Nattamai

Shanmugam (Sarathkumar) is the village head, fondly called Nattamai in his village in Coimbatore. He is the Chair of the Village Administration and also the unofficial judge in the village meetings, a post his family has held for generations in his village to do justice. He hears all the cases and gives solutions to the people and even punishments to the wrongdoers. His wife Lakshmi (Khushbu) admires and respects him. His brothers Pasupathi (also portrayed by Sarathkumar) and Selvaraj (Raja Ravindra) fear him but also have a lot of respect for him as he has brought them up as his children. Pasupathi marries Meena (Meena), the daughter of an industrialist (Vinu Chakravarthy). She dislikes Shanmugam Nattamai because of his verdicts and attitude and her husband for being so timid with his brother but later transforms after learning of the former's greatness from her father. Selvaraj loves his paternal cousin, who is his paternal aunt (Manorama) granddaughter Kanmani (Sanghavi).

In the flashback, Periya Nattamai (Vijayakumar), Shanmugam Nattamai's, Pasupathi, and Selvaraj's father, orders Manorama's son (and Kanmani's father) (Ponnambalam) to marry his servant's daughter whom he raped. Manorama (who is Periya Nattamai's sister) had met him the previous day, to ask for a false judgement in favour of her son. However, she was told strictly to not interfere with the judgments. His brother-in-law, (Ponnambalam's father and Manorama's husband (Erode Soundar), shoots him as he is disappointed by his verdict. Enraged, Periya Nattamai gives his final judgment before dying. He expels Ponnambalam's family from the village and makes Shanmugam the new Nattamai, before dying.

Years later, Ponnambalam's father dies. Ponnambalam builds envy on his uncle's family and waits for an opportunity to take revenge on them. He hires a woman as the village school teacher and asks her to make Pasupathi fall for her. She does so to save her father, who is in the hands of Ponnambalam. He kills her and makes the villagers believe that Pasupathi has committed the murder. Shanmugam Nattamai sentences ten years of exile for Pasupathi, and his wife Meena. Ponnambalam learns of his daughter's love for Selvaraj and tries to kill him, with the help of his goons. Pasupathi goes to his rescue of him, and a pregnant Meena goes to Shanmugam to convey this message. While Pasupathi starts to take revenge on Ponnambalam, Manorama rushes to Shanmugam, kills her son Ponnambalam, and reveals the truth and tells that he punished his brother without committing any mistake and also told that the crimes blamed on Pasupathi were really perpetrated by Ponnambalam. Shanmugam dies upon learning that he gave a wrong judgment, and Pasupathi is shown taking his place as the new Nattamai.

Director K. S. Ravikumar initially approached Mammootty to play the supporting role played by vijayakumar.[2] For reasons unknown, he declined the offer. Sarathkumar was then signed for as the lead. The film became the fourth collaboration between Ravikumar and Sarathkumar. When Ravikumar approached Khushbu for Nattamai's wife role, she hesitated as in most part of the film she had to look old, except in a brief flashback. She asked him whom he will cast if she denies, Ravikumar said he will approach veteran actress Lakshmi; this made Kusbhoo to take up this role.[3] Mahendran was introduced as child artist through this film.[4] Vijayakumar was initially cast as the elder brother, but a few days before shooting began, Ravikumar decided to have Sarathkumar play both brothers and Bharathiraja was Ravikumar's initial choice for the character of Vijayakumar.[5][6]

In his early days as an actor, Sarathkumar was considered to be close to AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa.[7] However, Sarath's proximity to Jayalalithaa landed him in deep trouble when Nattamai, which was still running in Tamil Nadu theatres, was aired by Jayalalithaa's television channel JJ TV, using a U-matic tape, which Sarathkumar gave her for personal viewing at her residence. What the understanding between Jayalalithaa and Sarathkumar was not clear. However, this caused a furore in the film industry as the producer R. B. Choudary threatened action against Sarathkumar for misusing a tape given to him for personal viewing. An embarrassed Sarathkumar explained that he was taken by surprise and that he never expected Jayalalithaa to give it to the channel for telecast. He sought an explanation from both Jayalalitha and JJ TV, but without success. The ruling party reacted predictably, using every forum to attack Sarathkumar.[8]

Soundtrack was composed by Sirpy and lyrics were written by Vairamuthu.[9][10]

Nattamai was released on 2 November 1994, during Diwali.[11] The Indian Express wrote that there was "never a dull moment" in the film.[12] Thulasi of Kalki noted Manorama and Vinu Chakravarthy for sentiment, Sangavi for glamour; Vaishnavi to cry; Ponnambalam to get thrashed and die. She said that Sirpy's music makes one listen to it again and again even if they remember hearing it somewhere. Thulasi called the comedy routine and concluded by asking why is that the Tamil cinema hero has to be portrayed as a superman even if he is a villager.[13] It became a blockbuster and completed a 175-day run at the box office.[14]

The success of the film prompted Super Good Films, K. S. Ravikumar, Erode Soundar and Sarathkumar to announce a film titled Paamaran soon after. However, the project was later stalled owing to a fallout between the actor and the director. Despite discussions for director Vikraman to take over the film, the project was stalled.[15]

Owing to its success, Nattamai was remade in Telugu as Pedarayudu (1995),[16] It was remade in Kannada as Simhadriya Simha (2001). It was also remade in Hindi as Bulandi (2000).[17]

The tagline Nattamai, theerpa maathi sollu (Chieftain, change your judgement) became popular after release.[18] It became a trendsetter for many films in later years. The success of the film inspired similar themes about village chieftain. Vijayakumar's portrayal of village chieftain received critical acclaim and he went on to be typecasted with similar characters in later films. The film gave breakthrough in the career of Sarathkumar and the actor did similar films – Suryavamsam (1997), Natpukkaga (1998), Maayi (2000), Diwan (2003) and Ayyaa (2005) which featured him in double roles in the backdrop of village.[19]

Nattamai has been parodied and referenced many times.[20] In a comedy scene from Aahaa Enna Porutham (1998), Goundamani mocks at the superstitions of village panchayat saying that chieftain should have assistant tagging along with him and should have a pot of water.[21] Comedian Vivek has parodied this aspect in many films. He did a similar spoof in Sandai (2008) and Thoondil (2008) and made fun of village rituals in Kadhal Sadugudu (2003). Scenes from the film was parodied in Shiva starrer Thamizh Padam (2010), Ponnambalam who did the negative role in the original film had appeared as village chieftain in this film.[22]

• Nattamai at IMDb