''Vasuki'' is a 1997 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 comedy-drama film produced by G. V. Anandan on Anand Movie Land banner and directed by Kasthuri Raja. The film stars Rajendra Prasad and

Urvashi Urvashi ( sa, उर्वशी, Urvaśī}) is the most prominent apsara (celestial nymph) in Hindu mythology, considered to be the most beautiful of all the apsaras, and an expert dancer. She is mentioned in both ''Vedic'' and ''Puranic'' s ...

, and has music 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 ...

. It was released on 30 October 1997.

Plot

Vasuki (

) lives with her milkman brother Kabali (

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 her sister-in-law Pachaiamma (

Jayachitra Jayachitra is an Indian actress films who works mostly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Early life Jayachitra was born in 1957. Her father Mahendra was a veterinary doctor, who had earlier worked as a lawyer. Her mother Ammaji (a.k.a. Ja ...

) in a slum. One day, their relative Ramasamy (

Visu Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathan (1 July 1945 – 22 March 2020), best known by his stage name Visu, was an Indian writer, director, stage, film and television actor and talk-show host. Visu initially worked as an assistant to director K ...

) comes to their home with a huge amount of money, he asks them for a favor. In the past, Ramasamy's daughter married the wealthy (

Thalaivasal Vijay Thalaivasal Vijay is an Indian actor and dubbing artist. He was born on 4 August 1962 in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India. He has acted predominantly in numerous Tamil and Malayalam films. Career Vijay's debut film was '' Thalaivaasal'' (1992), ...

). Ramasamy was supposed to give a large

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

to the miser mother-in-law Parvatham ( Latha), but he could not collect the money in time. So after the marriage, Parvatham started to torture his daughter, going so far as killing Ramasamy's pregnant daughter. Parvatham then arranged a second marriage for her son. Ramasamy finally got the money they asked but it was too late. Ramasamy wants to take revenge on the cruel Parvatham with Vasuki's help. Vasuki and her family accept, Vasuki takes the name of Kodeeswari and they start to act as a rich family in front of Parvatham. Parvatham has a younger son Balu ( Rajendra Prasad) and she wants him to marry rich bride, and Kodeeswari seems to be the perfect bride. Kodeeswari and Balu finally get married, thus Kodeeswari and her family turn Parvatham's life into hell on earth. What transpires next forms the rest of the story.

Cast

* Rajendra Prasad as Balu *

as Vasuki / Kodeeswari *

as Ramasamy * Radha Ravi as Pakkiri *

as Kabali * Ramji *

Malaysia Vasudevan Vasudevan (15 June 1944 – 20 February 2011), known as Malaysia Vasudevan, was a Malaysian-Indian playback singer and actor in Tamil cinema. Early life Malaysia Vasudevan's parents were from Palakkad. Chattu Nair of Ottappalam and Ammalu ...

as Balu’s father * Latha as Parvatham *

as Pachaiamma *

Pandu In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', Pandu ( sa, पाण्डु, Pāṇḍu, pale) was a king of the Kuru Kingdom. He was the foster-father of the five Pandava brothers, who were the boons bestowed upon his wife Kunti by a number of deities ...

as Police officer *Suresh Chakravarthy *Uthra *Kiran Moi *

Shanmugasundari Shanmugasundari (23 September 1937 – 1 May 2012) was a Tamil actress. she acted in more than 750 films. Her daughter T. K. Kala is also an actress and playback singer. She also appeared in comedy roles along with Vadivelu in many films. Care ...

Dubbing Janaki Dasari Janaki, known professionally as Dubbing Janaki, is an Indian actress and voice artist. She has appeared in several films and television shows in various South Indian languages. Early life Janaki was born in Peddapuram, East Godavari Di ...

*Bayilvan Ranganathan *

Pasi Narayanan Narayanan, better known as Pasi Narayanan, was an Indian stage and film actor known for performing comedic roles alongside actor Goundamani. Narayanan acted in over 500 Tamil-language films and is known for the catchphrase, Early life Narayan ...

* Thideer Kannaiah * Periya Karuppu Thevar *Chaplin Balu * Khushbu in a guest appearance

Production

The production studio Anand Movie Land, which produced the very successful ''

Poomani Poomani (born 1947) is an Indian writer and novelist. He won the Sahitya Akademi award in 2014 in the Tamil language category for his novel Agnaadi. Life and works Poomani was born in 1947 into a family of marginal farmers in Andipatti, a vi ...

'' in 1996, had taken up the serious issue of the

problem in their new production ''Vasuki''. One of the leading stars in

Telugu Cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

, Rajendra Prasad signed to play the lead role for the first time in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

composed the musical score and Kasthuri Raja was chosen to direct the film.

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by

. The soundtrack, released in 1997, features 6 tracks with lyrics written by Kasthuri Raja.

References

External links

{{Kasthuri Raja 1997 films 1990s Tamil-language films Indian comedy-drama films Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films directed by Kasthuri Raja 1997 comedy-drama films