Samudhiram

Samuthiram (transl. Ocean) is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language drama film written by Erode Soundar and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars an ensemble cast of Sarath Kumar, Murali, Manoj Bharathiraja, Kaveri, Abhirami, Sindhu Menon and Monal. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Sabesh–Murali. The film was released on 31 August 2001. The film was remade in Telugu as Siva Rama Raju with Jagapathi Babu, in Bengali as Kartabya and in Kannada as Paramashiva with V. Ravichandran. Even though it got mixed reviews, it became a "superhit" at the box office.

Samudhiram
File:Samudhiram poster.jpg Poster
Directed by	K. S. Ravikumar
Produced by	R. B. Choudary
Written by	Erode Soundar
Starring	Sarath Kumar Murali Manoj Bharathiraja Kaveri Abhirami Sindhu Menon Monal
Music by	Sabesh–Murali
Cinematography	S. Murthy
Edited by	K. Thanikachalam
Production company	Super Good Films
Release date	31 August 2001
Running time	163 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Selvarasu (Sarath Kumar) is the head of his family, and his two brothers Thangarasu (Murali) and Chinnarasu (Manoj Bharathiraja) are ready to give up their lives for him. The three brothers are very fond of their sister Rasamani (Kaveri). A rich man from the neighboring village (Pyramid Natarajan), Chinniyampalyam Zamin Rangarajan, feels insulted when Thangarasu mishandles his son Aakash (Akash) during a temple festival, and to take revenge, he comes with a wedding proposal to make Rasamani his daughter-in-law. At the time of the wedding, the groom's family demands the entire wealth of Selvarasu to be transferred to Rasamani as the dowry, for which Selvarasu and his brothers agree. The brothers are insulted at every opportunity, while Rasamani is also ill-treated by her husband and father in law.

Selvarasu is married to Lakshmi (Abhirami), while Thangarasu is married to his cousin Durga (Sindhu Menon) and Chinnarasu is in love with his classmate Priya (Monal). Rasamani conceives but still undergoes the torture of her family. Chinnarasu's wedding is arranged with Priya, and the brothers eagerly await for the arrival of Rasamani for the wedding. However, Rasamani is locked up in a room by Aakash, who is not permitting her to attend the wedding. Aakash also injures her feet while she tries to escape from her house with plans of attending the wedding. The brothers come to Rasamani's home requesting her to come for the wedding and are shocked to know that she is hurt and locked in a room. The brothers fight Aakash's goons. Rasamani gets furious and decides to end her relationship with Aakash. She removes the thaali and throws on the face of her husband and decides to go with her brothers. In the end, Aakash and his father reform and accept Rasamani and her brothers.

Cast

• Sarath Kumar as Selvarasu
• Murali as Thangarasu, Selvarasu's brother
• Manoj Bharathiraja as Chinnarasu, Selvarasu's brother
• Kaveri as Rasamani, the sister of the brothers
• Abhirami as Lakshmi, Selvarasu's wife
• Sindhu Menon as Durga, Thangarasu's wife and cousin
• Monal as Priya, Chinnarasu's love interest
• Goundamani as Ramanathan, Selvarasu's maternal uncle
• Manivannan as Sundaram
• Senthil as M. Tharmaraj, Sundaram's nephew
• Akash as Aakash, Rasamani's husband
• Pyramid Natarajan as Chinnapalayam Zamin Rangarajan, Rasamani's father-in-law
• Priyanka as Bride Girl
• Manjula Vijayakumar as Parvathi, Durga's mother
• Thyagu as Priya's father
• Riyaz Khan as Priya's brother
• Santhana Bharathi as Rajalingam Gounder, Lakshmi's father
• Pandu as College Principal
• Manobala as Professor
• Vasu Vikram as Maruthamuthu
• Lavanya
• Crane Manohar
• Erode Soundar as Mercenary Hitman
• Raadhika (cameo appearance)
• K. S. Ravikumar (guest appearance in song "Vidiya Vidiya")
• Sridhar as dancer

Production

R. B. Choudary's financial problems meant that the director K. S. Ravikumar financed the first schedule of the film by himself. The producer acknowledged and thanked the director at the audio launch function.

In June 2001, during the shoot of the film in the Mandya district of Karnataka, the team were attacked by angry villagers. The set was trashed and crew members were injured.

The climax of the film was changed after the completion of the shoot.

Soundtrack

Samudhiram
Soundtrack album by Sabesh–Murali
Released	2001
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Star Music
Producer	Sabesh–Murali
Sabesh–Murali chronology
Samudhiram (2001) Naina (2002)

Sabesh–Murali, brothers of music composer Deva, made their debut as full-fledged composers with this project after composing background music for their brother's films previously.

• "Kaa Vitta" – Mano, Anuradha Sriram
• "Kandupidi" – Hariharan, Ganga
• "Azhagana Chinna Devathai" – Shankar Mahadevan, Harini
• "Vidiya Vidiya" – Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam
• "Pineaple Kannathodu" – Shankar Mahadevan

Release

Samudhiram released on 31 August 2001.

Critical reception

The movie generally got negative reviews as it was felt that the story is not new. Malathi Rangarajan from thehindu.com stated Samudhiram is a story of the sincere affection that exists in a family – love that is more filial than fraternal; attachment that is more unnatural than normal. Screenindia wrote that stars performed well in the film.