Nattamai

Nattamai
Directed by	K. S. Ravikumar
Produced by	R. B. Choudary
Written by	Erode Soundar (dialogue)
Screenplay by	K. S. Ravikumar
Story by	Erode Sounder
Starring	R. Sarathkumar Meena Kushboo Goudamani Senthil Sanghavi
Music by	Sirpy
Cinematography	Ashok Rajan
Edited by	K. Thanikachalam
Production company	Super Good Films
Distributed by	Super Good Films
Release date	2 November 1994
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Box office	₹11 crore (equivalent to ₹40 crore or US$5.6 million in 2017)

Nattamai (English: Village Chief ) is a 1997 Indian Tamil family drama film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It starred R. Sarathkumar, Meena and Kushboo in the lead roles. The film became a blockbuster among 1997 Deepavali releases and completed a 175-day run at the box office. It is considered to be one of the most popular Tamil films of the 1990s and in general. It became a trendsetter for many films in later years. The Goundamani-Senthil comic duo was one of the most popular aspects of the film.

R. Sarathkumar earned both the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor and Filmfare Award for Best Actor - Tamil for his performance in the film. The film was later remade in Tollywood as Pedarayudu starring Mohan Babu, in Bollywood as Bulandi starring Anil Kapoor, both of which had Tamil superstar Rajinikanth in an extended cameo role, and in Kannada as Simhadriya Simha with Vishnuvardhan.

Plot

Shanmugam (R. Sarathkumar) is the village head Gounder fondly called as Nattamai and is widely respected by everyone for his genuineness. He lives with his Goundachi Lakshmi (Kushboo) and his brother Pasupathi (Also R. Sarathkumar). Pasupathi is married to Meena (Meena). There is a long-standing enmity between Nattamai and Ponnambalam. A flashback is shown where Ponnambalam’s father kills Shanmugam's father (Vijayakumar) following which Ponnambalam’s family is expelled from the village. Ponnamabalam awaits for the right time to attack Nattamai’s family. Ponnambalam's mother (Manorama) is Nattamai's paternal aunt and is a kind-hearted lady.

A new teacher (Rani) comes to the village and everyone suspects an illegitimate relationship between Pasupathi and the teacher. One day, the teacher gets killed along with a death note mentioning Pasupathi as the reason behind her death following which Nattamai expels Pasupathi out of the village as a punishment.

But the teacher was actually killed by Ponnamabalam with plans of trapping Pasupathi in the murder. Manorama overhears the truth but gets locked by Ponnamabalam at her home. Ponnambalam tries to kill Nattamai but eventually gets killed by Manorama. Finally, Manorama informs the truth to Nattamai which shocks him. Nattamai dies at the spot due to the guilt of giving a wrong judgment to Pasupathi. Now Pasupathi becomes the next Nattamai.

Cast

Production

Director K. S. Ravikumar initially approached Mammootty to play the lead role.^[1] For reasons unknown, he declined the offer. Sarath Kumar was then signed for as the lead. The film became the fourth collaboration between Ravikumar and Sarathkumar. When K. S. Ravikumar approached Kushboo for Nattamai's wife role, initially she hesitated as in most part of the film she had to look old, except in a brief flashback. She asked him whom he will cast if she denies, Ravikumar said he will approach veteran actress Lakshmi, this made Kusbhoo to take up this role. Mahendran was introduced as child artist through this film.^[2] Vijayakumar was initially supposed to play the role of the elder brother, but just a few days before shooting began, Ravikumar decided to have Sarathkumar play both the brothers and Bharathiraja was Ravikumar's initial choice for the character of Vijayakumar.^[3][4]

Controversy

In his early days as an actor, R. Sarathkumar was considered to be close to AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa.^[5] However, Sarath's proximity to Jayalalithaa landed him in deep trouble when the film 'Nattamai', which was still running in Tamil Nadu theatres, was aired by Jayalalithaa's television channel JJ TV, using a U-matic tape, which Sarathkumar gave her for personal viewing at her residence. What the understanding between Jayalalithaa and Sarathkumar was we will never know. However, this caused a furore in the film industry as the producer R. B. Choudary threatened action against Sarathkumar for misusing a tape given to him for personal viewing. An embarrassed Sarathkumar explained that he was taken by surprise and that he never expected Jayalalithaa to give it to the channel for telecast. He sought an explanation from both Jayalalitha and JJ TV, but without success. The ruling party reacted predictably, using every forum to attack Sarathkumar.^[6]

Soundtrack

Soundtrack is composed by Sirpy and lyrics written by Vairamuthu.

• Naattamai Paadham Patta - Malaysia vasudevan, Sindhu
• Kotapaakum Kozhundhu Vettalaiyum - Mano, S.Janaki
• Meenaponnu - Mano, Sujatha
• Naan Uravukaaran - Mohammed Aslam

Release

Nattamai was released on 2 November 1994, during Diwali.^[7] The Indian Express wrote that there was "never a dull moment" in the film.^[8] It became a blockbuster and completed a 175-day run at the box office.^[9]

Remakes

Owing to its success, the film was remade in Telugu as Pedarayudu (1995),^[10] It was remade for two times in Kannada as Palegara (1996)^[11] and Simhadriya Simha (2001).^[12] It was also remade in Hindi as Bulandi (2000).^[13] Rajinikanth reprised Vijayakumar's character in Telugu and Hindi remakes.

Legacy

The tagline Nattamai, theerpa maathi sollu (Chieftain, change your judgement) became popular after release.^[14] It became a trendsetter for many films in later years. The success of the film inspired similar themes about village chieftain. Vijayakumar's portrayal of village chieftain received critical acclaim and he went on to be typecasted with similar characters in later films. The film gave breakthrough in the career of Sarathkumar and the actor did similar films - Suryavamsam (1997), Natpukkaga (1998), Maayi (2000), Diwan (2003) and Ayyaa (2005) which featured him in double roles in the backdrop of village.^[15][16]

In popular culture

Nattamai has been parodied and referenced many times.^[17] In a comedy scene from Aahaa Enna Porutham (1998), Goundamani mocks at the superstitions of village panchayat saying that chieftain should have assistant tagging along with him and should have a pot of water.^[18] Comedian Vivek has parodied this aspect in many films. He did a similar spoof in Sandai (2008) and Thoondil (2008) and made fun of village rituals in Kadhal Sadugudu (2003). Scenes from the film was parodied in Shiva starrer Thamizh Padam (2010), Ponnambalam who did the negative role in the original film had appeared as village chieftain in this film.^[19]

References