''Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language Western comedy film directed by

Chimbu Deven Chimbu Devan is an Indian film director, writer, cartoonist, and screenwriter known for his works in Tamil cinema. His films mostly explore the fantasy and Historical fiction, historical genres and also comedy. He debuted with the historical co ...

, starring choreographer-turned-actor

Raghava Lawrence Raghava Lawrence (born Lawrence Murugaiyan) is an Indian actor, choreographer, film director, composer, playback singer, lyricist, film producer and philanthropist known for his works primarily in Tamil cinema. After making his debut as a dance ...

in a

double role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

alongside

Padmapriya Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil language, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu language, Telugu films. Her first movie was in Telugu, ''Adapillala Tandri'' (1974). In Kannada, sh ...

Lakshmi Rai Lakshmi Rai, professionally credited as Raai Laxmi, is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi languages. Early life Raai Laxmi was born in Bangalore, Karnataka to Ram Rai and Manjul ...

, and Sandhya alongside an ensemble supporting cast including

Nassar Nassar (), 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, or Nacer. People with the surname include: People with th ...

Sai Kumar Sai Kumar or Saikumar is the name of: * Sai Kumar (Malayalam actor) Sai Kumar, also credited as Saikumar, is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He is the son of Malayalam actor late Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair. He appears in bo ...

M. S. Bhaskar Muthupettai Somu Bhaskar (born 13 September 1957) is an Indian actor and dubbing artiste who appears in Tamil films. His career begun as a theatre artist, and he made his debut in 1987 in a minor role in the film '' Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi'' ...

, and

Senthil Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

comedy film" based on

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

stories, which is set in the 19th century paying homages to many western films. The film's shooting commenced in April 2009 and was released on 7 May 2010 to mixed reviews. The film comically highlights the current world politics.

Plot

The town of Jayshankarapuram, home of Tamil-speaking

s, is ruled by a one-eyed tyrant named Kizhakku Kattai, who rules over other villages as well, and is always surrounded by his assistants: a cowgirl named Pakki and an outlaw named Ulakkai. In order to free their town from Kattai's rule, Bilagiri James, Dagelandi, Jada, and Viruma travel to a neighboring town, Sholaypuram, to seek out a savior. There, they encounter Singaram, a man with a noble heart who has been sentenced to death for duty negligence. The gang saves Singaram from execution and explains their situation. Singaram learns why he was chosen. The brave Singam was the previous marshal of Jayashankarapuram who bore a striking resemblance to Singaram, and also was the only one who stood up to Kattai's tyranny. Singam disappeared under mysterious circumstances years ago, and the town was left defenseless. Thus, Singaram is brought to the village and is passed off as Singam. Singaram learns to adapt to his new name, learning all the hero's skills and tricks. He wins the respect of the village seniors, which includes Paandu Paramu and Keluthi Amma. Soon, a girl named Baali falls for Singaram. He later surpasses the original hero's prowess, though initially, it is due to dumb luck. In between the hero's and the villain's camp is a Red Indian village where the tribals are pure

vegetarians Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. A person who pra ...

. With the introduction of this village, the tribal group leader Athirikesa, his father Rangula, and his beautiful daughter Thumbi are also introduced. The villagers at Jayashankarapuram find a map that is hidden in their "MGR Timesquare", but it is only one half they have. They have to find the other half to hunt for treasure that is preserved and hidden somewhere far away. Unfortunately, Kattai has other plans. He negotiates a deal of freeing prisoners in exchange of the treasure. Singaram and the folks find the treasure in an

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, ...

-esque adventure. They successfully find the treasure and escape the cave, but it is revealed that Dagelandi is a right-hand man of Kattai, who was spying on Singaram's gang all along. Kattai also reveals that he killed Singam a few years ago and challenges Singaaram to a duel in front of the people. While Kattai gains initially the upper hand, the thought of Singam's death in the hands of Kattai infuriates Singaram, and he starts beating up Kattai. Kattai is eventually shot dead by Pakki, out of her love for Singaram, and she leaves the place with her cronies. Peace prevails within Jayshankarpuram's inhabitants and the red Indians. Singaram is hailed as a hero in Jayshankarapuram and is presented with a large diamond and a platter of gold coins of the treasure as a reward by the people. However, Singaram declines the gold coins for the diamond, instead asking the people to use the coins to build a school for the children, while stating that education is important and is to be imparted to all. He is given a heartful farewell by the people and rides off. On the way, Baali stops him saying that while he took the diamond, he was leaving his "life" behind. Singaram smiles, and they both ride off in the sunset.

