Vanakkam Thalaiva

Vanakkam Thalaiva (transl. Welcome Leader) is a 2005 Tamil comedy thriller film directed by Sakthi Paramesh. It stars Sathyaraj, Abbas, Susan, and Vivek.

Vanakkam Thalaiva
Directed by	Sakthi Paramesh
Story by	M. K. Maheshwar
Produced by	V.Palanivel A.C.Anandan
Starring	Sathyaraj Abbas Susan Pranathi Vivek
Cinematography	Sureshdevan
Edited by	P. Saisuresh
Music by	Deva
Production company	AP Film Garden
Release date	22 December 2005 (2005-12-22)
Running time	145 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

The plot is dramatically woven around the different roles donned by Satyaraj and the reason behind him taking up such roles. The movie begins with Manickam (Sathyaraj) kidnapping Divya (Susan), who is the girl friend of Mano (Abbas). Mano decides to rescue Divya, but fails to do so after repeated attempts. In every attempt he is foiled by Manickam through one of his many disguises.

At this point Mano's friend Aruchamy (Vivek) comes to help him in his dilemma. Aruchamy is a suspended police office and managed to be appointed by Manickam to be his lorry cleaner. This way he and Mano trace out where Divya is held. Mano, realizing that it is Manickam who has been foiling his attempts to rescue Divya, goes to the place where she is kept hidden along with the police. This is where the plot twister starts.

Divya suddenly says that was married to Manickam years ago and that she never knew Mano. This statement makes Mano go crazy.

Finally, Aruchamy make Manickam confess the truth. Manickam's wife Ramya (Pranathi) was run over by Mano's car, when Mano had driven the vehicle completely under the influence of alcohol. The case was covered up using his wealth and status. Just to teach him a lesson, Manickam along with his sister-in-law Divya enacted such a drama.

Cast

• Sathyaraj as Manickam
• Abbas as Mano
• Susan as Divya
• Pranathi as Ramya
• Vivek as S. I. Aruchamy from Pondicherry
• Vennira Aadai Moorthy
• Nalini as Mano's aunt
• Shakeela
• Thalapathy Dinesh
• Nellai Siva as Police Inspector
• Cell Murugan as Police Inspector
• Chaplin Balu
• Abhinayashree (special appearance in "Suttapazham")

Production

The song and stunt sequences were shot at Munnar.^[1] The scene where Sathyaraj kidnaps Abbas was shot near Chengalpattu.^[2]

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by Deva, while lyrics were written by Pa. Vijay, Snehan, Yugabharathi and Punitha Prakash.^[3]

No.	Song	Singers	Lyrics	Length (m:ss)
1	Aandavan Koduthada	Manikka Vinayagam	Pa. Vijay	05:04
2	Tamil Theriyum	Gayathri E., Ranjith	Punitha Prakash	04:32
3	Suttapazham	Grace Karunas, Sabesh	Yugabharathi	05:06
4	Pollathavan	Mano	Snehan	05:39
5	Eppo Thara	Krishnaraj, Anuradha Sriram		04:17

Reception

Indiaglitz wrote "Debutant director Sakthi Paramesh has taken a good theme, but has given it a bad treatment".^[4] Sify wrote "It is a far out plot with a wafer-thin storyline and you will have to suspend disbelief. The film is strictly for the B and C audience whose idea of entertainment is double entendre and crude gags".^[5] Malathi Ranagarajan of The Hindu noted that "Had it not been caught in unwarranted commercial features, `Vanakkam ... ' would have been a very positive film with a poignant message".^[6] Cinesouth wrote "Director Shakti Parameshwar had promised suspense scene for scene, but has not lived up to expectations. But the film has the required commercial ingredients of Sathyaraj’s antics, Vivek’s comedy, item dances and glamour girls, so the film will definitely not be a loss".^[7]