Krishnamoorthy secretly meets Surya and reveals the truth of his origin to him. After asking about the day he was found, Kalanyi and Krishnamoorthy discover Surya is Kalyani's long-lost son during a suspect identification. Later, at a medical camp, Kalyani meets Padma and her daughter, along with the shawl in which she wrapped Surya. Guilt-ridden, Surya marries Padma and eventually wins her child's affection. Devaraj, considering Padma and her daughter's safety and Surya's future, asks them to marry each other. Padma, however, confesses she is constantly troubled by the dishonourable men surrounding her. Devaraj, understanding Padma's pain, shelters her and her child. Meanwhile, Padma, Ramana's widow, makes Surya feel guilty for killing Ramana. Devaraj tries to form a relationship between Subbulaxmi and Surya but Subbulaxmi's orthodox father objects and arranges her marriage to Arjun.Īrjun, in his fight against organised crime, unsuccessfully targets Devaraj and Surya. While Devaraj leads Surya to help curb unlawful discrepancies, Subbulaxmi despises Surya's use of violence and tries to persuade him against it. They continue objecting to societal incongruities.
Surya's appraisal to Devaraj leads local people in the locality to respect them both. Meanwhile, Surya is courted by a Brahmin girl Subbulaxmi, who is smitten with his transparent nature. Kalyani never told Arjun of the ordeal she faced as a teenager but is constantly grieved by thoughts of her long-lost firstborn. After abandoning Surya, her firstborn, she married Krishnamoorthy. He is the second son of Kalyani, who is now a doctor. Devaraj declares Surya his "Thalapathi" (commander) and best friend.Īrjun, the city's new district collector, wants to lawfully end violence. Surya and Devaraj, who share an ideology, come to understand each other.
Surya is arrested for murder and faces brutal torture from police, but Devaraj bails him out after perceiving Ramana's felony that Ramana tried to rape a woman from Surya's locality and realises Surya's cause was genuine. Surya attacks and kills Ramana, an auxiliary of Devaraj. Devaraj, a powerful don who is kind but feared by most, fights injustice with violence. The only item from his mother is the yellow shawl in which she had placed him. The child grows up to be intolerant of injustice, especially to the poor, and wonders why his biological mother abandoned him. A slum dweller finds the baby, takes him home, names him Surya and raises him. On the day of the Bhogi festival, fourteen-year-old Kalyani gives birth to a boy alone and, fearing societal backlash and incapacity, abandons him inside a moving goods train. It was remade in Kannada as Annavru (2003). Thalapathi was released on 5 November 1991, Diwali day it became a critical and commercial success, and won many awards including two Filmfare Awards South: Best Director – Tamil (Ratnam) and Best Music Director – Tamil (Ilaiyaraaja), and two Cinema Express Awards: Best Actor – Tamil (Rajinikanth) and Best Character Actress (Srividya). With a budget of ₹3 crore, at the time of its release, Thalapathi was the most expensive South Indian film. Most of the filming took place in Karnataka state. The cinematography was handled by Santosh Sivan and the editor was Suresh Urs. Ilaiyaraaja, in his last collaboration with Ratnam, composed the film's score and soundtrack, and the lyrics were written by poet Vaali.
The plot of Thalapathi is based on the friendship between Karna and Duryodhana, characters from the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. It is about a courageous slum dweller who befriends a powerful don and the attempts of a district collector to thwart them. The film stars Rajinikanth and Mammootty in the main roles and Arvind Swamy in his feature-film debut, along with Srividya, Shobana, Bhanupriya, Geetha, Jaishankar, and Amrish Puri in other key roles. Commander) is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language gangster drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam, and produced by G.