''Anthimanthaarai'' () is a 1996 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, na ...

-language historical drama film. The film stars Vijayakumar and Jayasudha. It is produced by Chandraleela Bharathiraja and Thilaka Ganesh The director of this film is Bharathiraja. The film won the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Tamil for the year 1997. The music for the film is scored by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

, marking his third collaboration with Bharathiraja after

Kizhakku Cheemayile ''Kizhakku Cheemayile'' () is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Bharathiraja. It stars Vijayakumar, Raadhika and Napoleon, while Vignesh, Pandiyan, and Vadivelu play supporting roles. The film involves a touching sentiment ...

and Karuthamma. The film had a brief run lasting for a week in major cinemas and fared poorly at the box office despite its accolades and critical acclaim.

Plot

An aged man at his retirement ( Vijaykumar) pursues a relationship that he could not experience when younger. He was once a freedom fighter and activist, but as time passes by, his efforts become gradually forgotten. Towards the end of his life, he grapples to financially support himself and loses his respect and identity in society. His desires to lead a peaceful retirement with his companion ( Jayasudha) is tragically taken away from him by the ungrateful and ignorant community.

Cast

* Vijayakumar * Jayasudha * Sanghavi * Chandrasekhar *

Sudhangan Sudhangan born Rangarajan (4 October 1958 – 12 September 2020) was an Indian Tamil journalist, reporter, editor, television presenter, columnist, political analyst and actor who also acted in few films and television soap operas. He was ...

*Kottiswar *Veera Raghavan * Kamala Kamesh *

Ra. Sankaran Ramarathnam Sankaran (born 12 June 1931),http://www.nadigarsangam.org/member/r-sankaran/ popularly known as Ra. Sankaran, is an Indian actor and director. He acted in supporting roles in many Tamil films and few Telugu films. Sankaran is a cousin ...

Production

''Anthimanthaarai'' is a low budget production targeted primarily at the arthouse movie audience. It features period contemporary backdrop settings. Originally, it was set to be released without a soundtrack. When the film got the tax break from the Govt of India, the director Bharathiraja had included music and songs for commercial purpose. A.R. Rahman accepted no payment for the music of this film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by

and was a promotional audio since the film featured just a few snatches of these songs in the background. It has 4 songs including a Carnatic song written in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

and 3 instrumental themes. The lyrics were written by Vairamuthu.

Accolades

''Anthimanthaarai'' won the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Tamil. According to Vijayakumar, he was a strong contender for the

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

award, but lost by a single vote.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1990s Tamil-language films 1996 films Best Tamil Feature Film National Film Award winners Films directed by Bharathiraja Films scored by A. R. Rahman