| Samudhiram | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | K. S. Ravikumar |
| Written by | Erode Soundar |
| Produced by | R. B. Choudary |
| Starring | Sarathkumar Murali Manoj Bharathiraja Kaveri Abhirami Sindhu Menon Monal |
| Cinematography | S. Murthy |
| Edited by | K. Thanikachalam |
| Music by | Sabesh–Murali |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 163 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Samudhiram (transl. Ocean) is a 2001 IndianTamil-languagedrama film written byErode Soundar and directed byK. S. Ravikumar. The film stars an ensemble cast ofSarathkumar,Murali,Manoj Bharathiraja,Kaveri,Abhirami,Sindhu Menon andMonal. The score and soundtrack are composed bySabesh–Murali.
Samudhiram released on 31 August 2001 and became a box office success. The film was remade in Telugu asSiva Rama Raju, in Bengali asKartabya and in Kannada asParamashiva.[1]
Selvarasu is the head of his family, and his two brothers Thangarasu and Chinnarasu are ready to give up their lives for him. The three brothers are very fond of their sister Rasamani. A rich man from the neighbouring villageChinniyampalayam Zamin Rangarajan, feels insulted when Thangarasu mishandles his son Aakash during a temple festival, and to take revenge, he comes with a wedding proposal to make Rasamani his daughter-in-law. At the time of the wedding, the groom's family demands the entire wealth of Selvarasu to be transferred to Rasamani as the dowry, for which Selvarasu and his brothers agree. The brothers are insulted at every opportunity, while Rasamani is also ill-treated by her husband and father in law.
Selvarasu is married to Lakshmi, while Thangarasu is married to his cousin Durga and Chinnarasu is in love with his classmate Priya. Rasamani conceives but still undergoes the torture of her family. Chinnarasu's wedding is arranged with Priya, and the brothers eagerly await for the arrival of Rasamani for the wedding. However, Rasamani is locked up in a room by Aakash, who is not permitting her to attend the wedding. Aakash also injures her feet while she tries to escape from her house with plans of attending the wedding. The brothers come to Rasamani's home requesting her to come for the wedding and are shocked to know that she is hurt and locked in a room. The brothers fight Aakash's goons. Rasamani gets furious and decides to end her relationship with Aakash. She removes thethaali and throws on the face of her husband and decides to go with her brothers. Thereafter, they got back their assets and she lived happily with her brothers.
ProducerR. B. Choudary's financial problems meant that the directorK. S. Ravikumar financed the first schedule of the film by himself. Choudary acknowledged and thanked Ravikumar at the film's audio launch function.[2]
In June 2001, during the shoot of the film in theMandya district of Karnataka, the team were attacked by angry villagers. The set was trashed and crew was injured.[3] The film's original ending showed Rasamani leaving her husband and going back to her brothers' house. This was later changed to show Rasamani's husband and father-in-law getting reformed and accepting her.[4][5]
Sabesh–Murali, brothers of music composerDeva, made their debut as full-fledged composers with this project after composing background music for their brother's films previously.[6][7] The song "Vidiya Vidiya" is set in theCarnatic ragaArabhi.[8]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Kaa Vitta" | Pa. Vijay | Mano,Anuradha Sriram | |
| 2. | "Kandupidi" | Ilaiyakamban | Hariharan, Ganga | |
| 3. | "Azhagana Chinna Devathai" | Kalaikumar | Shankar Mahadevan, Harini | |
| 4. | "Vidiya Vidiya" | Viveka | Udit Narayan,Sadhana Sargam | |
| 5. | "Pineaple Vannathodu" | Pa Vijay | Shankar Mahadevan,Sujatha Mohan |
Samudhiram was released on 31 August 2001.[6] Malathi Rangarajan fromThe Hindu stated thatSamudhiram "is a story of the sincere affection that exists in a family – love that is more filial than fraternal; attachment that is more unnatural than normal".[9] Visual Dasan ofKalki feltSamudhiram is an example of Choudary making many such films as audience are ready to watch these kind of films, he however praised Sabesh–Murali's music, Sindhu's acting and Goundamani and Senthil's humour and concluded saying the director, who understands that cinema is a dream world, can learn to shoot realistically by watching his discipleCheran.[10]