| Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven | |
| Director: | Kavi Kalidas |
| Producer: | R. B. Choudary |
| Starring: | Ajith Kumar Simran |
| Cinematography: | Agilan |
| Editing: | V. Jaishankar |
| Music: | S. A. Rajkumar |
| Studio: | Super Good Films |
| Runtime: | 158 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Tamil |
Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language war drama film produced by R. B. Choudary of Super Good Films and directed by Kavi Kalidas, in his only directorial credit. The film stars Ajith Kumar and Simran in the lead roles, while Nassar, Raghava Lawrence, Manivannan, and Kitty play supporting roles and Parthiban in a guest appearance. The music was composed by S. A. Rajkumar with cinematography by Agilan and editing by V. Jaishankar. The film released on 19 May 2000 and failed at the box office.
Surya has been brought up in the army training barracks in Wellington (Ooty) ever since his mother handed him over as a baby to the camp brigadier. She tells the officer the reason for her action, but the audience is not allowed to hear it at this point. Surya grows up to be a patriotic youth and the best soldier in his class. He is about to complete his training in three months and leave to the border. He falls in love with Indu, the daughter of a senior army officer, who is visiting Wellington Camp. Indu's parents accept her choice of husband, and the family leaves to Kashmir.
Soon after, Indu's father dies in a bomb blast, while her mother loses her life on seeing her husband's body. Not wishing to lose her husband too in war, Indu asks Surya to choose between her and the army. Surya then asks the brigadier to advise him, and the brigadier tells the story of his parents. His father, Bomb Sekhar, was a very violent terrorist who was sentenced to three years in prison and then death. His mother was a nun who visited prisoners and chanted Bible verses to them. Slowly, Sekhar's nature begins to change, and nearing death, he is completely reformed. Sensing that there is no way for him to repent for his mistakes by serving the nation, he confides to the nun that if he had a child, he would have made him act the country.
That night, the nun thinks about her conversation with Sekhar and subsequently resigns her position with the church. The following day, the nun convinces Sekhar that she will bear his child as a way to fulfill his dying wish, and they consummate inside the prison secretly. She leaves him, and the next day, his death sentence is executed. Once Surya is born, she hands him to authorities at the military camp and commits suicide as well. Surya says that his birth was to serve the nation as a soldier, and if she wants to marry him, she must wait for the next 12 years until his service is over. Indu agrees, and Surya moves with his barrack to the border.
The film marked the directorial debut of Kavi Kalidas, who earlier assisted K. Bhagyaraj; it remained the only film he had directed before his death in 2014.[1] Noted Indian Army officer Major AK Raveendran SM (also known as Major Ravi) played a significant role in assisting the team during scenes featuring Ajith in the Indian army.[2]
The soundtrack was composed by S. A. Rajkumar.[3] The title song "Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven" is based on "Komma Komma" from Nuvvu Vastavani.
Malathi Rangarajan from The Hindu mentioned that "potholes in the screenplay prove irksome" and that "the thin thread of patriotism woven throughout the film, hardly makes an impact".[4] Tamil Star Online wrote, "In spite of good acting by Ajith, Simran and Parthiban, exotic locales, catchy tunes and impressive choreography [''Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven''] falls way short of expectations. And the blame should fall squarely on the story and script writer Kavi Kalidas".[5]
Indiainfo wrote "The film has an absurd storyline. The lead pair tries its best to sustain the film. Rajkumar's stale music and an average cinematography only add up to the film's mediocrity. Chowdury of Supergood films has failed to gauge the pulse of the audience this time".[6] However Krishna Chidambaram of Kalki gave a positive review for the film calling it "a very neat film".[7] The film was commercially unsuccessful, and Ajith mentioned that the shoot coincided with his marriage preparations, thus he found it difficult to invest to the project.[8]