Koodal Nagar

Koodal Nagar is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by first-timer Seenu Ramasamy. The film stars Bharath in dual lead roles with Bhavana and Sandhya. The film opened in 5 April 2007 to negative reviews and was declared as below average at the box office. It is Bharath's only release in 2007 and the only film where he played a dual role in his career.

Plot
The story is set in a suburb of Madurai. Suryan and Chandran are twins. Suryan, the elder of the two, is a soft-spoken guy who works at a local lending library and falls in love with Manimekalai, the daughter of Namasivayam, the local politician-don and MLA. Chandran, the younger one, works as a mortuary assistant in the local government hospital, and he is one among Namasivayam's bad guys who are in charge of his election campaign. Chandran is romantically linked to a local girl named Tamizhselvi. Namasivayam learns of his daughter's love affair with Suryan and orders to some killers to kill Suryan. However, they accidentally attack Chandran, who succeeds in escaping from them. Later, Chandran visits Manimekalai and requests her to forget his brother. Nevertheless, she plans to elope with Suryan. They go away and wait for the bus. Once the bus arrives, Suryan approaches it, only to be struck by a knife in the head. Namasivayam's goons have gotten to know about the plan and have come to kill Suryan. They take Manimekalai and leave. Chandran is later shocked to learn that the dead body which came into the mortuary for preparation for burial is none other than his own brother. Enraged by this, he cycles to Namasivayam's house to kill him. But their gardener prevents him from doing anything brash. Chandran later goes to an out-of-town lodge where Namasivayam stays. His goons check Chandran thoroughly and let him go up to meet Namasivayam. He cries in front of Namasivayam saying their political opponents have killed his brother, mistaking for himself. Namasivayam pretends to call the police and a judge to sort things out. Chandran then leaves, and the next day, Manimekalai commits suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in her bedroom. Namasivayam goes to the mortuary to pay respect to Suryan's body. Once he is in the "body", he gets up and kills Namasivayam and two of his goons. It is Chandran, who acted like the dead body of his brother, and Tamizhselvi helps him by closing the doors of the mortuary and not letting the other goons in. All the women who were flocked to the scene hit the other goons and chase them away. Later, it is seen that both Chandran and Tamizhselvi are arrested by the police.

Production
Production work for the film began in late 2004, with Sandhya signed up to portray a role even before the release of her first film, Kadhal (2004). The first schedule was held at Madurai then shifted to Dindigul where a fight scene was picturised and a set resembling village was built there. The filming was also held at Karaikudi and Kodaikanal.

Songs
The songs are composed by Sabesh–Murali. The audio was launched on Radha Park Inn. Rediff wrote "Overall, the album just doles out routine fare".


 * 1) Tamil Selvi Tamil Selvi" - Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam
 * 2) Vaarrar Ayya Vaarraru" - Thulasidhas
 * 3) Yaarathu Yaarathu" - Haricharan, Swetha
 * 4) "Yakka Nillukka" - Karthik
 * 5) "Aayiram Thalaiyapaathu" - Tippu
 * 6) "Kaalgal Munnalae" - Chandre

Reception
Indiaglitz wrote "Seenu Ramasamy has tried to balance both commercial and realistic cinema. Had he infused more pace in the first half, Koodal Nagar would have been more interesting". Filmibeat wrote "Koodal Nagar is yet another Bharath movie with a Madurai backdrop. But it is a paler version of the previous two, or in other words it is looks like a sequel to movies like Kaadhal and Veyyil that were big hits. But what makes Koodal Nagar worth a look is its treatment and presentation that Director Cheenu Ramasamy has been able to give it along with a stellar performance by Bharat that melts one's heart". The Hindu wrote "Annamalai Films (P) Ltd.'s `Koodal Nagar' (U) is well begun and well done too, for most part of the way — till the climax, to be specific. At which point writer-director Seenu Ramasamy churns out the usual finale you've witnessed in ever so many films. Having apprenticed under the likes of Balu Mahendra and Seeman, Seenu Ramasamy shows that he is a technician worth taking note of. The natural flavour in the narration is an interesting aspect of `Koodal Nagar'". Lajjavathi of Kalki praised Bharath's acting, Sabesh-Murali's music, Prabhu's cinematography and added in the second half love dominated the film which could have been avoided and the film's resemblance to Veyil is evident.