Thimiru

Thimiru is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Tarun Gopi in his directorial debut and produced by Vikram Krishna under the banner of G K Film Corporation. It stars Vishal, Reema Sen and Sriya Reddy in the lead roles, while Vadivelu, Manoj K. Jayan and former Indian footballer I. M. Vijayan play supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja.

Thimiru was released on 4 August 2006 and became one of the top-grossing Tamil films in 2006. The film also has been dubbed in Telugu as Pogaru. It was later remade by director Vishal Raj in Kannada as Minchu but failed to repeat the success of its original version.

Plot
Ganesh arrives from Madurai to continue his MBBS degree in Chennai. Srimathy is Ganesh's professor's daughter, who wants to meet Ganesh and thank him for helping her escape from the clutches of goons. When Ganesh and Srimathy meet, they are surprised as they already know each other, which leads to Ganesh and Srimathy's past.

Past: Eswari is an arrogant moneylender who lends money at usurious rates and goes after families who fail to repay. Srimathy's family falls afoul of Eswari, where Ganesh helps Srimathy's folks. Eswari falls for Ganesh's bravery and proposes to him, but he rejects her. Eswari kidnaps Ganesh's parents and threatens him to accept her, but Ganesh thwarts all her plans. Eswari angrily tries to kill Ganesh but accidentally dies in a mishap. Eswari's brothers Periya Karuppu and Chinna Karuppu assume Ganesh and Srimathy to be the reason for their sister's death, where they resolve to kill him.

Present: Chinna Karuppu learns that Ganesh and Srimathy are in Chennai and confronts him. Ganesh defeats Chinna Karuppu, who falls down from a building despite Ganesh trying to save him. Periya Karuppu confronts Ganesh and Srimathy, but Ganesh defeats them and reveals about his efforts to save Chinna Karuppu and Eshwari, where he tells Periya Karuppu to reform himself. Ganesh and Srimathy walk away happily after realizing their love for each other.

Production
Tarun was keen on casting anchor Sriya Reddy in a villainous role and was only successful in signing her on after several rounds of negotiation, with the casting subsequently winning acclaim post-release.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja in his second collaboration with Vishal after Sandakozhi (2005). The soundtrack released on 21 July 2006 and features 6 tracks overall, including an instrumental track. The lyrics were written by Pa. Vijay, Na. Muthukumar and Yugabharathi. Rajesh Ramnath lifted the five songs for the Kannada version of the film, Minchu, not giving due credits to the original composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. The track "Maana Madurai" was initially composed for the delayed film Thaamirabharani (2007), another Vishal-starrer, but later used in Thimiru.

Reception
Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "A promising effort by the director, which however falls short of the entertainment value of Vishal's earlier film Sandakozhi." Behindwoods wrote "If you are looking for the Sandakozhi effect again with Vishal, do not miss Thimiru. Vishal probably feels he fits the bill of the ‘angry young man’ perfectly." Rajaraman. R of Nowrunning wrote "After giving a good hit in Sandakozhi, Vishal has scored a hattrick with this movie. Thimiru is a thorough entertainer with gripping fight sequences and excellent screenplay." Indiaglitz wrote "An action-packed entertainer with the right mix of commercial ingredients, Thimiru is one for the frontbenchers (and the box office)." However Lajjavathi of Kalki gave a negative review panned Shreya Reddy's character as overdose, Vadivelu's humour of getting beaten up as boring and logical mistakes but praised Yuvan's music and editing.