''Kathavarayan'' is a 2008

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 ...

action comedy Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

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 Salangai Durai starring

Karan Karan may refer to: People * Karan (given name), an Indian given name * Karan (caste), an Indian caste * Karan Kayastha, a community of Kayastha in Bihar, India * Karan (surname) Places * Karan, Iran (disambiguation), a name for various vi ...

Vidisha Vidisha (विदिशा, formerly known as Bhelsa and known as Besnagar in ancient times) is a city in central Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located 62.5 km northeast of the state capital, Bhopal. The name "Vidisha" is derived from th ...

and

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 ...

Plot

The film revolves around Kathavarayan, who sells illicit arrack in Hogenakkal. Though he is involved in arrack trade, he is honourable. Malti, a student, arrives in the village as part of her NSS project. She vows to end the arrack menace in the village and takes efforts to arrest Kathavarayan. Thanks to her efforts, Kathavarayan is arrested and imprisoned in Chennai. Parallel narration is the comedy track of Karuppu ( ''Vaigai Puyal'' Vadivelu). Call it fate, Malti is arrested for no fault of her own in Chennai. Her efforts to expose drug-peddlers in Chennai backfires. They hatch a conspiracy and Malti falls a prey to it. She is arrested for possessing drugs and is imprisoned. Kathavarayan leaves jail to retaliate against Malti. But he learns her real intentions and dire situation. He masterminds joins the drug-peddling gang and eventually exposes them to save Malti.

Cast

as Kathavarayan *

as Malti *

as 'Kandhuvetti' Karuppu *

Radha Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...

as Sarrosa *

Dhandapani Kadhal Dhandapani (17 April 1943 – 20 July 2014) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He rose to fame portraying the antagonist in Balaji Sakthivel's ''Kaadhal'' (2004), and is credited with the film's name as ...

as Easwaran *

Ilavarasu Ilavarasu is an Indian cinematographer and actor, who works in the Tamil film industry. He started his career as a cinematographer and worked for 13 films, winning a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for one of them. He, however, became better known ...

as Police inspector *

Halwa Vasu Vasu, popularly known as Halwa Vasu, (died 17 August 2017) was a comedian in the Tamil film industry in India. He worked in around 900 films. Career Vasu who hailed from Madurai district, came to Chennai to work in cinemas after his graduati ...

Singamuthu Singamuthu (born 8 December 1958) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films as a comedian. Career Singamuthu has primarily appeared in comedy roles in films as a supporting actor debuting in ''Neram Nalla Irukku'' (1987). He ...

Muthukaalai Muthukaalai is an Indian actor, comedian who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Early life and career Muthukaalai was born in Rajapalayam and dreamt of becoming of a Stunt Choreographer. He attained black belt in Karate at the age of 18. ...

* T. P. Gajendran * Chaams *

Thalapathy Dinesh Thalapathy Dinesh (also spelled Thalapathi Dinesh) is an Indian action choreographer who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He started his career in the cinema as an extra fighter in '' Naan Sigappu Manithan'' and later he became as a stunt master and ...

Production

The film was initially offered to

Sibiraj Sibi Sathyaraj (also credited as Sibiraj) is an Indian actor working in the Tamil film industry. He is the son of actor Sathyaraj. Early life and education Sibi did his schooling in Sherwood Hall Senior Secondary School and Don Bosco Matricula ...

, though his refusal meant that Karan was chosen to play the lead role.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by

Srikanth Deva Srikanth Deva is an Indian music director of Tamil films. He made his debut as music director in the Tamil movie '' Doubles'' in 2000. He is the son of composer Deva, nephew of the famous music director duo Sabesh–Murali and the cousin of actor ...

and lyrics were written by Snehan.

Reception

The movie received mixed to negative reviews from critics Sify wrote, "Karan's performance is loud and boorish, at times irritating with his Kovai Tamil. Radha definitely has a future as a glam girl while heroine Vidisha is earnest, but a poorly written role mars her chances. Ilavarasu, Kadhal Dhandapani are also there along with a sick comedy track of Vadivelu as an idiot moneylender who gets beaten up by all and sundry. There is nothing to hum about the music of Dheena." Behindwoods wrote, "Kathavarayan is a small film made with good intentions and commercial compulsions. Its theme, being alien to urban audiences, may put the film out of favor with the A center audiences. But it does stand a chance in the smaller centers. The laughs provided by Vadivelu who keeps appearing in little doses throughout the movie is another positive and there are others like Ilavarasu and Muthukalai who do not create much of an impact. Kadhal Dandapaani does another stereotypical, loud mouthing baddie, nothing unexpected here. Debutant director Salangai Durai may not have made a dream debut but this start is not disappointing." Indiaglitz wrote, "Karan has come up with a matured performance. He is good in dance and stunt sequence. His diction of the Kovai Tamil also deserve a special mention. Debutant Vidisha does a decent job. She plays her part well. Vadivelu plays a money-lender who lands in trouble for no fault of his. Salangai Durai deserve a pat for coming out with a strong message. But had he cut down on preaching, the movie would have been different."

Awards

Vadivelu won the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The list Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. ...

for the film.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020 2008 films 2000s Tamil-language films Films scored by Srikanth Deva