Kannathal

Kannathal
Directed by	Bharathi Kannan
Written by	Bharathi Kannan E. Ramdoss (dialogues)
Produced by	R. B. Choudary
Starring	Karan Neena Indhu Manivannan Vadivukkarasi Vadivelu Fathima Babu Delhi Ganesh
Cinematography	Vijay
Edited by	V. Jaishankar
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Production company	Super Good Films
Release date	2 December 1998 (1998-12-02)
Running time	150 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Kannathal is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language devotional film directed by Bharathi Kannan. This flim is a super hit at box office. The film stars Karan, Neena and Indhu, with Manivannan, Vadivelu, Vadivukkarasi, Fathima Babu, and Delhi Ganesh playing supporting roles. The film, produced by R. B. Choudary, had musical score by Ilaiyaraaja and was released on 2 December 1998.

Plot

Kannatha (Neena) is a goddess believer and is treated as a goddess by the villagers. She lives with her father Shanmugam Pillai (Delhi Ganesh), who is a nadaswaram player and an ardent believer of a goddess, her mother (Fathima Babu), and her four little sisters.

Chinna Durai (Karan) is the son of the rich Zamindar Mohana Sundaram (Manivannan) and Ranganayaki (Vadivukkarasi). He is a womanizer and has a lot of bad habits. One day, Chinna Durai witnesses Kannatha in a Hindu festival and wants to have sex with her, so he decides to marry her. Shanmugam, who is in deep debt, accepts for the marriage. Chinna Durai and Kannatha finally marry.

After the marriage, Chinna Durai rapes Kannatha and begins to mistreat the innocent girl. When Shanmugam comes to see Kannatha, Chinna Durai ridicules him. Feeling guilty to have destroyed his daughter's life, Shanmugam dies from a heart attack. Kannatha then decides to accommodate her mother and sisters in their big house. Mohana Sundaram and Ranganayaki humiliate them as much as possible to expel them from their house; in addition to this, Chinna Durai sexually harasses Kannatha's mother. They cannot bear the mental torture, so Kannatha's mother and the four girls commit suicide by eating poisoned food.

Kannatha doesn't know the news of her family's death. Meanwhile, Kannatha becomes pregnant. In eager to spoil another woman's life they accuse that Kannatha's baby is someone else baby, The village president (in order of chonnadurai) demands Kannatha should perform a ritual on front of Chintala karai Vekkali amman statue if she does the ritual without aborting the baby, she is a good woman. Kannatha performs the ritual successfully.One night, Chinna Durai, Mohana Sundaram, and Ranganayaki beat the crap out of the innocent girl to death and incinerate her. They claim that this was an accident to the police. Later, Chinna Durai marries his relative Seetha Lakshmi (Indhu), a talkative and naive village girl. Later, Kannatha becomes a goddess and takes revenge on the culprits. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.

Cast

• Karan as Chinna Durai
• Neena as Kannatha
• Indhu as Seetha Lakshmi
• Manivannan as Mohana Sundaram
• Vadivukkarasi as Ranganayaki
• Vadivelu as Soona Paana (Subbaiya Pandiyan)
• Fathima Babu as Kannatha's mother
• Delhi Ganesh as Shanmugam, Kannatha's father
• Halwa Vasu as Vasu
• Thideer Kannaiah as Gopal
• Bharathi Kannan as Babu
• Meesai Murugesan
• Kullamani
• Raj Chander as Babu
• Nellai Siva
• Kovai Senthil
• Chitra Guptan
• Vellai Subbaiah
• Achan
• Vinu Chakravarthy in a guest appearance as Karuppu Sami
• Khushbu in a guest appearance as villupattukari

Soundtrack

Kannathal
Soundtrack album by Ilaiyaraaja
Released	1998
Recorded	1998
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	30:52
Producer	Ilaiyaraaja

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The soundtrack, released in 1998, features 7 tracks with lyrics written by Kamakodiyan, Ponnadiyan, Arivumathi, Ilaiyaraaja and Bharathi Kannan.

Track	Song	Singer(s)	Lyrics	Duration
1	"Amman Pukazhai Paada" (male)	Ilaiyaraaja	Ilaiyaraaja	4:53
2	"Amman Pukazhai Paada" (female)	Bhavatharini		4:53
3	"Kamatchi Ammanukku"	Sujatha	Ponnadiyan	5:17
4	"Maalaiveiyazhaki"	Ilaiyaraaja, Chorus	Kamakodiyan	2:42
5	"Munthi Munthi Vinayagare"	K. S. Chithra	Bharathi Kannan	6:20
6	"Pathilenkay Solvai"	Sujatha	Arivumathi	4:09
7	"Unnai Nambum"	Devi, Chorus	Kamakodiyan	2:38

Reception

D. C. Ramanujam of The Hindu opined that "The old fashioned approach of director S. Bharathikannan, based on his story and screenplay, may go well with rural audience, particularly womenfolk".