''Periyanna'' is a 1999 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

action drama 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 ...

directed by

S. A. Chandrasekhar S. A Chandrasekar (born 2 July 1945) is an Indian film director, film producer, screenwriter, and actor who primarily works within Kollywood. He made his directorial debut with ''Aval Oru Pachai Kuzhanthai'' (1978), He got his breakthrough wi ...

, starring

Suriya Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known professionally as Suriya, is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Tamil films. One of the highest-paid Tamil actors, Suriya is considered as one of the finest actors of Indian ...

Meena Meena () is a tribe from northern and western India which is sometimes considered a sub-group of the Bhil community. It used to be claimed they speak Mina language, a Spurious languages, spurious language. Its name is also transliterated as ' ...

and Manasa with

Vijayakanth Vijayaraj Alagarswami (25 August 1952 – 28 December 2023), known by his stage name Vijayakanth, was an Indian actor, filmmaker, philanthropist and politician. He worked in Tamil cinema in a career spanning four decades. He ventured into politi ...

in an extended cameo role as the title character. The soundtrack for this film was composed by debutant music director

Bharani Bharani (Devanagari: भरणी) is the second nakshatra in Hindu astronomy, corresponding to 35, 39, and 41 Arietis all together. In Jyotiṣa, Bharani is ruled by Shukra (the planet Venus). Also, it is classified as a Cruel or Active n ...

. The film was released on 14 April 1999.

Plot

Suriya kills the villains who murder his family and is sent to jail. During his time in jail, a well-respected minister celebrates his daughter's birthday in prison. His daughter is impressed by Suriya's talent in Violin percussion and convinces her father to grant her special permission to learn music from him. During this time, they fall in love with each other, and opposition grows from the girl's parents and the police department. Then, they elope. They come to a remote town where they witness the murder of a collector in the railway station during broad daylight, but no one seems to care. They then see that the man who murdered the collector is the chief of the village, Periyanna, so they try to oppose him. In their time at the village, they learn about his past and change their mind about him. He promises them to get them married. The movie then moves towards the climax as whether the village chief will be successful in getting those two lovers married or the girl's father will be successful in separating them by using the legal system against them.

Cast

Production

S. A. Chandrasekhar had initially planned to make the film with

and Vijay, but the project failed to materialise. The film re-emerged in 1998 with Vijay's busy schedules prompting Chandrasekhar to select

to appear in a lead role alongside Vijayakanth.

was selected to play a leading role in the film. Chandrasekhar initially picked a model from Mumbai called Tanuja to be paired opposite Suriya, but later changed his mind. The role was handed to Ganga, sister of actress

Easwari Rao Easwari Rao is a South Indian actress who works in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada cinema. She played lead roles from 1990 to 1999. She started to play supporting and character roles from 2000 onwards. Personal life Eswari Rao is marr ...

, with the director changing her stage name to Manasa from Ganga as she was known in '' Kaakai Siraginilae''. Vijayakanth's long-time assistant, S. K. Subbiah, produced the film, with Vijayakanth keen to work on the venture in order to help benefit Subbiah. The film was launched in late 1998 with Vijayakanth, Suriya, director Chandrasekhar and veteran producers A. L. Azhagappan and Ibrahim Rowther in attendance. Vijayakanth charged no remuneration for his work.

Soundtrack

who earlier wrote lyrics for Vijay's debut film ''

Naalaya Theerpu ''Naalaiya Theerpu'' () is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language vigilante action film directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar and produced by his wife Shoba Chandrasekhar, which marked the debut of their son Vijay as a leading actor. The film which also starr ...

'' (1992) was selected to compose the music thus making his debut. The soundtrack contains 7 songs and lyrics for the songs were written by Bharani, Vasan, Arivumathi and Pulamaipithan. Vijay had sung three songs for Suriya in this film with "Naam Dum Adikkira" song was well received while another song "Nilave Nilave" was also successful.

Release and reception

The film released on 14 April 1999, and was a box office failure. K. N. Vijiyan of ''

New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as a local offshoot of Singapore-based ''The Straits Ti ...

'' called it "not a must-see movie". K. P. S. 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 ...

'' wrote Chandrasekhar has shot a film in the collaboration of Vijayakanth and Suriya and is eager to score a century. He has given a catch to the fans with the usual, old story and ducked out. D. S. Ramanujam 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, "In building the story of K. Suresh, who had also written the dialogue, through his screenplay, the director leaves a few vacant areas".

References

External links

* * {{S. A. Chandrasekhar 1999 action drama films 1990s Indian films 1990s Tamil-language films 1999 films Films directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar Films scored by Bharani (composer) Films with screenplays by S. A. Chandrasekhar Indian action drama films Tamil-language Indian films