Thamizh Padam

<p>In the Indian village of Cinemapatti, is predominant, and all male babies are required to be killed immediately after birth. One such baby is headed for such a fate, until he “speaks” to his caretaker-grandmother ( ) and asks to be sent to on a goods train, where he plans to grow into a hero. The old woman complies, and takes the baby, named Shiva, to Chennai and raises him herself, living in the city’s poorer section. On growing into manhood, Shiva ( ) gains a reputation by giving a massive entry by beating up extortionists by throwing them in the air and saving a rape victim; soon he is glorified as a “mass hero”. He manages to defeat gangster Devaraj with a clever exchange of puns and a costumed associate. He spends his time hanging out, , and playing with his gang of friends, composed of Nakul ( ), Bharath ( ) and Siddharth ( ). Shiva runs into a headstrong girl named Priya ( ), whom he falls in love with. After learning of her hatred for men, he realizes that she has dedicated her life to classical dance, so he learns over the course of a night and performs an exaggerated dance sequence for her. She reciprocates his feelings, and the two start a relationship. Shiva is then challenged by Priya’s rich and powerful father Kodeeswaran, who refuses to give his daughter to a poor man. Shiva swears to become a billionaire, and promptly does so, during the course of a song. Kodeeswaran accepts Shiva as a suitor and fixes his engagement to Priya. During the ceremony, Shiva hears a passing comment that he does not know his own father. Offended, he travels to Cinemapatti, accompanied by Bharath, to learn his roots. After encountering a host of Tamil-cinema stereotypes of several decades ago, he succeeds in uniting with his family when a woman (revealed to be Shiva’s father’s concubine) leads him to his father, mother and sister. He finds them when they sing their “family song” (the number ” “). However, unknown to anyone, Shiva has been targeting and killing several criminals in secret: he kills female gangster Swarna by making her slip over a banana peel; makes another big-time crook ; tortures a drug dealer to commit suicide by continuous failed attempts on his life; and kills his final victim with the odor of his sock. The police discover that he is the killer, and it is revealed that Shiva is actually an undercover officer and was killing the criminals under direct orders from not only the Commissioner, but also from the . The ganglord who commandeered the slain criminals, a mysterious person simply called “D”, organises the kidnapping of Priya by telling Pandian ( ) and his henchmen to kidnap her and has Shiva beaten up. Shiva recovers, saves Priya by fighting off thugs using exaggerated stunts, and comes face to face with “D”, revealed to be his grandmother. She explains that she did this to increase the fame of her grandson, and a heartbroken Shiva is forced to arrest her. At the trial, Shiva accidentally kills an assassin who targets his grandmother and is put on trial himself. He is saved, however, when a man who helped him in Cinemapatti earlier testifies that Shiva was a victim of circumstance. Both Shiva and “D” are pardoned, and Shiva who has been promoted to , unites happily with Priya, his family and friends. S. Sashikanth, who was looking for scripts for his debut production for his production banner YNOT Studios got in touch with C. S. Amudhan, who was willing to make his directorial debut, submitted three pitches in different genres for his consideration, out of which Sashikanth chosen the script of spoofs and went ahead with it. In order to receive the film a wide release, Sashikanth opted to sell the film to Dayanidhi Alagiri who distributed and released the film under his company Cloud Nine Movies. Upon release, the film received positive reviews en route to becoming one of the box office successes of the year in . Rediff.com called the film a “must watch”, while Sify.com labelled the film as a “rollicking comedy” and gave particular praise for Shiva’s performance and the director’s script and dialogues. However rated it 2.5/5, commenting, “It’s a brilliant idea, to make a of Tamil cinema, and the very concept raises your expectations” and concluded, “Having dared to test the waters, the director seems to have stepped back in apprehension.” The film’s soundtrack was composed by debutant . The soundtrack contains five songs.</p>