Neenga Nalla Irukkanum

<p>Anjalai, a village woman marries a drunkard Manickam, with the hope of changing his behaviour post marriage. But Manickam continues drinking and goes to a level where he steals Anjalai’s jewels before losing his job. During this time, his mother dies in a fire accident after which he vows not to drink any more. Meanwhile, Manickam falls sick after damaging his liver as a result of excessive drinking. To safeguard his life, Anjalai collects money by begging in the streets and donation from the chief minister of the state. Manickam is sent to the United States for treatment. When the couple returns to India after Manickam gets cured, he starts drinking again and gets addicted to it. Unable to tolerate his change in behaviour, Anjalai ends her life. This forces all the women in the village join to protest against alcohol. Actress-turned politician who was the then played herself in the film. This was also her final film as an actress. Soundtrack was composed by and lyrics for all songs were written by . Released on 2 October 1992, coinciding with , focused on and was the first Tamil film to be sponsored by the . The film was budgeted at a cost of 8.5 million (about 0.277 million in 1992–93). Despite being launched with much fanfare and media acclaim, the film did not make any impact among the audience as it turned out to be a box-office failure. It won the in and a . The jury noted the film for its “effective and purposeful plea for prohibition”. K. Vijiyan of wrote, “This is not the usual Visu fare we are used to […] Visu has made sure this is not just an educational movie with an anti-alcohol message. There is an Indian saying that it is difficult to straighten a dog’s tail and the story seems to subscribe to the fatalistic view that drunkards cannot quit”. C. R. K. of expressed similar views. However Ayyappa Prasad for wrote that the film “fails to impress” and the “director in a bid to do propaganda-cum-commercial has ended up with a product that is neither”.</p>