Our Kollywood heroines are not just good at playing soft, romantic, good and bubbly roles. They are equally good enough to do powerful negative characters too and have proved their mettle in this department.
This week, as part of its Friday special article series, Mykollywood.com tracks some films that featured our popular actresses in characters with dark shades.
PADAYAPPA
‘Padayappa’ is a 1999 film, written and directed by K S Ravikumar, featuring Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, Ramya Krishnan and Soundarya in lead roles. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by A R Rahman.
The plot revolves around Padayappa (Rajinikanth), an engineer whose father (Sivaji Ganesan) dies of shock soon after he is defrauded and loses his property to his foster brother (Manivannan).
Neelambari (Ramya Krishnan) initially loves Padayappa, but plans to take revenge on him and his love interest Vasundhara (Soundarya) after his family humiliates her father (Radha Ravi). The rest of the story deals with Padayappa climbing back to financial success and arranging his daughters’ marriage while overcoming all the obstacles placed by Neelambari.
PAARTHEN RASITHEN
‘Paarthen Rasithen’ is a 2000 film written and directed by Saran. The film features Prashanth, Simran and Laila in the lead roles, while Raghuvaran, Jai Ganesh, Vinu Chakravarthy, Vaiyapuri, Charle, Dhamu, Lawrence Raghavendra, Fathima Babu and Jyothi play supporting roles.
The film’s music was composed by Bharadwaj. Simran portrayed the role of an antagonist for the first time in her career. The film also saw third collaboration between Prashanth and Simran following ‘Kannedhirey Thondrinal’ and ‘Jodi’.
The film focuses on Shankar, Sarika and Bhanu played by Prashanth, Laila and Simran respectively. It narrates Shankar’s love story with Sarika, whom he meets on a bus. She reciprocates, but problems and misunderstandings plague their romance. Bhanu, Shankar’s best friend, also falls in love with him, and plots few sinister plans in order to get Shankar to fall in love with her and break his love with Sarika.
The rest of the plot deals with Shankar overcoming all the obstacles placed by Bhanu and reuniting with Sarika. Simran later played negative role in Sivakarthikeyan-Samantha starrer ‘Seema Raja’ too.
PACHAIKILI MUTHUCHARAM
‘Pachaikili Muthucharam’ is a 2007 film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. It is based on the 2005 British-American thriller film ‘Derailed’. The film stars Sarathkumar, Jyothika, Andrea Jeremiah and Milind Soman.
The film’s score and soundtrack were composed by Harris Jayaraj. The movie was dubbed in Telugu as ‘Drohi’. Jyothika played a powerful negative role named Geetha, who cheats the protagonist (Sarathkumar).
Her role raised many eyebrows and her versatility and ability to pull off a negative role was praised by critics and fans alike.
VALLAVAN
‘Vallavan’ is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language romance film written and directed by Silambarasan, starring himself as the titular character along with Nayanthara, Reema Sen and Sandhya whilst Santhanam, Premji, and Sathyan play supporting roles.
The dialogues are written by Balakumaran. The film’s score and soundtrack are composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The film was later dubbed into Telugu and released as ‘Vallabha’. Reema’s character as a sadistic lover was convincing enough and Reema had done complete justice to her role.
THIMIRU
‘Thimiru’ is a 2006 film written and directed by debutant Tarun Gopi. It stars Vishal, Reema Sen and Sriya Reddy in lead. The film’s score and soundtrack are composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
Produced by Vikram Krishna, under the banner of G K Film Corporation, it was released on 4 August 2006. Thimiru became highly successful at the box office and one of the top-grossing Tamil films in 2006. The film was also praised for Vadivelu’s comedy.
Sriya Reddy’s role in ‘Thimiru’ was lauded by both critics and fans. That particular role is still liked by many and is watched whenever the movie is played on TV channels.
KEDI
‘Kedi’ is a 2006 film written and directed by Jyothi Krishna, who earlier directed the 2003 Tamil film ‘Enakku 20 Unakku 18’. Starring Ileana D’Cruz, Tamannaah and Ravi Krishna in the lead role, the film marks the Kollywood debut of actresses Ileana and Tamannaah, where the latter plays a character with negative shades and the former plays love interest of Ravi Krishna.
KODI
‘Kodi’ is a 2016 film written and directed by R S Durai Senthilkumar and produced by Vetrimaaran under his banner Grass Root Film Company. The film stars Dhanush, Trisha and Anupama Parameswaran in the lead roles, while S A Chandrasekhar, Saranya Ponvannan, Kaali Venkat, Namo Narayana, and G Marimuthu play other key roles.
Dhanush and Trisha pair up for the first time. ‘Kodi’, marks the Tamil debut of Anupama Parameshwaran. Dhanush played dual roles for the first time in his career. Trisha played a cunning politician who is ready to go to any extent to go up in the political ladder.
ADHE KANGAL
‘Adhe Kangal’ is a 2017 film written and directed by Rohin Venkatesan and produced by C V Kumar. The film features Kalaiyarasan, Janani Iyer and Sshivada in the leading roles and Bala Saravanan plays the role of comedian, while Ghibran composes the film’s music.
The film had a theatrical release on 26 January 2017 coinciding with Republic Day to unanonymously positive reviews. The film was remade in Kannada as ‘Samhaara’ starring Chiranjeevi Sarja in the role of Kalaiyarasan, and also in Telugu as ‘Neevevaro’ with Aadhi reprising Kalaiyarasan’s role. The movie featured Sshivada in a talked about negative role.
RAJA RANGUSKI
‘Raja Ranguski’ is a 2018 film directed by Dharani Dharan, starring Shirish Saravanan and Chandini Tamilarasan in the leading roles. The film also stars Anupama Kumar in an important role.
The film features music composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Chandini plays title role of Ranguski in this film. She has another side which will be revealed in the latter part of the movie. This film received generally positive reviews.
SANDAKOZHI 2
‘Sandakozhi 2’ is a 2018 film written and directed by N Linguswamy. A sequel to ‘Sandakozhi’, the film features Vishal and Rajkiran reprising their roles from the first film, alongside Keerthy Suresh and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar in the lead roles.
It also happens to be Vishal’s 25th film. The film began production during September 2017 and was released on 18 October 2018. Telugu version titled Pandem Kodi 2 was simultaneously released.
The movie featured Varalaxmi Sarathkumar as Pechankarasi (Pechi), who is waiting for years to take revenge on the protagonist’s family.
KANNNUM KANNUM KOLLAIYADITHAAL
‘Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal’ is a 2020 heist comedy film written and directed by Desingh Periyasamy. The film stars Dulquer Salmaan and Ritu Varma, while Rakshan and Niranjani Ahathian portray supportive roles in their acting debuts.
The film was released on 28 February 2020 along with its dubbed Telugu version ‘Kanulu Kanulanu Dochayante’. The film was success at the box office. The movie featured Ritu Varma as a con woman.
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