''Kathavarayan'' is a 2008 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

action drama 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 ...

film written and directed by Salangai Durai, starring Karan,

Vidisha Vidisha (विदिशा, formerly known as Bhelsa and known as Besnagar and Bhaddilpur in ancient times) is a city in Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Vidisha district. It is located 62.5 km north ...

, and

Vadivelu Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 12 September 1960) known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian actor, comedian and occasional playback singer, having acted mainly in Tamil cinema. He has at least 290 credits to his name. He was a recipient of ...

. The music was composed by Srikanth Deva with cinematography by A. Karthik Raja and editing by Peter Babiya. The film was released on 30 May 2008.

Plot

Kathavarayan sells illicit

arrack Arrack is a Distillation, distilled alcoholic drink typically produced in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, made from the Fermentation (food), fermented sap of coconut flowers or sugarcane, and also with grain (e.g. red rice) or fruit depending upon ...

in Hogenakkal, Dharmapuri. Though he is involved in arrack trade, he is honourable. Malti, a student, arrives in the village as part of her NSS project. She vows to end the arrack menace in the village and takes efforts to arrest Kathavarayan. Thanks to her efforts, Kathavarayan is arrested and imprisoned in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. Malti's efforts to expose drug peddlers in Chennai backfires. The peddlers hatch a conspiracy, and Malti falls a prey to it. She is arrested for possessing drugs and is imprisoned. Kathavarayan leaves jail to retaliate against Malti, but he learns her real intentions and dire situation. He masterminds and joins the drug-peddling gang and eventually exposes them to save Malti.

Cast

Production

The film was initially offered to

Sibiraj Sibi Sathyaraj (also credited as Sibiraj) is an Indian actor working in the Tamil film industry. He is the son of actor Sathyaraj. Education Sibi did his schooling in Sherwood Hall Senior Secondary School and Don Bosco Matriculation Higher ...

, though his refusal meant that Karan was chosen to play the lead role.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by Srikanth Deva and lyrics were written by Snehan.

Critical reception

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...

'' wrote, "Karan's performance is loud and boorish, at times irritating with his Kovai Tamil. Radha definitely has a future as a glam girl while heroine Vidisha is earnest, but a poorly written role mars her chances. Ilavarasu, Kadhal Dhandapani are also there along with a sick comedy track of Vadivelu as an idiot moneylender who gets beaten up by all and sundry. There is nothing to hum about the music of Dheena". Malathi Rangarajan of ''

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, "Reactions that aren't not quite in tune with the flow of the story and a screenplay that doesn't exploit the initial tautness are the negative aspects of ''Kathavarayan''. On the positive side is the sincere performance of Karan".

Accolades

Vadivelu won the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil ( Kollywood) films. Most Wins *6 Wins : Vadivelu *5 Wins : Vivek *3 Wins : Manorama, Kovai Sarala, ...

for the film.

References

External links

* * 2000s Indian films 2000s Tamil-language films 2008 action drama films 2008 films Films scored by Srikanth Deva Indian action drama films Tamil-language action drama films Tamil-language Indian films {{Improve categories, date=March 2025