Dalapathi

Thalapathi
Theatrical poster
Tamil	தளபதி
Directed by	Mani Ratnam
Produced by	G. Venkateswaran
Written by	Mani Ratnam
Starring	Rajinikanth Mammootty Shobana Arvind Swamy Jaishankar Amrish Puri Srividya Bhanupriya Geetha
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	Santosh Sivan
Edited by	Suresh Urs
Production company	G. V. Films Ltd
Distributed by	G. V. Films Ltd
Release date	5 November 1991
Running time	157 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Thalapathi (English: The Commander) is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language crime-drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam and produced by G. Venkateswaran. It stars Rajinikanth, Mammootty and Shobana in the lead roles with Arvind Swamy, Srividya, Amrish Puri, Bhanupriya, Nagesh, and Charuhasan playing supporting ones. The theme is based on the friendship between Karna and Duryodhana of the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. The score and soundtrack were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film, which features the last collaboration of Mani Ratnam and Ilaiyaraaja, was dubbed and released in Telugu and Hindi as Dalapathi. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success during its theatrical run. It was later remade in Kannada as Annavru.

A 14-year old forlorn Kalyani delivers a boy in seclusion fearing societal backlash and incapacity. She abandons, heavy-heartened, placing him inside a moving goods train, which, a slum finds. The entire slum procures him as their own child naming him Surya. Surya gets raised honest but intolerable against injustice especially to poor, amidst worry behind the real reason regarding why his biological mother had impetuously abandoned him. A yellow shawl was the only identity he had of his mother which she had placed him in as an infant cast apart.

Devaraj, a powerful, kind yet feared by most in the society, also fights injustice by enforcing violence. Surya once clashes with Ramana, an auxiliary of Devaraj's. Ramana's abusive demeanour makes Surya pounce him to which Ramana succumbs. Devaraj gets exasperated, while Surya is apprehended. Devaraj later perceives Ramana's felony, realises Surya was genuine and bails him. This makes Surya and Devaraj understand each-other as both share similar ideologies. Devaraj declares Surya his "Thalapathi", a best friend.