Ezhumalai
Ezhumalai is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by Arjun, who also played the titular character. It also features Simran, Gajala and Mumtaj as the female leads, while Vijayakumar and Ashish Vidhyarthi play supporting roles. This film is the Tamil remake of the Telugu blockbuster Narasimha Naidu (2001), starring Balakrishna. Despite the release of original film, this film was later dubbed in Telugu again as Simha Baludu.[1] The movie was a big commercial success and completed a 150-day theatrical run at the box office.
| Ezhumalai | |
|---|---|
 Poster of Ezhumalai's 50th day celebration | |
| Directed by | Arjun |
| Produced by | V. Ravichandran S.Amaravathy |
| Written by | K. C. Thangam (Dialogues) |
| Screenplay by | Arjun |
| Story by | Chinni Krishna |
| Starring | Arjun Simran Gajala Mumtaj Vijayakumar Ashish Vidhyarthi |
| Music by | Mani Sharma |
| Cinematography | K. S. Selvaraj |
| Edited by | P. Sai Suresh |
Production company | Sri Venkateswara Production |
| Distributed by | Aascar Film |
Release date | 21 June 2002 |
Running time | 167 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Plot
Ezhumalai (Arjun) leads a peaceful life as a dance master in the village. Anjali (Gajala) falls in love with him before learning that he has a son and that his wife Lakshmi (Simran) is dead. She wishes to marry him but faces competition from Lakshmi's sister Sandhya (Mumtaj), who also wishes to wed him. Anjali is the daughter of Nagalingam (Ashish Vidyarthi), who is from a neighboring village. When she reveals this fact to Ezhumalai, she learns he and her father are sworn enemies and that her father killed Lakshmi.
Cast
- Arjun Sarja as Ezhumalai
- Simran as Lakshmi
- Gajala as Anjali Nagalingam
- Mumtaj as Sandhya, Lakshmi's sister
- Vijayakumar as Venkatachalam
- Ashish Vidhyarthi as Nagalingam, Anjali's father
- Gowtham Sundararajan as Ezhumalai's elder brother
- Thyagu as Ezhumalai's elder brother
- Sathyapriya as Nagalingam's sister
- Venniradai Moorthy as Marriage Broker
- Chandrasekhar
- Anandaraj
- Charle
- Vaiyapuri
- Besant Ravi
Soundtrack
The songs are by Mani Sharma, lyrics written by Vaali and Thamarai.[2]
| No. | Song | Singers | Lyrics | Length (m:ss) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chillendru | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sujatha | Vaali | 05:21 | |
| 2 | Ella Malaiyilum | Karthik, K. S. Chithra | 05:28 | Reused "Ninna Kutesinaddhi" from Narasimha Naidu | |
| 3 | Lux Papa | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Swarnalatha | 05:07 | Reused "Lux papa" from Narasimha Naidu | |
| 4 | Maina Kunjo | Shankar Mahadevan, Sujatha | 04:23 | Reused "Abba Abba" from Narasimha Naidu | |
| 5 | Un Punnagai | Mallikarjun, Harini | Thamarai | 04:34 | Reused "Nee Navvula" from Aadi |
Critical reception
Thiraipadam wrote that the film "itself is an age-old revenge tale that offers nothing new and so, the proceedings are predictable, most of the time."[3] The Hindu wrote "The screenplay is Arjun's. So is the direction. And the action hero thrills his fans with stunts aplenty. Yet fights alone, however well choreographed, cannot make a film watchable. You need a well-narrated story — something "Ezhumalai" lacks. Most of the time action waits for no reason and seems to need no logic."[4] Sify wrote that "the film caters strictly to the frontbenchers".[5]
References
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlH75ApXRnI
- "Ezhumalai songs". JioSaavn. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- "Ezhumalai - Tamil movie review". Thiraipadam.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- Rangarajan, Malathi (28 June 2002). "The Hindu: Ezhumalai". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 10 February 2003.
- "Review: Ezhumalai (2002)". Sify. 24 June 2002. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.