Neethikku Thandanai

Neethikku Thandanai (transl. Punishment for Justice) is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language film, directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar and written by M. Karunanidhi. The film stars Radhika, Nizhalgal Ravi and Charan Raj. It was released on 1 May 1987. The film was remade in Hindi as Kudrat Ka Kanoon (1987) and in Telugu as Nyayaniki Siksha (1988).^[1][2]

Neethikku Thandanai
Title card
Directed by	S. A. Chandrasekhar
Written by	M. Karunanidhi
Produced by	S. S. Neelakantan Shoba Chandrasekhar
Starring	Radhika Nizhalgal Ravi Charan Raj
Cinematography	Indu Chakravarthi
Edited by	D. Shyam Mukherjee
Music by	M. S. Viswanathan
Production company	Lalithanjali Fine Arts
Release date	1 May 1987 (1987-05-01)
Running time	143 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Cast

• Radhika as Chithra and Sindhuja
• Nizhalgal Ravi as the doctor
• Charan Raj as the minister
• Srividya as the lawyer
• Senthil
• S. S. Chandran
• Senthamarai as leader
• S. N. Vasanth
• Karnan
• Charuhasan
• V. Gopalakrishnan
• Senapathi
• Amjath Kumar
• Suruli Vel
• Nagaraja Chozhan
• LIC Narasimhan
• Omakuchi Narasimhan
• Kutty Padmini
• Kovai Sarala
• Sulochana
• Sri Asha
• Ravichandran
• Srividya as the lawyer
• S. A. Chandrasekhar
• S. Shankar as Reporter

Production

In the late 1980s, politician and writer M. Karunanidhi was arrested and S. A. Chandrasekhar thought the law was wrong to do so; this inspired the title for their next film Neethikku Thandanai.^[3] Karunanidhi wrote the script while in prison.^[4][5] The original title was Idhu Nyayama (transl. Is this fair?), but Chandrasekhar changed it to Neethikku Thandanai.^{[6]: 17:40–17:50}

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan.^[7] Swarnalatha, who made her playback singing debut with the song "Chinnanchiru Kiliye", based on the poem by Subramania Bharati, was chosen to sing the song by Viswanathan after he was impressed with her rendition of his composition "Paal Polave" from Uyarndha Manithan (1968), which he had asked her to sing during the song's audition.^[8] The film's "Chinnanchiru Kiliye" is set in Harikambhoji raga.^[9]

Song	Singers	Lyrics	Length
"Chinnachiru Kiliye"	K. J. Yesudas, Swarnalatha	Subramania Bharati	04:50
"Paavai Meethu Parijatham"	Janaki		04:18
"Neethane Maharani"	Shoba Chandrasekhar, P. Susheela		06:14
"Chinna Chiru Kiliye" (Slow)	Shoba Chandrasekhar		01:54
"Manithargale O Manithargale"	Surendran	Bharathiyar	04:09

Release and reception

Neethikku Thandanai was released on 1 May 1987.^[10][11] N. Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express wrote that the "story and narration are so thoroughly mired in preposterous situations". He went on to say, "M. S. Viswanathan has tuned a Bharathi song to good effect, but how come Bharathi agreed to write a song for this film?".^[12]

Controversy

The film became controversial as it was seen as critical of the rule of the incumbent Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. G. Ramachandran.^[13] The then ruling party AIADMK, led by Ramachandran, tried to halt the film's release by filing a case that it may disrupt law-and-order in Tamil Nadu, but Chandrasekhar overcame the case.^{[6]: 22:00–23:25}