Kuruthipunal
Encyclopedia
Kuruthipunal is a 1995 Tamil
drama
and action film
directed by veteran cinematographer P. C. Sriram
. The film stars Kamal Haasan
and Arjun
in the lead roles, with Nassar
playing a pivotal role. Upon release, the film met with a strong critical reception, and is recognized by some to have set high benchmarks for other action films in that period. The film featured no songs throughout the film, however the background score was composed by Mahesh Mahadevan
. Produced by Kamal Hassan, the story is a remake of Govind Nihalani's Hindi film Drohkaal
,
The plot revolves around a police officer with familial obligations and a strong desire to curb terrorism in the country. The film was featured as part of a retrospective to Kamal Haasan under the category "Director in Focus" at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
. The film was India's official entry for the 68th Academy Awards
Best Foreign Language Film
category.
Through Shiva, Adhi and Abbas learn of the arrival of an RPG expert shooter into the city to assassinate a minister who is to arrive soon. Adhi and Abbas manage to corner the RPG shooter in a railway station but he manages to escape the police in an intense shoot out. The police duo captures the driver (Nasser) of the car that had come to pick up the shooter.
Thus starts the mind game between Adhi and the Driver. Adhi tortures the driver for information on the terrorist head Badri and the spy inside the police camp but the driver maintains his innocence. Adhi, convinced that the driver holds a mid-level position in the terrorist camp, refuse to believe him.
Meanwhile, Adhi and Abbas change the route of the minister who was to be assassinated at the last minute. But the terrorist knew about this plan and the RPG shooter kills the minister but is then captured by the police. The shooter identifies Srinivasan, a senior police officer who was Adhi’s mentor, as the spy who had alerted the terrorists of the change of plan. Before he can be arrested, Srinivasan commits suicide, after confessing to Adhi that he was threatened by the terrorist group that they would kill his family if he didn’t act as a spy. This enrages Adhi and he beats up the driver even more.
The driver then used one of his men inside the prison he is kept in to pass instructions to kill Adhi’s pet to show Adhi that he can kill Adhi’s family just as easily. The Driver reveals himself as Badri, the head of the terrorist group and threatens to kill Adhi’s family if he is not let go. Adhi, manages to let Badri escape. Adhi acts as the new spy for the terrorist group. Abbas gets a little suspicious and follows Adhi when he goes to meet Badri. Abbas is caught, tortured and killed.
Overcome with sadness, Abbas’s wife Geetha and their teenage daughter come to live with Adhi, his wife, Sumitra (Gautami) and their son. Badri, again threatens Adhi to let a couple of terrorists come and live with him to keep a closer eye on Adhi. Overcome with guilt and grief over Abbas’s death and his betrayal of his duty, he realizes that he is travelling down the same path Srinivasan had done and decides to end the arrangement.
Adhi manages to find the safe house the terrorists reside in. Meanwhile, the terrorist staying at Adhi’s house tries to rape Abbas’s teenage daughter. Gautami, intervenes and offers herself to him instead. While he gets a bit too excited, she gets the gun off him and kills him.
As Adhi approaches the safe house, he is captured and the roles are reversed as Badri tortures Adhi to reveal the information of the second spy in the terrorist’s camp. When only Adhi, Badri and Badri’s second in command, Shiva is left in the room, Badri reveals to Adhi that the group has even found the radio used by the spy and that Danush (the codename of the spy) can no longer contact the police. This surprises Adhi and he looks at Shiva, who is the spy, for confirmation. Badri notices this and realizes that Shiva is Dhanush. Adhi breaks free and tussle with Badri when Badri tries to kill Shiva. This leads to a tussle in which Adhi kills Badri.
Adhi, who believes that the mission to bring down all the terrorist organizations is more important than his life, insists Shiva to shoot him so that Shiva could continue being the spy. Shiva shoots and kills Adhi just as the other terrorist members enter the room hearing the commotion inside. Shiva convinces the others that Badri was killed by Adhi and he killed Adhi. He proclaims that as Badri is dead, he, the second in command, will take over the reins of the group.
