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
Best of Rajnikanth
A fight between two brothers (Rajnikanth and Arvindswamy) is a classy version on Modern Mahabbaratha, is truly unique. Maniratnam has adapted the screenplay to the modern version and it's really awesome. Mammootty as Rajnikanth's friend Deva is amazing. Music and cinematography by Illayaraja and Santosh Sivan (The terrorist) commend each other. For me it's the best gangster movie made in India. Just loved the movie from beginning till end.
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.
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
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!
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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