An orphan named Surya raised in a slum befriends a good crime boss named Devaraj and works for him. Their existence is threatened when a new honest district collector arrives.An orphan named Surya raised in a slum befriends a good crime boss named Devaraj and works for him. Their existence is threatened when a new honest district collector arrives.An orphan named Surya raised in a slum befriends a good crime boss named Devaraj and works for him. Their existence is threatened when a new honest district collector arrives.
- Awards
- 4 wins total
Arvind Swamy
- Arjun
- (as Arvind Swami)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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Featured reviews
The Best Of The Best
The opening scene in black and white, prove Maniratnam as a director who emphasize color as emotions in movie.When it combines with Ilayaraja's Chinna Thaiyaval tune will made anyone's heart melt.Superstar's entry scene is really exciting.No doubt Maniratnam can make fight sequence as real as possible.Superstar had brought up his acting talents for a new level in this movie.Although gangsterism is should be the main theme, friendship tend to overtake it.But in some ways it might be a plus point too.For Arvindsamy, he do his best for a first movie.With Mani anyone will do best for the first movie it self.Action,Drama,Real Tamil Cinema defines Talapathi. I'm not sure how many times i watch this movie.But i want to watch it again and again.Best combination of Tamil cinema:Manirathnam, Ilayaraaja and Superstar.I wonder if this team would meet up again.If does, it will be another milestone in Tamil Cinema.Although I had watched Talapathi years ago, i choose today to write here because i had a dream today; I dream of watching Talapathi show on first day of its release(which i missed).The feeling was REALLY amazing.Although this dream will never come true,I like the dream.
Gem
Modern friendship of karna & Duryodhana . Good movie, music & cinematography is excellent
Plot : A fourteen-year-old Kalyani gives birth to a boy alone and, fearing societal backlash and incapacity, abandons him inside a moving goods train. A slum dweller finds the baby, takes him home, names him Surya and raises him. Surya grows up to be intolerant of injustice, especially to the poor, and wonders why his biological mother abandoned him. The only item from his mother is the yellow shawl in which she had placed him. Devaraj, a powerful gangster, who is kind but feared by most, fights injustice with violence. Surya attacks and kills Ramana, an auxiliary of Devaraj. Surya is arrested for murder and faces brutal torture from police, but Devaraj bails him out after perceiving Ramana's felony and realises Surya's cause was genuine. Surya and Devaraj, who share an ideology, come to understand each other. Devaraj declares Surya as his Thalapathi (commander) and best friend.
Plot : A fourteen-year-old Kalyani gives birth to a boy alone and, fearing societal backlash and incapacity, abandons him inside a moving goods train. A slum dweller finds the baby, takes him home, names him Surya and raises him. Surya grows up to be intolerant of injustice, especially to the poor, and wonders why his biological mother abandoned him. The only item from his mother is the yellow shawl in which she had placed him. Devaraj, a powerful gangster, who is kind but feared by most, fights injustice with violence. Surya attacks and kills Ramana, an auxiliary of Devaraj. Surya is arrested for murder and faces brutal torture from police, but Devaraj bails him out after perceiving Ramana's felony and realises Surya's cause was genuine. Surya and Devaraj, who share an ideology, come to understand each other. Devaraj declares Surya as his Thalapathi (commander) and best friend.
Best of Rajini
I think it's one of the best movie of Rajini Kanth. Excellent performance of Mammookka. I watched this movie on Mammookka's 69th B'day. I know it's too late. Regretted on the late watch. And the direction part - nothing to say , its from Legend. Mani Ratnam sir
Timeless Masterpiece from Mani!
For this movie, 10 out of 10 is probably too low. That's how good this movie is. Among Tamil cinema's timeless classics, it came in the late 80's and now its 2010 but still I watch it with the same enthusiasm and clap/whistle at some of the dialogues from this film. Maniratnam had a hard time directing Rajnikanth and Mammootty but if he can give a product like this through such hardships, I pray he goes through such hardships again (Sorry Mani Sir!). Ilayaraja is the life and soul of this film. Rajni's best ever performance along with Mammooty. There were the few Nayagan inspirations (Doing good for 4 people cannot be wrong, the inspector beating the hero and then the inspector getting killed by the same hero, etc). Who else can take the Karna-Duryodhana friendship from the Mahabharatha and weave such a magical story in accordance to today's times? Mani is magic!
One of the best Indian movies ever
This film is about 15 years old. i watched it quite a few times and it never fails to impress me. As said earlier it is a modern version of the Mahabharata, with Rajni as Karna.
Its starts with a 14 year old mother forced to abandon her son and the son grows up in the city slums far away..he befriends a underworld don and swears loyalty to death for him Meanwhile the mother gets married and has a son who becomes a top government official. Nobody knows of her earlier son except for her husband. Thing come to head as her younger son is posted to where the elder(who the mother doesn't know is her son) is dominating.
Watch the movie to see what happens. The mother-son scenes are amazingly touching
Its starts with a 14 year old mother forced to abandon her son and the son grows up in the city slums far away..he befriends a underworld don and swears loyalty to death for him Meanwhile the mother gets married and has a son who becomes a top government official. Nobody knows of her earlier son except for her husband. Thing come to head as her younger son is posted to where the elder(who the mother doesn't know is her son) is dominating.
Watch the movie to see what happens. The mother-son scenes are amazingly touching
Did you know
- TriviaThe movie is based on Mahabharata, with Rajinikanth representing Karnna, Mammootty playing Duryodhana and Arvind swamy playing Arjuna, all in contemporary world. The characters are brilliantly written to fit into modern day life, yet retaining the original traits.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Spadikam (1995)
- How long is Thalapathi?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $6,547
- Runtime
- 2h 37m(157 min)
- Color
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