Pithamagan
Pithamagan is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Bala. The film stars Vikram, Suriya, Sangeetha and Laila in the lead roles. Produced by V. A. Durai, the film has cinematography by Balasubramaniem, lyrics are by Vaali, Pazhani Bharathi and Na. Muthukumar, dance has been choreographed by Brindha, editing by Suresh Urs, fights by Stun Siva and art direction by A. C. Pillai. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Ilayaraaja. The film plot is based on Jayakanthan's Nandhavanathil Oru Andi, the story of an undertaker. Upon release, the film met with critical acclaim and Vikram won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his role as Chithan. Owing to the success, the film was dubbed into Telugu and released as Sivaputrudu on 2 April 2004. The film was also remade in Kannada as Anatharu. It was also dubbed in Hindi as same title by B4U Movies.
Plot
An anonymous woman dies while giving birth in a graveyard. Her child, Chithan, is found and raised by the caretaker of the graveyard. Chithan grows up among corpses with minimal human contact and is perhaps more feral than autistic. He growls like a wolf, runs like a gorilla, has the unkempt appearance of an orangutan, but seems to understand loyalty and is a social animal. He ventures into a town in search of food and gets into trouble as he does not understand the concept of money. He is rescued by Gomathi, a petty ganja seller. She sees his ability to be loyal and enrolls him into the service of her employer, a large scale ganja producer. Chithan is caught during a drug raid and is arrested.Sakthi is a conman with a silver tongue. He gets into trouble when he cons a woman named Manju into losing all her personal effects in a game of dice. Sakthi gets sent to jail thanks to Manju's detective work. He meets Chithan in prison and starts protecting him out of sympathy and pity. Chithan starts to reciprocate to Sakthi's kindness with the only way he knows: by being as loyal as a dog.
Sakthi serves his term and then butts heads with the ganja producer to get Chithan out of jail. Chithan gets out but commits a crime when he obeys his master's instruction to burn the body of a murder victim. Sakthi, realising that Chithan is being used as accessory in crimes that he cannot comprehend, prevents Chithan from going back to working in the ganja fields. At the same time, a budding romance starts between Sakthi and Manju. Chithan too starts to see a shared spirit in Gomathi.
The police catches a wind of the murder and arrests Chithan. Sakthi gets Chithan to side with the police and goes against the ganja producer. The ganja producer later attacks and kills Sakthi and dumps his body in the middle of the road - all of this when Chithan is not around. Chithan does not understand that Sakthi is dead and zones out to outer space when everyone surrounds him. Gomathi, Manju, and the others are crying. Gomathi sees Chithan's confusion as indifference and angrily drives him away from Sakthi's body.
Chithan slowly starts to understand that Shakthi is dead as he sees him on the funeral pyre. His realization is complete when he wakes up in the morning next to the burnt remains of Shakthi's corpse. He experiences emotions that he has never experienced before: fury, agony, betrayal, and emotional pain that he has never felt. His body bears the scars of a million bruises, and his violence has always been self-defense and the defense of his masters. This realization of the meaning of death and the pain of losing a loved one breaks the feral chains that had wound up on his psyche.
Chithan then sets out like a man intent on destroying the world. He sets fire to the ganja fields, lets the ganja producer experience the pain of his loss, and then sets upon destroying him physically. He drives him through the street, taking his time by breaking a few bones at a time until he is done toying with him. He then kills the ganja producer and offers his body as a tribute to Manju, who now has lost her will to live.
Gomathi realizes what Chithan has been through and tries to get him to stay. However, Chithan turns back to the world of the graveyard among the corpses that cannot hurt him anymore.
Cast
- Vikram as Chithan
- Suriya as Sakthi
- Laila as Manju
- Sangeetha as Gomathi
- Mahadevan as Sekar Vasudevan, Ganja Producer
- Karunas as Karuvaayan
- Manobala as Sakthi's uncle
- Rajendran as Prison Warden
- Karuppu as Ganja Kuduki
- Ramji as Vasu
- Swaminathan as Raghu
- T. P. Gajendran as Director
- Soundhar
- Mu Ramaswamy
- Stun Siva as Police Inspector
- Simran as herself in a special appearance
Production
Most part of the Film was shot in a town called Bodinayakanur in Theni District. Bodinayakanur, which is surrounded by Western Ghats Hills and also known as the Cardamom Capital of India.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack album was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The lyrics were penned by Vaali, Palani Bharathi, Na. Muthukumar and Mu. Metha. The song "Piraiye Piraiye" is set in Pantuvarali raga.Track list
Telugu track list
Release
The film was released on 24 October 2003, coinciding with Deepavali. The film released alongside Vijay's Thirumalai, Ajith's Anjaneya and Arjun's Ottran.Critical reception
The film received unanimous critical acclaim particularly for Vikram and Surya's performances. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu praised Vikram as "Without any dialogue to support him he carves a niche for himself in the viewer's mind with his expressions and excellent body language" and Suriya as "Who would have thought that this young man, pitted against the serious Chithan, would prove so perfect a foil?" going on to declare the movie as "..a symphony on celluloid". Balaji Balasubramaniam of Thiraipadam.com reviewed as "With unique characterization, tremendous performances and a smooth screenplay, the movie offers a satisfying experience to the discerning viewer..." and noted "Vikram pretty much lives the role of the undertaker. With dry and streaked hair, dirty teeth and torn clothes, he looks the part and though he doesn't utter a word, he conveys everything through his expressions and body language". A reviewer at Sify.com noted, "..it is the expert performance of the lead actors that elevate the film above the commonplace".Film critic Baradwaj Rangan remarked, "Bala's ingeniousness is evident everywhere.... And he gets tremendous support from his leads...It all adds up to a first-rate film that excoriates as much as it entertains". Ilaiyaraja also received praise for his musical score, "Ilaiyaraja adds unmeasurable strength to many of the scenes with his background music". "The captivating numbers vouch for the fact that the Raja reigns supreme".
Awards
The film has won the following awards since its release:National Film Awards 2003
- Won – Silver Lotus Award for Best Actor – Vikram
- Won – Filmfare Best Film Award
- Won – Filmfare Best Director Award – Bala
- Won – Filmfare Best Actor – Vikram
- Won – Filmfare Best Actress – Laila
- Won – Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award – Suriya
- Won – Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award – Sangeetha
- Won – Best Actor – Vikram
- Won – Best Actress – Laila
- Won – Best Supporting Actress – Sangeetha
- Won – South India's Best Actor – Vikram
Remakes
The film is also to be remade in Hindi. Director Satish Kaushik has bought the remake rights of the film. Incidentally, Satish had earlier directed Salman Khan in Tere Naam, the Hindi remake of the Bala-Vikram film Sethu. Once again, Satish has approached Salman Khan to reprise Vikram's role. However the project failed to materialise.