Thendral (film)

Thendral is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Thangar Bachan and produced by V. Ravichandran. The film stars Parthiban and Uma, with Rajashree in a pivotal role. It was released on 5 February 2004.

Plot
In opening scene, we see a man walking towards a grave in middle of a farmland, lighting up a lamp and keeping food in a banana leaf. He slowly places his head on grave.

The film slowly moves back to 1989, Nalangili is a reputed writer with a revolutionary mindset. He even refuses to take the sahitya award and instead asks the president to provide justice to Tamilnadu on the Cauvery issue. Thamarai aka Thamaraichelvi is a huge fan of Nalangili and harbours a secret crush on him. She lives with her mother in a hut in Aynavaram, madras where they provide milk to neighbouring homes to earn a living. Nalangili also lives in same locality. Venkatrama Iyer lives next to nalangili's house and is annoyed by his actions.

One day, Nalangili interferes in temple kumbabishekam in the locality and is arrested. In prison, he comes across a man who is on death row for a false case on him. He narrates to Nalangili that his father and him used to be parai artists in his village and his father lost his hand in an altercation with a caste Hindu. Meanwhile Thamarai's mother dies in a fire accident and she is adopted by her relative family. They plan to marry her to their son.

She escapes to Tiruchirapalli but is accidentally trafficked to Nalangili. But he mistakes her for a prostitute and sleeps with her giving her money thinking she is a call girl. Soon she moves to palani and gives birth to a boy, she names him Valavan and raises him in pazhanii. Valavan occasionally asks for his father but Thamarai does not reveal it. One day the boys in his locality tease him on his birth and he hits them with stones and runs away. He manages to stumble across Nalangili and stays with him. They slowly bond with each other. One day Valavan and Nalangili fight with each other due to Nalangili bringing in prostitutes.

Valavan disappears and Nalangili tries to find him. Thamarai comes to Madras and searches for him. Finally Nalangili and Valavan go to Pazhanii. Nalangili finds out from Thamarai's diary that he is the biological father of Valavan. He also understands her love for him.

Meanwhile Thamarai falls into the sewers and slowly passes away in hospital. She tells Valavan that Nalangili is his father. Nalangili decides to live for his son.

Production
Thangar Bachan initially approached Karthik to play the lead role, but the actor declined and Parthiban was instead cast. Most of the film was shot at Palani. A song featuring Uma was shot at Palani, Godavari, Rajamundhry and the beach at Visakhapatnam.

Soundtrack
The music was composed by Vidyasagar.

Reception
Daily News wrote, "the movie moves on without the usual cinematic trends at the start but to make the movie interesting, in the end, the director makes use of those trends. Yet, Thendral has jointly touched the audience with its absorbing story." Sify lauded the cast performances but felt "the director has given undue importance to the character of Valavan who becomes irritating towards the end". The reviewer also criticised the music but praised the cinematography. Cinesouth wrote "Almost all the films in Tamil are made with the hero in mind. In such a scenario, Thangar Bachchan deserves an applause for making a film from the woman's point of view. But, does that need so many tears and weeping sessions? Is it right to depress the audience too?". Despite critical acclaim, the film's collections were low on during the first day of the release.