Thalai Nagaram

Thalai Nagaram is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language gangster action film written and directed by Suraj and produced by V. Ravichandran. The film stars Sundar C in his lead acting debut and Jyothirmayi, while Vadivelu, Prakash Raj, Judo. K. K. Rathnam, K. S. Ravikumar, and Bose Venkat play supporting roles. This film was a low-budget production but enjoyed huge success. The soundtrack, composed by D. Imman, was a great hit, and the song "Yedho Ninaikiren" charted at the top position for a week. The film also has cinematography by K. S. Selvaraj and editing by Mu. Kasi Viswanath.

The film is a remake of the Malayalam film Abhimanyu, directed by Priyadarshan and starring Mohanlal. The film tells the story of a man who sacrifices his life to kick out gangsters who ruin other's lives.

The film was followed by Naai Sekar Returns (2022), a comedy spin-off of Vadivelu's character in the film, and a standalone sequel Thalainagaram 2(2023).

Plot
Subramaniam alias Right (Sundar C) is a rowdy in North Chennai. He runs a separate gang and also works as a sidekick and right-hand man to a big time don named Qaasim Bhai (Judo. K. K. Rathnam) who resides in North Chennai. Qaasim Bhai uses Right and his gang as professional killers whenever required. ACP Ravikumar (K. S. Ravikumar) believes in his own type of law by eliminating criminals instead of wasting time by the court and other procedures. Divya (Jyothimayi) a student, surprisingly enters into Right's life and takes shelter in his house. However, things change after she enters his life; both of them fall in love. At a situation, there arises a clash between Right and Qaasim Bhai. Right's friend Balu (Bose Venkat) kills Qaasim Bhai's son Nassir (Vikas Rishi) for ordering a trucker who rams a convoy which killed innocent children instead of only killing the intended target. Unfortunately, Balu is killed by Qaasim Bhai for killing Nassir. After seeing Balu's death, Right decides to change his lifestyle.

Parallel narration is the comedy track of Naai Shekar (Vadivelu), Divya's supposed uncle who wants to become a criminal.

For Right's surprise enters a corrupt ACP named Gopinath (Prakash Raj). He is on a hell bent quest to eradicate crime. He dislikes Right's attitude to leave the underworld and threatens Divya, who is molested in prison. After coming to know of this, Right decides to eliminate all of his foes once and for all. He hatches a plan and orders a sniper shooter (Vichu Vishwanath) to kill the police inspector of the station. He also orders a trucker (G. K.) and kills the lady inspector. Right kills Gopinath and then plans to kill Qaasim Bhai for Balu's death. Qassim Bhai arrives at the hotel, where he sees his wife Vaani's (Bhuvaneswari) wristwatch in the bedroom, which was previously gifted to him by the corrupt MLA (Delhi Ganesh). Qassim Bhai mistakenly kills the MLA for having an affair with Vani. Right then strangulates Qassim Bhai when he arrives at the basement to board his car. Finally, Right arrives at the dock for a getaway with Divya only to be killed by a battalion of police officers due to the betrayal by Sashi (Sashikumar), his own fellow gang member who mistakenly thinks that Right was behind his sister's suicide.

Production
Thalainagaram marked Sundar C.'s acting debut as a lead actor. Since the story is based in Chennai, it was shot in and around places like Ayodhyakuppam and Royapuram.

Soundtrack
The music is composed by D. Imman.

Reception
Sify wrote "On the whole Thalainagaram lacks substance and is worth a skip." Cinesouth wrote "Even though director Suraaj makes many mistakes, his attempt to make a time worn story line into a commercial film must be commended." Lajjavathi of Kalki wrote they have moved the film without any loss of vivacity from scene to scene. Even though it is a story that has already been handled by many people, there is a freshness to it while praising Vadiveli's humour, Jyothirmayi's acting but felt Sundar's innocent face didn't suit the gangster's role and passed muster in the role.

Box office
The film collected a distributor share of Rs 4 to 5 crores at the box office.

Legacy
Vadivelu's dialogue "Trisha illana Divya" ( If Not Trisha, Then Divya) inspired the title of a 2015 film Trisha Illana Nayanthara. The movie was remade in Telugu language with the title Nagaram.

Spin-off
The character Naai Sekar performed by Vadivelu attained cult status. Suraj, who directed this film, made a spin-off film on the character titled Naai Sekar Returns, which released in 2022 and had Vadivelu reprising his role as Naai Sekar.

Sequel
A sequel to the film, Thalainagaram 2, directed by V. Z. Durai, began production in 2021. The film features Sundar C, Pallak Lalwani, Prabhakar, and Thambi Ramaiah.