Thiruda Thiruda

<p>Printed Indian currency from the security press at with an estimated value of 1000 crores, is stolen from a train by T. T. Vikram, a gangster and drug dealer living in London. The container is shipped off by Vikram’s henchman and is on the move. The access card of the container goes to the possession of pop star Chandralekha, an acquaintance of Vikram. Lakshminarayanan is assigned to track down the stolen currency within the next ten days, on time for the upcoming budget allotment for the fiscal year. Lakshminarayanan tracks down Chandralekha who tactfully escapes from him and tries to reach Vikram, when she comes across two small time burglars – Kadhir and Azhagu. The duo are on the run from the police after a successful burglary in the countryside. A village belle Rasathi, who tries to escape from her abusive relatives also tags along with the thieving duo. Chandralekha and the trio end up traveling together due to circumstances. When Chandralekha tries to double cross the thieves and escape, they steal her purse containing the access card as revenge. Realizing this, she comes back to them and only then does the duo realize the actual worth of the access card. They all make a plan to pursue the money container somehow, but Vikram tries to chase down and kill all of them to get the card back at any cost. While on the run from the police and Vikram, they come across the very same truck containing the loot and manage to bring it under their possession. They hide it away from prying eyes with the entirety of the loot still intact inside the container. With Lakshminarayanan and his brigade of CBI officers close at his tail, Vikram stops at nothing to get his loot back, but is outwitted repeatedly by the thieves. Vikram finally manages to find Chandralekha, gets the access card from her and she is left to die in the forest, but is rescued and taken into custody by Lakshminarayanan, who interrogates her and she cooperates with them to find the container. Meanwhile, Kadhir and Rasathi are mutually attracted to each other but Kadhir sacrifices his love for her after realizing that his best friend Azhagu is also in love with Rasathi. Rasathi, who does not want to continue with this love triangle, opts out and leaves them both, but Vikram captures her. Kadhir and Azhagu, in a bid to save her, point to the location of the currency container and Vikram escapes with the loot on a train, taking Rasathi as a hostage. Lakshminarayanan finds that the loot is being transported on a train and is in hot pursuit, while Kadhir and Azhagu also get on the train to save Rasathi from Vikram. They save Rasathi together and subdue Vikram, who falls off the train. Azhagu also steals the access card from him. Now that they are finally in possession of the loot, Kadhir and Azhagu playfully argue about who would marry Rasathi and leave the other to manage the loot, each indicating that they are more interested in the money than their love for Rasathi, so she grabs the access card and throws it away and chases them around. Lakshminarayanan arrives at the nick of time and takes the access card and the currency container back to the Indian government where it actually belongs and finally restores order. In late 1992, Mani Ratnam chose to make the as his first directorial venture under his newly set-up production studio, , alongside his co-producer . When writing the script of the film, Mani Ratnam went on a recce with and both filmmakers spent a few days each fine-tuning each other’s scripts. While Varma worked on parts of , Mani Ratnam helped script Varma’s (1993). With the script of , he wanted to attempt the caper genre for the first time and took ‘s (1986) and Varma’s (1991) as his initial inspirations. He was also inspired by the ongoing financial scandal involving stockbroker , which had made Indian national news during early 1992 and chose to adapt his script accordingly. The American film (1969) was another influence on . was initially meant to play the role of Kadhir before was selected. , a renowned theatre artist, was roped into play an antagonist. Before finalising for a role, Mani Ratnam considered but opted against signing her as he wanted to select an actress new to Tamil cinema. Actress were also approached for role in the film but refused the opportunity due to other commitments. was among ‘s assistant cinematographers in the film. was released on 13 November 1993. Malini Mannath wrote for on 19 November, ” is a technique conscious film that may seem sparkling and wondrous to the technique crazy cine-goer though it never really takes off after the “. The film won the and for . The soundtrack features 8 songs composed by , with lyrics by & . The film’s songs are notable for two reasons—the introduction of relatively unknown vocalists into mainstream Tamil playback singing and the extensive use of experimental sounds in South Indian cinema. While vocalist in the song “Chandralekha” and the Filipina singer Caroline in “Thee Thee” sang their first mainstream songs, the late singer was roped in to sing the number . The song “Veerapandi Kottayile” became a big hit across South India. The tune of “Thee Thee” was originally composed by Rahman for an advertisement that never aired. The lyrics for the Tamil version were penned by Vaali & Vairamuthu, while Rajashri and P. K. Mishra penned lyrics for the Telugu and Hindi versions. The Music Label in Tamil & Telugu are , while the Hindi is under The song “Kannum Kannum” was also sampled in Hindi as “Kunjam Kunjam Pyar Ki Baatein” for the film album . This sampled version has and as the singers and as the composer. The song “Kannum Kannum” inspired a 2020 film titled . A film with the same name had earlier been planned by in 2002, but was later shelved.</p>