''Amirtham'' () is a 2006 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

produced, written and directed by K. Kannan, making his directorial debut. The film stars newcomer Ganesh and

Navya Nair Navya Nair is an Indian actress who has appeared predominantly in Malayalam films, along with others in Kannada and Tamil. She is the recipient of several awards. Personal life Nair married Santhosh Menon in 2010, and the couple have a son. ...

, with

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the ...

, Anuradha Krishnamoorthy,

Rajeev Rājīv (Devanagari: राजीव, Bengali script: রাজীব) is a popular Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepalese male name, also spelt Rajeev, Rajive, Rajib, Rajeeb, Rajiva and Rajiba. It is said that the lotus flower (''Nelumbo nuc ...

Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in more than 180 fil ...

Yugendran Yugendran (born Yugendran Vasudevan on 20 December 1976) is an Indian actor and singer who has sung hundreds of songs in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. He is also an occasional music director and host. Personal life Yugendran is the son of the ...

and Madhura playing supporting roles. The film had musical score by

Bhavatharini Bhavatharani Raja is an Indian singer and music composer. She is the daughter of Ilaiyaraaja and her brothers are the noted film composers Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja. She has mostly sung songs under the direction of her father and bro ...

and was released on 10 February 2006.

Plot

In a village called Mukkudal, the devout

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

Ramaswamy Iyengar (

) is a poor temple priest living a peaceful life with his wife Rukkumani (Anuradha Krishnamoorthy) and his soft-spoken daughter Amirtha (

). The villagers greatly respect Ramaswamy Iyengar for his goodness. In the same temple, Pasupathi Pillai (

) is a

Nadaswaram The Nagaswaram (nādḥasvaram) is a double reed wind instrument from South India. It is used as a traditional classical instrument in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala. This instrument is "among the world's loudes ...

exponent and a rich person, he has a good relationship with Ramaswamy Iyengar. He has a wife (

), a son studying in the city and a daughter born to him and his wife's sister. Pasupathi Pillai's son Amirtham (Ganesh) returns to the village after completing his engineering degree. Amirtham is an outspoken atheist and rationalist. Thereafter, Amirtha falls in love with Amirtham while Amirtham's half-sister Sorna (Madhura) is killed by her sadist husband Veerayan (

). Rukkumani then learns of her daughter's love with the Nadaswaram exponent's son Amirtham and she supports her daughter's love affair. Rukkumani even convinced Amirtham's mother to support their love. However, when Amritha declares his feelings to Amirtham, he rejects her proposals because he doesn't want to affect the friendship between his father and her father. Amirtham then leaves the village and returns in the city. In the meantime,

petroleum geologist A petroleum geologist is an earth scientist who works in the field of petroleum geology, which involves all aspects of oil discovery and production. Petroleum geologists are usually linked to the actual discovery of oil and the identification of po ...

s find

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

under the temple belt and the government ask the villagers to leave the village for oil drilling and extracting the petroleum in the village. The villagers oppose the move by the government and in the process, the police arrest Ramasamy Iyengar. Amirtham comes back to the village to protest against the demolition of the temple. In a fight between the villagers and the police, Amirtham is shot dead. Afterwards, the Supreme Court stops the demolition of the temple and forces the people to vacate the village. Pasupathi Pillai and his wife leave their place with a heavy heart but to their great surprise, Amirtha decides to go with them thus becoming their daughter.

Cast

*Ganesh as Amirtham *

as Amirtha *

as Ramaswamy Iyengar *Anuradha Krishnamoorthy as Rukkumani *

as Pasupathi Pillai *

as Veerayan *Madhura as Sorna half-sister *

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and television series. He st ...

as Police Inspector *

Ranjitha Ranjitha (born Sri Valli) is an Indian actress. She has acted in a number of Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. Career In 1991, Ranjita, did her first Telugu film, under the screen name Madhu Bala ''Kadapa Reddemma''. It was written by ...

as Collector *

Subhalekha Sudhakar Suravajhala Sudhakar (born 19 November 1960), known by his stage name Subhalekha Sudhakar, is an Indian actor who works in Telugu and Tamil language films and television. Sudhakar's first Telugu film '' Subhalekha'' (1982) gained him wide reco ...

as Sadagopan *Priyadarshini as Journalist

Production

K. Kannan, who was the dialogue writer of ''

Vedham Pudhithu ''Vedham Pudhithu'' () is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Bharathiraja. It is based on the play ''Saadhigal Illaiyadi Papa'' written by K. Kannan, who after this film came to be known as ''Vedham Pudhithu'' Kann ...

'' (1987), made his debut as director of this venture. The film will deal with the ever-existing divide between rationalism and theism.

, heroine of ''

Azhagiya Theeye ''Azhagiya Theeye'' is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Radha Mohan that stars Prasanna and Navya Nair. The film was produced by Prakash Raj, who also played a significant character in the film, while R ...

'' (2004), signed to play an Iyengar girl opposite Ganesh, a new face.

(voice dubbed by

Mohan Raman Mohan Raman, also known as Mohan V. Ram (born 3 April 1956), is an Indian actor and writer. In 2017 and 2019, he was a Jury member for the National Film Award for Best Writing on Cinema. Raman is a film historian and writes for ''The Hindu''. He ...

) played the role of a temple priest and

carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...

ian Anuradha Krishnamurthy would make her big screen debut.

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by

. The soundtrack, released in 2006, features 4 tracks with lyrics written by

Piraisoodan Piraisoodan (6 February 1956 – 8 October 2021) was a Tamil poet and lyricist. He won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Lyricist for his songs in movies like ''Thayagam'', '' En Rasavin Manasile'' and ''Neeyum Naanum'' in 1996, 1991 and ...

, P. Vijay,

Yugabharathi Yugabharathi is a Tamil poet and lyricist. His birth name was "Santhanam Desan" and he was known as "Santhanam" by his family and friends. During the early 1990s when he began writing poems for magazines he started using the pen name "Yugabharat ...

and Kiruthiya .

Reception

Balaji Balasubramaniam of ''bbthots.com'' said, "It brings up some serious issues in a different setting but fails to make build on the issues in an interesting manner". ''Indiaglitz'' stated, "Kannan has an idea and has pursued it without any compromise. That in itself deserves credit, and he has also made a good job of it. It is by no means a perfect film" and added that "Navya Nair is the scene-stealer". P. V. Sathish Kumar of ''nowrunning.com'' rated the film 3 out of 5 and wrote, "Be it the cast or the storyline or the direction everything is different and Kannan has shown his deftness in all these elements of filmmaking. He must be lauded for making a sincere attempt with an absorbing story". A reviewer of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' said, "Kannan brings in the commercial element through duets and dream songs. His profound, thought-provoking dialogue in 'Vedam Pudhidhu' and now in 'Amirtham' will remain unforgettable for long. As a dialogue writer Kannan shines. But his story is bogged down by too many issues".

References

{{reflist 2006 films 2000s Tamil-language films Indian drama films Films about the caste system in India 2006 directorial debut films 2006 drama films Films scored by Bhavatharini