''Uzhaippali'' (; ) is a 1993 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

action drama 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-ge ...

film, written and directed by

P. Vasu Vasudevan Peethambharan, known professionally as P Vasu, is an Indian director, writer and actor who works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam language films. In a career spanning three decades, Vasu has directed over 64 films. ...

. It stars

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

and Roja. The film was released on 24 June 1993 and became a box office success.

Plot

Rajini works as a coolie in a factory. He is asked by three brothers to feign to be a foreign-returned rich man, the heir of a property. Rajini acts, but always escapes as he doesn't want to face consequences. But then he discovers that he is the heir to the property, his father was killed by three brothers to take away the property and mother became a mental patient. He avenges the death of his father by killing the villains. At last, he says he doesn't want to be an heir to money and always remains a coolie.

Cast

as Thamizharasan/Thamizhazhagan * Roja as Vimala *

Radha Ravi 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 Ragupathy *

S. S. Chandran S. S. Chandran (25 September 1941 – 9 October 2010) was an Indian comedy actor, producer, and politician from Tamil Nadu. He belonged to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party and was a Member of the Parliament representing Tamil N ...

as Seethapathy *

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and television series. He s ...

as Gajapathy *

Goundamani Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The pair dominated t ...

as P. A. of Lawyer Balasubramaniam * Vijayakumar as Thamizharasan's brother-in-law * Visu as Lawyer Balasubramaniam * Sujatha as Janaki *

Prathapachandran Prathapachandran (1941–2004) was an Indian actor, who worked predominantly in Malayalam film industry, though he acted in a few Tamil and Telugu movies as well. He known for the portrayal of villainous and character roles in over 300 movies. ...

as Doctor *

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 ...

as Tamilarasan's friend *

Charle Velmurugan Thangasamy Manohar (born 6 March 1960), professionally credited as Charle, is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. He has acted in more than 800 Tamil films as a comedian and supporting actor. He was named after the English co ...

as Thamizharasan's friend * Ravichandran as Thamizharasan's father *

Rupini Komal Mahuvakar, better known by her stage name Rupini, is an Indian actress who has appeared in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu language films during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She started as a child artist in the Hindi fil ...

( Special appearance in the song "Mynaa Mynaa") *

Raghava Lawrence Lawrence Raghavendra is an Indian dance choreographer, actor, director, composer, dancer and playback singer. After making his debut as a dance choreographer in 1993, he began looking for acting opportunities. He began his career as an actor in ...

(Special appearance in the song "Uzhaippali Illatha")

Production

''Uzhaippali'' marked the comeback of Vijaya Productions who stopped producing for 20 years. This was P. Vasu's third collaboration with Rajinikanth after ''

Panakkaran ''Panakkaran'' () is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by P. Vasu. A remake of the Hindi film '' Lawaaris'' (1981), it stars Rajinikanth and Gautami. The film was released on 14 January 1990, Pongal day, and ran for more than ...

'' and '' Mannan''. Unlike those films, this was not a remake, but an original story written by Vasu. On 5 February 1993, ''Uzhaippali'' had a grand pooja at Vijaya Vauhini studio. The pooja was conducted even though the distributors not willing to distribute the film and the Red Card against Rajinikanth was not removed. When the shooting was happening in

Chikmagalur Chikmagalur, known officially as Chikkamagaluru, is a city and the headquarters of Chikmagalur district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the foothills of the Mullayanagiri peak of the Western Ghats, the city attracts tourists from ...

, cast and crew were refused to book rooms in hotel for not paying the discount, Rajinikanth was sleeping in car due to non-availability. Vasu completed the film in 58 days.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one o ...

, and the lyrics were written by Vaali.

Release and reception

''Uzhaippali'' was released on 24 June 1993. The film was much in news as, distributors banned Rajinikanth films and to resolve the issue, Rajinikanth met Kamal Haasan and the next day, ''Uzhaippali'' was announced. The film was released straight in theatres without the support of distributors and become a hit by running more than 100 days. When the film was ready for release, producer was in doldrums how to release it when there is Red Card on Rajinikanth. Rajinikanth came up with an idea to distribute the film directly to theatres. Rajinikanth distributed the film in NSC through his distribution company Ramana Film Distributors. In Chennai, ''Uzhaippali'' released in Albert, Abirami, Kamala, Crown and Sri Brinda. The film opening reservation was fabulous and almost 15 days houseful in reservation. The opening report was fantastic and became talk of the town. ''Uzhaippali'' had a non-stop run for 116 days in Chennai's Albert and Abirami and 150 days in Madurai's Cine Priya. The film released in overseas too especially in Singapore and Malaysia doing decent business. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' wrote "''Uzhaippali'' is a neat, unpretentious entertainer from reel one and Vasu has kept up the pace of narration without a moment's boredom". At the

14th Cinema Express Awards The 14th Cinema Express Awards Cinema Express Awards are presented annually by Indian Express Group on behalf of Cinema Express ''Cinema Express'' was an Indian Tamil-language entertainment fortnightly magazine published from Chennai, T ...

, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam won the Best Playback Singer award.

References

External links

* {{P. Vasu 1990s Tamil-language films 1993 films Films directed by P. Vasu Films shot in Karnataka Indian action drama films Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films scored by Karthik Raja