, while Kamal Haasan
won Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his portrayal of Adhi Naarayanan. The film was India's official entry for the 68th Academy Awards
Best Foreign Language Film
category, but did not make the shortlist. The film was also featured as part of a retrospective to Kamal Haasan under the category "Director in Focus" at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
.
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
and action film
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
directed by veteran cinematographer P. C. Sriram
P. C. Sriram
P. C. Sreeram is a cinematographer and film director, educated at the Film and Television Institute of Tamil nadu . P.C. Sreeram is fondly called as PC sir. P.C. Sreeram won appreciations for his various cinematographic works and his directorial venture Kurruthipunal was selected as India's...
. The film stars Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
and Arjun
Arjun Sarja
Arjun Sarja is an Indian film actor and director. Son of Kannada film star Shakti Prasad, he has primarily acted in Tamil films, and also appeared in Kannada and Telugu films. The title "Action King" has been given to Arjun by fans, for the numerous roles he has portrayed in action films. He is...
in the lead roles, with Nassar
Nassar
Nassar is a Tamil actor, producer, writer, director, lyricist, and singer. He has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English films. He is often cited as part of India's specialist character actors, along with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Nana Patekar...
playing a pivotal role. Upon release, the film met with a strong critical reception, and is recognized by some to have set high benchmarks for other action films in that period. The film featured no songs throughout the film, however the background score was composed by Mahesh Mahadevan
Mahesh Mahadevan
Mahesh Mahadevan was an Indian film composer in the '90s. Over the last decade of the 20th century, Mahesh composed more than 250 popular advertising jingles including the extremely popular Regaul Blue jingle. He also directed the music for six very successful multi-language motion...
. Produced by Kamal Hassan, the story is a remake of Govind Nihalani's Hindi film Drohkaal
Drohkaal
Drohkaal is a 1994 Indian film directed and produced by Govind Nihalani which deals with India's fight against terrorism. The film examines the mental and psychological trauma that honest police officers go through in their fight against a group of ruthless terrorists. This movie was remade into...
,
The plot revolves around a police officer with familial obligations and a strong desire to curb terrorism in the country. The film was featured as part of a retrospective to Kamal Haasan under the category "Director in Focus" at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is an annual film festival held in various cinemas in Rotterdam, Netherlands held at the end of January. It is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno...
. The film was India's official entry for the 68th Academy Awards
68th Academy Awards
The 68th Academy Awards were held on March 25, 1996, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The show was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. The ceremony was watched 44.48 million viewers, with 30.5% households watching...
Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
category.
Plot
Two sincere police officers Adhi Narayanan (Kamal Hassan) and Abbas (Arjun) send two secret vigilance officers, named Anand and Shiva on an operation called Operation Dhanush. The objective is to infiltrate a terror group headed by a man named Badri, and send information back to Abbas. A leak from inside the police camp leads the terrorist to oust Anand as a spy but before they could torture him and get the information of the second spy, he commits suicide.Through Shiva, Adhi and Abbas learn of the arrival of an RPG expert shooter into the city to assassinate a minister who is to arrive soon. Adhi and Abbas manage to corner the RPG shooter in a railway station but he manages to escape the police in an intense shoot out. The police duo captures the driver (Nasser) of the car that had come to pick up the shooter.
Thus starts the mind game between Adhi and the Driver. Adhi tortures the driver for information on the terrorist head Badri and the spy inside the police camp but the driver maintains his innocence. Adhi, convinced that the driver holds a mid-level position in the terrorist camp, refuse to believe him.
Meanwhile, Adhi and Abbas change the route of the minister who was to be assassinated at the last minute. But the terrorist knew about this plan and the RPG shooter kills the minister but is then captured by the police. The shooter identifies Srinivasan, a senior police officer who was Adhi’s mentor, as the spy who had alerted the terrorists of the change of plan. Before he can be arrested, Srinivasan commits suicide, after confessing to Adhi that he was threatened by the terrorist group that they would kill his family if he didn’t act as a spy. This enrages Adhi and he beats up the driver even more.
