Pagal Nilavu

Selvam is an aimless youth in Muttam, Kanyakumari. Out of a sense of deep gratitude, he ends up joining the gang of Devaraj alias Periyavar and complications arise when he falls in love with Jyothi, the sister of Peter, an honest and committed police inspector who is newly posted to the town. Periyavar pretty much runs the town and though he helps people in need, he is a diabolical kingpin who will not compromise on his hold of the town for anything. He wins Selvam's undying loyalty when he helps him with money and power at a critical juncture to save his mother.

In this backdrop Peter takes charge and moves into the town with his sister and daughter. Being uncompromising in his morals, Peter is automatically drawn into a game of one-upmanship with Periyavar and his gang. He also consequentially cannot stand Periyavar's chief henchman Selvam, and is consequentially drawn into continuous verbal and physical duels with him. Selvam meanwhile falls hook line and sinker to Jyothi and tries every trick in the book to woo her and eventually wins.

• Murali as Selvam[3]
• Revathi as Jyothi[3]
• Sathyaraj as Devarajan[3]
• Sarath Babu as Peter[3]
• Raadhika
• Goundamani as George Kutty
• Nizhalgal Ravi
• Poovilangu Mohan
• Venu Arvind
• Isari Velan as mudaliyar

Mani Ratnam and G. Thyagarajan of Sathya Jyothi Films were childhood friends and after the latter became a producer, he was keen to make a film directed by Ratnam. Like with the producer of Unaru (1984), Ratnam initially narrated the script of Mouna Ragam (1986), then under the title of Divya, but Thyagarajan wanted an action film; the pair eventually began work on Pagal Nilavu. The producer suggested that Sathyaraj should play a character, while Murali and Revathi were also signed on for the lead roles in the film. Sarath Babu and Raadhika were also selected to portray supporting roles. As the film was set in a small town milieu, Ratnam felt that he could not do justice to the local dialogues and A. L. Narayanan was drafted in to help work on the dialogues.[4] The film was Ratnam's first in Tamil.[5]

Pagal Nilavu was the first Mani Ratnam film to have standalone songs, which had to be picturised and he shot the videos of "Maina Maina" and "Nee Appothu", one after another. To include more commercial elements, Thyagarajan included a comedy tack written by J. Livingston and Kumar, featuring Goundamani as a Malayali.[6] Cinematography was handled by Ramachandra Babu, and editing by B. Lenin.[1]

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.[7]

The film was unsuccessful at the box office.[2]

• Rangan, Baradwaj (2012). Conversations with Mani Ratnam. Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-670-08520-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Pagal Nilavu at IMDb