Thalapathi

14-year-old Kalyani delivers a boy in seclusion, fearing societal backlash and incapacity. She abandons him, heavy-hearted, placing him inside a moving goods train, which a slum dweller finds. The slum procures him as their common child, naming him Surya and they collectively raise him honest. He grows up, intolerant of injustice especially to the poor, though he wonders why his biological mother had impetuously abandoned him. A yellow shawl was the only identity he had of his mother, which she had placed him in when casting him away.

Devaraj, a powerful don who is kind yet feared by most in the society, also fights injustice, but by violent means. Ramana, an auxiliary of Deva's, whose abusive demeanour led Surya to attack him, succumbs to death. Surya is arrested for this. Once Deva perceives Ramana's felony and realises Surya's cause was genuine, he bails him out. Thus, Surya and Deva get to understand each other as both share similar social ideologies despite getting off on the wrong foot. Deva declares Surya his "Thalapathi" (commander) and best friend.

Arjun, the city's new district collector, wants to end violence by lawful means. He is the second son of Kalyani, now a doctor. After the abandonment of her firstborn, she wed a man who accepted her, despite knowing her past. Kalyani never let Arjun know the ordeal she faced as a teenager, but is constantly grieved by thoughts of her long-lost firstborn. Meanwhile, Surya gets wooed by a Brahmin girl, Subbulaxmi who is smitten by his transparent nature, restraining crimes.

Surya's appraisal to Deva leads the people in the locality to pay utmost respect to both. Both of them continue objecting to societal incongruencies, which other dons, like Kalivardhan, incite through moles in governance. While Deva leads Surya to help curb those unlawful discrepancies, Subbulaxmi initially despises Surya's use of violence and tries to persuade him against it. Deva tries to get an alliance between Subbulaxmi and Surya, but her orthodox father objects. Her marriage is subsequently arranged with Arjun.

Arjun turns to target Deva and Surya as they inflict violence, in the name of fighting organised crime. His attempts to chain them are futile. Meanwhile, Padma, Ramana's widow, makes Surya feel guilty for the sufferings he brought her by killing Ramana. Deva, understanding the pain a widow and single mother bears, shelters them. Padma, however, confesses that she is constantly troubled by the men surrounding her with dishonourable intentions, who concoct reasons to make advances towards her. Deva, considering Padma and her daughter's safety and Surya's future, requests both of them to accept each other. A guilt-ridden Surya marries Padma, and wins her child's affection eventually.

Later, at a medical camp, Kalyani meets Padma and her daughter along with the same shawl in which she wrapped Surya. Kalyani's husband, too, indicates that Surya was actually Kalyani's long lost son during a suspect identification. He secretly meets Surya and reveals the truth of his origin to him. Surya asks his stepfather to promise not to let his mother know of him as it would pain her to know that her son has grown to be a vigilante. Kalyani eventually finds Surya and meets him. Surya vows that he will not harm Arjun for her sake.

The long-standing feud between Deva and Kalivardhan, who is Deva's main rival, in due course of time, makes Surya admit the truth about his family when Deva doubts Surya's intentions after learning of his secret meeting with his stepfather and mother. Deva is pleased to know that, despite knowing Arjun was his half-brother, Surya still preferred to side with him and support him during unforeseen situations, thus valuing their friendship over family. As an outcome of this, Deva decides to surrender.

Deva and Surya meet Arjun, who now knows who Surya is through his mother. Suddenly, Kalivardhan's henchmen open fire, and Deva is killed. Enraged, Surya murders Kalivardhan's henchmen and Kalivardhan himself. He surrenders to the police, but is released due to lack of evidence. Arjun is later transferred and relocates to another city with Subbulaxmi, while Kalyani prefers staying with Surya.

• Rajinikanth as Surya[1]
• Mammootty as Devaraj (Deva)[1]
• Arvind as Arjun[1]
• Jaishankar as Arjun's father[1]
• Amrish Puri as Kalivardhan[1]
• Srividya as Kalyani[1]
• Bhanupriya as Padma[1]
• Shobana as Subbulaxmi[1]
• Geetha as Selvi[1]
• Nagesh as Panthulu[1]
• Charuhasan as Subbulaxmi's father[3]
• Kitty as Sundaram[4]
• Sonu Walia (special appearance in the song "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu")[5]
• Manoj K. Jayan as Manoharan[1]
• Dinesh as Ramana[6]

Thalapathi is a contemporary adaptation of the Mahabharata. It does not, however, retain the epic's ensemble nature as the sole protagonist of the film is Surya.[24] The character of Subbulaxmi is based on Draupadi, while Arjun and Kalyani are based on Arjuna and Kunti respectively.[31] The film was not originally publicised as an adaptation of the Mahabharata; Ratnam said this was because the "parallels are hidden sufficiently inside the story to make it work. That is the way I wanted it – at a layer below and not crying out loud."[32] Venkateswaran said the film "questions people's normally held ideas of friendship".[33]

