''Vaikarai Pookkal'' () is a 1996 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

romantic drama Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

film directed by E. Mu. Vetrivalan. The film stars

Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

, Rajashree,

Ponvannan Ponvannan (born Shanmugam; 23 September 1964) is an Indian actor and director who has worked in Tamil cinema and television. After beginning his career as an artist (painter), Ponvannan apprenticed as a director and writer under Bharathiraja. H ...

and newcomer Annam, with

Shanmugasundaram Shanmugasundaram was an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil films. He began his career as an actor by starring in '' Ratha Thilagam'' (1963) and '' Karnan'' (1964), and continued his career for seven decades. He is also a dubbing artist. He ...

Samikannu Samikannu (15 April 1923 – 3 June 2017) was an Indian actor who had acted in over 400 Tamil-language films in supporting and comedy roles. He is capable of doing whatever role is best. He is notable character is 'Payapulla' in ''Mullum Malaru ...

, A. K. Veerasamy, Karan and Tharini playing supporting roles. It was released on 26 January 1996.

Plot

Many years ago, in the village Rasarasanpatti, Nallathambi (

) who was from a poor family fell in love with Maari (Tharini) who was from a wealthy family. Her brother Vellaisamy Gounder (

), the village chief, was against their love and humiliated him for being poor. Thereafter, Nallathambi married a lower-caste woman and Vellaisamy Gounder who strictly followed the

caste system A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...

forced them to live outside their village. His wife (Varalakshmi) then died during childbirth. Back to the present, Nallathambi's son Soori (Ponvannan) is a vagabond smuggling sandalwood in

Kolli Malai Kolli Malai also known as Kolli Hills, is a Town,Hill station and Kollimalai Taluk, Taluk in Namakkal district, in Tamil Nadu, India. Origin of the name The Mountain is named Kolli Malai after the name of Goddess Etukkai Amman (also known as Ko ...

. Deivanai ( Rajashree) and Dhamayanthi (Annam) are sisters and they are the relatives of Vellaisamy Gounder. Deivanai and the village doctor Raja (

) fall in love with each other while Soori is still in love with his childhood sweetheart Dhamayanthi. In the meantime, Vellaisamy Gounder's son Shankar ( Karan) who studied in the city returns to his native village and rapes a mentally ill village woman. Raja and Deivanai eventually disclose their love affair to Vellaisamy Gounder and when he asks about Raja's caste, Raja refuses to tell him, therefore, Vellaisamy Gounder refuses to marry them. Deivanai then marries(Rajkanth) who has been fraudulently married to many women and the groom is arrested just after the marriage. Shankar was behind this scam and he now wants to marry her sister Dhamayanthi. Thereafter, Vellaisamy Gounder disowns his son Shankar for raping a mentally ill woman and decides to take care of the victim, and Vellaisamy Gounder finally understands that being caste-oriented was stupid. The film ends with Raja and Deivanai falling in love again and Dhamayanthi accepting Soori's true love.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Devendran Devendran also known as Ravi Devendran is an Indian music composer who works in Tamil-language films. He is known for the melodious composition of chartbuster ''Kannukkul Nooru Nilava...'' from the Bharathiraja directed film ''Vedham Pudhithu' ...

Reception

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 harmful effects of caste considerations form the theme of Navachitra Cine Arts' ''Vaigarai Pookal'', the stage atmosphere prevalent right through the movie robbing it of value, if any".

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 30874605 1990s Indian films 1990s Tamil-language films 1996 directorial debut films 1996 films 1996 romantic drama films Films about the caste system in India Films scored by Devendran Indian romantic drama films Tamil-language Indian films