Pudhiya Mugam is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language thriller film directed by Suresh Chandra Menon. It stars Revathi, Suresh Chandra Menon, Kasthuri and Vineeth as prime characters. The film featured music by A. R. Rahman. Pudhiya Mugam is an adaptation of the television miniseriesTwist of Fate, which tells the story of an assassin who undergoes plastic surgery and becomes a member of the army, and a hero for them while revisiting his past.
Plot
Raja and his fiancée while romancing in Sri Lanka witnesses a murder which results in the death of his fiancée. He avenges her death by killing the people responsible, and becomes an assassin, and is on the run from the police. He undergoes extensive plastic surgery on his face and leaves for Chennai, India to start a new life with a new face and identity. When the assassin reaches Chennai Airport, he foils a terrorist attempt and saves the lives of a group of children. Later, he meets Anjali, falls in love and gets married. Thanks to his heroism, the assassin gets into the Indian Army and rises in rank as the years go by. A few years later, the couple's grown up son, Hari, now resembles his father's pre-surgery days. The son meets the dad's old terrorist accomplices in the airport by chance on his return from the US. The bad guys identify him and, curious, they follow Hari and find the truth about the assassin and his new life. As they learn that the assassin is now a very high ranked officer who has access to the army's secrets, they blackmail him into handing some over to them. Meanwhile, the son goes for a vacation to Sri Lanka with his girlfriend. There he comes to know about the past life of his father, and hates him. On return to his homeland he tries to file a case on him, which is stopped by his family friend ACP Shekar. The assassin, now a changed man, and realising that his son has discovered his past life, writes a letter to his friend Shekar revealing everything, and goes to meet the terrorists alone. But instead of army secrets, he brings an explosive device which detonates killing the terrorists and himself. With only his wife not knowing the truth about a man who changed his ways and repented for it, the assassin is hailed as a hero who died killing the terrorists. His wife is not informed about his past life by his son as advised by Shekar.
Suresh Menon revealed that he had to portray the lead role as no actors were willing to do it. This was the first film of cinematographer Muthu Ganesh. Aravind Swamy and Vikram lent their voices for Suresh and Vineeth respectively.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack composed by A.R Rahman had six songs and an instrumental theme, with lyrics by Vairamuthu. The songs were later reused in the Hindi movieVishwavidhaata, Rahman was upset with the producers since the music was re-used in the film without his permission. The soundtrack was also released in Telugu as Padmavyuham, with lyrics were by Rajashree. Famous guitarist R. Prasanna started his career with this film with the song "July Maadham", it was also marked the singing debut of Annupamma.
Reception
The Indian Express wrote "What could have developed into a fast-paced, edge-of-the-seat thriller fizzles out".
