Manu Needhi

Manu Needhi is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Thambi Ramaiah. The film stars Murali and Prathyusha, while Vadivelu, Napoleon and Nassar play other supporting roles. The film has music by Deva, cinematography by B. Balamurugan, and editing by Pazhanivel. The film released on 23 December 2000.^[1]

Chinnakkannu (Murali) lives in a village with his maternal uncle Vellaiyan (Nassar). Chinnakkannu doesn’t know about his parents and is raised by Velliyan only. Chinnakkannu is very affectionate towards his uncle and is ready to do anything for his uncle’s sake. Once, Vellaiyan asks Chinnakkanu to woo Poongodi (Prathyusha), the only daughter of Muthuraja (Napoleon), a rich Zamindar from the nearby village. Chinnakkannu disguises himself as an orphan and joins as a worker in Muthuraja’s house and, also wins the hearts of both Poongodi and Muthuraja gradually. On the day of wedding between Chinnakkannu and Poongodi, Vellaiyan interrupts and takes away Chinnakannu with him cancelling the wedding. Chinnakkannu requests Vellaiyan to reveal the reason for his actions but Vellaiyan does not. Chinnakkannu feels guilty for cheating Poongodi and picks up a quarrel with Vellaiyan.

Chinnakkannu meets one of Muthuraja’s servants and finds the truth for Vellaiyan’s actions. A flashback is shown where Muthuraja is widely respected by everyone in his village for his involvement in freedom struggle against the British. One day, he gets drunk and rapes a girl without consciousness. The victim is Vellaiyan's fiancé (Priyanka), who happens to be Chinnakannu's sister. Muthuraja feels bad for his actions and marries the victim. However, she dies during her delivery, and Poongodi is born to her. Vellaiyan is agitated due to this as his life is ruined due to Muthuraja and plans to revenge him by using Chinnakkannu. Knowing this, Chinnakkannu empathizes for Vellaiyan and decides to convince him and make him understand that using Poongodi to revenge Muthukannu is not the right way.

However, Vellaiyan remains stubborn in his actions and does not listen to Chinnakkannu. Also, Vellaiyan does not want to reveal the truth to Chinnakkannu thinking that Chinnakkannu might start supporting Poongodi in case if he gets to know that she is his cousin unaware that Chinnakkannu already knows the truth. All the efforts by Chinnakkannu goes in vain to convince Vellaiyan. Finally, Chinnakkannu loses his patience and decides to leave Vellaiyan and join hands with Poongodi. He also reveals that he is already aware of the truth and does not want to inform Vellaiyan about this. Vellaiyan is transformed and forgives Muthuraja. Finally, Chinnakkannu joins with Poongodi.

• Murali as Chinnakannu Servai
• Prathyusha as Poongodi
• Vadivelu as Sevalai Thevar
• Napoleon as Muthazhagu Servai
• Nassar as Vellaiya Thevar
• Priyanka as Vellaiyan's fiancé
• Thambi Ramaiah as Dharmalingam Pillai , marriage broker
• Sithara as Swarnam
• Mahanadi Shankar
• Thalapathy Dinesh
• G. Ramachandran as Chittappa

Music was composed by Deva.^[2]

Dinakaran wrote, "Director J.Thambi Ramaiya has written the story and screenplay following the cinematic style of his guru director P.Vasu. The grandeur that marks the picturization makes us feel how great the co-operation extended by the producer might have been".^[3] Chennai Online wrote "The screenplay is well etched with the right dose of humour, action and sentiment. It is only in the second half that the director gets a bit distracted and includes new characters [..]".^[4] The Hindu wrote "Manuneedhi has nothing new to offer. Just the same old plot handled in just about the same old way!".^[5] New Straits Times wrote "Catch this movie if you like countryside-based stories".^[6] Krishna Chidambaram of Kalki called it just average.^[7]

• Manu Needhi at IMDb