''Arasiyal'' () is an 1997 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

film directed by R. K. Selvamani. The film stars

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

Shilpa Shirodkar Shilpa Shirodkar (born 20 November 1969) is an Indian actress and former photo model who worked primarily in Hindi-language films from 1989 to 2000. After a 13-year hiatus from acting, she made her comeback to acting, this time on television in ...

and

Roja Roja may refer to: * ''Roja'' (film), a 1992 Tamil-language film by director Mani Ratnam * ''Roja'' (soundtrack), a soundtrack album from the film * Roja Selvamani Roja Selvamani (born Sri Latha Reddy; 17 November 1972), also known as R. K. ...

. It was released on 12 December 1997.

Plot

Chandrasekhar (

) is an honest collector who arrests Vikram (

Anandaraj Anandaraj (born May 15, 1959) is an Indian actor. He has acted in villain roles in several Tamil films and has appeared in over a two hundred films in different languages including Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. Career Anandaraj was bor ...

), an international terrorist, in Delhi. He's transferred to Madras to eradicate the corruption. Chandrasekhar has two sisters, Priya (Jeeva) and Supriya (

). Priya is in love with Marudapandi (

Charan Raj Charan Raj is an Indian actor, director, film producer, and writer who works in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia and Hindi movies. Career Charan Raj is a versatile actor who is popular for his villainy and character roles in South Indian ...

), a hopeless police officer and Chandrasekhar's friend. Meanwhile, Chandrasekhar is in love with Anita Sharma (

), a Punjabi girl, who he met in Delhi. Venkatraman ( Mansoor Ali Khan), a corrupt politician, is suspected by Chandrasekhar for corruption. Chandrasekhar takes actions against his brothers-in-law, Vishnu (

Madhan Bob S. Krishnamoorthy (born 19 October 1953) professionally known as Madhan Bob, is an Indian actor and comedian, appearing in many Tamil films in supporting roles. Madhan Babu is known for his amusing facial expressions, laughter and protruding ey ...

) and Ramkumar (

Uday Prakash Uday Prakash (born 1 January 1952) is a Hindi poet, scholar, journalist, translator and short story writer from India. He has worked as administrator, editor, researcher, and TV director. He writes for major dailies and periodicals as a freelance ...

) and sent them to jail. Chandrasekhar gets a job promotion because his superiors hate his honest work, but he resigned and showed the journalists the corruption proofs of all corrupted politicians. The people becomes angry and beats all corrupted politicians, and Venkatraman's politic party doesn't even win a seat at the parliament. Chandrasekhar gets married with his lover in Punjab. Venkatraman's wife Vasanthi (

Pallavi A pallavi has multiple connotations in carnatic music. It is the first part of any formal composition (Krithi) which has three segments - Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam (which can be one or more). Pallavi is usually also an abbreviation of R ...

) was sent to jail for corruption. Venkatraman loses all his money and decides to take vengeance. Vikram, released from jail, wants also to revenge Chandrasekhar and becomes friends with Venkatraman. When Vikram decides to kill Chandrasekhar, he sees his sister Anita Sharma and promised her to protect his husband. Venkatraman's henchmen kidnaps Priya; but when she escaped, she fell from the building and died. They also put a bomb in Supriya's handbag which exploded by killing Supriya and Marudapandi. Venkatraman kills Vikram but Chandrasekhar is suspected for Vikram's murder. Chandrasekhar escapes from the police and kills all corrupted politicians. Finally, Chandrasekhar gets applause for his actions, but the court sends him to jail.

Cast

as Chandrasekhar *

as Anita Sharma *

as Supriya * Mansoor Ali Khan as Venkatraman (R. K. V) *

as Vikram (guest appearance) *

as Marudapandi *Jeeva as Priya *

Jaiganesh Jai Ganesh (1946 – 11 February 2001) was an Indian Tamil film actor. He had supporting roles in the films ''Aval Oru Thodar Kathai'' and ''Attukara Alamelu'', among others. His most popular roles have been as a supporting actor or as a villa ...

as Shanmugasundaram, Chandrasekhar's father * Sumithra as Chandrasekhar's mother *John Amirtharaj as the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Thyagu Thozhar Thiyagu (born 30 January 1950), also known as Comrade Thiyagu, is a social activist, politician, writer from Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is also the General Secretary of Tamil National Liberation Movement and is well known for his ...

as Thiruvasagam *

as Vishnu *

as Ramkumar *

as Vasanthi

Production

After the success of ''

Makkal Aatchi ''Makkal Aatchi'' () is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language political thriller film written by E. Ramdoss, directed by R. K. Selvamani and produced by Thirupur A. Selvaraj under Aarthi International. The film stars Mammootty, Roja and Ranjitha, while ...

'', the actor and director to join in another political film titled ''Arasiyal''. The director, prior to release, played down any potential controversial story plots and indicated it would be more about a politician's personal life rather than his work. The team shot across North India in 1997 with scenes also filmed at the Harmandir Sahib, Punjab.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Vidyasagar, with lyrics written by

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...

, Vaasan,

Arunmozhi Arunmozhi ( ta, அருண்மொழி) (also called Napoleon Selvaraj) (born 1951) is an Indian playback singer and well-known flutist. He has sung songs composed by leading Indian film industry music directors, including Ilaiyaraaja, Shankar ...

and Piraisoodan. The film marked the debut of

Harish Raghavendra Harish Raghavendra (born 7 December 1976) is an Indian Tamil vocalist and actor from Chennai, India. He is the son of photographer P.V Raghavendran. Harish is best known for his songs like ''Hey Azhagiya Theeyee'' from Minnale, ''Nirpadhuve N ...

in films.

Reception

R. Vijayaraghavan of ''Indolink.com'' gave the film 2 stars writing, "Yet another attempt by R.K.Selvamani to cobble up a movie based on real-life political happenings. May be his bad luck, it turns out be a cliche." Despite the mixed reviews, Mammootty's performance was well noted by critics and fans. The film was a commercial success, however, was an average grosser at the box office.

Awards

The film has won the following awards since its release :

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...

1997 * Best Film Award (3rd Place)

References

External links

* {{TamilNaduStateFilmAwardBestFilm 1997 films 1990s Tamil-language films Indian political films Films scored by Vidyasagar Films shot in Punjab, India Films directed by R. K. Selvamani