Seevalaperi Pandi
| Seevalaperi Pandi | |
|---|---|
| File:Seevalaperi Pandi DVD cover.jpg DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Prathap Pothan |
| Written by | K Rajeswar |
| Produced by | P G Srikanth |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | K Aravind |
| Edited by | B Lenin V T Vijayan |
| Music by | Adithyan |
Production company | Radhi Films |
| Distributed by | Radhi Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 145 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (December 2017) |
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (December 2017) |
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Seevalaperi Pandi is a 1994 Tamil drama film directed by Prathap Pothan. The film features Napoleon in the lead role, making his debut as a hero. The film, produced by P. G. Srikanth, had musical score by Adithyan and was released on 23 June 1994. Based on the life of 'Seevalaperi' Pandi, the film was a blockbuster hit. The success of the drama film was a turning point in Napoleon's career.[1][2][3]
Plot
'Seevalaperi' Pandi (Napoleon), a brave man, is married to Velammal (Saranya) and lives with her, his mother and his elder brother Malayandi. Impressed by Pandi's strength, the village leader, Grams (Vijayachander) hires him as his bodyguard.
Grams is a good man but he ruined the lives of some villager lives because of his wrong judgments. Nayanar (R P Viswam), Sivankalai (Alex), Karuppaiah (Suryakanth), Mookaiah (Venniradai Moorthy) and Oochandi (Prasanna), who were against Grams' decisions, decide to kill him with the help of Pandi. Pandi and his associates kill Grams and they immediately surrender. While his associates are acquitted, Pandi is sentenced to death. While he waits for his sentence to be carried out, his associates promise him that they will help his family.
Pandi lives in jail with the expectation that his co-killers have helped his family financially as promised. Pandi is then granted a last-minute reprieve and his sentence is changed to life imprisonment. His brother and his wife reveal that his mother had died due to lack of food and that Nayanar did not help him out with money, food or any other assets. He also updates Pandi that they treat him with no respect at all while abusing his family. Pandi escapes from the jail the very night. Angry, Pandi decides to take revenge on his former associates who had betrayed him. He visits Nayanar seeking vengeance, but is brainwashed by him. Nayanar acts innocent when encountered by Pandi and turns him against his own brother. He also informs police simultaneously through his accomplices to make sure that Pandi will be arrested and he is behind bars for his own safety. But Pandi understands this as he kills him accidentally and flees.
Pandi understands he will be hanged for sure for escaping prison and killing Nayanar. He decides to take revenge on all of his former associates. On this journey, he steals from the rich who earned their money illegally and helps the poor. Very soon he becomes a local hooded warrior and people show support towards him. This troubles the police and a special sub inspector is handed the case. He inspects the village people in disguise to arrest him but he is not at all helped by the locals. On the birthday of the sub inspector, Pandi arrives to kill him but spares him as he understands that it was his birthday. Realizing that the police search is closing in on him, Pandi lives under the name Konar and assists another village head Nilalgal Ravi. Ravi is unaware that Pandi is in disguise. One night he has a fight with his wife and decides to surrender, but he is caught by police before he is able to do so. He is taken to the station where higher-ranked officials decide to encounter and kill Pandi to avoid handling such a complicated case. They expect that the locals will favor Pandi during court cases, and subsequently take Pandi to a dark, deserted place where they proceed to shoot him. Before Pandi is killed, he refuses to escape even though he was warned by the sub inspector who understands that Pandi who is, in reality, a good man at heart. Pandi's final words were to treat all men equally, and remove caste-based differences.
The character Seevelaperi Pandi is based on a real life character who lived during 1960s at Seevalaperi village in Tirunelveli district.
Cast
- Napoleon as Pandi
- Saranya as Velammal
- Ahana as Oyila
- Chandrasekhar as Aliyan
- Nizhalgal Ravi
- Vijayachander as Grams
- R. P. Viswam as Nayanar
- Alex as Sivankalai
- Suryakanth as Karuppaiah
- Venniradai Moorthy as Mookaiah
- Prasanna Kumar as Oochandi
- Charle
- Chinni Jayanth
- Nellai Siva
- G. D. Ramesh as Rajkumar
- Madhan Gabriel as Pandi's brother
- Rangammal as Pandi's mother
- Rajan
- Idichapuli Selvaraj as Astrologer
- Sathyapriya as Grams' wife
- Master Dinesh as Arumugam
- Baboos as Muruga
- Silk Smitha as an item number
- John Babu in a cameo appearance
Production
Rajeshwar went to Tirunelveli and stayed in the city to gather material for the film. He interacted with the locals for over three months. Though the film was based on life of a person of same name, several scenes in the film were fictional. Rajeshwar stated: "The movies might be based on real people, but they were not biographies. The characters and incidents are embellished to make the movie more interesting. So, Oila, an important character in Seevalaperi Pandi was richly embroidered".[4]
Reception
The film became a blockbuster hit at the box-office and eventually became a turning point in Napolean's career.[5][6]
Remake
The producer of the film announced that he had plans to make a sequel to the film in November 2015, and considered bringing in Gautham Menon and Kamal Haasan to work on the film. However, it was shelved.[7]
Soundtrack
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer Adithyan. The soundtrack, released in 1994, features five tracks with lyrics written by Vairamuthu and K Rajeswar.[8][9] The songs like "Kilakku Sivakayile" and "Thirunelveli seemayile" were chartbusters.
| Track | Song | Singer(s) | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 'Aruvi Onnu Kulikudhu' | Swarnalatha | 4:05 |
| 2 | 'Kilakku Sivakiyile' | Rajagopal, Sujatha Mohan, P G Srikanth, Napoleon | 3:45 |
| 3 | 'Masala Araikura' | Mano, Asha Latha | 4:54 |
| 4 | 'Oyila Paadum Paatule' | K S Chithra | 6:13 |
| 5 | 'Thirunvelli Seemayile' | S P Balasubrahmanyam | 5:00 |
References
- ^ "Filmography of seevalapperi pandi". cinesouth.com. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Seevalaperi Pandi (1994) Tamil Movie". en.600024.com. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Napoleon going steady". indiaglitz.com. 23 November 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ http://silverscreen.in/features/rajeshwar-interview-futuristic/
- ^ "Napoleon in 'Pallikondapuram'". indiaglitz.com. 12 June 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Welcome to ActorNapoleon.com - Cinema Profile". actornapoleon.com. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ http://www.indiaglitz.com/gautham-menon-to-direct-seevalaperipandi-remake-with-kamal-haasan-tamil-news-146996.html
- ^ "Seevalaperi Pandi Songs". raaga.com. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ^ "Seevalaperi Pandi Tamil Movie". hummaa.com. Retrieved 3 February 2013.