Vathiyar

Vathiyar (English: Teacher) is a 2006 Tamil action film directed by A. Venkatesh starring Arjun and Mallika Kapoor. It was released on 10 November 2006 and recorded a hit at the box office. The music was composed by D. Imman.

Plot

Dorai (Arjun) is a do-gooder don, but a police force led by ACP Easwara Pandian (Prakash Raj) and his sidekick (Sathyan) are after him. However, the poor need him as he is a Good Samaritan running an orphanage. He has help from his friends Subramani (Manivannan) and Ayyanar (Vadivelu).

But Dorai has a problem. His mother (Sujatha) doesn’t approve of his ways. She feels that he is just a loutish goon. There is also TV journalist Anjali (Mallika Kapoor), who is in love with Dorai because of his daredevil ways.

Dorai has a past too. He was just an honest-to-goodness schoolteacher, who ends up as the deathly Dorai after a fire ravages a school and kills several children. The incident forces him to take on the system of venal officials and politics.

Now, Dorai’s biggest task is to nip a dark and dire politician who wants to bomb the city. The rest, as they, are all cinematic clichés.

Cast

Production

The film was officially launched at AVM Studios in 2006.^[1] Tulip Joshi was originally selected as the heroine but she was thrown out of the film as the crew couldn't control her starry tantrums^[2] and Mallika Kapoor was selected instead. Singer Blaze was selected to make a cameo appearance.^[3] The scene where Arjun defuses a bomb in Vinayaka Chathurthi was shot in Sri Perumbudur and cost twenty lakhs.^[4] One assistant Director named Rajkumar had lodged a complaint with the Chennai Police Commissioner stating that his story has been stolen and made as Vathiyar. However, Arjun has denied the accusations that he had walked off with Rajkumar’s script. "I have no reasons to steal someone else’s work and call it mine. Vathiyar is my own creation", Arjun declared.^[5]

Release

The film was originally slated to release on Diwali, but due to financial strains,^[6] the movie was delayed for a month and finally released on 10 November 2006.

Reviews

Nowrunning wrote: "Except for the action sequences there is nothing much to write about the movie".^[7] Hindu wrote: "The story is by Arjun and director A. Venkatesh has neatly woven the script to make it enjoyable for the masses".^[8] Indiaglitz wrote: "Vathiyar is Basha meets Gentleman meets countless vigilante justice movies. The story and treatment are on typical lines".^[9]

Soundtrack

Song composing and background score was done by D. Imman.

References

External links

• Review of Vathiyar Movie, Indiaglitz
• Vathiyar on IMDb