Viduthalai (1986 film)

Viduthalai
Official poster
Directed by	K. Vijayan
Produced by	Suresh Balaje
Written by	Aaroor Das (dialogues)
Story by	K. K. Shukla
Starring	Sivaji Ganesan Rajinikanth Vishnuvardhan R.N.Sudarshan Mahendran K. Balaji Madhavi Anuratha Shalini
Music by	Chandrabose
Cinematography	Tiwari, Suresh Chandra Menon (second unit)
Edited by	D. Vasu
Production company	Sujatha Cine Arts
Release date	11 April 1986
Language	Tamil

Viduthalai (English: Freedom) is a Tamil film is directed by K. Vijayan. It stars Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, Vishnuvardhan and Madhavi. It is a remake of 1980 movie Qurbani which itself was based on the 1972 Italian movie The Master Touch.

Plot

Raja (Rajinikanth), an expert thief is in love with Radha (Madhavi), a disco club dancer-cum-singer, who is unaware of Raja's profession. Meanwhile an evil brother-sister (Vijayakumar-Anuradha) duo is bent on seeking vengeance from Crime boss Sudharshan, who cheated and siphoned Jwaala's money. The duo hire Raja to break into Sudarshan's treasury and perform the heist. But was caught by a jovial-cum-shrewd Inspector Rajasingam (Sivaji Ganesan) and awarded 2 years imprisonment, which shocks and devastates Radha.

On the other hand, Amar (Vishnuvardhan) is an ace crime member in Sudarshan's gang who revolts against Sudarshan. He is a widower with a daughter (Shalini) is studying in a boarding school. However before quitting Sudarshan's gang, Amar has committed a crime wearing a mask and Inspector Rajasingam is investigating that case. Once Amar saves Radha from a gang of rowdy bikers. They meet regularly as Radha likes Amar's daughter. Soon Amar begins to love Radha who does not reciprocate because she still loves Raja. Amar realizes Radha is not interested and does not proceed. Raja completes his jail sentence. While returning, he meets the Vijaykumar, who again reminds him of the deal to rob Sudarshan. During the conversation, Amar incidentally reaches the site and a fist fight ensues between Amar and the Vijaykumar. While fleeing, Vijaykumar swears revenge against Amar. Thus Raja and Amar meet for the first time. Raja takes Amar to introduce to Radha but both Radha and Amar pretend as if they do not know each other since they don't want Raja to unnecessarily suspect them.

Later Vijaykumar's goons kidnap Amar's daughter and beat Amar who is hospitalized. In return for Amar and his daughter's safety, Raja agrees to do Vijaykumar's job. He nurses Amar back to normalcy and soon they turn thick friends. Amar promises Raja he will support him in this one last robbery. They plan to shift to London after the robbery with the money. They concoct a scheme whereby Amar would steal gold bars and jewellery from a safe, then phone the police, let Raja take over, get arrested, get a prison term for about 12 to 18 months. After his release, he will join Amar in the U. K. Things go awry as Raja gets arrested for killing Sudarshan while Amar and Radha reach London with the money. Raja construes that Amar deliberately framed him so that he can get Raja out of the way, keep all the money (as well as Radha) for himself. Raja escapes from jail and reaches London to apprehend Amar. After a brief tussle between the two, Raja realizes the truth and that Amar did not frame him. Vijaykumar and his goons reach London to take revenge against Raja and Amar. During the ensuing fight, Amar sacrifices his life to save Raja from getting killed by Vijaykumar.

Cast

• Sivaji Ganesan as Inspector Rajasingam
• Rajinikanth as Raja
• Vishnuvardhan as Amar
• Madhavi as Radha
• Thengai Srinivasan (as a drama head)
• C. R. Parthibhan (as a comedy drama - Jackson Durai)
• Vijayakumar as Vikram
• Anuradha

Production

Balaji who saw Hindi film Qurbani decided to remake it in Tamil. He wanted Rajini to play Feroz Khan's character and Sivaji to play Amjad Khan's character. Sivaji agreed to play the role. The dialogues for the film was written by Aaroor Das.^[1]

Release

Cinemalead wrote: "Viduthalai was another big let down despite big star cast [..] the soul and required punch from the original Qurbani was missing".^[2] This film being a high budget film but it only became a moderate success at the box office, due to mixed reviews. Today, the film enjoys a small cult following among fans of Rajinikanth.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack consist of five songs composed by Chandrabose. Lyrics are by Vaali and Pulamaipithan. The song "Neela Kuyilgal Rendu" became a classic from its release.

References