''Kasthuri Maan'' is a 2005 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 film directed by A. K. Lohithadas. The film, a remake of the director's own Malayalam film of same name, and his only Tamil project to date, stars Prasanna and

Meera Jasmine Jasmine Mary Joseph,
, rediff.com; 1 August 2004. known professionally as Meera Jasmine, is an Indian ac ...

, who reprised her role from the original. It also features

Shammi Thilakan Shammi Thilakan is an Indian actor and dubbing artist who works in Malayalam films. He is the son of veteran actor Thilakan. He has lent his voice for actors such as Napoleon in ''Devasuram'', Prem Nazir in ''Kadathanadan Ambadi'' and for Nas ...

Sarath Babu Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (31 July 1951 – 22 May 2023), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He appeared in more than 300 films, including in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and ...

, V. M. C. Haneefa,

Bharathi Kannan S.Bharathi Kannan is an Indian film director, who has directed Tamil films. He was primarily active in the 1990s and early 2000 and is most noted for his work on devotional films. Career He started his career in 1981, joining as an assistant d ...

, Pawan,

Vinodini Vinodhini, also known by her stage name, Shweta is an Indian actress, who has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada films and Tamil serials. Beginning her acting career as a child artist, she went on to become one of the popular actress of ...

and Suja. ''Kasthuri Maans story revolves around a young college girl who helps her lover realize his dream of becoming an IAS officer amidst her own problems. The film released during Diwali 2005 and had a generally positive reception.

Plot

The movie starts with a mature Arunachalam ( Prasanna), now a district collector. The story is narrated in a flashback where his father Palaniappan (

) wants him to get married. Palaniappan used to be a rich film producer and had borrowed money from a rich person, but is unable to repay his debt. The rich man wants his daughter to marry Arun, but Arun does not want to marry. Umashankari (

Meera Jasmine Jasmine Mary Joseph,
, rediff.com; 1 August 2004. known professionally as Meera Jasmine, is an Indian ac ...

) and Arun study in the same college. Uma is a lively, mischievous girl on campus, but at home, faces acute poverty and takes up various odd jobs to take care of her house and to stay away from her sister's husband, who makes advances towards her. In the meantime, Palaniappan attempts suicide because he is deeply in debt. Uma steps in and helps Arun, who is preparing for I.A.S. exams. She does everything to ensure that he becomes an I.A.S. officer. He in turn, promises to marry her and rescue her from her situation. However, Uma, after an unfortunate encounter with her brother-in–law, lands in prison, and the couple is reunited in the climax.

Cast

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 ...

Critical reception

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

wrote, "Sumangala Arts and maker A.K.Lohithadas...deserve to be lauded for not succumbing to the lure of the commercial format and dwelling on a moving storyline that has comedy, sentiment, romance and passion in right proportions. And all these blend with the story to form a cohesive whole". Lajjavathi 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 ...

'' praised the acting of Prasanna, Meera Jasmine and other actors, realistic fights, Jayamohan's dialogues and Ilaiyaraaja's music.

Accolades

Meera Jasmine won the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize Recipients Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. * The year mentioned refers to the year in which the films released. This is the list of Winners of Jury's Special Award See also * Tamil cinema * Cinema of Indi ...

for Best Actress. The film won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film Portraying Woman in Good Light.

References

External links

* {{A. K. Lohithadas 2000s Indian films 2000s Tamil-language films 2005 films Films directed by A. K. Lohithadas Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films with screenplays by A. K. Lohithadas Tamil remakes of Malayalam films Tamil-language Indian films