Shiva and Vishnu are identical twins. Shiva, the elder one, is a bus conductor, while Vishnu, the younger one, has a mild intellectual disability. Shiva overhears his parents' plot to kill Vishnu. He runs away to another city with Vishnu and strives hard to look after him. A 'dada' Sundaramoorthy, who runs a beggar trade, beats Vishnu brutally, and Vishnu becomes handicapped for life. Shiva leaves Vishnu in a home run by a social worker Lalitha. During the day, Shiva works as a bus conductor, and at the same time, poses as Vishnu: to play Robin Hood and steal from the rich and corrupt. A gang including Thangam, Mani, and others assist him in these operations. He is never suspected, and so, with the stolen money, he takes care of not only Vishnu, but also 800 people in other institutions for the physically handicapped. A college student Lavanya falls in love with Shiva, but he later comes to know she is Sundaramoorthy's sister-in-law. Matters worsen when Sundaramoorthy becomes the chairman of the institute for the physically disabled. How Shiva deals with the situation forms the rest of the story. Meanwhile, Thangam is in love with Shiva, though he does not know this. Later she gives up her love and lets Lavanya marry Shiva. At last, Shiva marries Lavanya and Thangam marries Vishnu.
K. S. Ravikumar in a special appearance as himself
Production
The film saw the first collaboration of Ajith and K. S. Ravikumar, with the former revealing that he was initially reluctant to work with the director in fear of a misunderstanding. Kiran was signed the film after the success of Gemini. The shooting of the film was completed in 39 days.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features 7 songs composed by Vidyasagar and lyrics written by Vairamuthu.
Release
The film released in Diwali alongside with Vijay starrer Bagavathi. The Hindu reviewer claimed that "if you don't rack your brains about the feasibility of the hero's game plans, you could enjoy watching "Villain"" and that "Ajit scores on both fronts". Another critic cited that it was "great slag-less screenplay and some stunning performances from Ajith make this film a treat for the senses". Ajith's performance earned him his second Filmfare Award for Best Actor. The film was later remade in Telugu with the same title by Ravikumar with Rajasekhar, while the original was also dubbed into Hindi. The film became the highest grossing Tamil film of the year. The satellite rights of the film were bagged by Sun TV.
