''Ponmana Selvan'' is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

, directed by P. Vasu. The film stars

Vijayakanth Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

Shobana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fi ...

, Vidhyashree,

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

and B. Saroja Devi. The film's score was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one o ...

and was released on 15 August 1989. The film was one of the super hits of the year. The film was a remake of the Kannada film ''

Karunamayi Amma Sri Karunamayi (born 1958) is a Hindu spiritual leader. Sri Karunamayi travels internationally promoting global peace and meditation. Early life Amma Karunamayi was born in South India in 1958. Karunamayi's mother was a devotee of Ra ...

'' for which Vasu had written the screenplay.

Plot

Ambalakarar and Meenakshi have four children - Raja, Raghu, Ravi and Radha. The family is highly respected in their home town for always standing up for justice. They successfully fight to keep alcohol from being sold in town. Meenakshi's older brother, Ammavasai, joins the family after a years-long feud but still harbors resentment. He gets the two younger brothers - Raghu and Ravi - to start drinking. Hong Kong Annamalai, the local Nataamai, has a daughter, Parvathi that's recently returned home. She falls for and pursues the clueless Raja. Marriages are arranged for both Raghu and Ravi. Parvathi maneuvers her father and Ambalakarar into arranging her marriage with Raja as well. As the wedding talks take place, Annamalai won't permit his daughter to marry Raja as he is the adopted son of the couple. The other three are their biological children and this is the first time any of the children learn the truth. Raghu and Ravi, egged on by their uncle and Annamalai, treat Raja very poorly. At the two youngest brothers' insistence, their respective marriages take place. Kaadher Baai, Ambalakarar's closest friend, is in desperate need of money for his daughter's wedding and steals a necklace from his friend. Raja stops the theft but gets caught when returning the necklace. He takes the blame for attempted theft and gets kicked out of the home. This leaves Ammavasai with free rein and he is instrumental in the younger brothers leaving home. Raja must deal with the problems in his family while also working to establish his business and reunite with Parvathi.

Cast

as Raja *

as Parvathi * Vidhyashree as Radha *

as Ambalakarar * B. Saroja Devi as Meenakshi *

Goundamani Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The pair dominated ...

as Hong Kong Annamalai *

Jaishankar Jaishankar (12 July 1938 – 3 June 2000) was an Indian actor known for his work in Tamil cinema. He was a very popular lead actor in the 1960s and 70s. He was credited onscreen with title of ''Makkal Kalaingnar'' (people's artiste) or '' ...

as Mettupalayam Jameen *

Radha Ravi Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan Ravi (born 29 July 1952) is an Indian actor and politician who played supporting roles throughout his career. He is the son of actor M. R. Radha and the uncle of Vasu Vikram and half-brother of Raadhika. He i ...

* V. K. Ramasamy Kaadher Baai * S. S. Chandran as Ammavasai * Ravikiran * Udayashankar * Pradeep * Vaithi * Dr. Muthu * Rafi * Sindhu * Anjana * Srilatha * Sanjeev Venkat as Parvathi's brother

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

References

External links

* 1989 films Films directed by P. Vasu Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja 1980s Tamil-language films Indian action drama films Tamil remakes of Kannada films 1980s action drama films {{1980s-Tamil-film-stub