<p>A fourteen-year-old Kalyani gives birth to a boy alone and, fearing societal backlash and incapacity, abandons him inside a moving . A slum dweller finds the baby, takes him home, names him Surya and raises him. Surya grows up to be intolerant of injustice, especially to the poor, and wonders why his biological mother abandoned him. The only item from his mother is the yellow shawl in which she had placed him. Devaraj, a powerful gangster, who is kind but feared by most, fights injustice with violence. Surya attacks and kills Ramana, an auxiliary of Devaraj. Surya is arrested for murder and faces brutal torture from police, but Devaraj bails him out after perceiving Ramana’s felony and realises Surya’s cause was genuine. Surya and Devaraj, who share an ideology, come to understand each other. Devaraj declares Surya as his (commander) and best friend. Arjun, the city’s new , wants to lawfully end violence. He is the second son of Kalyani, who is now a social worker. After abandoning Surya, her firstborn, she married Krishnamoorthy. Kalyani never told Arjun of the ordeal she faced as a teenager but is constantly grieved by thoughts of her long-lost firstborn. Meanwhile, Surya is courted by a girl Subbulaxmi, who is smitten with his transparent nature. Surya’s appraisal to Devaraj leads local people in the locality to respect them both. They continue objecting to societal incongruities. While Devaraj leads Surya to help curb unlawful discrepancies, Subbulaxmi despises Surya’s use of violence and tries to persuade him against it. Devaraj tries to form a relationship between Subbulaxmi and Surya but Subbulaxmi’s orthodox father objects and arranges her marriage to Arjun. In his fight against organised crime, Arjun unsuccessfully targets Devaraj and Surya. Meanwhile, Padma, Ramana’s widow, makes Surya feel guilty for killing Ramana. Understanding Padma’s pain, Devaraj shelters her and her child. However, Padma confesses she is constantly troubled by the dishonourable men surrounding her. Devaraj, considering Padma and her daughter’s safety and Surya’s future, asks them to marry each other. Guilt-ridden, Surya marries Padma and eventually wins her child’s affection. Later, at a medical camp, Kalyani meets Padma and her daughter, along with the shawl in which she wrapped Surya. After asking about the day he was found, Kalyani and Krishnamoorthy discover Surya is Kalyani’s long-lost son during a suspect identification. Krishnamoorthy secretly meets Surya and reveals the truth of his origin to him. Surya asks Krishnamoorthy to promise not to let his mother know of Surya’s identity because it would hurt her to know her son has grown to be a vigilante. Kalyani eventually finds Surya and meets him. Surya vows not to harm Arjun for her sake. The long-standing feud between Devaraj and his main rival Kalivardhan makes Surya tell Devaraj, who learns of his meeting with his stepfather and mother and the truth about his family. Devaraj is pleased to know that, despite Arjun being Surya’s half-brother, Surya still sides with him, thus valuing their friendship over family. Because of this, Devaraj decides to surrender. Devaraj and Surya meet Arjun, who now knows Surya is his own half-brother. Suddenly, Kalivardhan’s henchmen open fire and Devaraj is killed. Enraged, Surya storms into Kalivardhan’s house, murders Kalivardhan and all of his henchmen, and surrenders to the police, but is exonerated due to lack of evidence. Arjun is later transferred to another state with Subbulaxmi while Kalyani stays with Surya. was a friend of ‘s brother of , and they were talking about making a film together. Ratnam had met Rajinikanth twice because he had expressed interest in working with Ratnam, who had nothing for him then. Ratnam needed a film with scope for Rajinikanth’s stardom but would remain Ratnam’s film. Ratnam wanted something Rajinikanth could not refuse and that Ratnam really wanted to do. Soon the concept of the story of from the Indian epic , which became the basis for and was a contemporary version of the from Karna’s perspective, came up. Ratnam wanted to present a realistic Rajinikanth, which he saw in (1978) without his style elements and larger-than-life image. was cinematographer ‘s first film in Tamil, and his first project with Ratnam. He was chosen after the director was impressed with his work in the film (1989). The film was edited by , and art-directed by . remains the only collaboration between Ratnam and Rajinikanth. Rajinikanth played Surya, who is a representation of Karna. Rajinikanth insisted Karna’s friend , who is important to the story, was correctly cast; was eventually cast as Devaraj, the equivalent of Duryodhana. He was then filming for ‘s (1990) and initially declined the role after listening to Ratnam’s narration of the story, but after advice from Joshiy, accepted. For the role of Surya’s brother Arjun, Ratnam wanted someone with a sophisticated look and fluency in English. Mammootty suggested to Ratnam for the role, but Jayaram declined due to scheduling conflicts. Ratnam saw in a television commercial and approached him to play Arjun; after a few screen tests, Arvind – who was only credited with his first name – was cast in his feature-film debut. Mammootty was paid (equivalent to 86 lakh or US$100,000 in 2023) and , who portrayed the antagonist Kalivardhan, and shaved his head for the role, received (equivalent to 43 lakh or US$51,000 in 2023) for only five days of filming. Despite being almost three years younger than Rajinikanth, was cast as Surya’s mother Kalyani. When was cast as Padma, the widow of a man killed by Surya, whom she later marries, Ratnam told her there would be no songs for her because Surya “was the cause of her husband’s death. So it can’t be the start of a new romantic track”. Ratnam said the casting of Bhanupriya showed “there was some weight to the character, and you don’t have to invest in terms of songs and things like that. Her very presence makes the character strong”. was cast as