''Pandian'' is a 1992 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, nati ...

-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 life ...

, produced and directed by S. P. Muthuraman and written by

Panchu Arunachalam Panchanathan Arunachalam (22 March 1941 – 9 August 2016) was an Indian writer, director, producer and lyricist who worked in Tamil cinema. He was mentored by poet Kannadasan who was his uncle. He also worked as a lyricist in the Tamil cin ...

. The film stars

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 ...

Khushbu Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian actress, politician, film producer and television presenter. She is known for her works predominantly in Tamil, besides Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is a rec ...

Janagaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthul ...

and

Prabhakar Prabhakar is an Indian given name and surname. Prabhakars are Indian Brahmins mostly limited to North Indian states like Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. They belong to sage Vatsa. People with the name include: * Prabhakar, an Indi ...

. It is a remake of the 1991

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

film ''Bombay Dada'' which starred Prabhakar, who portrayed the antagonist of this film. The film was released on 25 October 1992 during

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

and emerged an average success due to facing competition from other Diwali releases.

Plot

The film is about Pandian, who wants to avenge his brother-in-law's death. He joins the murderer's gang and seeks vengeance. Then the gang discovered that Pandian did an undercover operation, Pandian was a police officer. But Pandian captures the culprit.

Cast

as Pandian I.P.S. *

as Rekha *

as Vinayaga *

as Parameshwaran *

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 Rajendran *

Charan Raj Charan Raj is an Indian actor, director, film producer, and writer who works in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia and Hindi movies. Career Charan Raj is a versatile actor who is popular for his villainy and character roles in South Indian ...

as Ashok Kumar I.P.S. *

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 Lawyer of Parameswaran *

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

as Public Prosecutor * Rocky as Philips *

Prathapachandran Prathapachandran (1941–2004) was an Indian actor, who worked predominantly in Malayalam film, Malayalam film industry, though he acted in a few Tamil and Telugu movies as well. He known for the portrayal of villainous and character roles in o ...

as Police Officer *

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 ...

as Press reporter * V. Narasimhan as Commissioner of police *

Typist Gopu Gopalarathnam, known by his stage name Typist Gopu, was an Indian actor known for comedy and supporting roles. He acted in over 600 stage plays and 400 films. Career A native of Manakkal, Lalgudi in Trichy district, Gopalarathnam was active ...

as Kannaiyan *

Archana Puran Singh Archana Puran Singh (born 26 September 1962) is an Indian actress and television personality. She is known for her comedy roles in several Bollywood movies and as a judge in the comedy shows ''The Kapil Sharma Show'' and ''Comedy Circus''. She ...

as Reeta *

Jayasudha Jayasudha Kapoor (born Sujatha Nidudavolu) is an Indian actress and politician known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema. She has also worked in few Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films. Known as natural actress, she received fiv ...

as Inspector Vijayalakshmi

Production

Rajinikanth decide to make a low-budget film with director S. P. Muthuraman. Muthuraman produced the film under his production banner Visaalam Productions, named after his mother. Although not being a producer, Rajinikanth took care of production duties of the film along with M. Saravanan. Rajinikanth decided to act in the film to contribute for the retirement fund of main crew members of the Muthuraman team who were regulars in most of the latter's films. The film title was initially titled ''Nanban'' () before being retitled to ''Pandian''. It was Muthuraman's penultimate film as director, and remade from the 1991

film ''Bombay Dada''.

, who acted as that film's protagonist, portrayed a different role in ''Pandian'', the antagonist. Rajinikanth acted in the film without taking any remuneration. This would be the last film in Rajinikanth portrayed a police officer until the release of '' Darbar'' (2020).

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

, while his son

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 ...

composed "Pandianin Rajyathil", his first song.

Release and reception

''Pandiyan'' was released on 25 October 1992,

day. Though Muthuraman's wife died 10 days before, he refused the crew's suggestion to postpone the release. The film opened up against other Diwali releases such as ''

Thevar Magan ''Thevar Magan'' () is a 1992 Indian, Tamil-language drama film written by Kamal Haasan, who also produced the film, and directed by Bharathan. It stars Haasan, Sivaji Ganesan, Revathi, Gautami and Nassar; with Kallapart Natarajan, Kaka Radhakr ...

'', ''

Senthamizh Paattu ''Senthamizh Paattu'' () is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language film, written and directed by P. Vasu. The film stars Prabhu and Sukanya while Salim Ghouse plays a supporting role. It was released on 25 October 1992 on the eve of Diwali. The film was ...

'', ''

Thirumathi Palanisamy ''Thirumathi Palanisamy'' () is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by R. Sundarrajan. The film stars Sathyaraj and Sukanya. It was released on 25 October 1992. Plot Palanisamy is an uneducated man who dreams to marry a ...

'' and ''

Rasukutty ''Rasukutty'' is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film, written and directed by K. Bhagyaraj and produced by Meena Panchu Arunachalam. The film stars Bhagyaraj and Aishwarya, with Manorama and Kalyan Kumar in supporting roles. It was ...

''. ''

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 betw ...

'' called it "a typical Rajini film; a mishmash of all ingredients formulated to please his fans". ''

New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...

'' wrote "This 135-minute movie is only for hard-core Rajini fans". C. R. K. of ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' praised Muthuraman for taking a simple knot and making it interesting for seventeen reels which clearly shows his experience. Due to facing competition from ''Thevar Magan'', ''Pandiyan'' emerged an average success. Even though it made some money, whatever money grossed were used for the retirement fund of Muthuraman's crew.

References

External links

* {{S. P. Muthuraman 1990s Tamil-language films 1992 action films 1992 films Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Films directed by S. P. Muthuraman Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films with screenplays by Panchu Arunachalam Indian action films Indian courtroom films Tamil remakes of Kannada films