Vaanchinathan

Vaanchinathan is a 2001 Tamil action film directed by Shaji Kailas in his Tamil debut. The script was written by Liyakath Ali Khan. It stars Vijayakanth, Sakshi Shivanand, Ramya Krishnan and Prakash Raj in pivotal roles.

Vanchinathan (Vijayakanth) is naturally the supercop who has been transferred from Gujarat. He is someone who is not averse to using the law in his own ways by killing someone and picking a suitable alibi, as long as the person is evil and will not be punished by the law. Chidambaram (Prakash Raj) is a newspaper magnate who thrives on chaos and confusion which will help him boost sales of his paper. Their enmity becomes personal when Chidambaram challenges Vanchinathan to arrest him when he cleverly commits a murder in broad daylight in front of Vanchinathan's own eyes.

The team had initially agreed terms with Suresh Gopi to feature in a pivotal role, but his unavailability led to team casting Prakash Raj.Shilpa Shetty had also signed on to star in the film, but later opted out due to other commitments. A fight scene involving Vijayakanth, Ramya Krishnan and rowdies was shot in a set erected at AVM studios. The song sequences was shot at New Zealand.

The film opened to mixed reviews. Rediff wrote "But the masala is appetising and in the final analysis, that is all that counts". Similarly, Lolluexpress claimed that film is a "collection of scenes from actor's previous movies".Hindu wrote "Liyakath Ali Khan's story and screenplay are crisp and action-packed" and also noted " sequences remind you of the Parthiban starrer `Abhimanyu' or Vijayakanth's own ``Vallarasu". Distributors who had bought the film had incurred heavy losses. Post release it was rumoured that footage of two heroines have been deleted to reduce the timing which earned criticism.

Music is composed by Karthik Raja collaborated with Vijayakanth for second time after Alexander.