Subbulaxmi, her second film role opposite Rajinikanth after (1989). was cast as Manoharan – his first role in Tamil cinema – after Ratnam was impressed with his performance in the film (1990). was chosen to play the young version of Surya but the character was later scrapped because it affected the film’s length. Principal photography began before the role of Arjun had been cast. Ratnam said he chose to film in , , because it had everything the script required, including a waterfront and a river. According to Sivan, Ratnam chose Mysore because “there’d be less people” having extreme adulation for Rajinikanth. The slum scenes were filmed in on a set that was erected by Thota Tharani. The first scene to be filmed was Subbulaxmi teaching a group of students by a river. Because the rising sun was important to the scene, it was filmed earlier than 5:45 am. By the time Rajinikanth came to film his part in the scene, the sun had already risen. To avoid continuity errors, he filmed after 4:30 am the next day. When filming against the “early morning or the late evening sun” was not possible, the crew used tungsten lights and mirrors to create the intended effect. Ratnam chose to film the prologue in which Kalyani gives birth to Surya in black and white because according to him, “Black and white gives the sense of this being a prologue without us having to define it as a prologue”. He delayed filming the scene in which Surya meets his biological mother for the first time by a day at the request of Rajinikanth, who needed more time to prepare. The songs ” ” and “Sundari Kannal” were filmed at Rayagopura, and – both in Karnataka – respectively. “Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu” was filmed over several nights, and choreographed by and his father . Rajinikanth wore apparel for “Sundari Kannal”; according to S. Shiva Kumar, this was the closest Ratnam came to doing something like his idol . With a budget of (equivalent to 260 million or US$3.1 million in 2023), was the at the time. is a contemporary adaptation of the but because the film’s focus is Surya, it dispenses with the epic’s ensemble nature. The character Subbulaxmi is based on , Arjun on and Kalyani on . The film was not originally publicised as an adaptation of the ; Ratnam said this was because the “parallels are hidden sufficiently inside the story to make it work. That is the way I wanted it – at a layer below and not crying out loud”. Venkateswaran said the film “questions people’s normally held ideas of friendship”. According to , the film does not extol crime or violence; rather it narrates the story of a tragic character who rises from slums to gain untold riches and unbridled power. Ratnam refused to name Surya’s father, saying the film “consciously avoids the who and the how of the underage girl’s first love” because Surya is the focus of the story. The name Surya was chosen to emphasise the character’s connection to the sun, similar to the way Karna is the son of the sun god in the . Ratnam never considered killing Surya, unlike the in which Karna dies, because he felt the character had suffered enough, and “his death would look too doomed, too tragic”. The soundtrack was composed by , with lyrics written by . marked the final collaboration among Ilaiyaraaja, Vaali and Ratnam, as the latter had associated with and for his projects, beginning with (1992), which marked Rahman’s debut. The original Tamil version of the soundtrack album includes seven songs with lyrics that were written by . The six songs of the -dubbed version were written by P. K. Mishra. wrote the lyrics for the -dubbed version. released the -dubbed version of the film’s soundtrack which was titled , and penned its lyrics. In a first-of-its-kind marketing strategy in India, GV Films launched “a whole range of consumer products” based on the lead character of . As part of the marketing strategy, all products would be “of the highest quality” and sport the film’s name. was released on 5 November 1991 during the festival. The film was a major critical and commercial success. On 8 November 1991, said; “Moving his pieces with the acumen of an international grandmaster, the director sets a hot pace”. The same day, N. Krishnaswamy of said; “One reason why , despite its visual grandeur is not as riveting as it should have been is that it does not have a strong antagonist”. On 1 December 1991, the review board of praised Ilaiyaraaja’s music, called the film a mountain of a entertainer, and said Rajinikanth had several scenes in which he could emote and that he looks a caged lion left in the open. The magazine wrote a review of the film as a discussion panel alongside directors and reviewing the film. In that review, the film’s cast performances, cinematography and music were praised but the violence was criticised. said was “really ahead of its time” and called it “intellectual entertaining cinema”. said he watched the film during his childhood. Subbaraj’s 2014 film includes several references to . Rajinikanth’s daughter, director , said; “I remember most vividly as that was the first time I went for a first-day-first-show ever”. Mammootty’s performance in the scene in which Devaraj tells Arjun “mudiyathu” ( ) after being asked to surrender everything inspired director to cast him in (2019). (2010) parodied by featuring scenes with characters who are dimly lit and speak one-word dialogues. , who directed (2013), cites as the main inspiration that led him to consider a career in cinema. Soundarya has stated Rajinikanth’s hairstyle in her directorial venture (2014) was inspired by his appearance in . compared (2013) to , both of which feature a character “who yearns for a lost mother and who is coerced into a life of crime”. was remade in Kannada as (2003). In November 2011, producer acquired the Hindi remake rights, despite having a Hindi dubbed version for this film released in 1993. The film was remastered and re-released on 12 December 2024, coinciding with Rajinikanth’s 74th birthday.</p>