''Ponmanam'' () is a 1998 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

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by debutant S. P. Rajkumar and produced by V. Natarajan. The film stars

Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means ''master'' or ''prince'' in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. Surname Prabhu is a surname among Gaud saraswat Brahmins, saraswat Brahmins and other Brahmins across the Ko ...

Suvalakshmi Suvaluxmi is an Indian former actress who mainly appeared in Tamil films. She also appeared in Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada films. Portraying homely characters , she is well known of her characters in ''Aasai'' (1995), '' Gokulathil ...

and

Priya Raman Priya Raman (born 18 June) is an Indian actress, television presenter, and producer known for her work in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada cinema, as well as Malayalam and Tamil television serials. She made her film debut in 1993 with '' ...

. It was released on 14 January 1998.

Plot

Anandhan (

), a kind-hearted singer, has a wife Maheshwari (

) and a baby boy. He lives in a house leased by Naidu (

Manivannan Manivannan (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013) was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, voice artist, playback singer and social activist who worked in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning three decades, he went from being a story and ...

). Kumar ( Karan), a youth who supposed to work in a bank, moves into a new house near Anandhan's house. Poornima (

), 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, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, 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 also performed in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films and television series. ...

) 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

Soundtrack

The soundtrack were composed by S. A. Rajkumar.

Reception

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, "The definition of love has undergone many changes in recent Tamil movies where special contrived reasons are put forth to see that the hero's love does not materialise. Pyramid Films International's ``Pon Manam has, no doubt, such an element which fits in naturally in a well-structured storyline, director S. P. Rajkumar taking credit, with his story, screenplay and dialogue". A critic from ''

Screen Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing or ''silkscreening'', a printing method * Big screen, a nickname for motion pictures * Split screen (filmmaking), showing two or more images side by side * Stochastic screening and Halftone ...

'' 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

External links

* * 1990s Indian films 1990s Tamil-language films 1998 directorial debut films 1998 drama films 1998 films Films directed by S. P. Rajkumar Indian drama films Tamil-language Indian films {{Improve categories, date=March 2024