''Paarai'' () is a 2003 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 ...

directed by

K. S. Ravikumar K. S. Ravikumar (born 30 May 1958) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, primarily working in Tamil films. Career 1990–1997 Ravikumar worked as co-director on R. B. Choudary's production ''Pudhu Vasantham'' direct ...

. The film stars

Sarath Kumar Sarathkumar Ramanathan (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, politician, filmmaker, and singer. He has acted in more than 130 Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. He has won two Tamil Nadu State Film A ...

Jayaram Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965) known mononymously as Jayaram, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam,Tamil films, along with a few Telugu films. He is also a chenda percussionist, mimicry artist, and occasiona ...

Meena Meena () is a sub-group of Bhils. They speak Meena language. They started adopting the Brahmin worship system. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mina''. Historians claim that they belong to the Matsya tribe. They got the sta ...

, and

Ramya Krishnan Ramya Krishnan (born 15 September 1970), also credited as Ramya Krishna (in the Telugu and Kannada film industries) is an Indian actress. She has appeared in over 260 films in five languages: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi. Ramy ...

. The music was composed by

Sabesh–Murali Sabesh–Murali is an Indian music director duo, who have jointly composed for many Tamil films in Chennai, India. Sabesh and Murali are siblings who began their careers working under their brother, the music director Deva, as assistant composer ...

. The film is the Tamil remake of the Malayalam film ''

Mahayanam ''Mahayanam'' is a 1989 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Joshy and produced by C T Rajan, starring Mammootty, Seema, Jalaja and Mukesh. Plot Chandran is a truck driver and Ravi is the cleaner of the truck. Chandran is very affectiona ...

'' and was released on 13 June 2003.

Plot

Durairaj (

) is a lorry driver who is tough as nails. He had a bitter childhood, has no relatives or friends, and his only solace is Jayaram (

), his cleaner who is just the opposite of him. Jayaram is a happy-go-lucky guy who dotes on his wife Mallika (

), mother (

Vadivukkarasi Vadivukkarasi is an Indian actress. She made her acting debut in the Tamil film ''Sigappu Rojakkal'' (1978) and has acted in more than 350 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and 40 television serials in Tamil. Film director A. P. Nag ...

), and daughter, and dreams of making enough money to build a small house for his family. Durai and Jayaram share a special bond as they understand each other well. On his way to see his family, Jayaram dies in an accident, and Durai goes to his village with the body. There he finds that Jayaram's family needs his help, and out of sympathy, he decides to settle there and build a small house according to his friend's last wish. There, he comes across a local landlord Vijayan (

Vijayan Vijayan is a South Indian name and may refer to: Given name *Pinarayi Vijayan (born 1944), Indian politician * Vijayan (actor) (1944–2007), Tamil & Malayalam film actor *Vijayan (stunt coordinator), action choreographer for South Indian films *Vi ...

), who cheats the illiterate villagers by giving them loans and later taking over their property. Then there is a tea shop owner Vasantha (

), on whom the entire men folk lust. But she is hardworking, and at the same time foul-mouthed and a terror. Vasantha's brother, who is in love with Vijayan's daughter, starts the fight between Vijayan and Durai. Durai works hard to make a house for Mallika, and when the villagers suspect his good intentions, he proves to them that he has a sisterly affection towards her, as he has a soft corner for Vasantha. As the fight goes on for Durai and Vijayan, Vijayan destroys the house that Durai built for his friends. Of this anger, he tries to get revenge. How Durai wins over the villagers and fights against injustice against Vijayan and his son forms the rest of the story.

Cast

as Durairaj (Durai) *

as Mallika *

as Jayaram *

as Vasantha *

as Vijayan * Mansoor Ali Khan as Vijayan's son *

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Badaga and Malayalam mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or in ...

as Chakravarthi *

Ramesh Khanna Ramesh Khanna (also spelt as Ramesh Kanna) is an Indian actor and film director who has worked in Tamil cinema. He has acted in a number of supporting and comedian roles. Early life Khanna was born on 12 June 1954 in Chennai and third child to ...

as Barber * Chitti Babu as Sudalai *

as Jayaram's mother *

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 Sub-Inspector *

Sabitha Anand Sabitha Anand is an Indian actress who has performed in Tamil and Malayalam movies and serials. She was one of the lead actresses in the 1980s. She is the daughter of Jacoob Abdu Rahman Anand, an Indian actor in Malayalam movies during the 1960 ...

as Rukmani, Durai's mother *

Crane Manohar Crane Manohar (born 4 October 1965) is an Indian actor who appears in Tamil films, mostly in comedy roles. He appeared in many Vadivelu and Vivek comedy tracks. Career Manohar initially worked as a crane technician for films and when he start ...

as Seller * Dinesh Sha as childhood Durairaj *

in a special appearance as supervisor * Ashok Raja special appearance in the "Aeroplane Parakkudhu"

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by Sabesh Murali, with lyrics by

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...

. * "Aeroplane Parakkudhu" –

Udit Narayan Udit is an Indian masculine given name that may refer to: *Udit Narayan, Bollywood playback singer *Udit Narayan (politician) (born 1960), Fijian politician of Indian descent *Udit Narayan Singh (1770–1835), Indian monarch *Udit Patel (born 1984 ...

* "Naan Oru Kanaa Kanden" –

Harish Raghavendra Harish Raghavendra (born 7 December 1976) is an Indian Tamil vocalist and actor from Chennai, India. He is the son of photographer P.V Raghavendran. Harish is best known for his songs like ''Hey Azhagiya Theeyee'' from Minnale, ''Nirpadhuve N ...

Sujatha Mohan Sujatha Mohan (credited as Sujatha) is an Indian playback singer who is popular for singing in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu movies. She has also sung for Kannada, Badaga, Hindi and Marathi movies. In a career spanning 48 years, she has recorde ...

* "Kannukkul Tick Tick" –

Karthik Raja Karthik Raja is an India composer based in Chennai, India. He made his debut as film composer in the Tamil film ''Pandiyan'' (1992) and went on to score music for many critically and commercially acclaimed feature films. Personal life Karthik ...

Pop Shalini Shalini Singh, popularly called as Pop Shalini, is a singer from Tamil Nadu, India. Born in 1984, she is a singer, performer, blogger, and also a writer. She released an album 'Shalini' when she was only 13. She has sung over 5000 songs in var ...

* "Nanbane Nanbane" –

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) ...

* "Vinayaga Vinayaga" –

Anuradha Sriram Anuradha Sriram (born 9 July 1970) is an Indian carnatic and playback singer and child actress who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 700 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Hindi f ...

* "En Thaai" – Krishnaraj

Reception

''Chennai Online'' called it "absorbing and sensitively crafted".

References

External links

{{K. S. Ravikumar 2000s Tamil-language films 2003 films Films directed by K. S. Ravikumar Tamil remakes of Malayalam films Trucker films