''Ponmanam'' () is a 1998 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

-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-g ...

directed by debutant

S. P. Rajkumar S. P. Rajkumar is an Indian film director, who directs Tamil films. Career He started his film career as a dialogue writer for the 1997 film '' Once More''. In 2000, he directed his second feature film '' En Purushan Kuzhanthai Maathiri'', which ...

, assistant of K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars

Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...

, Suvalakshmi and Priya Raman. The film produced by V. Natarajan, had musical score by

S. A. Rajkumar S. A. Rajkumar is an Indian composer and lyricist. He has made music for all South Indian language films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada. Early life Rajkumar's father was a vocalist performing in stage shows conducted by popular mu ...

, was released on 14 January 1998 coinciding with

Thai Pongal Pongal (, ), also referred to as Tai Pongal (), is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka.

to positive reviews and ran for 100 days in a couple of theaters.

Plot

Anandhan (

), a kind-hearted singer, has a wife Maheshwari ( Suvalakshmi) and a baby boy. He lives in a house leased by Naidu ( Manivannan). Kumar (

Karan Karan may refer to: People * Karan (given name), an Indian given name * Karan (caste), an Indian caste * Karan Kayastha, a community of Kayastha in Bihar, India * Karan (surname) Places * Karan, Iran (disambiguation), a name for various vi ...

), a youth who supposed to work in a bank, moves into a new house near Anandhan's house. Poornima ( Priya Raman), a middle-class family woman, quarrels with Anandhan on multiple occasions. One day, Poornima tells Anandhan about her bitter past. When Poornima's family were in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, a bomb killed Poornima's mother, amputated her sister's legs and blinded her another sister. Now, Poornima had to work hard to support her family. After hearing her past, Anandhan becomes Poornima's friend but Poornima falls in love with him. Kumar then proposes his love to Maheshwari because Anandhan revealed to him that they were not married. In the past, Anandhan was a jobless graduate and was from a poor family. Anandhan's sister Shanthi eloped with her lover. Later, Anandhan's parents cannot digest it and they hung themselves. So Anandhan attempted to suicide in turn but there, he saved Maheshwari and her nephew from drowning. Her brother-in-law killed her sister and Maheshwari had to escape with her sister's baby. To face the troubles, they decided to live together without marrying. Poornima's boss (

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and television series. He st ...

) wants to marry Poornima, her father accepts and begs Anandhan to forget his daughter. Anandhan lies to Poornima that he never loves her and then she challenges to marry another man. Poornima marries her boss and Anandhan is humiliated during the wedding. Maheshwari and Kumar then marry and leave the city. Meanwhile, Anandhan finds himself alone again and decides to raise Maheshwari's nephew.

Cast

as Anandhan * Suvalakshmi as Maheshwari * Priya Raman as Poornima *

as Kumar * Manivannan as Naidu *

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

as Poornima's father *

as Poornima's boss *

Charle Velmurugan Thangasamy Manohar (born 6 March 1960), professionally credited as Charle, is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. He has acted in more than 800 Tamil films as a comedian and supporting actor. He was named after the English co ...

Mayilsamy Mayilsamy (born October 2, 1965) is an Indian actor and comedian who prominently plays supporting roles. Appearing in many Tamil films, he is also a regular guest judge on '' Asathapovathu Yaaru'' on Sun TV in Chennai. Career He is a popular ...

Muthukaalai Muthukaalai is an Indian actor, comedian who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Early life and career Muthukaalai was born in Rajapalayam and dreamt of becoming of a Stunt Choreographer. He attained black belt in Karate at the age of 18. He ...

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by

. The soundtrack, released in 1998, features 5 tracks with lyrics written by Kamakodiyan, Ilandevan, Arivumathi and Pazhani Bharathi.

Reception

P. Balan of ''Indolink.com'' rated the film 2.5 out to 5 and stated that : "a good movie to watch". A critic from '' Screen'' noted "the family drama highlighted by an excellent performance by Prabhu, has been attracting family audiences and even though the collections are not 100 per cent, the trade expects it to emerge a winner after a slow start."

References

{{S. P. Rajkumar 1998 films 1990s Tamil-language films Films directed by S. P. Rajkumar