''Cooliekkaran'' () is a 1987 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, nativ ...

-language

action thriller 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 Rajasekhar and produced by

S. Thanu Kalaipuli S. Thanu is an Indian film producer, director and distributor, known for his films in Tamil cinema. He has produced several films through his two companies, V Creations and Kalaipuli Films International. Many of his films have been co ...

. The film stars

Vijayakanth Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

and

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 ...

, in her

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

debut. It is a remake of the

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

film ''

Kaalia ''Kaalia'' is a 1981 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film, written and directed by Tinnu Anand, and produced by Iqbal Singh. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan (in the title role), Parveen Babi, Asha Parekh, Kader Khan, Pran, Amjad Khan, ...

'' (1981). The film was released on 6 June 1987. Through this film Vijayakanth got the title "Puratchi Kalaignar" (), bestowed upon him by Thanu.

Plot

Raja lives with his elder brother Velu, sister-in-law Lakshmi, and their little daughter. He spends his time idle and is scolded by Velu. Raja decides to become a coolie and transport articles. Unfortunately, he is jailed for smuggling. Velu also gets into an accident at work at the mill and loses his arms and job, while also needing money for treatment. Raja is released and begs Velu's boss Chakravarthy, but he refuses. Raja breaks into Chakravarthy's safe to get the money, but it is too late as Velu dies. Chakravarthy throws Raja in jail. This is where he meets David and decides to seek revenge. In jail, Raja meets the warden Marthandan, whose daughter was kidnapped by one of the prisoners when she was little. After his release, he is a different, stronger man. He and his accomplices steal the gold that Chakravarthy had been smuggling at the mill. Raja and his accomplices lie to Lakshmi and move from poverty into riches. Raja and his men snatch a very rare diamond. Priya steals it (fake diamond). Meanwhile, Ramanathan, who was once a henchman of Chakravarthy, is killed by him. Ramanathan was assigned to kill Jai and his family in an accident. Marthandan's wife is killed, and Ramanathan keeps the child with him. Priya is now reformed. She and Raja fall in love, and for their engagement, he buys all the flowers in the city. Marthandan grows suspicious and starts following Raja. Chakravarthy buys a counterfeit machine, which is spoiled by Raja. Enraged by this, Chakravarthy spills the beans to Lakshmi that Raja is a smuggler. Lakshmi urges Raja to leave this business, and Chakravarthy throws Raja in jail again. How Raja escapes and gets his revenge on Chakravarthy forms the rest of the film.

Cast

as Raja *

as Priya *

Jaishankar Jaishankar (12 July 1938 – 3 June 2000) was an Indian actor known for his work in Tamil cinema. He was a very popular lead actor in the 1960s and 70s. He was credited onscreen with title of ''Makkal Kalaingnar'' (people's artiste) or '' ...

as Marthandan *

Radha Ravi Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan Ravi (born 29 July 1952) is an Indian actor and politician who played supporting roles throughout his career. He is the son of actor M. R. Radha and the uncle of Vasu Vikram and half-brother of Raadhika. He is a ...

as Chakravarthy *

Nagesh Nagesh (born Cheyur Krishnarao Nageshwaran; (27 September 1933 – 31 January 2009) was an Indian actor, mostly remembered for his roles as a comedian in Tamil films during the 1960s. Nagesh was born in Dharapuram. He acted in over 1,000 film ...

as Velu, Raja's brother *

Srividya Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...

as Lakshmi, Raja's sister-in-law *

Vijayan Vijayan is a South Indian name and may refer to: Given name *Pinarayi Vijayan (born 1944), Indian politician * Vijayan (actor) (1944–2007), Tamil & Malayalam film actor *Vijayan (stunt coordinator), action choreographer for South Indian films *Vi ...

as Ramanathan *

S. S. Chandran S. S. Chandran (25 September 1941 – 9 October 2010) was an Indian comedy actor, producer, and politician from Tamil Nadu. He belonged to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party and was a Member of the Parliament representing Tamil N ...

as Venkatachalam *

K. Natraj K. Natraj is an Indian actor and director who primarily worked in Tamil-language films and serials. Personal life In film industry circle, he is popular as a close friend of actor Rajinikanth. His daughter, Rajini, was married actor Vishn ...

as David *

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 David's partner *

Kumarimuthu Kumarimuthu (20 December 1940 – 28 February 2016) was a Tamil film character actor, comedian and politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He was known for his unique comical laugh. Career Kumarimuthu starred in 728 films in his car ...

as Police constable *

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 ...

as Guest appearance * V. Gopalakrishnan (guest appearance) * Pandiyan as (guest appearance)

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

T. Rajendar Thesingu Rajendar (born 9 May 1960), also known as Vijaya T. Rajendar or T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker, musician, cinematographer and distributor who works primarily in Tamil film industry. He is also a politician in Chennai, Tamil Nadu ...

, who also wrote the lyrics.

References

External links

* {{Rajasekhar (director) 1980s Tamil-language films 1987 action thriller films 1987 films Films directed by Rajasekhar (director) Indian action thriller films Tamil remakes of Hindi films