Naan Sigappu Manithan (1985 film)

Vijay (Rajinikanth) is a Tamil professor living with his widowed mother and his sister. He is in love with Uma (Ambika), a lawyer. During a visit to his friend Ravi's (Nizhalgal Ravi) house, he is disgusted by goings-on in his neighborhood. Illicit liquor is being sold at a tea-stall while prostitution is flourishing in another house in the same colony. But his complaints to the police, yield nothing since the policeman is on the villains' payroll and manages to warn them before making a raid. When Ravi's sister is raped and killed and the perpetrator Mohanraj (Sathyaraj) gets off scot-free with help from a minister, Vijay and Ravi take matters into their own hands and clean up the tea-stall and brothel on their own. Wanting to teach Vijay a lesson, Mohanraj and his goondas rape his sister (who then commits suicide) and kill his mother. Vijay then turns into a vigilante, walking the streets at nights and dealing out his own brand of justice - shoot first and ask questions later - to the rowdies and goondas. He soon becomes known as Robin Hood, helper of the poor and the police sends Singaaram (Bhagyaraj), a CID officer to unmask Robin Hood. Vijay kills Mohanraj and his uncle. Now Vijay surrenders to Singaram revealing the truth but Singaram mentions that he has already found the truth and decided not to arrest Vijay as he cleans up the society. But Vijay feels guilty for his murders and surrenders to police. Uma appears in court in favour of Vijay and argues. The day before the judgment, Singaram masks as a criminal and tries to molest the judge's daughter, seeing which the judge tries to shoot the criminal. Now Singaram reveals his identity and mentions that his intention was to make the judge understand that Vijay was also under similar situation before. Finally the judge sentences Vijay for lifetime imprisonment but recommends to the president of India for granting a pardon.

Naan Sigappu Manithan is based on the American film Death Wish (1974) and its sequel Death Wish II (1982). According to Jump Cut, one factor that differentiates Naan Sigappu Manithan from those films is the "unleashing of nationalist angst in a climactic courtroom drama scene".[2]

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.[3]

• Naan Sigappu Manithan at IMDb