Vallarasu

Vallarasu is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by N. Maharajan in his debut. The film stars Vijayakanth and Devayani. The music is by Deva. It was released on 14 April 2000 to positive reviews and became a success. The film was remade in Hindi as Indian (2001) by the same director and Mukesh Rishi reprising his role. In addition, the film was dubbed into Telugu as Commissioner Narasimha Naidu.

Plot
Vallarasu (Vijayakanth) is the honest Deputy Commissioner of Police who has arrested Wasim Khan (Mukesh Rishi), a terrorist from Pakistan. His wife is Anjali (Devayani), and they both have two children. Vallarasu kills his senior police officer and father-in-law (Raghuvaran) because he knows that the latter is working with terrorists. Anjali leaves Vallarasu after she learns that he killed her father. Vallarasu takes the help of youths (including Darshan and Sriman) who are disillusioned by their inability to join the police force to fight violence. Vallarasu fights R. Kandasamy (P. Vasu), a rich man who is behind the attempts to destabilize the country. With the help of Seshadri (Karan), a software engineer, Vallarasu succeeds in killing Kandasamy's son. In retaliation, Kandaswamy attacks Raheem (Sriman) and Seshadri, who both die. In the climax, Anjali unites with Vallarasu after knowing the truth. Vallarasu also kills both Kandasamy and Wasim Khan.

Production
One scene was of Vijayakanth and Devayani at a jewellery shop in T. Nagar in Chennai while the song following it was filmed near Pollachi and 100 dancers joined the lead pair. Choreography was by dance master Haridas. A lavish set was erected at A.V.M. Studios where a stunt scene was filmed between Vijayakanth and Richard. Some stunt scenes were filmed between Vijayakanth and Richard. Some stunt artists who portrayed Richard's henchmen also participated in the shot. Apart from Chennai, shooting locations were at New Delhi and Kulu Manali. Bollywood villain Mukesh Rishi made his debut in Tamil cinema with this film. Director P. Vasu made his debut as an actor with this film in a negative role and Darshan would later as one of biggest stars in Kannada cinema, made his debut in small role.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack album and background score were composed by Deva.

Reception
A critic from TMCafe.com gave the film a positive review, stating the "script is spiced with the right dose of emotion, sentiment and action, mixed with a heavy dose of patriotism" and that "Maharajan handles the megaphone like a seasoned veteran". The Hindu wrote, "The overpowering grit and idealism that Vallarasu exudes, rubs off on the audience too and is an energising factor, at least to a certain extent".