Thamizh

Thamizh
Movie Poster
Directed by	Hari
Produced by	Amutha Durairaj
Written by	Hari
Starring	Prashanth Simran Nassar Vadivelu
Music by	Bharathwaj
Cinematography	Priyan
Edited by	V. T. Vijayan
Production company	Deivanai movies
Release date	April 14, 2002 (2002-04-14)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Thamizh is a 2002 Tamil language action drama film written and directed by Hari and produced by Amutha Durairaj. The movie stars Prashanth and Simran in the leading roles, while Nassar, Vadivelu and Ashish Vidyarthi among others portrayed supporting roles. Featuring music composed by Bharadwaj, Thamizh opened to positive reviews upon release in April 2002 and became a "Hit" at boxoffice.

Thamizh (Prashanth) leads a happy life with his mother (Manorama) and sister-in-law Kalaichelvi (Urvasi). His brother (Livingston) is working in Kuwait, and Thamizh too dreams of joining him there. Meenakshi (Simran), their tenant, and Thamizh fall in love. When the goons of Periyavar (Ashish Vidyarthi) injure Thamizh's niece, he stops Periyavar's car on the road and questions him. He then beats up one of Periyavar's goons when insulted. This makes him Periyavar's target, and though he tries to withdraw from the violence, he is forced to join forces with Rathnam (Nassar), Periyavar's sworn enemy, and eventually defeats him.

The film marked the debut of director Hari, who earlier worked as an assistant director to K. Balachander, while Prashanth agreed to work in the film in early 2001. The film's title of Thamizh was given by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who also helped create the film's logo.Simran was selected as heroine pairing with Prashanth, for fourth time after successful collaborations in Kannedhirey Thondrinal (1998), Jodi (1999) and Parthen Rasithen (2000). Director Saran assisted Hari with the dialogues in the film, supervising his writing. The team had worked on pre-production for close to a year and the script was ready prior to the start of the shoot, with Hari revealing he was inspired by the 1989 Malayalam film Kireedam. For his role, Prashanth worked out at the gym, grew a beard and began smoking cigarettes to get into character. Shooting commenced in Chennai and proceeded in locations like Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi. Scenes were also shot in Sikkim, reportedly becoming the first time that a Tamil film shot there. A few scenes were also later picturised on Prashanth, Charlie, Vadivelu, and Crane Manohar in Karaikudi. Prashanth had performed a lengthy dialogue in front of Madurai Meenakshi Temple which gained accolades from the onlookers. Prashanth shot action scenes for the film through pain after he had injured his knee during the making of Majunu (2001).