''Jallikattu'' () is a 1987 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Manivannan Manivannan (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013) was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, voice artist, playback singer and social activist who worked in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning three decades, he went from being a story and ...

. The film stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...

Sathyaraj Rangaraj Subbiah (born 3 October 1954), known professionally as Sathyaraj, is an Indian actor, film producer, film director and a media personality who appears predominantly in Tamil films. He also appears in works in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam ...

and

Radha Radha (, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. In scriptures, Radha is mentioned as the avatar of Lakshmi and also as the Prak� ...

. Produced by Chitra Ramu and

Chitra Lakshmanan Lakshmanan Ramasamy (born 23 January 1948), known professionally as Chitra Lakshmanan, is an Indian journalist, filmmaker and actor. He produced and directed several Tamil language films starring some of Tamil cinema's major stars during the 19 ...

, it was released on 28 August 1987. The film was remade in Hindi as '' Jung Baaz'' (1989).

Plot

The story begins with Arjun being arrested for multiple crimes. In the past, Arjun was a happy-go-lucky young man. His brother, a factory's union leader, clashed with his superiors for a bonus. In the meantime, Arjun fell in love with Radha. To help the labourers, Arjun cheated the factory's owners as a fake income tax officer, he managed to take all their black money and he gave it to the labourers. The owners of the factory trap Arjun's brother, sister-in-law and his niece in their house. Arjun's sister in-law is raped and the three are killed. Arjun then tried to kill the culprit and failed. Siva Prasad, Radha's brother, advised him to surrender but, being an innocent in this case, he refused. However, Siva Prasad arrested him by surprise. Arjun was then tortured. Therefore, a bald Arjun comes to the court. Despite everything being against Arjun, the judge Ram Prakash feels that he is innocent. So Ram Prakash sentences that Arjun will be under house arrest on his isolated island. Ram Prakash and Arjun slowly begin bonding as friends again and Radha shows up again after being removed from the island and shoots Ram Prakash After few plots, twists and turns, Ram Prakash reveals his motive on choosing Arjun. Rama Prakash's granddaughter is kidnapped and held at ransom to release a criminal linked to above 3 criminals, and is raped and murdered brutally when Judge Ram Prakash upholds law and sentences the criminal to death by hanging. Ram Prakash trains Arjun well in many skills and the climax gets interesting on how Arjun overtakes his enemies one by one.

Cast

Production

''Jallikattu'' is the first collaboration between Sivaji Ganesan and Manivannan. The dialogues were written by Vietnam Veedu Sundaram.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...

, with lyrics written by

Gangai Amaran Gangai Amaran (born Amar Singh) is an Indian composer, playback singer, lyricist, actor, film director and a screenwriter in Tamil films. Personal life Gangai Amaran was born in Pannaipuram in Theni district, Tamil Nadu in December 1947, as ...

Release

''Jallikattu'' faced issues with the Censor Board before release as the board "felt it may show the judiciary in poor light" and the filmmakers made a few cuts. ''Jallikattu'' was a commercial success, and the then

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief mini ...

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

attended the 100th day celebrations which was his last function before his death on 24 December 1987.

Reception

N. Krishnaswamy of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' wrote the film "signals some sort of peak in Satyaraj's career. It's screenplay implies that the actor has achieved such a pinnacle of popularity that he can afford to sit down, relax and look around with satisfaction. 'Jallikattu''cumulates the popular roles Satyaraj has played till now. It is thus a compendium, a summary of his work". Balumani of ''Anna'' praised acting, dialogues, music and direction. Jayamanmadhan of ''

Kalki Kalki (), also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnavism, Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages i ...

'' felt the ideas for revenge weren't that interesting, called Ilayaraja's music as routine and felt Radha was there for namesake but praised Sundaram's writing and felt despite interesting ideas for revenge, it doesn't seem like such a brain-crushing idea to make a judge a fool of himself by trusting in the integrity of those who sent him.

References

External links

* {{Manivannan 1980s Indian films 1980s Tamil-language films 1980s vigilante films 1987 action films 1987 films Censored films Film censorship in India Films directed by Manivannan Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films with screenplays by Vietnam Veedu Sundaram Indian action films Tamil films remade in other languages Indian films about revenge Indian vigilante films Tamil-language Indian films Works subject to expurgation