''Uchithanai Muharnthaal'' is a 2011 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 film directed by

Pugazhendhi Thangaraj Pughazhendhi Thangaraj is an Indian film director and screenwriter who has worked on Tamil films. He often makes films set in the backdrop of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Career Pughazhendhi began his career with ''Kaatrukkenna Veli'' (2001), bef ...

and assisted by Prashanth Ramamurthy. The plot revolves around a 13-year-old

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

girl, portrayed by child actress Neenika. The film also stars

Sathyaraj Rangaraj Subbiah (born 3 October 1954), professionally known as Sathyaraj, is an Indian actor, producer, director and a media personality who has predominantly appeares in Tamil cinema and Telugu cinema, Telugu Cinema. His 240 films also includ ...

, Seeman and Sangeetha, while featuring music scored by

D. Imman Immanuel Vasanth Dinakaran (born 24 January 1983), better known as D. Imman, is an Indian film composer and singer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema. Also worked in Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi film industry. His first film as mu ...

. The film released on 16 December 2011, delayed from August.

Plot

Punithavadhi is a 13-year-old

girl who lives with her parents in Batticaloa,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The neighborhood and the surrounding more often remains a mute victim to the atrocities perpetrated on unarmed men, women and children by the heavily armed SL army troops. As it happens, tragedy strikes Punitha’s family as she becomes the latest

gang rape Gang rape, also called serial gang rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape in scholarly literature,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A Multidisciplinary Re ...

victim by the SL soldiers. As a result, Punitha gets pregnant. Punitha’s mother, in order to save her child from further trouble, lands up on Indian shores by illegal means. Professor Nadesan, who is under fire from the local police for offering refuge to illegal immigrants from SL, patronizes Punitha and her mother. He and his wife Nirmala take Punitha to Rekha, a doctor, for regular medical checkups. When Natesan and Nirmala are away on some work, Punitha disappears from their house and lands up in the clutches of some local rowdies. She gets unexpected help from a transgender security guard who saves her from the custody of the rowdies and reaches her safely to Natesan’s residence. With the security guard’s help, Natesan brings the culprits to book. During the course of this case, Natesan befriends the local police inspector Charles Anthony. The story takes a turn when Punitha is known to have

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

contracted from the gang rape. The rest of the film revolves around the struggle to save Punitha and her child. Punitha is unable to be saved in the end, though, and dies along with her father, who dies earlier in the film as a result of being shot by the SL Army, and her mother, who also dies in the film after being abducted by the SL army when looking for her husband. The end credits portray all three of them walking along the beach of Batticoloa happily.

Cast

* Neenika as Punithavadhi *

as Nadesan * Seeman as Charles Antony * Sangeetha as Nirmala Nadesan *

Nassar Nassar ( ar, نصار, lit=helper, protector, supporter, victory-maker), is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer ...

as Dr. Deivanayagam *

Lakshmi Ramakrishnan Lakshmy Ramakrishnan is an Indian actress, director and philanthropist. She made her debut in the Malayalam film ''Chakkara Muthu'' (2006), and has since appeared primarily in supporting roles in Tamil films. Personal life Lakshmy was born an ...

as Dr. Rekha * Lavanya as Mrs. Charles Antony *

Aishwarya Aishwarya (Devanagari : ''ऐश्वर्य'') is a Hindu Indian or Nepalese male or feminine given name, which means "prosperity" and "wealth". Notable people named Aishwarya * Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran (born 1971), Indian actress * Aishwar ...

as Security Guard * Sathik Basha as Sathik Basha (Cameo appearance)

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Reception

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...

'' gave the movie a positive verdict calling it a bold film while highlighting Neenika's performance. ''IndiaGlitz'' said, "Pughazhendhi Thangaraj deserves applause for making an honest attempt without bowing to commercial pressures". The film won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Third Best Film.

References

External links

* {{TamilNaduStateFilmAwardBestFilm 2011 films 2010s Tamil-language films