Muthirai

Muthirai (transl. Stamp) is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written by Aneez Tanveer Jeeva, wife of late director Jeeva, and directed by actor Srinath, starring Daniel Balaji, Nithin Sathya, Lakshmi Rai and newcomer Manjari Phadnis, whilst Kishore, Saravanan, Ponvannan, Anand, Cochin Hanifa, and Chetan play supporting roles and Bollywood actress Rakhi Sawant makes a special appearance. The film was launched in May 2008,^[1] and was released on 19 June 2009.^[2]

Politician Azhagar Adhiyaman's party wins in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Azhagar Adhiyaman, his brother Azhagar Thondaiman, and the senior party leader Aadhikesavan discuss the posts to be held. Discussions turn into gunfire, during which all three of them get shot. Azhagar Adhiyaman dies, Azhagar Thondaiman falls into a coma, and Aadhikesavan is left with an injury. The state is brought under temporary Governor's rule until the party chooses the new CM.

Sathya and his accomplice Azhagu are highly successful petty thieves. Azhagu marries Kavyanjali once for money (under the mass-marriage programme). Kavya's father tries to make money with his daughter. Azhagu realises his mistake and tries to convince Kavya. Sathya cheats a woman named Aarthi by saying he is a CBI officer and makes her fall in love with him. Sathya and Azhagu live in an apartment opposite Krishna's residence.

The commissioner is appointed as the investigating officer for the case, and he finds that Krishna knows some information about the firing in which Azhagar Adhiyaman was killed. He traces Krishna's residence and chases him. At the same time, in the opposite apartment, Sathya, Azhagu, and Aarthi host a birthday party for Kavya so that Azhagu and Kavya can get together again. Krishna enters their house to escape from the police, and all five of them start running away from the police. While the police chase them, Azhagu, Kavya, Sathya, and Aarthi try to escape. Krishna also tries to get in the car and drops his laptop there.

Four of them flee and seek refuge in a hideout. They take out the laptop to find that Aadhikesavan has shot Azhagar Adhiyaman and Azhagar Thondaiman, and Aadhikesavan then shoots and injures himself. Azhagu calls up the commissioner to hand over the witness. However, Aadhikesavan's men attack them in their hideout, and Azhagu thinks that it is the commissioner's men. Later, he calls Aadhikesavan and demands a ransom in exchange for the laptop. He also checks the commissioner's credit card transactions and mobile phone calls and finds that the commissioner has been illegally receiving money from Azhagar Thondaiman, who appointed the commissioner.

In the climax, Sathya comes to collect money from Aadhikesavan, where the commissioner also turns up unexpectedly. Azhagu comes with Azhagar Thondaiman, who was in the hospital. Azhagar Thondaiman explains his side of the story, that he also tried to kill his brother and had worn a bulletproof jacket to avoid getting shot. Krishna was a man he appointed to photograph the events. A fight happens, where the commissioner kills Aadhikesavan. When Sathya and Azhagu try to escape with the money, other police officers encounter them, shoot the commissioner, and arrest Azhagar Thondaiman. In the meantime, Sathya and Azhagu escape with the money and wish the other police officers good luck with their careers.

Muthirai is the first film produced by Vision Jeeva Studios.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

The soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, and released on 7 May 2009 at Sathyam Cinemas by director Gautham Vasudev Menon.^[8] One of the female leads, Manjari Phadnis, a Maharashtrian by birth, sang one of the songs, the first time in Tamil.^[9][10]

Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com wrote, "Halfway through the film though, you begin to realize that despite a rather nice cast, comedian-turned-director Srinath seems to have lost track of whatever Hollywood screenplay he burglarised and settled down with a half-baked desi version."^[11] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "For a better impact, the unravelling of the plot could have been more comprehensible and spaced out".^[12] The New Indian Express wrote, "On the whole, Muthirai is a film that promised a lot and lived some what on paper".^[13] Sify wrote, "Antony seems to have lost his magic touch as an editor. Still the film is engrossing in bits and pieces – Srinath has a winner due to his packaging and slick styling".^[14]

• Official website
• Muthirai at IMDb