Kannukku Kannaga (transl. An eye for an eye) is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language film directed by S. Dhayalan. It stars Murali, Devayani, Vindhya and Raja.^[1][2]

Plot

Dharma (Murali) and Devi (Devayani) are siblings. Although Devi is in love with Arun (Raja), she cannot marry him because an astrologer (Charuhasan) predicted that a son born to them would result in the Dharma's death, but Dharma still accepts their marriage.

A few months later, Devi gives birth to Vijay (Master Vasanth), which triggers Dharma's death count. To save Dharma, Vijay must die, so Devi and Vijay poison themselves while Dharma is sleeping. Vijay records this on a tape and places it near Dharma, who listens to the tape and searches for them. While looking for Devi and Vijay, Dharma is hit by an arrow. He finds Vijay and Devi and takes them to the hospital to save their lives. Both Vijay and Devi are saved, but Dharma's condition becomes critical. His heart stops, but the doctors manage to resuscitate him with CPR.

Cast

• Murali as Dharma
• Devayani as Devi
• Raja as Arun
• Vindhya as Selvi
• Vadivelu as Velu
• Charuhasan as Astrologer
• Anu Mohan as Arun's father
• Master Vasanth as Vijay
• Kumarimuthu as Perumal

Production

Director Dhayalan had earlier worked as an assistant to K. S. Ravikumar, after having been recommended to his team by R. B. Choudary. Producer Henry and Dhayalan initially approached Sathyaraj for the lead role, but the actor cited being tired of village-centric roles. Later Vijayakanth and Sarathkumar refused the film citing date issues.^[3] Through cinematographer Thangar Bachan, the team alter approached Murali.^[3]

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer Deva. The soundtrack, which was released in 2000, features five tracks with lyrics written by Vaali, Muthulingam, Kalidasan, and Nandalala.^[4][5][6]

Reception

Savitha Padmanabhan of The Hindu Newspaper said: "This domestic drama suffers because of the lack of originality and exaggerated sentiments."^[2] Chennai Online wrote "Take a few handkerchiefs when you go to see the film".^[7] India Info wrote "In this high voltage melodrama the casualty is the viewers sensibility and once it reaches the crescendo in the climax then the viewers will have to see their horoscope to find out whether they are going through a bad patch and do amends to avoid such trash films in future. Devyani gets the cake for giving a high melodrama. Murali with his slur and rustic looks is the same as in any other village films. Deva's music is a washout. Thankar Pachan saves his reputation as cameraman in this film by capturing the charm of countryside".^[8]

References