# Winner (2003 film)

Winner is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language romantic action comedy film directed and co-written by Sundar C. The film stars Prashanth and Kiran Rathod in the lead roles, while Vadivelu, Vijayakumar, M. N. Nambiar and Riyaz Khan play important supporting roles. The film, which has music scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography handled by Prasad Murella, released on 27 September 2003.

## Plot

Sakthi is studying Engineering in a college in Chennai, and gets into quarrels every other day. Not able to withstand the threats from hooligans, his billionaire parents send him to his mother's village in Pollachi where his maternal grandfather Velayutham and grandmother Sivagami reside. Though his grandparents are rich and respected farmers, Sakthi has not met them due to a small dispute between his father and grandfather. In the village, an innocent third cousin of Shakthi, Kaipulla, lives with the old couple with hopes of becoming their heir. He has a small gang and roams around the village with his mates. Kaipulla is constantly challenged by Sakthi's distant relative body-builder Kattadurai, who is also a rich landlord. Sakthi visits his grandparents and decides to stay in the village for a month. A marriage of their relative is planned, and the whole family from all over Tamil Nadu assembles. Neelaveni, who accompanies her relatives, sees Sakthi at the wedding and falls in love with him. Kattadurai is supposed to marry Neelaveni.
Many events follow. Kattadurai often clashes with Sakthi and gets beaten up. Amidst the wedding preparation, a group of former enemies including Vaira Kannan and Neelavani's aunt, along with Neelaveni's father, kidnap Neelaveni. After a huge tussle, Sakthi brings Neelaveni back.

## Cast

* Prashanth as Sakthivel Sathyamoorthy
* Kiran Rathod as Neelaveni
* Vadivelu as Kaipulla
* M. N. Nambiar as Velayutham
* Vijayakumar as Sathyamoorthy, Sakthi's father
* M. N. Rajam as Sivagami
* Riyaz Khan as Kattadurai Thevar
* Raj Kapoor as Vaira Kannan
* Jaya Murali as Dhanalakshmi, Sakthi's mother
* Prathap Singh as Santhanapandi Thevar , Neelaveni's father
* Vimalraj as Vaira Kannan's brother
* Anuradha as Neelaveni's aunt
* Santhana Bharathi as Neelaveni's uncle
* Crane Manohar as Kaipulla's sidekick
* Bonda Mani as Kaipulla's sidekick
* Muthukaalai as Kaipulla's sidekick
* Junior Balaiah as Kattadurai's uncle
* Vichu Viswanath as Kattadurai's cousin
* Singamuthu as Thief
* Halwa Vasu as Train Station Master
* Bharathi as Neelaveni's friend
* Thalapathy Dinesh as Neelaveni's bodyguard
* Vatsala Rajagopal as Neelaveni's grandmother
* Shanmugasundari as Neelaveni's grandmother
* Nirosha as Neelaveni's cousin
* Nellai Siva as the astrologer
* Kottai Perumal
* Chelladurai
* Bava Lakshmanan
* Soori as Kaipulla's henchman (uncredited)
* Aarthi Agarwal in "Mathapoo" song (uncredited)

## Production

Actor Prashanth signed on to star in the film, being produced by R. Bhooma Ramachandran in late 2001, with Aarthi Agarwal signed on the play the film's heroine. It was reported that Agarwal had impressed actress Khushbu with her performances in Telugu films and Khushbu thus recommended her to her filmmaker husband, Sundar C. Vivek was the director's original choice for the comic role of Kaipulla, that was eventually played by Vadivelu. Agarwal was later replaced by Kiran Rathod. Despite Agarwal being removed, she can be seen in the beginning of the song "Mathapoo", which was filmed in Thiruvananthapuram. Scenes showcasing a wedding at Rathod's character's house was shot at Vasan House, Chennai. Other scenes were shot in Hyderabad. Prashanth was briefly hospitalised after injuring himself filming an action scene for the film. Vadivelu was injured on a separate occasion and could not walk properly, so his limp was written into the script as a result of his character being beaten up. The scene where he tells Riyaz Khan's character, "Venaam Valikkuthu Azhuthuruven" (transl. Please don't, it hurts, I'll cry) took 16 takes to approve as Khan could not control his laughter every time Vadivelu said the line.

## Soundtrack

The music was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja . Vignesh Ram of Nilacharal called it an "above average album with a mixture of western, folk, dappanguthu and melody numbers".
| Song | Singer(s) | Lyrics | Duration |
| "Eye Um Eye Um" | Devan | Pa. Vijay | 4:23 |
| "Endhan Uyir Thozhiyae" | Udit Narayan | Pa. Vijay | 4:38 |
| "Mathapoo" | Tippu, Premji Amaran, Sri Vardhini | Pa. Vijay | 3:59 |
| "Mudhal Murai" | Srinivas, Mahalakshmi Iyer | Pa. Vijay | 5:10 |
| "Engirundhai" | Harish Raghavendra | Pa. Vijay | 4:06 |
| "Kozhi Kokkarra" | Udit Narayan, Prashanthini | Viveka | 4:25 |

## Release and reception

The film was released on 27 September 2003. Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote, "It's a typical Sunder C film, one of his more enjoyable ones, with the right dose of action, sentiment, romance and humour, all weaved into a single film that is engaging and with not many lagging moments. The film makes no pretensions of being a classy affair, but nevertheless it is wholesome entertainment for the entire family. The highlight is the humour generated by the comedy track". Visual Dasan of Kalki called Vadivelu as man of the match while also praising Kiran's acting and Prashanth's action. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "It is a typical Sundar C. brand entertainer [...] with comedy, stunts, romance and sentiment thrown in to make the product racy [...] So naturally don't expect too much of logic in the story or plausibility in the narration".

## Post-release

Post-release, the film's producer Ramachandran criticised Prashanth for his alleged unprofessional behavior during production. He claimed that the actor insisted on hiring Agarwal and she was paid more than the budget allocated by the producer just for the lead actress, but Prashanth after a point unceremoniously demanded her removal, and himself often did not show up for filming according to the agreed schedule. Ramachandran alleged that Prashanth was upset that Vadivelu's role had more scope than his own, hence he refused to let the film be completed and released within the planned time. He blamed Prashanth for the cost overruns, and said he was forced to sell the film at a low price to distributors. Despite this, he adopted the name "Winner" Ramachandran as an homage to the film. Vadivelu's association in the film titled 'Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam' became popular, and was used as the title for a 2013 film.