Pudhumai Pithan (1998 Film)

''Pudhumai Pithan'' is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language political satire film directed by S. K. Jeeva. The film stars Parthiban whilst Roja, Devayani, Priya Raman, Anandaraj and Ranjith play supporting roles. The film had musical score by Deva and was released on 20 October 1998. The film opened to mixed reviews and was declared hit at the box office. It was later dubbed into Telugu as 'Oka Votu'. The film was one among 1998 Deepavali releases.

Plot

Jeeva (Parthiban), a social activist, ends up in a police lock-up. Mahesh ( Ranjith), a police officer, is surprised to see his best friend Jeeva in this condition and brings him to his home. Mahesh lives happily with his wife Aarthi ( Devayani) and his daughter (Baby Hemalatha).

Aarthi and Jeeva were in love in the past. Ramadass (Jaiganesh), Aarthi's father, hated Jeeva and his activism. As an honest police officer, Ramadass protected a corrupted politician ( Anandaraj) and was beaten by Jeeva's supporters. Later, Aarthi and Jeeva split up. Jeeva clashes with the same politician, his whole family dies due to his orders and Jeeva was sent to a mental hospital. Gayathri (Priya Raman), a nurse, helps him to escape from the hospital and then she accommodates him in her house. He later fled.

Now, Jeeva changes his name and is determined to clean up the society. He also falls in love with the prostitute Shenbagam (Roja). Jeeva as Bharath becomes popular among the poor and subsequently becomes a minister.

Cast

*Parthiban as Jeeva / Bharath
*Roja as Shenbagam
* Devayani as Aarthi
*Priya Raman as Gayathri
* Anandaraj
* Ranjith as Mahesh
*Jaiganesh as Ramadass
*Vadivelu as 'Super' Suruli
* S. S. Chandran
* Charle
*Delhi Ganesh as Viswanath
*Vasu Vikram as Karimuthu
*Laxmi Rattan
*Sabitha Anand as Bhavani, Jeeva's sister
*Dubbing Janaki as Jeeva's mother
*Bala Singh
*Thiruppur Ramasamy as Ramasamy
*Idichapuli Selvaraj
*Joker Thulasi
*Shilpa as Anandraj's daughter
*Mahanadi Shankar
* Crane Manohar as 'Super' Suruli's sidekick
*Kovai Senthil
* MRK
*Pailwan Ranganathan
*Muthukaalai
*Baby Hemalatha
*Shakeela as Vanaja
*John Babu in a cameo appearance

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by Deva. The soundtrack, released in 1998, features 6 tracks with lyrics written by Pulamaipithan, Pazhani Bharathi, Nandalala and Thamarai.

Reception

A critic from ''Dinakaran'' noted "The film has tried to establish how a politician could be a good leader too! But it's rather surprising to note how so experienced an artiste like Parthiban forgot the fact that such a subject when dealt with in cinema medium has to be told in an uniformly interesting manner from the beginning till the end". A reviewer from ''Deccan Herald'' wrote "the film is often downright silly, when not crass, but it has a kind of senseless appeal. To be honest, it hasn’t gone as far overboard as it could have with its masala mix. It, commendably, has no scenes of communal violence, no religious chauvinism, and its single rape scene is cut short by the mother shooting dead her about-to-be-raped daughter". The film was also reviewed by ''Times of India''.

References

{{reflist

1998 films
Films scored by Deva (composer)
1990s Tamil-language films
Indian political satire films
1990s political satire films