The driver then used one of his men inside the prison he is kept in to pass instructions to kill Adhi’s pet to show Adhi that he can kill Adhi’s family just as easily. The Driver reveals himself as Badri, the head of the terrorist group and threatens to kill Adhi’s family if he is not let go. Adhi, manages to let Badri escape. Adhi acts as the new spy for the terrorist group. Abbas gets a little suspicious and follows Adhi when he goes to meet Badri. Abbas is caught, tortured and killed.
Overcome with sadness, Abbas’s wife Geetha and their teenage daughter come to live with Adhi, his wife, Sumitra (Gautami) and their son. Badri, again threatens Adhi to let a couple of terrorists come and live with him to keep a closer eye on Adhi. Overcome with guilt and grief over Abbas’s death and his betrayal of his duty, he realizes that he is travelling down the same path Srinivasan had done and decides to end the arrangement.
Adhi manages to find the safe house the terrorists reside in. Meanwhile, the terrorist staying at Adhi’s house tries to rape Abbas’s teenage daughter. Gautami, intervenes and offers herself to him instead. While he gets a bit too excited, she gets the gun off him and kills him.
As Adhi approaches the safe house, he is captured and the roles are reversed as Badri tortures Adhi to reveal the information of the second spy in the terrorist’s camp. When only Adhi, Badri and Badri’s second in command, Shiva is left in the room, Badri reveals to Adhi that the group has even found the radio used by the spy and that Danush (the codename of the spy) can no longer contact the police. This surprises Adhi and he looks at Shiva, who is the spy, for confirmation. Badri notices this and realizes that Shiva is Dhanush. Adhi breaks free and tussle with Badri when Badri tries to kill Shiva. This leads to a tussle in which Adhi kills Badri.
Adhi, who believes that the mission to bring down all the terrorist organizations is more important than his life, insists Shiva to shoot him so that Shiva could continue being the spy. Shiva shoots and kills Adhi just as the other terrorist members enter the room hearing the commotion inside. Shiva convinces the others that Badri was killed by Adhi and he killed Adhi. He proclaims that as Badri is dead, he, the second in command, will take over the reins of the group.
Cast
- Kamal HaasanKamal HaasanKamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
as Adhi Naarayanan - ArjunArjun SarjaArjun Sarja is an Indian film actor and director. Son of Kannada film star Shakti Prasad, he has primarily acted in Tamil films, and also appeared in Kannada and Telugu films. The title "Action King" has been given to Arjun by fans, for the numerous roles he has portrayed in action films. He is...
as Abbas - NassarNassarNassar is a Tamil actor, producer, writer, director, lyricist, and singer. He has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English films. He is often cited as part of India's specialist character actors, along with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Nana Patekar...
as Badri - Gouthami as Sumitra
- Geetha as Zeenath
- Nizhalgal RaviNizhalgal RaviNizhalgal Ravi is an Indian actor who has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He started his career in 1980 with the film Nizhalgal.-Career:...
- K. Viswanath as Srinivasan/Chinnaswamiji
- Subhalekha SudhakarSubhalekha SudhakarSubhalekha Sudhakar is an Indian film actor in Telugu cinema. He has acted in over 96 films. He is brother-in-law of legendary singer S. P. Balasubramaniam. He has acted in a few Tamil films as well. He made his acting debut in K. Viswanath's film Subhalekha. This gave him the screen name...
as Suri - John EdathattilJohn EdathattilJohn Edathattil is an Indian screenwriter and filmmaker. John E aka Sab John has penned scripts for some very critically acclaimed films in Malayalam and Tamil...
as Narasimham
Release
The following year the film won the Cinema Express Award for Best Film – TamilCinema Express Award for Best Film – Tamil
The Cinema Express Best Film Award is given as a part of its annual Cinema Express Awards for Tamil films.-Winners:...
, while Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
won Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his portrayal of Adhi Naarayanan. The film was India's official entry for the 68th Academy Awards
68th Academy Awards
The 68th Academy Awards were held on March 25, 1996, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The show was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. The ceremony was watched 44.48 million viewers, with 30.5% households watching...
Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
category, but did not make the shortlist. The film was also featured as part of a retrospective to Kamal Haasan under the category "Director in Focus" at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is an annual film festival held in various cinemas in Rotterdam, Netherlands held at the end of January. It is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno...
.