Mudhalvan

Mudhalvan
Poster
Directed by	S. Shankar
Written by	S. Shankar
Dialogues by	Sujatha
Produced by	S. Shankar R. Madhesh
Starring	Arjun Manisha Koirala Raghuvaran
Cinematography	K. V. Anand
Edited by	B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Production company	S Films
Distributed by	S Films
Release date	7 November 1999 (1999-11-07)
Running time	171 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Mudhalvan (transl. Chief Minister) is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language political action film produced by R. Madhesh and S. Shankar, co-written and directed by Shankar. The film stars Arjun, Manisha Koirala, and Raghuvaran in lead roles, while Vadivelu and Manivannan appear in supporting roles. The film featured an award-winning soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by K. V. Anand, and dialogue by Sujatha.^[1]

The film revolves around an ambitious TV journalist, Pughazhendi, who gets his first interview with the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Pughazh asks hard questions, and the Chief Minister starts trembling and asks him to put his money where his mic is and become his replacement CM for a day. After initially rejecting the offer, Pugazh agrees and does such a great job on his first day, that the actual cabinet collapses and fresh elections are held, where state voters eventually elect him as their new Chief Minister. The subsequent unpopularity and jealousy that the old Chief Minister goes through results in him taking revenge on Pugazh, and how he is stopped forms the crux of the story.

The film was released on 7 November 1999, as a Diwali release. The film received critical acclaim and became a major commercial success and was the second highest-grossing Tamil movie of 1999 after Padayappa. The film ran for over 100 days in theatres and won awards on a regional scale. The film was a milestone in both S.Shankar and Arjun's career and also plays a vital role in heightening the stardom of Arjun Sarja in Tamil Cinema. The film was later remade in Hindi as Nayak: The Real Hero (2001) by the same director.