Padayappa

Padayappa is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It stars Sivaji Ganesan in his penultimate release, Rajinikanth in the titular lead and Ramya Krishnan, Soundarya in the lead roles, while Lakshmi, Pritha Hari, Radha Ravi, Nassar, Abbas and Sithara play supporting roles. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman. The film revolves around the title character and his family being targeted in a generations-long revenge by his cousin Neelambari, a narcissistic woman who was left humiliated after Padayappa rejected her love proposal as he was in love with her good-natured home worker Vasundhara. Principal photography for the film began in October 1998. Padayappa was released on 10 April 1999 on the eve of Tamil New Year's Day. This was the first Tamil film to be released worldwide with 210 prints and 700,000 audio cassettes. It became Tamil cinema's highest-grossing film at that point. Ramya Krishnan's performance was praised, winning her a Filmfare Award under the Best Actress category. The film also won five Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.