Karuthamma

Mokkatha, the wife of Mokkaiyan, a farmer in Pottalpetti village, is in labour. They already have two daughters and are keen to have a son; two daughters born earlier were killed soon after birth by feeding them with poisonous cactus extract. Unable to pay hefty dowries for their daughters' marriages, the villagers consider female infanticide to be acceptable. A new school teacher feels sad on learning about this heinous practice. When Mokkatha delivers a girl again, Mokkaiyan orders the village midwife to kill the baby. The midwife sadly tries to feed the cactus extract to the baby at a secluded place. The school teacher notices this, meets her, and requests to hand over the infant so that he can bring her up. She hands over the infant, and he moves away from the village with the child.

Years later, Stephen, a veterinarian, comes to the village. Mokkaiyan's first daughter Ponnatha is married to Thavasi, the son of Mokkaiyan's nefarious sister Kaliamma. The second daughter Karuthamma takes care of the family. After getting into some tiff with Stephen, Karuthamma falls in love with him.

Ponnatha has two daughters and is pregnant for the third time. Unfortunately, when a girl is born again, Kaliamma orders to kill it. To save her child, Ponnatha escapes with her baby and is chased by Thavasi, who beats her to death; the child also dies. He and Kaliamma enact a drama that Ponnatha committed suicide as her third child also a girl.

Karuthamma, devastated by the death of her sister, does not believe this story. Ponnatha had earlier expressed her fear to her that if she delivered a girl again, Kaliamma would kill her. When Karuthamma is giving a ceremonial bath to Ponnatha's body, she notices bloodstains on her abdomen. Concluding that she was murdered, Karuthamma stops the funeral and rushes to complain to the police. The village chairman Chellamuthu, who is close to Thavasi, asks the police not to intervene, hence the police do not. Karuthamma refuses to leave the station. Stephen, who is passing by, threatens action against the police if they do not act on her complaint, as he is also a government employee. Left with no option, the police take Ponnatha's body away and arrest Thavasi and Kaliamma.

Rosy, a doctor, comes to meet her close relative Stephen. Her presence and closeness with Stephen are misunderstood by Karuthamma. Rosy loves Stephen, but he only likes her. Kaliamma's husband celebrates her arrest by drinking with Mokkaiyan, who is not used to liquor. Mokkaiyan unfortunately suffers a paralytic attack and loses control of his limbs. Rosy attends to him and in the process gets attached to Mokkaiyan and Karuthamma.

A few weeks later, when Thavasi and Kaliamma get bail, they come to attack Karuthamma, but Stephen saves her. Chellamuthu manipulates the villagers to accept Thavasi's proposal that Karuthamma must marry Thavasi to take care of Ponnatha's two young daughters (by which the police case will also be closed). Chellamuthu, who has lent money to Mokkaiyan, threatens and seeks immediate repayment if he does not accept this proposal.

Thavasi's father realizes that his son is using the young children as bait and takes away the children with him one night. However, he is caught by Thavasi, who, motivated by Chellamuthu, burns his father to death. Thavasi takes the children away and forces Karuthamma to come with him to their village to marry him. Shocked with all this, Mokkaiyan consumes poison and is on his deathbed.

When Rosy expresses her love to Stephen, he gets surprised and states that he loves Karuthamma. Rosy is shocked as she was keen to marry him and decides to move away from the village. When the villagers ask her to treat Mokkaiyan, who is fighting for his life, she does not as she is keen to leave. When her father, the teacher arrives, the village midwife realizes that he is the same person who took Mokkiayan's third daughter. The midwife reveals to Rosy that Mokkaiyan is her real father, and the school teacher also confirms it. Rosy treats Mokkaiyan, who now realizes his mistake of killing female infants without realizing their worth.

Karuthamma, on the eve of her wedding, demands to see the children taken away earlier by Thavasi's father. However, Thavasi is unable to show his children (as they were taken by Chellamuthu to use them as bait to force himself on Karuthamma). That night, Chellamuthu makes Thavasi drunk and asks him to spare Karuthamma for that night. Thavasi agrees in a drunken state, which is overheard by Karuthamma, who also comes to know that Thavasi had killed his own father. When Chellamuthu goes to meet Karuthamma, she is well prepared to meet him. She murders Chellamuthu and then Thavasi. After saving Ponnatha's children, who were locked inside a box, she returns to her village. Realizing that Rosy is her own sister, Karuthamma asks her to look after the children and their father and leaves with the police. Stephen is sad but decides to wait for her.

• Raja as Stephen[1]
• Rajashree as Karuthamma[1]
• Maheswari as Rosy[1]
• Saranya as Ponnatha[1]
• Periyar Dasan as Mokkaiyan[1]
• Kamala Sekhar as Chellamuthu[2]
• Janagaraj as Kaliamma's husband[2]
• Ponvannan as Thavasi[1]
• Vadivukkarasi as Kaliamma[1]
• S. N. Lakshmi as Mooli[1]
• Vaani as Mokkatha[3]
• R. Sundarrajan as Soosai[3]

The film was titled after Bharathiraja's mother.[4] The story was based on a real-life incident in a village, and the script was written by Bharathiraja's relative M. Rathnakumar.[5] Periyar Dasan, who worked as a professor in Pachaiyappa's College, made his acting debut with this film, as did Rajashree and Maheswari;[6] Rajashree's voice was dubbed by Raadhika.[7] Kamalasekhar, the film's art director, also portrayed the village chairman Chellamuthu.[8]

The film explores female infanticide and the hatred that surrounds the birth of a female child.[3]

The soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu.[9] The songs gained Rahman notice for composing folk music, contrary to his reputation for composing westernised music.[10] The song "Poraale Ponnuthayi" is based on Mohanam raga.[11] The music of "Poraale Ponnuthayi" was reused for "Gurus of Peace", for the album Vande Mataram.[2]

The soundtrack was also released in Telugu in the dubbed version of the film Vanitha.[12]

Karuthamma was released on 3 November 1994,[3] and became a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.[13]

Ananda Vikatan mentioned in its review dated 4 December 1994, "Though the subject taken up was delicate, instead of making a documentary, the director has narrated the film, through visuals, which should be appreciated. Bharathiraja must be congratulated for making a heart – wrenching film on a delicate subject without lecturing us on the theme". The film was given 45 marks.[13] The Indian Express wrote, "Karuthamma is a film that will move many a human heart."[8]

The first film to bring to light the menace of female infanticide on screen, Karuthamma forced the government at national and state levels to act against this practice and bring in suitable laws to curb it. It became a catalyst for this change in the society,[13] and was instrumental in "making way for the ban on prenatal sexual identification".[16]

In Kadhal Sadugudu (2003), Theni Kunjarammal tries to kill a female child with milk. Super Subbu (Vivek), who witnesses this, says that he has been seeing this from the days of Karuthamma.[17] One of the songs, "Thenmerku Paruvakaatru" inspired a 2010 film of the same name.[18] Scenes from the film have been parodied in Thamizh Padam (2010), though female infanticide has been replaced with male infanticide. Periyar Dasan reprises his role from the original film.[19]

• Dhananjayan, G. (2014). Pride of Tamil Cinema: 1931 to 2013. Blue Ocean Publishers.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Karuthamma at IMDb