Agni Natchathiram is a 1988 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. The film stars Prabhu, Karthik, Amala and newcomer Nirosha. It revolves around two half-brothers who come into conflict with each other in their claim for legitimacy as sons of a common father. Agni Natchathiram was released on 15 April 1988 and became a box office success, running for over 200 days in theatres. The film won two Filmfare Awards South, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and five Cinema Express Awards. It was remade in Hindi as Vansh.
Plot
Ashok is the son of a senior government official Vishwanath and Vishwanath's second wife Kamala. He is very sensitive to people expressing undue interest in his father's personal life. Vishwanath has another son, Gautham, whose mother is Susheela. Gautham is a police academy trainee and he too feels a lot of anger at his father, taking it out inappropriately on people near him. Ashok and Gautham display open antipathy towards each other. Gautham meets the Commissioner's daughter, Anjali, and they slowly become a couple. Upon graduating, Gautham is appointed as an Assistant Commissioner. Around the same time, Ashok meets a mysterious girl who shouts "I love you", and in turn falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Vishwanath is appointed the head of an inquiry commission to probe a chemical factory, owned by Chidambaram, believed to sell chemicals to terrorists. One night, Ashok and his friends run into Gautham and Anjali, and one of Ashok's friends teases Gautham. Gautham soon arrests Ashok's friend on a trumped up charge, abusing his authority as a police officer for a power play. A peeved Ashok and his gang throw stones at Gautham's house, accidentally injuring Susheela. The next day, Gautham arrests Ashok after provoking him into attacking him. Since Vishwanath is out of town, Susheela helps Kamala bail Ashok, and offers snide unsolicited advice about raising her children to be law-abiding. Meanwhile, Chidambaram tries to bribe Vishwanath multiple times, but is rebuffed. Irked, he orders a hit on Vishwanath. On the day when Ashok's sister Mallika is meeting a prospective groom's family for a matchmaking ceremony, Vishwanath fails to turn up which causes the groom's family to question the seriousness of the marriage between Kamala and Vishwanath. Enraged, Ashok goes to Vishwanath's home and creates a ruckus only to realise that his grandmother, Vishwanath's mother Rajamma has died. An angry Gautham physically throws out Ashok. Later, Ashok learns that his girlfriend too comes from a broken family. The Commissioner learns of Gautham's romantic involvement with Anjali and doubts his monogamy, drawing a parallel with Gautham's father's bigamy. Mallika runs into Gautham and Anjali on the same commuter train. Gautham ends up protecting her from a bunch of ruffians harassing her, and Gautham and Anjali accompany her home safely. Mallika addresses Gautham as her elder brother, but before Gautham can respond, Ashok arrives and physically throws Gautham out. Another altercation occurs at a wedding in which both exchange words. The next day, they get into a huge brawl in public. Vishwanath berates them both, lamenting his public humiliation at his sons' behaviour. While Vishwanath is leaving his office, he gets run over by a truck driven by one of Chidambaram's thugs. Vishwanath is badly injured and goes into a coma. Mutual fear between the families brings them closer as both Susheela and Kamala wait by his bedside. Unhappy that Vishwanath survived, Chidambaram arranges for his murder in the hospital. When Chidambaram's thugs attack the hospital, the brothers work together to foil the assassination attempt by switching the ambulance that Vishwanath was in. The next day, a bandaged Vishwanath is brought into the commission's office by the brothers to submit evidence proving Chidambaram's illegal activities. Chidambaram is arrested, and the brothers embrace each other.
After Mouna Ragam, the next script that Mani Ratnam wrote was Agni Natchathiram. Despite this, when he was approached by Muktha Srinivasan to make a film for Kamal Haasan, he agreed. In January 1987, after two weeks of shooting on Nayakan, Ratnam resumed work on Agni Natchathiram, shooting scenes on Prabhu and Amala such as the song "Ninnukkori Varnam". However, Ratnam could not manage shooting two films at the same time, so work on Agni Natchathiram was stalled for nearly a year, resuming only after Nayakans release in Diwali 1987. The film was produced by Ratnam's brother G. Venkateswaran, filmed by P. C. Sreeram and edited by B. Lenin and V. T. Vijayan. It is the feature film debut of Raadhika's sister Nirosha. According to Nirosha, she was not initially interested in pursuing an acting career, having previously declined an offer to act Nayakan, but at Raadhika's suggestion, joined Agni Natchathiram. Vijayakumar, who had quit films and was settled in the United States, had come to India for a different purpose, when assistant director K. Subash met and offered him to act in Agni Natchathiram. Vijayakumar initially refused, but Subash remained adamant; when Ratnam narrated the script, Vijayakumar was impressed with the character and agreed to act, making his comeback to film. To make the film more commercially viable, a comedy subplot was created, involving a middle-aged man and his chauffeur trying to cavort with a prostitute without their wives' knowledge.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. Many of the songs are set in Carnatic ragas; "Vaa Vaa Anbe Anbe" is in Shivaranjani, "Thoongatha Vizhigal" is in Amritavarshini, and "Ninnukkori Varnam" is set in Mohanam. For "Raaja Raajathi", Ilaiyaraaja used no string instruments.
Release
Agni Natchathiram was released on 15 April 1988, Puthandu. The film ran for over 200 days in theatres, thereby becoming a silver jubilee film.
Critical reception
S. Shivakumar, writing for Mid Day, called it "Mani's loosely scripted work to date" but "What emerges on the screen is frothy and cracks like fresh pop corn". N. Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express wrote, "There's more light than heat." Ananda Vikatan wrote that Ratnam proved that he could make an interesting and engaging film with just a small thread of script, adding that he had imagined each scene differently and presented them interestingly, giving the film a rating of 45 out of 100.
Awards
Legacy
Agni Natchathiram became a trendsetter in Tamil cinema for setting "a new standard in the use of lighting". Additionally, the dialogue spoken by Lakshmipathy "En pondatti orrukku poittaa" in excitement when his wife leaves for her hometown, entered Tamil vernacular.
