''Enkitta Mothathe'' () is a 2017 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 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-gen ...

, written and directed by Ramu Chellappa. The film features

Natraj Nataraja () also known as Adalvallaan () is a depiction of the Hindu god Shiva as the divine cosmic dancer. His dance is called Tandava.''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2015) The pose and artwork are described in many Hindu texts such as the ''T ...

, Rajaj,

Parvathy Nair Parvati Nair (born 5 December 1992) is an Indian model and actress who works in the South Indian film industry. Born into a Malayali family in Abu Dhabi, she trained as a software professional from Manipal Institute of Technology. She started m ...

and

Sanchita Shetty Sanchita Shetty is an Indian actress, who has appeared predominately in Tamil and Kannada films. She appeared in supporting roles at the beginning of her career. She got her first breakthrough after starring in female lead role in ''Soodhu Kavv ...

in the leading roles. Co-produced by

Eros International Eros International Media Ltd (also known as Eros India) is an Indian motion picture production and distribution company, based and originated in Mumbai, India. Founded by Arjun Lulla in 1977, it is one of the leading production and distributi ...

with RV Films, the film tells the story of two fan club leaders of the actors

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

and

Rajnikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

during 1988. The film had a theatrical release across Tamil Nadu on 24 March 2017.

Cast

as Ravi * Rajaj as Nallaperumal *

as Jayanthi *

as Maragadham *

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 Mandhramoorthy *

Bala Singh Bala Singh (7 May 195227 November 2019) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil language films. After making his debut in Nassar's '' Avatharam'' (1995), he appeared as the antagonist in over a hundred films. Early life and career Bala Sing ...

Florent Pereira Florent C. Pereira (1952 – 14 September 2020) was an Indian journalist and actor who appeared in Tamil language films as a supporting actor. Career Pereira completed a post-graduate degree in English literature from Annamalai University in 19 ...

* Sivasankar * Vijay Murugan * Vetrivel Raja * Muruganandham * Neelson * Arivi * Saravanan * Suthenthiran * Thadchayani * Veeralakshmi

Production

In May 2015,

revealed that they would produce two Tamil language films in the forthcoming year — an action drama titled ''Enkitta Mothathe'' by Ramu Chellappa starring

and Rajaj, along with ''Pirai Thaediya Naatkal'' by Abraham Prabhu featuring

Ashok Selvan Ashok Selvan is an Indian actor who works prominently in Tamil cinema. He made his breakthrough playing one of the lead roles in ''Soodhu Kavvum'' (2013), before gaining critical acclaim for his performances in C. V. Kumar's productions '' Pizz ...

. Director Ramu had earlier assisted director

Pandiraj Pandiraj (பாண்டிராஜ் in Tamil) is an Indian film director and producer, writer who works in Tamil cinema. His debut film, ''Pasanga'' (2009), was commercially successful and won several awards, including the National Film Aw ...

in ''

Pasanga ''Pasanga'' () is an Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language children's film directed by Pandiraj. It stars debutant child actors like Kishore DS, Sree Raam and Thamizh (actor), Pandian, along with newcomer Vimal and Vega Tamotia in supporting rol ...

'' & ''

Vamsam ''Vamsam'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language action film, starring debutante Arulnidhi and Sunaina in lead roles. The film is produced by Arulnidhi's father and M. Karunanidhi's youngest son, M. K. Thamizharasu, and features Jayaprakash, Ganja ...

'' and ''

Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga ''Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga'' is a 2013 Tamil-language political comedy drama film written, directed and co-produced by Pandiraj. It features Vimal and Sivakarthikeyan in lead roles, alongside Bindu Madhavi and Regina Cassandra. Yuvan Shankar Raja ...

'' (2013) and worked as an assistant to director

Selvaraghavan Selvaraghavan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who has directed and acted predominantly Tamil cinema, Tamil films. His directorial debut had with ''Thulluvadho Ilamai'' (2002) but his father is credited for business reasons, w ...

in ''

Mayakkam Enna ''Mayakkam Enna'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language psychological drama film written and directed by Selvaraghavan and produced by Gemini Film Circuit in association with Aum Productions Selvaraghavan its own banner. It stars his brother Dhanu ...

'' (2011). He had wanted to make a film set in the 1980s after being inspired by Sasikumar's ''

Subramaniapuram ''Subramaniapuram'' is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language period action film produced, written, and directed by Sasikumar. The low-budget film received critical acclaim for its original script, expert direction, screenplay, editing, fresh music, accu ...

'' (2008) and had successfully narrated the script to

Soundarya Rajinikanth Soundarya Rajinikanth (born Shaku Bai Rao Gaikwad; 20 September 1984) is an Indian graphic designer, film producer and director who primarily works in the Tamil film industry. She is the founder and owner of Ocher Picture Productions. Soundar ...

, who had been on Eros's board at the time. While writing the script, Ramu travelled to Nagercoil and Madurai and interviewed several cutout artists, while Natraj was given training by cutout artist Sada for his role in the film. Production began in mid 2015, with the film revealed to be about opposing fan groups of actors

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

and

from the 1980s.

was picked for a lead role, after the director was impressed with her performances in ''

Yennai Arindhaal ''Yennai Arindhaal'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, and produced by A. M. Rathnam. The film stars Ajith Kumar, Trisha Krishnan, Anushka Shetty and Arun Vijay and revol ...

'' (2015) and ''

Uttama Villain ''Uttama Villain'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Ramesh Aravind and written by Kamal Haasan. The film was presented by N. Lingusamy in association with Kamal Haasan and produced by S. Chandrahasan for Raaj Kam ...

'' (2015).

was also cast in the film to portray a village belle and a

fan, who would be the love interest of Natraj.

Soundtrack

Natarajan Sankaran composed both songs and background score for this film, with

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 ...

penning all the lyrics.

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to

Zee Tamil Zee Tamil is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel started broadcasting on 2008 and is available internationally. The channel broadcasts from Guindy, Chennai, T ...

. The film had a theatrical release across

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

on 24 March 2017, with the

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded by Rajagopal Mudaliar in the 1930s & currently owned by Samagrah Commercial Pvt Limited. It is published in Hyderabad, Telangana, by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited ( ...

giving the film a positive review. The critic stated "''Enkitta Mothathey'' brims of life and enthusiasm and the cutouts bring this to the fore" and "Ramu Chellappa has done a good job in not the portraying the era in a frantic manner, but instead has used the fervent energy of the fans to its advantage". Likewise,

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 ...

stated "''Enkitta Mothathe'' can hope to reach for the stars" and that the film "aptly reflects the times and lives of the cut-out artists of the 80s". The Times of India wrote "a slew of characters, their unexpected plans to check the growth of the mandrams, a tale of friendship and two romantic tracks which run in parallel, keep the film engaging" but that "Ramu Chellappa doesn’t generate enough drama, and also fails to provide a satisfying conclusion". A review from India Today stated "Despite a very very generic story, Ramu Chellappa has wonderfully captured the aura surrounding a Rajini-Kamal release" and "for the same, ''Engitta Modhathey'' is nothing short of a nostalgia trip". Despite the favourable reviews, the film was removed from most screens by its second week owing to extended competition at the box office. Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote "Slowly, Enkitta Mothathe begins to turn into one of those dramas where friends are manipulated by ruthless politicians and their henchmen. Even here, the director brings in Kamal-Rajini shadings."https://www.filmcompanion.in/enkitta-mothathe-movie-review/

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=6759208 2010s Tamil-language films 2017 films Films set in 1988 Films set in a movie theatre Indian action drama films Indian historical action films Indian historical drama films 2017 action drama films 2010s historical action films 2010s historical drama films