''Athiradi Padai'' in Tamil / ''Samaram'' in Telugu () is a 1994 Indian

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

R. K. Selvamani R.K. Selvamani (born 21 October 1965) is an Indian film director. He was known to make films in the police or whodunit genres. Career Born in Chengalpattu, R. K. Selvamani, an assistant of Manivannan, narrated a story line to Vijayakanth who t ...

. The film stars

Rahman Rahman (Arabic: or ) may refer to: *Rahman, one of the names of God in Islam *Ar-Rahman, the 55th sura of the Qur'an People *Rahman (name), an Arabic male personal name **Short form of Abd al-Rahman *Rahman (actor) (born 1967), Indian actor *Rah ...

, Suman, 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. ...

whilst

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

, Vijayakumar and

Silk Smitha Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati (2 December 1960 – 23 September 1996), better known by her stage name Silk Smitha, was an Indian actress and dancer who worked predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. Smitha was part of seve ...

play supporting roles. It was released on 10 February 1994.

Plot

The film is loosely based on acid attack on Chandralekha IAS. IAS officer Chitralekha (Lakshmi) refuses to clear public land at low price to Adhiseshan (Puneet Issar). Adiseshan gave 30 crores to CM Ramachandra Moorthy (Kota srinivasa Rao/Vinu Chakravarthy) Adiseshan tries to halt investigation by throwing acid on Chitralekha's face, sending goons to attack her daughter Bharathi (Roja), giving sedated chocolate to Chitra's younger daughter and humiliating her in public. When the IAS officer refuses to back down, Adiseshan kills her by hanging and makes it look like suicide. Bharathi (Roja) receives a courier containing evidences of Adiseshan and politicians scam. She plans to expose this to the public through press meet. But another politician (Mansoor Ali Khan) who promised to help her betrays and her younger sister is raped and killed by Adiseshan. She kills Mansoor Ali Khan in rage and sentenced to prison. She also finds her father (Vijayakumar) is in prison on false case. In prison, she suffers unnecessary torture at hands of police and finally she joins rahman's gang and uncovers the truth. Finally she kills Adiseshan (Puneet Issar).

Cast

as Saatha * Suman *

as Bharathi *

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Badaga and Malayalam mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or in ...

Kota Srinivasa Rao Kota Srinivasa Rao (born 10 July 1942) is an Indian character actor known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He has also starred in a few films in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. As a former politician, Rao has s ...

* Vijayakumar as Roja's father *

Puneet Issar Puneet Issar (born 6 November 1959) is an Indian actor, writer, director, producer and dialect coach best known for his works in Hindi films and television shows. Issar started his acting career as a villain in the Manmohan Desai's 1983 film '' ...

as Adiseshan *

as Chitralekha IAS * Mansoor Ali Khan * R. Sundarrajan /

Babu Mohan Pally Babu Mohan known as Babu Mohanis an Indian actor and politician from Bharatiya Janata Party. He prominently works in Telugu films as a comedian and is a former Minister for Labour in Andhra Pradesh. He won Nandi Award for Best Male Come ...

Rupini Komal Mahuvakar, better known by her stage name Rupini, is an Indian actress who has appeared in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu language films during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She started as a child artist in the Hindi film ...

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

. ;Tamil ;Telugu

Reception

Malini Mannath of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' wrote that Selvamani's "Athiradippadai .has more of imagination gone astray and less of reality" and "unlike the smooth transition from scene to scene in his earlier films, here the narration is jerky". R. P. R. of ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' found cinematography as the only appreciable aspect of the film calling angles and lighting of Hollywood type and found no other positive aspects from the film.

References

External links

* {{R. K. Selvamani 1990s Indian films 1990s Tamil-language films 1994 action films 1994 films 1994 multilingual films Films directed by R. K. Selvamani Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian action films Indian films about revenge Indian multilingual films