Padayappa

Padayappa is a 1999 Indian action drama directed by K. S. Ravikumar, who also wrote the screenplay. The story centres on Padayappa, a mechanical engineer from a respected village family. His father surrenders the family property to a foster brother and dies shortly afterwards from the shock. Padayappa, his mother and their household are left with almost nothing, and the young man vows to recover what his family has lost. At the same time, the wealthy and proud Neelambari falls for him, but his affection goes to her servant Vasundhara, and his family's treatment of Neelambari's father turns her love into a determination to bring him down. Her campaign against him runs for years, even after Padayappa's fortunes change dramatically.

The film stars Rajinikanth in the title role, with Ramya Krishnan as Neelambari, Soundarya as Vasundhara, Sivaji Ganesan in his only appearance alongside Rajinikanth, and Lakshmi and Sithara in supporting parts. It came second in K. S. Ravikumar's directing career, between Pistha in 1997 and Suyamvaram in the same year, and preceded Thenali and Panchatanthiram. On IMDb it holds an 8.3 rating from roughly 9,800 votes, and on TMDB it has a 7.4 from a much smaller number of votes, indicating that it is far better known to Indian audiences than internationally.