''Pudhea Paadhai'' () is a 1989 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
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 ...
written and directed by
R. Parthiban
R. Parthiban (born 14 October 1958) is an Indian actor and filmmaker who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has directed 15 films, produced 13 films and acted in more than 70 films. He started his career as assistant director for K. Bhagyaraj in ...
in his directorial debut. The film stars himself as an inhumane ruffian who gets reformed by his
rape victim
Rape is a traumatic experience that affects the victim (also known as 'survivor') in a physical, psychological, and sociological way. Even though the effects and aftermath of rape differentiate among victims, individuals tend to suffer from simil ...
(
Seetha
Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...
), while
V. K. Ramasamy,
Manorama,
Nassar
Nassar ( ar, نصار, lit=helper, protector, supporter, victory-maker), is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer ...
,
Sridhar,
Kuyili
Kuyili is a fictional character introduced by K Jeevabharathi in his book "Velu Nachiyar". She was portrayed as an army commander of queen Velu Nachiyar who participated in campaigns against the East India Company in the 18th century. She is ...
and
Sathyapriya appear in supporting roles.
''Pudhea Paadhai'' was released on 14 April 1989 and emerged a box-office success, while also winning several accolades including two
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...
, and two
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...
. It was remade in
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 ...
in 1990 as ''
Hosa Jeevana
''Hosa Jeevana'' () is a 1990 Indian Kannada film, directed by H. R. Bhargava and produced by S. Shailendra Babu. The film stars Shankar Nag, Deepika Chikhalia, Deepika, Ramesh Bhat and Sudheer (Kannada actor), Sudheer. The film has a musical sc ...
'', in
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 de ...
in 1991 as ''
Benaam Badsha'', in 1991 in
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
as ''
Rowdy Gaari Pellam
''Rowdy Gaari Pellam'' () is a 1991 Indian Telugu-language film directed by K. S. Prakash Rao and produced by Mohan Babu. The film stars Mohan Babu and Shobana. The film was a remake of the 1989 Tamil film '' Pudhea Paadhai'', starring Parth ...
'' and in 1996 in
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
as ''Swarnakireedam''.
Plot
An unnamed orphan who was abandoned in the garbage soon after his birth, grows up to be a ruffian who does anything for money. On one occasion, he rapes Seetha, a bride-to-be, on the eve of her wedding at the instruction of Annapoorani, who Seetha had earlier exposed for her malpractices in running an orphanage and got her arrested. Though the sympathetic bridegroom offers to marry Seetha, she declines his offer. Instead, she takes residence in the house of Aaya, who lives in the same slum as the ruffian. She attempts to develop the ruffian's acquaintance, much to everyone's disbelief. Their constant confrontations bring about a chemistry in their relationship. She narrates to the people in the area that he molested her and the sequences which forced her to leave her father and live in the slum. They sympathise with her and everyone feels that the ruffian has to accept her as he is responsible for her present pitiable condition. Consequently, Seetha moves into his house. Her tender love and affection eventually leads to their marriage. Seetha advises him to shed the path of violence and reform himself. He is named Seetharaman.
Seetharaman slowly changes and tries to work hard in a righteous way to run his family. Seetha later gives birth to his son. However, Seetharaman's past sins do not spare him. Thoguthi, for whom Seetharaman previously worked, kills Annapoorani when she demands her share from his illegal gains. Seetharaman is arrested as he was working for Thoguthi earlier. To get exonerated, he is forced to become an
approver and report Thoguthi's activities. Thoguthi decides to kill Seetharaman to halt his appearance in court. He plants a bomb in a lunchbox (identical to the one sent by Seetha to Seetharaman) and replaces it with the original. The bomb is planted in such a way that it would explode immediately when the lunchbox is opened. Seetharaman, busy working for extra money to buy a gift for Seetha and their wedding anniversary, does not have lunch. He returns with the lunchbox and leaves to visit the temple with Seetha. When Seetha returns home to take her child's feeding bottle which she had forgotten, she opens the lunchbox out of curiosity, expecting a gift from her husband, and dies in the ensuing explosion. Enraged, Seetharaman attacks and almost kills Thoguthi, but his child's cries remind him of his responsibilities, so he spares Thoguthi's life. Thoguthi chases Seetharaman, but is struck to death by a vehicle. Seetharaman leaves with his child and brings him up.
