''Suriya Paarvai'' is a 1999 Tamil-language

action crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Jagan Jagan is an Indian actor and comedian who has appeared in supporting roles in Tamil films. His breakthrough was with K. V. Anand's '' Ayan'', where he played a small-time smuggler Chitti Babu, and the role won him critical acclaim. He was th ...

. The film stars Arjun and newcomer Pooja. The film, produced by Sreenivas Prasad, had musical score by

S. A. Rajkumar S. A. Rajkumar is an Indian composer and lyricist. He has made music for all South Indian language films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada. Early life Rajkumar's father was a vocalist performing in stage shows conducted by popular mu ...

and was released on 14 January 1999 to negative reviews. The film is copied from the

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), ''The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...

1994 film '' Léon: The Professional''. The film was partially reshot in Telugu as ''Hello Friend''.

Plot

Vijay ( Arjun) is a hitman who works for Sundaramoorthy (

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 ...

). He kills anybody for a price, other than women and children, and he lives alone in an apartment. Pooja (Pooja), a young girl, studies in a boarding school and comes to her father's house for the holiday. Between her abusive father, selfish stepmother and an arrogant step-aunt, Pooja feels rather badly, but she treasures her lovely little brother Dinesh (Mahanadi Dinesh). Pooja tries to befriend Vijay, but Vijay is not interested. Her father is a drug smuggler. One day, a corrupt police officer Jayanth (

Raghuvaran Raghuvaran Velayutham (11 December 1958 – 19 March 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly acted in films made in South India. He has acted in more than 200 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. According to the ''Hindustan T ...

), kills Pooja's family, including her brother. Vijay decides to accommodate Pooja, and Pooja compels him to teach her his skills as a hitman. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.

Cast

* Arjun as Vijay *Pooja Priyanka as Pooja *

as Jayanth * Vijayakumar as Narayanan *

as Sundaramoorthy *

Goundamani Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The pair dominated t ...

as Raj Bharath / Nattamai *

Senthil Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.Chinni Jayanth Chinni Jayanth (born Krishnamurthy Narayanan on 26 July 1960) is an Indian film director, producer, comedian, actor and mimicry artist who has appeared in many main, character and supporting roles in Tamil films. He is also a popular televisio ...

as Inspector Pichai Perumal *

Manjula Vijayakumar Manjula Vijayakumar (4 July 195423 July 2013) was an Indian actress. She acted in more than 100 films in South Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Personal life She and actor Vijayakumar got married in 1976. The couple ...

as Lakshmi *Mahanadi Dinesh as Dinesh *

Sindhu The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

as Sindhu *

Prasad Babu Prasad Babu is an Indian actor who acts in predominantly Telugu films and also TV serials. Filmography * ''Punadhirallu'' * ''Anthuleni Katha'' * ''Mana Voori Pandavulu'' (1978) * '' I Love You'' (1979) * '' Aarani Mantalu'' (1980) * ''Bobbi ...

as Pooja's father * Alphonsa as Sheela *

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

as Lakshmi's mother * Naren as Kannan, Jayanth's henchman *

Master Mahendran Mahendran is an Indian actor who works in Tamil and Telugu language films. He started acting at the age of 3 and has appeared in over 100 films in six languages as a child actor, a record in India. He is a recipient of two Nandi Awards and two ...

as Vijay (child) *Vimalraj as George *Rani *Kavitha Sree *Jaya Mani *K. K. Soundar *

Kalaignanam Kalaignanam (born K. M. Balakrishnan), is an Indian writer, actor, producer and director who works in Tamil films. Early life Kalaignanam was born in Elumalai Village. Cinema career Rajinikanth essayed first independent lead role in the movi ...

(guest appearance)

Production

The film's story and screenplay were written by Arjun's assistant

, who also made his directorial debut. Pooja Priyanka, daughter of actress

Subhashini Subhashini (born 2 August 1965) is a South Indian films and television actress. Her sister is famous actress Jayasudha. Both of them are nieces of famous actress and director Vijaya Nirmala. She worked with Rajini's Johnny movie's songAasaiya K ...

and niece of

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 ...

, was cast in the lead role opposite Arjun, while she was still at school.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack and background score was composed by a musician,

. The soundtrack, released in 1999, features 7 tracks with lyrics written by Pazhani Bharathi.

Release

A critic from ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote "Though the storyline is thin, the chock-n-block fisticuffs and slam-bang shoot-outs, along with the riveting performances by Arjun and Raghuvaran, keep you hooked onto a cinematic roller-coaster action ride. By hardly leaving any room for sentiment, it is quite obvious that Director Jagan seems to be influenced by the Hollywood action flicks. Even the action scenes are canned in that typical Hollywood style." A further critic noted "The movie completely falls apart in the climax".

References

{{reflist 1999 films Indian crime action films 1990s crime action films 1990s Tamil-language films Films scored by S. A. Rajkumar Films about orphans Films about contract killing in India Indian remakes of French films Indian films about revenge 1999 directorial debut films