Cast

in a

as **Singam **Singaram *

as Baali *

as Pakki * Sandhya as Thumbi *

as Kizhakku Kattai *

as Ulakkai *

as Athirikesa *

Ilavarasu Ilavarasu is an Indian cinematographer and actor, who works in the Tamil film industry. He started his career as a cinematographer and worked for 13 films, winning a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for one of them. He, however, became better known ...

as Dagelandi *

Ramesh Khanna Ramesh Khanna (also spelt as Ramesh Kanna) is an Indian actor and film director who has worked in Tamil cinema. He has acted in a number of supporting and comedian roles. Early life Ramesh Khanna was born on 30 November 1955 in Chennai and th ...

as Jada *

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. Hi ...

as Viruma *

Delhi Ganesh Ganesan Mahadevan (1 August 1944 – 9 November 2024), known by his stage name Delhi Ganesh, was an Indian actor who mostly acted in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He was well known for the versatility of roles he played during h ...

as Paandu Paramu * Manorama as Keluthi Amma *

Chaams Chaams (born as Swaminathan: 30 November 1972) is an Indian actor and comedian who has appeared in Tamil language films. He has predominantly appeared in supporting roles, notably in Crazy Mohan dramas and playing one of the several leads in ' ...

as Lee *

Mohan Raman Mohan Raman, also known as Mohan V. Ram (born 3 April 1956), is an Indian actor and writer. In 2017 and 2019, he was a Jury member for the National Film Award for Best Writing on Cinema. Raman is a film historian and writes for ''The Hindu''. H ...

as Sheriff *

Besant Ravi Besant Ravi (born R. Ravi Kumar; 1 June 1970) is an Indian actor and stunt choreographer. He has played antagonistic supporting roles in Tamil, Hindi and several other Indian language films. Early life Besant Ravi, who was born and brought up ...

as Color Kathiresan *

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

(cameo appearance) as an Old man in Jaishankar Puram

Cultural references

* The film features two fictional villages, Jaishankarpuram and Ashokapuram, which were named after

Jaishankar Jaishankar may also refer to: * Jaishankar Prasad (1889 – 1937), Indian writer and playwright * Jaishankar (actor) (1938 – 2000), Indian actor * Jaishankar Menon (born 1956), Indian-American computer scientist * Jaishankar Bhojak (1889 – 1 ...

and Ashokan, who respectively played the hero and the villain in ''

Ganga The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary riv ...

'', which was first of the western Genre in India. * In the court sequence,

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

's portrait is seen instead of Gandhi's, paying homage to ''

Sholay ''Sholay'' (, ) is a 1975 Indian epic action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father G. P. Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed. The film is about two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), hired ...

''. * The antagonist's name, "Kizhakku Kattai", literally translates to "east wood", in reference to

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

. * During the team's journey to get the treasure, they find an ID card which has

's name on it. * In a sequence when Singaram is told about the village, it said that

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

and

are founding fathers of this community. * In the gun-spinning scene, Singaram says that he is a fan of

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

. *In the climax when the prisoners are released from the antagonist prison, "

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

" also comes out.

Production

For the role of a cowboy, Raghava Lawrence grew his hair long and learned horse riding and gunspinning.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. All lyrics written by

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 firs ...

. Track listing

Release & reception

The film was dubbed into Hindi by Goldmines Telefilms. ''Sify'' wrote "Hats off in cowboy style to writer and director Chimbudevan for doing such good research and bringing about authenticity to his plot and acknowledging great western legendary films of the 60?s and 70?s. But if only he had worked out a better script, it would have been a great fun ride". ''Behindwoods'' wrote "Simbu Devan should certainly be applauded for giving the audience an all new experience and his hard work is palpable. On the flipside, he does not engage the audience completely and loses his grip on them on and off. There are times when the film appears outright childish. The screen play meanders a while and there is a jump of genre here and there".

References

External links

*
Official website

AGS Entertainment Website
{{Use dmy dates, date=August 2019 2010 films 2010s Western (genre) comedy films 2010s parody films Indian Western (genre) comedy films 2010s Tamil-language films Films scored by G. V. Prakash Kumar Indian parody films Films directed by Chimbu Deven AGS Entertainment films Films scored by Sabesh–Murali