Thalapathi

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

Thalapathi (English: 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. The film was later remade in Kannada as Annavru.

A 14-year unmarried young girl gives birth to a baby in a secluded place. Fearing societal backlash, she abandons the baby by placing it in a train. An old woman finds the baby in the train and decides to adopt it. She names him Surya. Surya (Rajinikanth) grows up to be an honest person who cannot tolerate injustice happening to the poor. But Surya keeps thinking about the reason his biological mother abandoning him. Surya only has a red shawl as an identity of his mother as she had placed the new born baby along with a shawl in the train.