Pudhiya Mugam

Plot

Vineeth and his fiancée Kasturi while romancing in Sri Lanka sees a murder which results in the death of his fiancée. He avenges her death by killing the people responsible, and becomes an assassin, and is on the run from the police. He undergoes extensive plastic surgery on his face and leaves for Chennai, India to start a new life with a new face and identity.

When the assassin (now played by Suresh Chandra Menon) reaches Chennai airport, he foils a terrorist attempt and saves the lives of a group of children. Later, he meets Revathi, falls in love and gets married. Thanks to his heroism, the assassin gets into the Indian Army and rises in rank as the years go by.

A few years later, the couple’s grown up son, Vineeth, now resembles his father's pre-surgery days. The son meets the dad’s old terrorist accomplices in the airport by chance on his return from U.S.A. The bad guys identify him and, curious, they follow Vineeth and find the truth about the assassin and his new life. As they learn that the assassin is now a very high ranked officer who has access to the army’s secrets, they blackmail him into handing some over to them.

Meanwhile, the son goes for a vacation to Sri Lanka with his girl friend. There he comes to know about the past life of his father, and hates him. On return to his homeland he tries to file a case on him, which is stopped by his uncle Nasser.

The assassin, now a changed man, and realising that his son has discovered his past life, writes a letter to his friend Nasser revealing everything, and goes to meet the terrorists alone. But instead of army secrets, he brings an explosive device which detonates killing the terrorists and himself. With only his wife not knowing the truth about a man who changed his ways and repented for it, the assassin is hailed as a hero who died killing the terrorists. His wife is not informed about his past life by his son as advised by uncle Nasser.

Cast

Soundtrack

The critically acclaimed soundtrack composed by A.R Rahman had six songs and an instrumental theme (which was only included in the cassettes), with lyrics by Vairamuthu. The songs were later reused in the Hindi movie Vishwavidhaata. The soundtrack received very positive responses and is regarded as a classic work by A.R. Rahman. The soundtrack was also released in Telugu as Padmavyuham, with lyrics were by Rajashree. Famous guitarist R. Prasanna started his career with this film with the song "July Maadham", it was also marked the singing debut of Annupamma.

All lyrics written by Vairamuthu; all music composed by A. R. Rahman.

All lyrics written by Rajashree; all music composed by A. R. Rahman.