''Kovilpatti Veeralakshmi'' is a 2003 Indian

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 ...

film directed by

K. Rajeshwar K. Rajeshwar is an Indian film director, who has worked in Tamil films. He was active primarily as a film maker and a writer in the 1990s collaborating in ventures which often included Pratap Pothan. Career Rajeshwar grew up in Mumbai and becam ...

Simran Simran (Gurmukhi: ਸਿਮਰਨ; hi, सिमरण, सिमरन ; from Sanskrit: , ''smaraṇa'', 'to remember, reminisce, recollect'), in spirituality, is a Sanskrit word referring to the continuous remembrance of the finest aspect of ...

dubbed in her own voice for the first time in this film with some dialogues dubbed by

Deepa Venkat Deepa Venkat is a Tamil film and television actress. Besides being an actress, she is also a popular dubbing artist and a radio disc jockey at Hello FM Chennai. She has played leading roles in over 80 television serials and a few Tamil movies. ...

. The film was the last to have music composed by Aadithyan, who went on to host a show on

Jaya TV Jaya TV HD is a Tamil language satellite television channel based in Chennai, India. Jaya TV HD is also broadcast to the expatriate Tamil community via various media partnerships. Hemant Sahai of HSA had Jaya TV HD as his first client. Jaya TV ...

Plot

The film is about a woman who is battling against

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

in a village. Veeralakshmi (

) and her fellow

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

s undergo unbearable torture due to

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

ism from a brutal police force. In their village, the inspector of police is the feudal lord, who beats up the poor men and rapes the women, with his behaviour emulated by his officers. Pushed to the limits by the extent of her subjugation, Veeralakshmi rises in revolt.

Cast

as Veeralakshmi * Sherin as Seetha *

Sonu Sood Sonu Sood (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian actor, film producer, model, humanitarian, and philanthropist who works predominantly in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. In 2009, he received the Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Award for Best Vill ...

as Rajiv Mathur *

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

* Akshaya Rao * Gowthami Vembunathan as Veeralakshmi's mother * Indhu

Production

The film was initially planned to be started in 1996 with

Shweta Menon Shwetha Menon is an Indian actress, model and television anchor. She won '' Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 1994''. She has predominantly acted in Malayalam and Hindi language films, besides appearing in a number of Telugu and Tamil Language Fil ...

in the lead role, but was delayed. The project was launched in early 2000 with Shweta, but was discontinued. Simran was subsequently cast to play the lead role.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Adithyan, while lyrics written by

. * "Dheem Tharikida" -

Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram Sirkazhi G. Sivachidambaram is a Carnatic music vocalist and cinema playback singer from Chennai. He is an alumnus of the Madras Medical College where he qualified as a UG & PG in Medicine and Trinity College of Music where he learnt western ...

* "Eleloa Elelo" -

Harini Harini may refer to: * Harini (singer), South Indian film playback singer * Harini (Kannada actress) Harini is a former actress in the Kannada cinema. She was active during the 1950s and 1960s, retiring at the peak of her career. As of 2006 sh ...

* "Kakka Mugathazhaga" - Swarnalatha, Solar Sai * "Ola Kudisaiyiley" -

Mano Mano may refer to: People * Mano people, an ethnic group in Liberia * Mano (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Mano (Mozambican footballer) (born 1984), real name Celso Halilo de Abdul * Mano (Portuguese footballer) ...

, Harini * "Oyilakka Kondaiyeley" -

Pushpavanam Kuppusamy Pushpavanam Kuppusamy is a Tamil folk singer, lyricist, writer and music composer of Tamil folk art. He has been credited for reviving the Naatupura Paatu a Tamil folk art. Together with his wife Anitha Kuppusamy, he has conducted several music ...

Reviews

''The Hindu'' wrote that "a thread of sincerity runs through the entire film that makes different from the action flicks one is used to".

References

2003 films Films about the caste system in India 2000s Tamil-language films Indian feminist films Films about women in India Films about rape in India Indian films based on actual events Films directed by K. Rajeshwar {{2000s-Tamil-film-stub