who doesn't know about his parents. Instead, Subbulakshmi is married to Arjun. Surya eventually marries another girl (Bhanupriya) who was widowed by him earlier (her husband was Ramana). Surya, still troubled by the guilt, prefers to remain as a guard to the widow and her daughter.

A struggle breaks out between the collector and Deva/Surya during which Surya learns that Arjun's mother is his mother, too. Surya promises his mother that he will not harm Arjun but refuses to leave Deva, whose friendship is more valuable to him than his relationship with his brother. Deva is stunned to learn that collector and Surya are brothers and admires Surya for not parting with him in spite of discovering his identity. During the process of surrendering to the collector, assuring him completely stopping their activities, Deva is shot by his enemy. Surya, in a fit of rage, brutally kills Kalivardhan (Amrish Puri) who was the cause for Deva's death and surrenders to the police after performing the final rites of his friend. But the police withdraw the case due to lack of evidence and witnesses. The collector goes to another place on a new posting accompanied by his wife. His mother then changes her mind to stay with her elder son, Surya.

Cast

• Rajnikanth as Surya
• Mammootty as Devaraj
• Arvind Swamy as Arjun
• Jaishankar as Arjun's father
• Amrish Puri as Kalivardhan
• Srividya as Kalyani
• Bhanupriya as Padma (Ramana's wife)
• Shobana as Subhalakshmi
• Geetha as Selvi
• Nagesh as Panthulu
• Charuhasan as Sreenivasan
• Kitty as Police Commissioner
• Charle
• Nirmalamma
• Tarun Kumar As a Petty -thief
• Sonu Walia in a special appearance in the song "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu"
• Dinesh as Ramana
• Manoj K. Jayan as Manoharan

Production

The theme of Thalapathi is loosely based on the friendship between Karna and Duryodhana of the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. Rajinikanth's character Surya was the equivalent of Karna, while Mammooty's character Deva was the equivalent of Duryodhana. Shobana played the equivalent of Draupadi, while Arvind Swamy and Srividya played Arjuna and Kunti respectively. Actor Kreshna was chosen to play the younger version of Rajinikanth's character, although the character was later scrapped because it affected the film's length. Cinematography was handled by Santosh Sivan, who made his debut in Tamil cinema. The film ran into trouble when news leaked that Rajinikanth's character would die in the climax. The climax of the film was eventually altered to appease the actor's fan base.

Soundtrack

Untitled

The music score for the film was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The soundtrack features seven songs. The song, "Rakkama Kaiya Thattu", performed by S. P. Balasubramanyam and Swarnalatha was amongst the songs listed in a BBC World Top Ten music poll. "Raakkamma" song was copied by Anand-Milind as "Tun Tun Tara" in the film Bol Radha Bol. Controversially, it was also featured in the 2012 Bollywood film Agent Vinod, and Lahari took "legal action" against the producer of the film Saif Ali Khan, who used the song without permission.

Original version (Tamil)

All lyrics are written by Vaali; all music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1.	"Yamunai Aatrile"	Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik	1:22
2.	"Rakkama Kaiya Thattu"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Swarnalatha	7:10
3.	"Sundari Kannal"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki	7:14
4.	"Kaattukuyilu"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Yesudas	5:32
5.	"Putham Puthu Poo"	Yesudas, S. Janaki	5:00
6.	"Chinna Thayaval"	S. Janaki	3:23
7.	"Margazhithan"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Swarnalatha, Chorus	2:39

Track listing (Telugu)

All music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1.	"Yamuna Thatilo (sad)"	Swarnalatha	1:22
2.	"Chilakamma Chitikeyanga"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam,Swarnalatha	7:10
3.	"Sundari Nuvve"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chitra	7:14
4.	"Singarala"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas	5:32
5.	"Mudda Banthi Puvvulo"	Mano,Swarnalatha	5:00
6.	"Ada Janmaku"	P. Susheela	3:23
7.	"Yamuna Thatilo"	Swarnalatha, Chorus	1:47

Track listing (Malayalam)

All lyrics are written by Vaali; all music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1.	"Yamunayaattile"(Sad)"	K. S. Chithra	1:22
2.	"Raakkamma"	M. G. Sreekumar, Swarnalatha	7:10
3.	"Sundari Kannal"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki	7:14
4.	"Kattukuyilin Manasinullin"	M. G. Sreekumar, K. G. Markose	5:32
5.	"Putham Puthu Poo"	Yesudas, S. Janaki	5:00
6.	"Kannippaal Nilaa Vettam"	K. S. Chitra	3:23
7.	"Seethaakalyaana Vaibhogame"	Swarnalatha, Chorus	1:47

Release

Reception

Reviews for Thalapathi have been positive. Film critic Balaji Balasubramaniam said "Thalapathy gives us some strong characters and then builds on the emotional interactions between them. Naturally, the movie works best during the scenes of confrontation between these characters." He further wrote, "Rajnikanth gets a chance to emote quite a bit more than his other recent movies and does quite well though his fans would not have been happy to see their hero being tortured by a policeman and not fighting back(though he gets his revenge later) or losing the girl he loves" while concluding that "Thalapathy, like all Manirathnam movies, is technically excellent." IndiaGlitz said "Manirathnam's excellent direction, and Ilayaraja supplementing with spellbound music makes this movie a definite watch." Behindwoods said, "In Dalapathi, [sic] although good ultimately prevails over evil, the journey is portrayed with the obstacles and difficulties. That is the greatest plus for the film."

Awards

39th Filmfare Awards South

• 1992 – Best Director – Tamil – Mani Ratnam
• 1992 – Best Music Director – Tamil – Ilaiyaraaja

Remake

In November 2011, Bollywood producer Bharat Shah acquired the rights to remake Thalapathi in Hindi, though it was already dubbed in the language upon release. The filmmaker had earlier co-produced Mani Ratnam's Saathiya (the Hindi remake of Alaipayuthey) and Dil Se.

External links

• Thalapathi at IMDb