''Thirupathi Ezhumalai Venkatesa'' is a 1999 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

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Rama Narayanan Rama Narayanan (3 April 1949 – 22 June 2014) was an Indian film director and producer. In the 1980s, he was known as a director who specialized in shooting commercial films in which animals played vital roles, while in the 1990s, several of h ...

. The film stars

Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...

, S. Ve. Shekher,

Vadivelu Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 12 September 1960), known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian actor, comedian and playback singer, having acted in supporting and lead roles in Tamil cinema. He gained widespread acclaim in Kollywood in the ...

Roja Roja may refer to: * ''Roja'' (film), a 1992 Tamil-language film by director Mani Ratnam * ''Roja'' (soundtrack), a soundtrack album from the film * Roja Selvamani Roja Selvamani (born Sri Latha Reddy; 17 November 1972), also known as R. K. ...

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'' scr ...

and

Kovai Sarala Kovai Sarala is an Indian actress and comedian, who prominently plays supporting roles in Tamil and Telugu films. She has won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian three times, for her performances in '' Sathi Leelavathi'' (1995), '' ...

. The film, produced by N. Radha, had musical score by S. A. Rajkumar and was released on 4 December 1999. The film was Rama Narayanan's 100th film and was a hit at the box office. The film was remade in Telugu as '' Tirumala Tirupati Venkatesa''.

Plot

Venkatesa, Ezhumalai and Thirupathi are poor friends who want to become rich at any cost. Nachiappan, a bungalow watchman, has three daughters: Ragini, Padmini and Lalitha. When the owner left the bungalow on vacation, Nachiappan's daughters move into the bungalow. Afterwards, Nachiappan rents his owner's top portion bungalow to Thirupathi, Ezhumalai and Venkatesa who lied about their jobs. The three men eventually marry the three women. The rest of the story is how the three men will manage their wives.

Cast

as Venkatesa * S. Ve. Shekher as Ezhumalai *

as Thirupathi *

as Ragini *

as Padmini *

as Lalitha *

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. ...

as Nachiappan *

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 Thirumalai/Sonachalam/Udayappa *

P. R. Varalakshmi P. R. Varalakshmi is an Indian actress. She was active in movies during the 1970s and 1980s. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1980s in Malayalam film, Malayalam, Tamil film, Tamil, Kannada film, Kannada, and Telugu film, Telugu films. ...

as Alamelu * Alphonsa *

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 ...

Vivek Vivek (or Bibek/Bivek in some regions) (विवेक in Devanagari script) is a masculine given name that is popular in South Asia, particularly in India and Nepal. It is of Sanskrit origin and means "wisdom" and/or "conscience". Vivek may refe ...

in a guest appearance *

Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the nam ...

in a guest appearance * R. Sundarrajan in a guest appearance

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by S. A. Rajkumar. The soundtrack, released in 1999, features 5 tracks with lyrics written by Vaali,

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...

Palani Bharathi Palani Bharathi is an Indian writer and lyricist who works in Tamil cinema. Early life Palani Bharathi was born in Karaikudi to Sami Palaniappan, a poet, and Kamala. He has a brother and four sisters. Palaniappan was an assistant of orator/w ...

, Kalaikumar and

. Sarvam Sri Krishnarpanam song were not in film.

Reception

The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Balaji Balasubramaniam of bbthots.com wrote, "Even though Prabhu and Roja get first billing in the credits, its Vadivelu and Sarala who have maximum screen time. Consequently, they figure in the funniest scenes of the movie. Their experience when Vadivelu goes to fill the role of an actor and Sarala fulfilling Vedivelu's mother's vows are the comic highlights of the movie. 'Venniradai' Moorthy has several funny lines and his delivery and timing are good too. S.V.Sekhar, rarely seen in movies, makes us laugh purely because of his dialogue delivery. Prabhu and Roja have the weakest portions of the movie, both with respect to comedy and his plan for correcting her. His scenes with Alphonso(with a song too) are boring and in the end, achieve nothing. Songs are uninteresting and their picturisation is unimaginative."

Remakes

The film was remade in Telugu as '' Tirumala Tirupati Venkatesa'' with

and

reprising their roles. The film was also remade in Kannada as ''Yaarige Beda Duddu''.

References

{{Rama Narayanan 1999 films Tamil films remade in other languages 1990s Tamil-language films Indian comedy films Films directed by Rama Narayanan Films scored by S. A. Rajkumar 1999 comedy films