Thalapathi

14-year-old Kalyani delivers a boy in seclusion, fearing societal backlash and incapacity. She abandons him, heavy-hearted, placing him inside a moving goods train, which a slum dweller finds. The slum procures him as their common child, naming him Surya and they collectively raise him honest. He grows up, intolerant of injustice especially to the poor, though he wonders why his biological mother had impetuously abandoned him. A yellow shawl was the only identity he had of his mother, which she had placed him in when casting him away.

Devaraj, a powerful don who is kind yet feared by most in the society, also fights injustice, but by violent means. Ramana, an auxiliary of Deva's, whose abusive demeanour led Surya to attack him, succumbs to his death. Surya gets apprehended for this. An exasperated Deva soon perceives Ramana's felony, realises Surya's cause was genuine and bails him out. Thus, Surya and Deva get to understand each other as both share similar social ideologies despite getting off on the wrong foot. Deva declares Surya his "Thalapathi" (commander) and best friend.

Arjun, the city's new district collector, wants to end violence by lawful means. He is the second son of Kalyani, now a doctor. After the abandonment of her firstborn, she wed a man who accepted her, despite knowing her past. Never did Kalyani let Arjun know the ordeal she faced as a teen, but is constantly grieved by thoughts of her long-lost first child. Meanwhile, Surya gets wooed by a Brahmin girl, Subbalakshmi who is smitten by his transparent nature, restraining crimes.

Surya's appraisal to Deva leads the people in the locality to pay utmost respect to both. Both of them continue objecting to societal incongruencies, which other dons, like Kalivardhan, incite through moles in governance. While Deva leads Surya to help curb those unlawful discrepancies, Subbalakshmi initially despises Surya's use of violence and tries to persuade him against it. Deva tries to get an alliance between Subbalakshmi and Surya, but her Orthodox father opposes her marriage to Surya, an orphan. Her marriage is subsequently arranged with Arjun.

Arjun turns to target Deva and Surya as they inflict violence, in the name of fighting organised crime. His attempts to chain them are futile. Meanwhile, Padma, Ramana's widow, makes Surya feel guilty for the sufferings he brought her by killing Ramana. Deva, understanding the pain a widow and single mother bears, shelters them. Padma, however, confesses that she is constantly troubled by the men surrounding her with dishonourable intentions, who concoct reasons to make advances towards her. Deva, considering Padma and her daughter's safety and Surya's future, requests both of them to accept each other. A guilt-ridden Surya marries Padma, and wins her child's affection eventually.

Later, at a medical camp, Kalyani meets Padma and her daughter along with the same shawl in which she wrapped Surya. Kalyani's husband, too, indicates that Surya was actually Kalyani's long lost son during a suspect identification. He secretly meets Surya and reveals the truth of his origin to him. Surya asks his stepfather to promise not to let his mother know of him as it would pain her to know that her son has grown to be a vigilante. Kalyani eventually finds Surya and meets him. Surya vows that he will not harm Arjun for her sake.

The long-standing feud between Deva and Kalivardhan, who is Deva's main rival, in due course of time, makes Surya admit the truth about his family when Deva doubts Surya's intentions after learning of his secret meeting with his stepfather and mother. Deva is pleased to know that, despite knowing Arjun was his half-brother, Surya still preferred to side with him and support him during unforeseen situations, thus valuing their friendship over family. As an outcome of this, Deva decides to surrender.

Deva and Surya meet Arjun, who now knows who Surya is through his mother. Suddenly, Kalivardhan's men open fire, and Deva is killed in the shootout. Filled with anger and vengance on the death of his best friend, Surya murders Kalivardhan's henchmen and proceeds to murder Kalivardhan. He surrenders to the police, but is released due to lack of evidence. Arjun is later transferred and relocates to another city with Subbalakshmi, while Kalyani prefers staying with Surya.

The music score for the film was composed by Ilaiyaraaja,[22] in his last collaboration with Mani Ratnam.[23] The recording for "Sundari" took place in Mumbai with R. D. Burman's orchestra.[24] According to Santosh Sivan, Ilaiyaraaja finished composing the entire soundtrack in "half a day".[25] The original Tamil version of the soundtrack album features seven songs with lyrics written by Vaali, who also penned for the Malayalam version also. The Telugu version features lyrics penned by Rajashri.[26] The Hindi-dubbed version Dalapathi has six songs, where the rest of them have seven in album, and were penned by P. K. Mishra.[27]

The audio rights were sold to Lahari Music for ₹72 lakh (equivalent to ₹5.0 crore or US$700,000 in 2019), then a record price.[28] The soundtrack was included in The Guardian's 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die.[29] The song "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu", performed by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Swarnalatha, was placed fourth amongst the songs listed in a BBC World Top Ten Popular Songs of All-time.[30] It was also featured in the 2012 Bollywood film Agent Vinod, and Lahari took "legal action" against the producer of the film Saif Ali Khan, because he used the song without permission.[31][32]

All lyrics are written by Vaali; all music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

All lyrics are written by P. K. Mishra; all music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

All lyrics are written by Rajashri; all music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

All lyrics are written by Vaali; all music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Thalapathi was released on 5 November 1991,[33] during the festive occasion of Diwali.[34][35] On 8 November 1991, The Hindu said, "Moving his pieces with the acumen of an international grandmaster, the director sets a hot pace".[4] The same day, N. Krishnaswamy The Indian Express said, "One reason why Thalapathi, despite its visual grandeur is not as riveting as it should have been is that it does not have a strong antagonist."[36] On 1 December 1991, the review board of Ananda Vikatan praised Ilaiyaraaja's music, and called the film a mountain of a masala entertainer, adding that Rajinikanth had several scenes in which he could emote in a film and looked a caged lion left in the open.[37] Although Mammootty received good reviews for his performance, his fans were not happy to see him in a supporting role.[38] Despite facing competition from other Diwali releases such as Gunaa and Rudhra,[35] Thalapathi emerged a critical and commercial success.[39][40] At the 39th Filmfare Awards South, Ratnam won the Best Director – Tamil award, and Ilaiyaraaja won for Best Music Director – Tamil.[41]

C. S. Amudhan said Thalapathi was "really ahead of its time" and called it "intellectual entertaining cinema". Karthik Subbaraj said that he watched the film during his childhood. Several references to the film are made in Subbaraj's 2015 blockbuster gangster film Jigarthanda. Rajinikanth's daughter, director Soundarya recalled, "I remember Thalapathy most vividly as that was the first time I went for a first-day-first-show ever".[42] Thamizh Padam (2010) parodied Thalapathi by featuring scenes with characters under dim light and one-word dialogues.[43] Atlee who directed Raja Rani (2013) cites Thalapathi was the main inspiration for him to consider cinema as a career.[44] Soundarya has stated that Rajinikanth's hairstyle in her directorial venture Kochadaiiyaan (2014) was inspired by his appearance in Thalapathi.[45] Baradwaj Rangan compared Kadal (2013) to Thalapathi as they both feature a character "who yearns for a lost mother and who is coerced into a life of crime".[46] The film was remade in Kannada as Annavru (2003),[47] and in November 2011, Bollywood producer Bharat Shah acquired the Hindi remake rights.[48]

• Ramachandran, Naman (2014) [2012]. Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography. Penguin Books. ISBN 9788184757965.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Rangan, Baradwaj (2012). Conversations with Mani Ratnam. Penguin Books. ISBN 8184756909.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• Thalapathi on IMDb
• Thalapathi at Rotten Tomatoes