''Ethir Kaatru'' () is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

, directed by Muktha S. Sundar and produced by

Muktha Srinivasan Muktha Srinivasan (1929 – 2018) was an Indian film director and producer. Personal life V. Srinivasan was born in Malapuram on 31 October 1929 in a Tamil Brahmin family. His parents were Venkatachariar and Chellamma. He followed all Brahmi ...

. The film stars Karthik and Kanaka. It was released on 7 December 1990. The film is based on the Malayalam film ''

Artham ''Artham'' () is a 1989 Indian Malayalam-language crime film directed by Sathyan Anthikkad and written by Venu Nagavally. It stars Mammootty, Sreenivasan, Murali, Saranya, in lead roles along with Parvathy, Mamukkoya, Philomina, Mohan Raj, Thi ...

'', which is in turn based on the Tamil novel ''Ethir Kaatru'', written by GopuBabu.

Plot

Ram Narendran ( Karthik), a rich orphan youth, decides to put an end to his life. Waiting in the railway track, he sees another man there who tries to jump on the railway track and Ram Narendran saves him. This person is Jana (

Anand Babu Anand Babu is an Indian actor who was known for his works in Tamil films. He is the son of legendary comedy actor Nagesh. Career He first entered the film industry with Tamil films and also played leading roles in Telugu as well as supporting ...

), he lives with his parents (Ra. Sankaran and M. N. Rajam) and his little sister Geetha (

Chithra Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963), always credited as K. S. Chithra or Chithra, is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 25,000 songs in various I ...

). Jana was a jobless youth and he got a job as a manager in a

chit fund A chit fund is a type of rotating savings and credit association system practiced in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan other Asian countries. Chit fund schemes may be organized by financial institutions, or informally among friends, relative ...

company with Madhavan's help (a family friend) and paid a big amount to join the company. Later, the company ripped off his clients: Madhavan cheated him. The clients threatened the innocent Jana and they put pressure on him to pay back them. Angry, Jana killed Madhavan, so he decides to commit suicide. Ram Narendran decides to surrender instead of him and goes to the jail happily. Jana has a guilty conscience and he appoints S. Chandrasekaran ( V. K. Ramasamy), a lawyer, to bail Narendran out of jail. However, Narendran would rather sacrifice his life without goals than Jana's life. Later, Jana meets Devaraj ( Anandaraj), the

company's head, and his partners: Maasi ( Livingston), a politician's cousin, and a police officer's son (Crazy Venkatesh). Jana challenges Devaraj to punish them. The next day, Jana's dead body is found on a railway track. S. Chandrasekaran then publishes Ram Narendran's book and it turns out to be a huge success. Anita ( Kanaka), a journalist, tries to meet him. Anita and S. Chandrasekaran bail Ram Narendran out of jail. Ram Narendran cannot accept that Jana committed suicide, so Anita and Ram Narendran start to investigate Jana's mysterious death.

Cast

* Karthik as Ram Narendran * Kanaka as Journalist Anita *

as Jana (Janardan) * V. K. Ramasamy as Advocate S. Chandrasekaran *

as Geetha, Jana's sister * Anandaraj as Devaraj, Owner of Chit Fund Company * Livingston as Maasi, Brother in law of a minister *Crazy Venkatesh as son of DSP and an acquaintance of Maasi and Devaraj * Manorama as the landlady of S. Chandrasekaran * Ra. Sankaran as Jana's father * M. N. Rajam as Jana's mother *Vathiyar Raman as Francis *

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. ...

* V. Gopalakrishnan *

Oru Viral Krishna Rao Oru Viral Krishna Rao was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in Tamil-language films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani award, Rao got the nickname ''Oru Viral ''Oru Viral'' () is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language mystery fil ...

* Santhana Bharathi as Minister Azhagesan *

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

as Sundaramoorthy, Anita's editor *

LIC Narasimhan LIC Narasimhan was an Indian character actor who appeared in Tamil-language films. He has appeared in over 300 films and was also seen on the small screen and in ads. He was working for LIC as an officer, quit his job to take up a career in ...

* K. Natraj as Anita's Newspaper company owner * Writer

S. Ramakrishnan S. Ramakrishnan is a writer from Tamil Nadu, India. He is a full-time writer who has been active over the last 27 years in diverse areas of Tamil literature like short stories, novels, plays, children's literature and translations. He has w ...

in one scene.

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The soundtrack, released in 1990, features 5 tracks with lyrics written by Ilaiyaraaja and Vaali.

References

External links

* {{Muktha Srinivasan 1990 films 1990s Tamil-language films Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Tamil remakes of Malayalam films