Ratnam refused to state who was the father of Surya, citing that the film "consciously avoids the who and the how of the underage girl's first love. It was the child, the son of Surya, who formed the story".[34] The name Surya was chosen to emphasise the character's connection to the sun, similar to how Karna is the son of the sun god Surya in the Mahabharata.[17] Ratnam never considered killing off Surya, unlike the Mahabharata where Karna dies, because he "always wished that he lived on. So much has gone wrong. There's so much stacked against him. Maybe there's a bit of hope, a bit of optimism in this, but I felt that his death would look too doomed, too tragic."[35]

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, and released on 23 April 1991.[36] It was the last collaboration between him and Ratnam.[37] According to Sivan, Ilaiyaraaja finished composing the entire soundtrack in just "half a day".[5] The original Tamil version of the soundtrack album features seven songs with lyrics written by Vaali.[36] The Telugu-dubbed version features lyrics penned by Rajashri.[38] The Hindi-dubbed version Dalapathi has six songs, which were written by P. K. Mishra.[39]

The first song to be composed for the film was "Chinna Thayaval", although Ilaiyaraaja had given the tune of "Putham Puthu Poo" to Ratnam much earlier.[40] The former song is set in Charukesi, a Carnatic raga,[41] and the latter is set in Hamsanandi.[42] The recording for "Sundari Kannal", set in Kalyani, took place in Mumbai with R. D. Burman's orchestra.[43][44] "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" was conceived and composed to introduce Subbulaxmi onscreen,[45] and is set in Abheri.[46] "Yamunai Aatrile" is set in Yamunakalyani.[47] The Bhogi-themed "Margazhithan" was inspired by Tamil folk music.[48]

The audio rights were sold to Lahari Music for ₹72 lakh (equivalent to ₹5.0 crore or US$700,000 in 2019), then a record price.[49] The soundtrack was included in The Guardian's 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die.[50] "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" was placed fourth amongst the songs listed in a BBC World Top Ten Popular Songs of All-time.[51] It was also featured in the 2012 Hindi film Agent Vinod, and Lahari sued that film's producer Saif Ali Khan for using the song without permission.[52][53] "Kaattukuyilu" was sampled by M.I.A. for the song "Bamboo Banga" from the album Kala (2007).[54] "Yamunai Aatrile" was reused in '96 (2018), with this version sung by Chinmayi.[55]

All lyrics are written by P. K. Mishra; all music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

All lyrics are written by Rajashri; all music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

In a first-of-its-kind marketing strategy in India, GV Films launched "a whole range of consumer products" based on the lead character of Thalapathi. As part of the marketing strategy, all products would be "of the highest quality" and sport the film's name.[56]

Thalapathi was released on 5 November 1991,[57] during the festive occasion of Diwali. Despite facing competition from other Diwali releases such as Gunaa and Rudhra,[58] it emerged a critical and commercial success.[59]

C. S. Amudhan said Thalapathi was "really ahead of its time" and called it "intellectual entertaining cinema". Karthik Subbaraj said that he watched the film during his childhood. Several references to the film are made in Subbaraj's 2015 blockbuster gangster film Jigarthanda. Rajinikanth's daughter, director Soundarya recalled, "I remember Thalapathy most vividly as that was the first time I went for a first-day-first-show ever".[66] Thamizh Padam (2010) parodied Thalapathi by featuring scenes with characters under dim light and one-word dialogues.[67] Atlee who directed Raja Rani (2013) cites Thalapathi was the main inspiration for him to consider cinema as a career.[68] Soundarya has stated that Rajinikanth's hairstyle in her directorial venture Kochadaiiyaan (2014) was inspired by his appearance in Thalapathi.[69] Baradwaj Rangan compared Kadal (2013) to Thalapathi as they both feature a character "who yearns for a lost mother and who is coerced into a life of crime".[70] The film was remade in Kannada as Annavru (2003),[71] and in November 2011, Bollywood producer Bharat Shah acquired the Hindi remake rights.[72]

• Ramachandran, Naman (2014) [2012]. Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography. Penguin Books. ISBN 9788184757965.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Rangan, Baradwaj (2012). Conversations with Mani Ratnam. Penguin Books. ISBN 8184756909.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Sundararaman (2007) [2005]. Raga Chintamani: A Guide to Carnatic Ragas Through Tamil Film Music (2nd ed.). Pichhamal Chintamani. OCLC 295034757.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Thalapathi at IMDb
• Thalapathi at Rotten Tomatoes