Uliyin Osai

Uliyin Osai is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language historical romance film written by Ilavenil in his directorial debut. It is based on M. Karunanidhi's short Sarapallam Chamundi, published in the magazine Murasoli. The film stars Vineeth, Keerthi Chawla and Akshaya, while Sarath Babu, Manorama, Kovai Sarala, and Ganja Karuppu play supporting roles. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by Ilaiyaraaja with cinematography by B. Kannan and editing by Suresh Urs. The film released on 4 July 2008.

Plot
The story is set in 1005 AD. Raja Raja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola are benevolent rulers of the Chola dynasty. As a mark of respect to the gods, they want to build a temple in Thanjavur. They appoint the master sculptor Iniyan, a handsome young man who is also a good dancer, to do the sculpture work for the big temple. However, Iniyan finds the palace 'narthaki' Muthunagai not up to the mark and is unable to find the right girl to pose as the model for his sculpture work. Meanwhile, he meets a village girl Chamundi, who is said to be the granddaughter of a shepherd woman Azhagi, who is not only beautiful but has an hourglass-like figure and dances like a dream. Iniyan slowly falls in love with his 'model', and when he expresses his love for her, she spurns it as she is the Queen herself. An absolutely shattered sculptor in a moment of remorse does something which is shocking and is the real twist in the tale.

Cast

 * Vineeth as Iniyan
 * Keerthi Chawla as Chamundi
 * Akshaya as Muthunagai
 * Sarath Babu as Raja Raja Chola I
 * Manorama as Azhagi
 * Kovai Sarala as Sokki
 * Ganja Karuppu as Soodamani
 * Thalaivasal Vijay as Manikandan
 * Bala Singh as Brammarayar
 * Suja Varunee

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Reception
Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff wrote "[..] the biggest flaw is the script itself, which based on a tiny story, has been stretched to two-and-a-half hours". Behindwoods wrote "On the whole, Uliyin Osai is not a film with great merits but is certainly something different from the regular fare that we get. For those who care for something different on the screen this movie is worth a watch. Kalaignar's dialogues in classical Tamil are a rarity these days and connoisseurs of the language will enjoy it". The film won three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards: Best Dialogue Writer (Karunanidhi), Best Comedian (Kovai Sarala) and Best Choreographer (K. Sivasankar).