''Simmasanam'' () is a 2000 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, nativ ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Eswaran. The film stars

Vijayakanth Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

in a triple role as the father and his two sons. The film also starred

Khushbu Sundar Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian actress, politician, film producer and television presenter. She is known for her works predominantly in Tamil, besides Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is a rec ...

, Manthra,

Radhika Chaudhari Radhika Chaudhari is an Indian actress, who has worked in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu film industries, predominantly in the early 2000s. In 2010, she made a comeback as a film director in the US, winning an award at the Las Vegas Film Festival. C ...

Ambika Ambika may refer to: Mythology * Ambika (goddess), an avatar of the Hindu goddesses Durga, Parvati, and Shakti * Ambika (Jainism), a Jain Yakshini goddess * Ambika (Mahabharata), the wife of Vichitravirya was also the mother of Dhritarashtra, ...

and

Viji Viji was an Indian actress, who appeared in Tamil films. She made her debut in '' Kozhi Koovuthu'' and acted in over 40 films. Biography Viji made her debut in Gangai Amaren's '' Kozhi Koovuthu''. It went on to become a super hit and she was o ...

. The film is released on 4 August 2000 and was receiving mixed reviews from the film critics and audience.

Plot

In a remote village, Sakthivel and Thangarasu are stepbrothers. Sakthivel is a man of high values and integrity who has a wife and a son while Thangarasu is a young angry man who cannot tolerate injustice thus getting easily in trouble. The stepbrothers are both respected by the villagers but Sakthivel refuses to even acknowledge Thangarasu as his brother. Meanwhile, Manju and Revathi fall in love with Thangarasu. During a wedding function, some rowdies misbehave with Sakthivel's wife, Manju, and Revathi. Thangarasu has no other choice than to beat them up. At the village court, Sakthivel insults Thangarasu and publicly flogs him. A heartbroken Thangarasu then blames his mother believing that she had killed his father and his grandfather tells him the truth. In the past, Sathyamurthy was a village chief with a heart of gold who helped the poor. He lived with his shrewish wife Annapoorani and his son Sakthivel. Annapoorni's brothers then brainwashed her: Annapoorni didn't want her husband to help the poor anymore and started to behave harshly towards him. Sathyamurthy slowly distanced himself from Annapoorni and secretly continued to help the poor. Soon, Annapoorni suspected Sathyamurthy of having an affair with the poor village woman Kannamma and Annapoorni even publicly humiliated her. Kannamma then attempted to commit suicide but Sathyamurthy saved her. Sathyamurthy's mother advised her son to marry the innocent Kannamma. Back to the present, Thangarasu finally meets his mother Kannamma who was living all these years in a special home and he brings her to his village. There, Sakthivel insults Kannamma for killing his father Sathyamurthy. Thangarasu and Sakthivel fight but their grandmother stops it and tells them the truth. That day, Sathyamurthy had eaten poisoned food given by Annapoorni and her brothers and the blame was put on the innocent Kannamma. Sakthivel eventually apologizes to his stepbrother Thangarasu and his stepmother Kannamma. Annapurna scolds her brothers for killing her husband but they swear that they are innocent. Sakthivel and Thangarasu finally find out the culprit: Thambidurai, a rich

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

who hated Sathyamurthy for helping the poor. Sakthivel and Thangarasu beat Thambidurai and his henchmen up, and the police arrest Thambidurai for the murder of their father.

Cast

as Sathyamurthy, Sakthivel, and Thangarasu (triple role) *

as Sakthivel's wife * Manthra as Manju *

as Revathi *

as Annapoorani, Sathyamurthy's first wife *

as Kannamma, Sathyamurthy's second wife *

Radharavi 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 ...

as Annapoorani's brother *

Thyagu Thozhar Thiyagu (born 30 January 1950), also known as Comrade Thiyagu, is a social activist, politician, writer from Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is also the General Secretary of Tamil National Liberation Movement and is well known for his ...

as Annapoorani's brother *

Rajan P. Dev Rajan P. Dev (20 May 1951 – 29 July 2009) was an Indian film and stage actor. He was born in Cherthala in the Alappuzha district of the former state Thiru-Kochi (present day Kerala). He had acted in over 500 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu ...

as Thambidurai * Manorama as Sathyamurthy's mother * Senthil as Kandhasamy * R. Sundarrajan as Kannamma's father *

Sethu Vinayagam Sethu Vinayagam was an Indian stage and film actor who worked in Tamil films. He is the member of Visu's drama troupe and mostly seen in all Visu's movies. He has acted more over 100 films and plays and has made his mark as a villain, supportin ...

as Mayilsamy *Raviraj as Velusamy *Naga Kannan as Rowdy *Master Vasanthakumar as Sakthivel's son *

Vaiyapuri Vaiyapuri (born 23 October 1968 as Ramakrishnan) is an Indian actor who has worked in Tamil-language films. He rose to fame by appearing in supporting roles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, often portraying supporting comedic characters. His ...

as Thangarasu's friend *

Anu Mohan Anu Mohan (born 24 August 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam films. Career He made his debut in the 2011 film, ''Orkut oru Ormakut''. He also played the antagonist in Roopesh Peethambaran's '' Theevram''. Anu Mohan is the young ...

as Bus driver * K. R. Vatsala as Annapoorani's sister-in-law *

Fathima Babu Fathima Babu is a South Indian actress, former newsreader and socialite based out of Chennai who hails from Puducherry. Born in a Muslim family, Fathima began her public career as a newsreader for more than 25 years with DD Podhigai, the Tamil ...

as Annapoorani's sister-in-law *

Idichapuli Selvaraj Idichapuli Selvaraj ( – 30 January 2012) was a veteran Tamil comedy actor. He acted in more than five hundred films. He acted along with lot of actors. He also worked as an assistant director for the M. G. Ramachandran films like ''Idhayakkani ...

as Kanakku Pillai * K. K. Soundar as Sakthivel and Thangarasu’s uncle *

Kovai Senthil Kumarasamy, known by his stage name, Kovai Senthil, was a Tamil film character artist who appeared in Tamil films starting with Bhagyaraj's '' Oru Kai Osai''. He appeared in over 400 Tamil films. Career During his career, Kovai Senthil made ...

as Villager * Crane Manohar as Villager *

Halwa Vasu Vasu, popularly known as Halwa Vasu, (died 17 August 2017) was a comedian in the Tamil film industry in India. He worked in around 900 films. Career Vasu who hailed from Madurai district, came to Chennai to work in cinemas after his graduat ...

as Villager * Chelladurai as Villager *Jayamani as Villager *Sharmili as Oomaichi *

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 D ...

as Special home worker *Bobby as Rowdy *Karnaa Radha as Veeraiah *

Kalyan Kalyan (Pronunciation: əljaːɳ is a city on the banks of Ulhas River in Thane district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is governed by Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Kalyan is a subdivision (Taluka) of Thane district ...

in a special appearance

Production

The film marked the directorial debut of Eswaran. The filming was held at locations in Chennai, Ooty, Pollachi, Udumalai, and Chalakkudi, among other places. A song was picturised in the lush green valley around Tirumurthy Hills.

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by S. A. Rajkumar. The soundtrack, released in 2000, features 5 tracks.

Reception

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 ...

'' noted "The story is not new but the screenplay which has all the ingredients to sustain the interest of the average viewer, with political overtones in dialogues, has been skillfully woven by director Eswar".

References

{{reflist 2000 films 2000s Tamil-language films Indian action films Indian films about revenge Films scored by S. A. Rajkumar 2000 directorial debut films 2000 action films