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Director: Udayshanker
Cast: Vijaykant, Soundarya, Jayasudha, Pratyusha, Nasser, Ilavarasu,
Vadivelu.
 Vijaykant is on familiar territory. Playing the role of a respected village elder Thavasi, whose word is law. A role the actor plays with practiced calm and dignity, for he's played it many a time over. Of course he plays the younger character too, that of Bhoopathy, Thavasi's son where he gets to romance - sing and dance, and fight too. Soundarya, as his fiance, looks fetching and does her part competently.
It is Jayasudha's come-back to Tamil films after a long gap. But all that the talented actress gets to do as Thavasi's wife is hover around in the background. Nasser obviously relished, playing Pandy, Thavasi's brother-in-law and the villain of the piece.
 Pandy gets his chance to hit out at Thavasi soon enough, when Thavasi passes judgement on Thangarasu, who is suspected of stealing the temple jewels. By the time the real culprit is caught, a humiliated Thangarasu had committed suicide. A guilt-stricken Thavasi taunted publicly by Pandy, sends Bhoopathy to substitute for the dead son of the family, work as a farm hand there, and support Thangarasu's family. Many reels later Bhoopathy exposes the hand of Pandy in Thangarasu's death and redeems the family
honour.
 The first half is fairly engaging, but the second half tends to lag. A Vijaykant film normally is sans comedy. But here Vadivelu is given a lengthy track, and it is he who peps up the scenes when it turns dull.
Incidentally, Vijaykant and his directors seem to think that there are just these two types of roles that the actor can do. Either play the respected village elder with the benign look, or the gun-totting cop spouting patriotism.
Malini Mannath
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