''Maaveeran'' () is a 1986 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 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 l ...

directed by Rajasekhar. A remake of the 1985

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 ...

film '' Mard'', it stars Rajinikanth,

Ambika Ambika may refer to: Mythology * Ambika (goddess), an avatar of the Hindu goddesses Durga, Parvati, and Shakti * Ambika (Jainism), a Jain Yakshini goddess * Ambika (Mahabharata), the wife of Vichitravirya was also the mother of Dhritarashtra, ...

and

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 '' ...

. The film revolves around a rude princess, who falls in love with a simpleton after initially being hostile towards him. ''Maaveeran'' was the first in Tamil to be shot in

70 mm film 70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...

format, and have a six-track stereophonic sound. It was released on 1 November 1986, Diwali day, and became a critical and commercial failure.

Plot

Cast

* Rajinikanth as Raja (Maaveeran) *

as Rekha *

as Harry * Sujatha as Raja's mother * Vijayakumar as Joe *

Anand Babu Anand Babu is an Indian actor who was known for his works in Tamil films. He is the son of legendary comedy actor Nagesh. Career He first entered the film industry with Tamil films and also played leading roles in Telugu as well as supporting ...

as a dancer * Dara Singh as Sethupathi * C. R. Vijayakumari as Gowri *

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 fil ...

as Stepfather of raja * Thengai Srinivasan as Drama head – Guest Appearance * Sunitha as Helina *Vittal Prasad as Vicky

Production

''Maaveeran'' is a remake of

Manmohan Desai Manmohan Desai (26 February 1937 – 1 March 1994) was an Indian film producer and director. He was one of the most successful filmmaker of the 70s and 80s. Desai is now considered one of most influential film director of Bollywood and a pionee ...

's 1985

film '' Mard'', and even used some footage from that film. It was shot in the expensive

format, becoming the first Tamil film to do so.

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

was initially attached to star in the film, but later opted out. The film was prominently shot in Mysore, including the

Mysore Palace The Mysore Palace, also known as Amba Vilas Palace, is a historical palace and a royal residence (house). It is located in Mysore, Karnataka. It used to be the official residence of the Wadiyar dynasty and the seat of the Kingdom of Mysore. Th ...

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. He composed a six-track stereophonic sound, making ''Maaveeran'' the first film to achieve this feat.

Release and reception

''Maaveeran'' was released on 1 November 1986, Diwali day, and faced heavy competition from ''

Punnagai Mannan ''Punnagai Mannan'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language musical romantic drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Revathi, with Srividya, Rekha, Delhi Ganesh, Sudarshan and Sundar Krishna Urs in suppor ...

'', ''

Aruvadai Naal ''Aruvadai Naal'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by G. M. Kumar in his debut. The film stars Prabhu and Pallavi. It was released on 1 November 1986. The film was remade in Telugu as ''Muvva Gopaludu'' (1987). ...

'' and ''

Palaivana Rojakkal ''Palaivana Rojakkal'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language political satire film written by M. Karunanidhi and directed by Manivannan. It is a remake of the Malayalam film ''Vartha'', released earlier the same year. The film stars Sathyaraj, Lak ...

''. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' wrote on 7 November 1986, "The film makes its way through sadism and violence, damning sentiment, religion and righteousness by its downright exploitativeness. Its corny cliches are almost sickening". The film emerged a critical and commercial failure; according to Rajinikanth's biographer

Naman Ramachandran Naman Ramachandran is an Indian critic and journalist. He is the author of '' Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography'' (Penguin, 2012) and '' Lights Camera Masala: Making Movies in Mumbai'' ( IBH, 2006). He writes for ''Variety'', ''Sight & Sound'' ...

, the combination of ''Punnagai Mannan''s director

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

, lead actor Kamal Haasan, lead actress

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won several ...

and the soundtrack by Ilaiyaraaja "proved too much for ''Maaveeran'', and its audience was restricted to hard-core Rajinikanth fans".

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Rajasekhar (director) 1980s Tamil-language films 1986 action films 1986 films Films about revolutions Films directed by Rajasekhar (director) Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian action films Tamil remakes of Hindi films