| Agni Natchathiram | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Mani Ratnam |
| Produced by | G. Venkateswaran |
| Written by | Mani Ratnam |
| Starring | Prabhu Ganesan Karthik Muthuraman Vijayakumar Amala |
| Music by | Ilaiyaraaja |
| Cinematography | P. C. Sriram |
| Editing by | V.T.Vijayan |
| Studio | Sujatha Productions (P) Ltd. |
| Distributed by | Sujatha Productions (P) Ltd. Pyramid Saimira |
| Release date(s) | April 15, 1988 |
| Running time | 146 mins |
| Language | Tamil |
Agni Natchathiram (Tamil: அக்னி நட்சத்திரம் Akņi Naţcattiram) is a 1988 Tamil film directed by Mani Ratnam. The movie is about two half-brothers who come into conflict with each other in their claim for legitimacy as sons of a common father. The cast includes Prabhu Ganesan and Karthik Muthuraman. The movie's score and soundtrack are composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The movie is regarded as a landmark in Indian cinematography with trend-setting lighting work by P. C. Sriram. The movie was blockbuster and was dubbed into Telugu with the title Gharshana (not to be confused with the 2004 Telugu film of the same name), and was later remade in Hindi as Vansh.
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Ashok (Karthik Muthuraman) attends a Job interview in which the interviewer turns out to be his father’s, Vishwanath (Vijayakumar), high school friend. The interviewer asks personal questions and it is revealed that Ashok is Vishwanath’s second wife’s, (Jayachitra), son. More personal questions anger Ashok and he beats the interviewer and storms out.
Gautam (Prabhu Ganesan), is a police academy trainee and during a routine boxing match, he goes overboard and beats up his opponent even after the referee has stopped the fight. The police commissioner reprimands Gautam and asks him not to take out his anger towards his father, Vishwanath, on someone else.
Ashok returns home to his mother, Sister and his inebriated father. His mother asks him to take his father to his 1st wife’s, (Sumitra) wife’s home. Ashok initially protests but relents to take him home. After the ride, Gautam comes to the door and helps his father into home. There is a brief moment of animosity between Gautam and Ashok and it is pretty clear that both the half-brothers hate each other.
During a party at the Police Commissioner’s house, Gautam meets the Commissioner’s daughter, Anjali (Amala) when he covers for her smoking. One day, when Ashok is just hanging out with his friends, a girl, (Nirosha), looks at him, shouts “I love you” and drives away. A stunned Ashok tries to follow her but loses her in the traffic. Vishwanath is appointed the head of an inquiry commission to probe a chemical factory, owned by Chidambaram, believed to sell chemicals to terrorists.
Gautam, graduates from the academy, is appointed as an assistant commissioner and Anjali and he fall in love with each other. Ashok runs into Nirosha again but this time he memorizes her car number. He traces her address by bribing a transport officer, goes to her home and says “I love you” to a surprised Nirosha.
Ashok and his gang of friends run into Gautam and Anajali which prompts one of Ashoks friend to tease Gautam. Gautam soon stops Ashok’s friend while he is riding his motorbike and asks for his license. When he shows it, Gautam throws it away and arrests him for driving without a license but instructs his constables to release him after a couple of hours. A peeved Ashok goes to Gautam’s place and stones it causing an accidental injury to Jayachitra.
The next day, Gautam tries to arrest Ashok but Ashok teases him that he doesn’t have a warrant and cannot be arrested. Gautam accuses Ashok‘s parentage which causes Ashok lose his cool and assault Gautam. Gautam then arrests Ashok on charges of assaulting an officer of the law. Since Vishwanath is out of town, Jayachitra helps Sumitra bailout Ashok.
Chidambaram visits Vishwanath at his office and later at both his home and tries to bribe him but each time Vishwanath rebuffs Chidambaram. An irked Chidambaram puts a hit on Vishwanath if he still continues with his investigation.
On the day when Ashok’s sister is to be asked for her hand in marriage (An Indian tradition in which the parents of the bride and groom meet each other and get the bride and groom engaged to one another), Vishwanath fails to turn up which causes the grooms family to question the marriage between Sumitra and Vishwanath. An angry Ashok goes to Vishwanath’s home and creates a ruckus only to realize that his grandmother, Vishwanath’s mother has died. Gautam, angered by the scene caused by Ashok, throws him out.
Nirosha visits Ashok at his home uninvited and falsely tells him that she is pregnant with his child in front of this mother to get him in trouble. Ashok finds her having lunch with her father and enquires about her pregnancy to scare her. But he stops once he learns that Nirosha too comes from a broken home.
One day, when Ashok’s sister is travelling by train she runs into Gautam and Anjali, so Gautam gets into the next train car. After he leaves, Chidambaram’s men harass and threaten the sister. She runs away and tells Gautam and Gautam saves her. While dropping her off at her home, Ashok throws Gautam out of his house.
Another altercation occurs in a wedding in which both exchange words. The next day, Ashok finds Gautam and both get into a huge brawl, which Vishwanath witnesses. Vishwanath’s berates both of them and gives up hope on both of them ever getting on with each other. While Vishwanath is leaving his office, he gets run over by a truck driven by one of Chidambaram’s thugs.
Vishwanath survives with severe injuries but goes into a coma in the hospital. Mutual fear between the families brings them closer as both Sumitra and Jayachitra wait by his bedside. Ashok threatens Chidambaram with dire consequences if his father dies. Gautam tracks down the truck driver and arrests him. Unhappy that Vishwanath survived, Chidambaram arranges for his murder in the hospital. He uses his connections to remove the police security from the hospital and gets the truck driver out on bail. Vishwanath comes out of the coma and asks both his sons to help keep him alive till he presents his evidence against Chidambaram to the commission the next day. When Chidambaram’s thugs attack the hospital, the step brothers work together to stop the assassination attempt by switching the ambulance in which Vishwanath was in while Chidambaram's thugs destroy the wrong ambulance.
The next day, a bandaged Vishwanath is brought into the commission's office by the brothers and Vishwanath submits evidence proving Chidambaram’s illegal activities. The movie ends with Gautam arresting Chidambaram and both the brothers embracing each other.
The film has a parallel comedic track which focuses on a Rich man and his Chauffeur’s (Janakaraj) quest to ditch their wives and to sleep with a pretty prostitute.
The soundtrack features six songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with lyrics by Vaali.
The movie was dubbed into Telugu and was named Gharshana and in Hindi it was remade as Vansh starring Siddharth Ray and Sudesh Berry.
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