''En Pondatti Nallava'' () is a 1995

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 ...

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 ...

directed by

Senthilnathan Senthilnathan Jambulingam is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and television actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and serials, based in Chennai. He is best known for his action-masala films. As of 2013, he has directed mo ...

. The film stars

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and

Khushbu Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian actress, politician, film producer and television presenter. She is known for her works predominantly in Tamil, besides Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is a rec ...

, with

Senthil Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.Vadivelu Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 12 September 1960), known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian actor, comedian and playback singer, having acted in supporting and lead roles in Tamil cinema. He gained widespread acclaim in Kollywood in the 2 ...

Janagaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthul ...

Y. G. Mahendra Y G Mahendran (born 9 January 1950) is an Indian Actor, dramatist, actor, singer, playwright and comedian from the state of Tamil Nadu. He has acted in a number of plays and films. He is the son of Y. G. Parthasarathy, one of the pioneers of mo ...

Kovai Sarala Kovai Sarala is an Indian actress and comedian, who prominently plays supporting roles in Tamil and Telugu films. She has won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian three times, for her performances in '' Sathi Leelavathi'' (1995), '' ...

Sathyapriya Sathyapriya is an Indian actress. She has acted in over 350 films, and played the heroine in a few of them. She made her debut in ''Manjal Mugame Varuga'' opposite Vijayakumar in Tamil. Her notable films include ''Besuge'', ''Dharmasere'', ''H ...

and

Jayamala Jayamala (born 28 February 1955) is an Indian actress and politician. She served as the Minister for Women and Child Development and Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens in the Government of Karnataka, by virtue of being a membe ...

playing supporting roles. It was released on 14 April 1995.

Plot

Radhika is an honest government employee and she is in charge of the food ration shop. She is then transferred to a remote village. In the village, everything goes well until the release from jail of the dreaded Rajappa who spent 5 years in jail. Rajappa is known to be a dangerous man who sold illicit

arrack Arrack is a distilled alcoholic drink typically produced in India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, made from the fermented sap of coconut flowers or sugarcane, and also with grain (e.g. red rice) or fruit depending upon the country of origin. It ...

and raped the village girls. Half of the villagers flee the village and they settle down in the nearby village. The village police Inspector wants to send Rajappa back in jail. Upon his arrival at the village, Rajappa rapes the poor Radhika. Much to his surprise, Radhika challenges him to change him as a good man. Later, Radhika becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. When Radhika names her daughter as Sivagami, Rajappa turns berserk (Sivagami was his mother's name). Radhika tells him his past and his mother's past. When Rajappa was a school student, he was brainwashed by the illicit

seller Uthamarasa and he began to sell his illicit products. His mother Sivagami and his sister left him and started a new life in

Sivakasi Sivakasi () is a city and Municipal Corporation in Virudhunagar District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This city is known for its fireworks, firecracker, matchbox and printing industries. Sivakasi city alone meets about 90% fire cracker ...

, his sister got married and had a girl : Radhika. Many years later, Rajappa's mother Sivagami and his niece Radhika came to see Rajappa during the village festival. His mother strongly believed that he had changed and became a good man. But Rajappa became a womanizer and a dreaded

seller. At the festival, he got into a fight with the local arrack merchants and killed them all. After seeing this, Sivagami died of heart attack in Radhika's hands. That day, Radhika decided to change Rajappa as a good man. What transpires next forms the rest of the story.

Cast

as Rajappa *

as Radhika *

as Thulasi *

as Sivagami *

as Mayilu *Arathi as Kuyilu *

Ajay Rathnam Ajay Rathnam is an Indian actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil films and serials. He is known for his supporting and negative roles and has acted in over 300 movies. Standing at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm), Rathnam is one of the t ...

as Inspector *

K. S. Jayalakshmi K. S. Jayalakshmi is an Indian actress who works in the Tamil film and television industries. She has acted in comedy roles in movies. Jayalakshmi made her acting debut in the Tamil film ''Etharkum Thuninthavan'' released in 1976. Career Sh ...

*Raviraj as Uthamarasa *

Mahanadi Shankar Mahanadi Shankar is an Indian stage, film and television actor, who has appeared in Tamil language films and serials as supporting actor and negative roles. He has appeared in films including ''Mahanadi'' (1994), ''Baashha'' (1995), ''Ratchagan ...

as Thulukanam *Ashokan *

Shanmugasundaram Shanmugasundaram was an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil films. He began his career as an actor by starring in ''Ratha Thilagam'' (1963) and '' Karnan'' (1964), and continued his career for seven decades. He is also a dubbing artist. He h ...

as Ponnusamy *

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

Typist Gopu Gopalarathnam, known by his stage name Typist Gopu, was an Indian actor known for comedy and supporting roles. He acted in over 600 stage plays and 400 films. Career A native of Manakkal, Lalgudi in Trichy district, Gopalarathnam was active ...

Vellai Subbaiah Vellai Subbaiah was an Indian actor who had appeared in more than 500 films and 1000 stage plays. He featured mostly in comedy roles and also minor roles. He is well known for his dialogue, "Thirumba Thirumba pesura nee..." in the movie Nesam ...

Kullamani Kullamani (1952–2013) was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in South Indian films. He acted over 500 films. He is known for films like ''Karagattakaran'', '' Apoorva Sagodharargal'', ''Panakkaran'', ''My Dear Marthandan'', and many more ...

Karuppu Subbiah Karuppu Subbiah was an Indian actor who had acted over 300 Tamil language films in comedy roles and minor roles. He also has another name 'Mottai' Subbiah. He is notable for his comedian roles along with actor Goundamani. And also he acted alon ...

Thideer Kannaiah ''Thideer'' Kannaiah was an Indian film and stage actor. He has acted in more than 500 films. His debut film was Aval Oru Thodarkathai. He is notable for his comedian roles along with actors Goundamani and Vadivelu. While he was in the drama, ...

* Mahendran

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

, with lyrics written by

Pulamaipithan Pulavar Pulamaipithan (6 October 1935 – 8 September 2021) was an Indian scholar, poet and lyricist who got recognition through the song "Naan yaar nee yaar" which was featured in the Tamil film ''Kudiyirundha Koyil'' in 1968. He briefly serve ...

and Muthulingam.

Reception

Thulasi 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 ...

'' wrote one of the immortal subjects of Tamil cinema is ''Mangamma Sabatham''. By mixing action, sentiments and other things together, you get ''En Pondatti Nallava''. But it makes us sit at the edge of the seat with amazing screenplay.

References

{{Senthilnathan 1990s Tamil-language films 1995 drama films 1995 films Films directed by Senthilnathan Films scored by Deva (composer) Indian drama films