Villain (2002 film)

Villain
Directed by	K. S. Ravikumar
Produced by	S. S. Chakravarthy
Written by	Yugi Sethu K. S. Ravikumar
Starring	Ajith Kumar Meena Kiran
Music by	Vidyasagar
Cinematography	Ashok Moorthy
Editing by	K. Thanigachalam
Studio	NIC Arts
Release date(s)	4 November 2002
Running time	164 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Villain (Tamil: வில்லன்) is a 2002 Tamil film directed by K.S. Ravikumar and produced by S. S. Chakravarthy. The film stars Ajith Kumar in a dual role while Meena and Kiran play female leads. Sujatha, Fesi Vijayan, Karunaas and Ramesh Khanna appear in other significant roles, while Vidyasagar composed the score and soundtrack for the film. It opened to positive reviews and box office success in November 2002, with Ajith's performance leading to his second Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

Plot

One of the twins is a bus conductor and the other is handicapped. The elder one, Shiva, overhears his parents' plot to kill his mildly retarded brother, Vishnu. He runs away to another city, with his adorable brother, and strives hard to look after Vishnu.

As a result of an incident when 'dada' Sundara Moorthy, who runs a beggar trade beats Vishnu brutally, Vishnu becomes handicapped for life. Shiva leaves Vishnu in a home run by a social worker (Sujatha). During the day, Shiva works as a bus conductor, and at the same time, poses as the handicapped Vishnu: to play Robin Hood and steal from the rich and corrupt. A gang including Thangam (Meena), Ramesh Khanna and others assist him in these operations.

He is never suspected, and so, with the stolen money, he takes care of not only Vishnu but also 800 people in other institutions for the physically handicapped.

A college student Lavanya (Kiran Rathod) falls in love with Shiva, but Shiva later comes to know that she is the sister-in-law of the 'dada' who handicapped Vishnu. Matters worsen when Sundara Moorthy becomes the chairman of the institute for the physically handicapped. How Shiva deals with the situation forms the rest of the story. Meanwhile Thangam is in love with Shiva, though he does not know this. Later she gives up her love and lets Lavanya marry Shiva.

Cast

• Ajith Kumar as Shiva and Vishnu
• Meena as Thangam
• Kiran as Lavanya
• Sujatha
• Fefsi Vijayan as Sundaramoorthy
• Ramesh Khanna
• Karunas
• Vijayakumar
• Rekha
• R. Sundarrajan
• Nizhalgal Ravi
• Manobala
• Santhana Bharathi

Production

The film saw the first collaboration of Ajith Kumar and K. S. Ravikumar, with the former revealing that he was initially reluctant to work with the director in fear of a misunderstanding. The producer, S. S. Chakravarthy, also worked with a prominent director for the first time in his career.

Release

The Hindu reviewer claimed that "if you don't rack your brains about the feasibility of the hero's game plans, you could enjoy watching "Villain"" and that "Ajit scores on both fronts". Another critic cited that it was "great slag-less screenplay and some stunning performances from Ajith make this film a treat for the senses" with Ajith's performance leading to his second Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Another critic revealed that it is a "a predictable old story that we have seen a dozen times before, makes Villain just another average movie, though for Ajith's fans this will be a relief after the disaster of "Red"."

The film became a blockbuster at eh box office and emerged as one of the leading Tamil films of the year. The film was later remade in Telugu with the same title by Rajasekhar, while the original was also dubbed into Hindi and released as Jeet: Born to Win.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features 6 songs composed by Vidyasagar and lyrics by Vairamuthu.

Song Title	Singers
"Pathinettu Vayathil"	Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam
"Orae Manam"	Hariharan, Chandana Bala
"Adicha Nethi Adi	Karthik Raja, Swarnalatha
"Aadiyil Kaathadicha"	S.P.Balasubramanyam
"Hello Hello"	Tippu, Sadhana Sargam, Anuradha Sriram
"Thappu Thanda"	Shankar Mahadevan, Sujatha Mohan