| Director: | A. Venkatesh |
| Story: | Arjun |
| Starring: | Arjun Mallika Kapoor |
| Producer: | V. Palanivel A. C. Anandan |
| Music: | D. Imman |
| Cinematography: | K. S. Selvaraj |
| Editing: | P. Saisuresh |
| Studio: | AP Film Garden |
| Runtime: | 170 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Tamil |
Vathiyar is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by A. Venkatesh from a story written by Arjun. The film stars Arjun and Mallika Kapoor, while Vadivelu, Pradeep Rawat, Prakash Raj, Manivannan and Amit Tiwari play supporting roles. The soundtrack and background score were composed by D. Imman.
Vathiyar was released on 11 November 2006 and recorded as an average venture at the box office. The film's climax action sequences were inspired by the 2005 Thai film Tom-Yum-Goong.
Annadurai alias "Dorai" is a helpful school teacher-turned-gangster who learns that MP Nachiyar is planning to bomb the city for his profits and sets out to destroy his plans while being watched by ACP Eashwara Pandian and his team.
The film was officially launched at AVM Studios in 2006.[1] Tulip Joshi was originally selected as the heroine, but was thrown out of the film as the crew couldn't control her starry tantrums[2] and Mallika Kapoor was selected instead. Blaaze was selected to make a cameo appearance in the film.[3] The scene where Arjun defuses a bomb in Vinayaka Chathurthi was shot in Sri Perumbudur and cost 20 lakh.[4]
An assistant director named Rajkumar had lodged a complaint with the Chennai police commissioner stating that his story has been stolen and made as Vathiyar. However, Arjun has denied the accusations and said "I have no reasons to steal someone else’s work and call it mine. Vathiyar is my own creation."[5]
Song composing and background score was done by D. Imman.[6] The song "Yennadi Muniyamma" is a remix of "Nee Munnala" from Vaanga Mappillai Vaanga (1984) sung by T. K. S. Natarajan.
The film was originally slated to release on Diwali, but was postponed due to financial strains.[7] It was delayed for a month and finally released on 10 November 2006.[8]
PVS of Nowrunning wrote "Except for the action sequences there is nothing much to write about the movie".[9] S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu wrote "The story is by Arjun and director A. Venkatesh has neatly woven the script to make it enjoyable for the masses".[10] Indiaglitz wrote "Vathiyar is Baashha meets Gentleman meets countless vigilante justice movies. The story and treatment are on typical lines".[11] TSV Hari of Rediff.com wrote "It is incredible that with two decent films Yei and Madarasi under his belt, director Venkatesh could not come up with something better. The songs of D. Imman are terrible. In a nutshell, the normally saleable star Arjun has torpedoed his future with this dud."[12] Lajjavathi of Kalki wrote in order to move the screenplay briskly, director Venkatesh seems to have overlooked logic. This would have been another Gentleman for Arjun had the director shown the elegance for the whole film like he did in flashback.[13] Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "'Vathiyar' is an amalgam of various films like 'Gentleman' and 'Muthalvan', incidentally, both were Arjun-starrers. But despite the sense of [deja vu], what keeps the story moving is the racy narration, Arjun's fight scenes and the Vadivelu track that provides some fun moments".[14]