Thevar Magan (1992)
10/10
The Mother of all caste-based movies
15 June 2006
One of the most successful movies of Kamal Hassan's Rajkamal International production company. A cult classic that got both critical acclaim and huge box office collections. About a dozen movies were released along with it, on Diwali '94 but all these were reduced to box-office disasters(including the Rajinikant starrer 'Pandian'). Such was the impact of Thevar Magan. The thespian Sivaji Ganesan was aptly cast in the role of Kamal's father, the village chief. Nasser, Revathi and Gouthami reveled in their roles and Revathi won the National award for 'Best Supporting actress'.

But more than everything, this is the movie which spawned a deluge of flicks based on the caste-feuds happening in villages, none of which could match the original in terms of grandeur, story or performances. Thevar Magan, upon its release, was literally worshipped by the 'Thevars', a warring caste in Tamil Nadu's rural areas. Some political organizations still argue that the movie itself is the reason for the violence happening in these villages.

The telugu dubbed version 'Kshatriya Putrudu' was an equally big hit. Later the movie was remade in Hindi as 'Virasat', starring Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Amrish Puri and Pooja Batra. The Hindi version too was a success.
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