Padayappa

Padayappa
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	K. S. Ravikumar
Produced by	K. Sathya Narayana M. V. Krishna Rao H. Vittal Prasad P. L. Thenappan
Written by	K. S. Ravikumar
Starring	Sivaji Ganesan Rajinikanth Ramya Krishnan Soundarya
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	S. Murthy Prasad
Edited by	K. Thanigachalam
Production company	Arunachala Cine Creations
Release date	10 April 1999 (1999-04-10)
Running time	192 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Padayappa is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film features Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, Ramya Krishnan and Soundarya in the lead roles, while Abbas, Lakshmi, Radha Ravi and Nassar play supporting roles. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman.

The plot revolves around Padayappa (Rajinikanth), a mechanical engineer whose father (Sivaji Ganesan) gives up his property to his foster brother (Manivannan), and then dies of shock soon after. Neelambari (Ramya Krishnan) initially loves Padayappa, but plans to humiliate him after his family humiliates her father (Radha Ravi). The rest of the plot deals with Padayappa overcoming all the obstacles placed by Neelambari.

Principal photography for the film began in October 1998. Padayappa was released on 10 April 1999 on the eve of Tamil New Year's day. This was the first Tamil film to be released worldwide with 210 prints and 700,000 audio cassettes, and became a commercially successful venture. Ramya Krishnan's performance was praised, winning her a Filmfare Award under the Best Actress category. The film also won five Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. Padayappa was dubbed into Telugu under the title Narasimha. The dubbed version was also commercially successful, and had a theatrical run of 50 days at 49 theatres.