''Salem Vishnu'' is a 1990 Tamil-language action film written, produced and directed by Thiagarajan in his directorial debut. The film stars Thiagarajan and

Rupini Komal Mahuvakar, better known by her stage name Rupini, is an Indian actress who has appeared in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu language films during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She started as a child artist in the Hindi fil ...

. It had musical score by Sangeetha Rajan and was released on 16 February 1990. The film shows the prequel story of the character Salem Vishnu from the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

film ''

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

''.

Plot

Vishnu ( Thiagarajan) was a clever student, but he cannot tolerate cheating at the school exam, and beats up the professor ( M. S. Bhaskar); he was subsequently excluded from the engineering school. He decides to work as a car mechanic. Vishnu and Shanthi (

) fell in love with each other. Vishnu's brother Siva ( R. Sarathkumar) is an honest municipal commissioner. Siva and his wife Lakshmi ( Geetha), a jailer, are transferred to the same city where Vishnu lives. They were shocked when Vishnu tells that he is working as a car mechanic. Kathavarayan (

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 ...

), the municipal chairman, and his brother Ashokan (

Ratheesh Ratheesh (1954–2002) was an Indian actor best known for his work in Malayalam cinema. He was a native of Kalavoor in the Alappuzha district of Kerala, India. He performed villainous roles during the 1990s. He had acted in 158 films with dir ...

) are corrupted, influential persons. Siva clashes with them. Meantime, Ashokan kills journalist Raji ( Vaishnavi), who sends the details of their illegal works to Siva. Ashokan is later sent to jail. Siva wants also to punish Kathavarayan, but Ashokan kills him. The guiltless Vishnu is sent to jail for killing his own brother. In jail, he meets his sister-in-law Lakshmi and his enemy Ashokan. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.

Cast

* Thiagarajan as Vishnu *

as Shanthi * R. Sarathkumar as Siva * Geetha as Lakshmi *

as Ashokan *

as Kathavarayan * Meesai Murugesan as Vishnu's father * S. N. Lakshmi as Vishnu's mother *

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Badaga and Malayalam mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or in ...

as Jailor Sundaram * Venniradai Moorthy as Muthu * V. K. Ramasamy as Pachai * Vaishnavi as Raji *

Jayamalini Jayamalini (or Jaya Malini) is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi movies. Career She was introduced to Tollywood in 1975 by Vittalacharya in the movie he produced, ''Aadadani Adrustam' ...

as Jaya * M. S. Bhaskar as Professor *

Omakuchi Narasimhan Narasimhan (c. 1936 - 12 March 2009), popularly known as Omakuchi, was an Indian stage and film actor. He acted in over 1,500 films in 14 Indian languages, predominantly in Tamil. Early life Born in Kumbakonam in 1936, Narasimhan made his ...

as Zamindar *

Oru Viral Krishna Rao Oru Viral Krishna Rao was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in Tamil-language films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani award, Rao got the nickname '' Oru Viral'' (one finger) for his first Tamil film in 1965. He acted in ...

as Lawyer *

K. R. Savithri K. R. Savithri (born 25 July 1952) is an Indian actress in Malayalam movies. She is one of the prominent supporting actresses in Malayalam and Tamil movies. She is born at Thiruthani. Her father is Ramachandra Nair and mother is from Kerala. A ...

*C. Pravin Kumar as Police officer *

Pasi Narayanan Narayanan, better known as Pasi Narayanan, was an Indian stage and film actor known for performing comedic roles alongside actor Goundamani. Narayanan acted in over 500 Tamil-language films and is known for the catchphrase, Early life Naraya ...

as Mechanic *

Kullamani Kullamani (1952–2013) was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in South Indian films. He acted over 500 films. He is known for films like '' Karagattakaran'', '' Apoorva Sagodharargal'', '' Panakkaran'', ''My Dear Marthandan ''My Dear ...

as Mechanic *

Vellai Subbaiah Vellai Subbaiah was an Indian actor who had appeared in more than 500 films and 1000 stage plays. He featured mostly in comedy roles and also minor roles. He is well known for his dialogue, "Thirumba Thirumba pesura nee..." in the movie Nesam ...

as Mechanic * Karuppu Subbiah as Mechanic

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by Sangeetha Rajan. The soundtrack, released in 1990, features 4 tracks with lyrics written by Vaali,

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he fi ...

, Kennedy and Thiagarajan.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 1863366, Salem Vishnu 1990 films 1990s Tamil-language films 1990 action films 1990 directorial debut films Indian action films