Cast
*
R. Parthiban
R. Parthiban (born 14 October 1958) is an Indian actor and filmmaker who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has directed 15 films, produced 13 films and acted in more than 70 films. He started his career as assistant director for K. Bhagyaraj in ...
as Seetharaman
*
Seetha
Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...
as Seetha
*
V. K. Ramasamy
*
Manorama as Aaya
*
Nassar
Nassar ( ar, نصار, lit=helper, protector, supporter, victory-maker), is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer ...
as Thoguthi
*
Sridhar as Doctor
*
Kuyili
Kuyili is a fictional character introduced by K Jeevabharathi in his book "Velu Nachiyar". She was portrayed as an army commander of queen Velu Nachiyar who participated in campaigns against the East India Company in the 18th century. She is ...
as Kuyili
*
Sathyapriya as Annapoorani
*
Vennira Aadai Moorthy
Vennira Aadai Moorthy (born 25 July 1936) is an Indian actor and comedian in Tamil cinema. He has starred in many Tamil films and television serials as a comedian and also played supporting roles. He is a lawyer by education, and holds a B.L. ...
*
Idichapuli Selvaraj
Idichapuli Selvaraj ( – 30 January 2012) was a veteran Tamil comedy actor. He acted in more than five hundred films. He acted along with lot of actors. He also worked as an assistant director for the M. G. Ramachandran films like ''Idhayakkani ...
Production
Parthiban, an erstwhile assistant of
K. Bhagyaraj
Krishnasaamy Bhagyaraj (born 7 January 1953) is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter, music director, producer and politician active mainly in Tamil films. He has also written and directed Hindi and Telugu films and TV serials. As an actor ...
made his directorial debut with this film. The film was initially titled as ''Kelvikkuri'' with Babji of Hemnag films producing it. However, after shooting for three days, it was stopped.
Babji advised Parthiban to tell the story to A. Sundaram, a popular distributor. Sundaram liked the script and decided to produce the film. They went to
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 ...
, who suggested Parthiban to play the hero. Though Parthiban was keen on choosing another actor (
Arjun or
Sathyaraj
Rangaraj Subbiah (born 3 October 1954), professionally known as Sathyaraj, is an Indian actor, producer, director and a media personality who has predominantly appeares in Tamil cinema and Telugu cinema, Telugu Cinema. His 240 films also includ ...
) for the leading role, Sundaram wanted him to play the role considering what Rajinikanth said and the budget. Sundaram wanted a different title, he then selected ''Pudhea Paadhai'' from the 50 titles shortlisted. The film was made on a budget of ₹38 lakh (worth ₹11 crore in 2021 prices) and filming was completed within 50 days.
Parthiban initially approached
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 ...
to portray the lead actress, but the producer did not accept as she was not fluent in Tamil at the time; the role went to
Seetha
Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...
. Cinematography was handled by A. Rajpreet, and editing by M. N. Raja.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by
Chandrabose, and all songs were penned 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 ...
.
Release and reception
''Pudhea Paadhai'' was released on 14 April 1989,
Puthandu
Puthandu (), also known as Puthuvarudam, and the Tamil New Year, is the first day of year on the Tamil calendar, traditionally celebrated as a festival by Tamil Hindus. The festival date is set with the solar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu cal ...
. Despite facing competition from other Puthandu releases such as ''
Apoorva Sagodharargal'', ''
En Rathathin Rathame
''En Rathathin Rathame'' ( ''Oh, blood of my blood'') is a 1989 Tamil-language science fiction action film directed by K. Vijayan, and finished by his son Sundar K. Vijayan, following his father's death. The film is the Tamil debut of actress M ...
'' and ''
Pillaikkaga
''Pillaikkaga'' () is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by P. Vasu, produced by Mohan Natarajan and Tharangai V. Shanmugam under Rajakaliamman Pictures starring Prabhu, Gautami, Nassar and Rekha. The film has musical ...
'', the film became a commercial success. P. S. S. 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 ...
'' positively reviewed the film, particularly for Parthiban and Chandrabose.
Accolades
Remakes
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
{{TamilNaduStateFilmAwardBestFilm
1980s Tamil-language films
1989 directorial debut films
1989 drama films
1989 films
Best Tamil Feature Film National Film Award winners
Films about orphans
Films about rape in India
Films directed by R. Parthiban
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress National Film Award-winning performance
Films scored by Chandrabose (composer)
Indian drama films
Tamil films remade in other languages