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Amaidhi Padai
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Wikipedia article
'Amaidhi Padai' is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language political action film, written and directed by Manivannan. Sathyaraj played a dual role as father and son in the film, with Ranjitha playing the female lead. The story revolves around an ordinary man Ammavasai who builds his political career through shortcuts and unethical means. The film was followed by the sequel 'Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA' in 2013, also starring Sathyaraj. It went on to run more than 25 weeks and was declared a blockbuster. This film is touted as one of Sathyaraj's best performances and over years has developed a strong cult following.
Plot
1967
Amavasai, is a lazy transient man, but he is also rather shrewd. He gets acquainted with politician Manimaran, a MLA of the Palladam constituency, near Tiruppur. Amavasai helps Mani with some petty tasks during his election campaign. He later becomes Mani's close associate. Meanwhile, Amavasai lusts after a beautiful village belle Thayamma and manages to entrap her with false promises of love. One day, he drugs and rapes the barely conscious Thayamma.
1971
Mani's party refuses to give him the ticket. An enraged Mani instructs Amavasai to stand for the MLA election as an independent candidate to teach his party a lesson. Amavasai ends up winning the election. He changes his name to Nagaraja Cholan to elevate his social status. His behavior also changes as he grows more arrogant much to the shock of Mani. Amavasai finds out that a rich zamindar is looking for a groom for his daughter, Sivakami and he quickly arranges to be married to her as he wants to become rich. He abandons the now pregnant Thayamma. Distraught over this betrayal, Thayamma and her parents move out of the village to avoid humiliation. Soon, Thayamma gives birth to a boy and dies. Amavasai marries Sivakami and gets the latter's palace as dowry. Sivakami vows to be celibate as Amavasai refused to adopt Thayamma's infant son.
Over the years, Amavasai grows into a highly influential and corrupt politician. He builds a strong political network through shortcuts. He has been reelected to his position as MLA for 5 elections. To remain in power, he kills anyone who comes in his way. His ultimate goal is to become Chief Minister where he will have all the power to do whatever he wants, and no one can stop him. He has no children with Sivakami as refuses to let Amavasai touch her, because he had betrayed Thayamma and refused to give Thayamma's son his name even after her death.
Thayamma's son, Thangavel becomes a Reserve Police constable who is deputed to Amavasai's constituency. Thangavel is betrothed to a girl studying in +2, Kuyili (Ranjitha). They fall in love, but during their engagement event, a dispute arises as people ask about Thangavel's father's identity, and the wedding is cancelled. An enraged Thangavel asks his grandparents about his father, but they remain silent. He accuses his mother of being characterless to which his grandfather slaps him and tells him about Amavasai. Thangavel now learns of his real father, about the betrayal of his mother and also his father's corruption. He seeks revenge.
Simultaneously, the state assembly is about to be dissolved earlier to hold the general elections. Amavasai realizes that even if the party nominates him, the voters will not support him as they are fed up with his corrupted ways. He instigates caste-based riot in his constituency and pretends to stop it, so that the people will re-elect him. A police inspector, who belongs to Dalit caste is burned alive, and the riot intensifies. Thangavel is posted as the riot police's head constable where he has to protect Amavasai. Thangavel saves Amavasai from an assassination attempt. Later, he goes to Amavasai's house and reveals his identity. He challenges his father that he will stop all his illegal activities and kill him. Amavasai brushes off his threats.
Thangavel is transferred to regular police and gets posted as a Sub-Inspector in the same area. Thangavel meets Sivakami and realizes she is a good woman. He begins to see her as a motherly figure in his life. Thangavel informs CBI of the activities of Amavasai while Sivakami plans to testify against Amavasai. Amavasai learns of this and plans to kill both. Sivakami is murdered by Amavasai's henchman and Thangavel is unable to save her. During her funeral, Amavasai acts as a grieving widower which enrages Thangavel who beats Amavasai up in public. Thangavel is arrested and jailed.
A crooked tantric advises Amavasai to get remarried to a young girl to ensure his re-election. He kidnaps Kuyili and her younger sister. He forces Kuyili in agreeing to marry him by threatening to kill her younger sister. He then takes part in a tantric wedding ritual where his hair is tonsured, and he gets dressed in saffron robes indicating that he has to be a sadhu before his wedding.
Thangavel escapes from prison. He finds his father's lair where he rescues the girls and stops the tantric rituals. After fighting Amavasai and his henchmen, Thangavel holds Amavasai at gunpoint. Amavasai begs Thangavel to spare his life. But remembering all the atrocities committed by his father, including the deaths of his mother and stepmother, Thangavel guns Amavasai down in a hail of bullets. In his dying moments, Amavasai finally relents and wishes his son happiness in life.
Cast
*Sathyaraj as Ammavasai (later MLA Nagaraja Cholan)/Inspector Thangavel
*Manivannan as ex-MLA Manimaran
*Ranjitha as Kuyili
*Kasthuri as Thayamma
*Sujatha as Sivakami
*Malaysia Vasudevan as Kuyili's father
*C. R. Saraswathi as Kuyili's mother
*Baby Aarthi as Kuyili's sister
*Meesai Murugesan as Sivakami's father
*S. S. Chandran as Thayamma's father
*Ganthimathi as Thayamma's mother
*Halwa Vasu as Ammavasai's assistant
*Rambo Rajkumar
*R. Sundarrajan
*Indraja
*Vichithra
*Thyagu
*S. K. Muthukumar
*Viswanath
*Tirupur Ramasamy
*Vellai Subbaiah as Astrologer
*Seeman (uncredited)
Production
Sathyaraj was enjoying good success as a lead actor, when his friend Manivannan narrated the script of 'Amaidhi Padai' to him. He initially considered rejecting the script as he was not interested in playing a negative role. But after being impressed by the narration, he accepted to play the role.https://kalkionline.com/kalkionline_archive/imagegallery/archiveimages/kalki/1994/mar/13-03-1994/p4.jpg https://kalkionline.com/kalkionline_archive/imagegallery/archiveimages/kalki/1994/mar/13-03-1994/p5.jpg https://kalkionline.com/kalkionline_archive/imagegallery/archiveimages/kalki/1994/mar/13-03-1994/p6.jpg
Soundtrack
The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, while the lyrics were written by Vaali, Pulamaipithan and Ponnadiyan.
Reception
'Amaidhi Padai' was released on 13 January 1994, the week of Pongal. Despite facing competition from other Pongal releases like 'Mahanadhi', 'Sethupathi IPS' and 'Veetla Visheshanga', it emerged a major success. Malini Mannath of 'The Indian Express' praised Sathyaraj's character and his performance. K. Vijiyan of 'New Straits Times' wrote "A pretty much straight-forward story but it is Manivannan's super handling and interesting dialogues that place this movie above the average".
Sequel
Manivannan directed the sequel of the film titled 'Nagarajan Cholan MA MLA' (2013) with Sathyaraj reprising his role. Sathyaraj reprised his role in 'Tughlaq Durbar' (2021).
Remakes
'Amaidhi Padai' was remade in Telugu as 'M. Dharmaraju M.A.' (1994), and in Hindi as 'Jallaad' (1995).
References
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