Thalai Ezhuthu

Thalai Ezhuthu (English: Ill Fate) is a 2009 Tamil thriller film directed by Ethiraj.  The film features Richard Raj and Pooja Gandhi in lead roles, with Guinness Pakru, Meera Krishnan, Bala Singh and Saakshi Siva playing supporting roles.  The film, produced by Richard Raj, had musical score by Godwin and was released on 10 July 2009. 

Plot

Raj (Richard Raj) is a software engineer who lives with his widow mother (Meera Krishnan).  He spent his childhood in a home for disabled children, where his mother worked for a living thus he has sympathy for the handicapped.  After completing a degree in software engineering, he got offers to work in multinational companies but he decided to stay in India and works for a small company.  Raj invents a device that can help the disabled people overcome their physical defects and conveniently complete their daily routines.  After the presentation of his project, Raj gets death threats from a corrupt politician who wants to appropriate his project.  In the meantime, Raj meets Pooja (Pooja Gandhi) and they fall in love with each other. 

Raj then meets with an accident and was rushed to the hospital.  In a serious condition, the doctors save his life, however, Raj finds himself in a wheelchair and is now unable to speak at all.  Meanwhile, his mother has a heart attack and was admitted to the same hospital, Raj needs money to save his mother.  When Pooja met Raj by accident, she forcefully admits him to a mental hospital and Raj is tortured by the hospital staff Pachai (Bala Singh).  Later, Pooja steals Raj's research and tries to sell it to potential buyers. 

Deputy Superintendent of Police Karthik (Saakshi Siva) is looking for Pooja, who escaped from a mental hospital a few months ago.  Pooja turns out to be a person with mental health issues who can do anything for money.  During her college life, she fell in love with a college mate but he didn't reciprocate her love because she wasn't rich.  Therefore, Pooja suffered from an inferiority complex and her only goal in life was to become rich so she wanted to get married to a rich groom.  However, her parents fixed her wedding with a middle-class groom and her dream to become rich fell apart.  Pooja then found herself in a mental hospital and managed to escape from there.  It was only then that she decided to seduce Raj and paid a drug addict to cause Raj a serious accident. 

Finally, Pooja sold his project to a buyer but the software asks for a password.  Pooja in panic goes back to the mental hospital and she threatens to kill Raj if he doesn't give her the password.  At that time, DSP Karthik arrives and shoots Pooja to save Raj. 

Two months later, Raj receives widespread acclaims for his work.  The film ends with Raj in a wheelchair celebrating his birthday in a home for disabled children along with his mother in tears and the mentally ill Pooja. 

Cast

Richard Raj as Raj
Pooja Gandhi as Pooja
Guinness Pakru as Kirthik
Meera Krishnan as Raj's mother
Bala Singh as Pachai
Saakshi Siva as DSP Karthik
Raj P. Kannan
R. R. Rediyar
Ragavesh
Daniel Baskar
Srilatha
Viji Kannan as Pooja's mother
Mithran
Murali Mohan as Shiva
Babu as Henchman
Mangalam Gurukkal as Gurukkal

Production
Richard Raj, a NRI and an owner of a restaurant in New Zealand, produced and played an important role in the film while actress Pooja Gandhi signed to play the female lead role.  The film was inspired by a physically-challenged software engineer who visited Richard Raj's restaurant and it was shot at a location near Bhopal.  Richard Raj's father Ethiraj, a scriptwriter and theatre person, directed the film.  Dominic Savio who has been working for Sun TV cranked the camera while Godwin had scored music. 

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer Godwin.  The soundtrack, released in 2009, features 6 tracks with lyrics written by Priyan and Jagan. 

References

Category:2009 films
Category:Indian films
Category:Tamil-language films
Category:2000s Tamil-language films
Category:Indian thriller films
Category:Films about disability in India
Category:Directorial debut films