Sengottai (transl. Red Fort) is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language political action film directed by C. V. Sasikumar and produced by R. B. Choudary. The film stars Arjun Sarja, Meena and Rambha. The film was released on 19 April 1996 and bombed at the box-office.[1][2]
| Sengottai | |
|---|---|
 VCD cover | |
| Directed by | C. V. Sasikumar |
| Written by | C. V. Sasikumar |
| Produced by | R. B. Choudary |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | V. Manikandan |
| Edited by | B. Ramesh |
| Music by | Vidyasagar |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 150 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Plot
editThirumoorthy is a corrupt politician, who aspires to become the Prime Minister of India (PM) and hires a terrorist to kill the current PM. However, Thirumoorthy's plans gets foiled by SP Sekhar, who kills the terrorists and catches the leader. Neelakandan is an orthodox Brahmin and Sekhar's father's best friend, who along with Sekhar's father decides to marry his son to Neelakandan's daughter Meena, but Sekhar is in love with Yamuna. One day, Sekhar is appointed to find Franka, an Indo-French girl who arrived in India to learn about the country's culture. A sniper misses to kill Sekhar at the time, but accidentally kills Yamuna.
Meena is imprisoned as she is considered to be killing Franka. Sekhar invites Thirumoorthy for Gandhi Jayanti to prison, where Meena attempts to kill him. The same killer who killed Yamuna tries to kill Meena, but Sekhar saves her. Sekhar enquires Meena, where she reveals the truth. Franka's handbag is robbed with her passport inside it. Meena and Franka complain at the police station. Thirumoorthy lusted after Franka, where he forcefully had sex and killed her. Thangamani, a police officer, promised Meena to arrest the culprit, where he first prevented his partner Thirumoorthy. Thangamani arrested Meena and the villagers humiliated her family, where Meena's family have self-immolated.
Learning this, Sekhar marries Meena in the prison and she is released on bail. Sekhar is unable to arrest Thirumoorthy because it would cause a black mark for his country. Thangamani refuses to provide information to Sekhar, who later beats Thangamani. Thangamani reveals all about Thirumoorthy. However, a hitman kills Thangamani and kidnaps Sekhar. Thirumoorthy threatens Sekhar to kill his father and Meena if he does not kill the PM himself. Sekhar is escorted by Thirumoorthy's henchmen in the plane, but manages to escape from the plane and finds the place where his father and Meena are kept, and saves them. To save the PM, Sekhar finds the sniper and kills him. Thirumoorthy decides to kill the PM, but Sekhar saves him and kills Thirumoorthy.
Cast
edit- Arjun Sarja as SP Sekhar IPS
- Meena as Meena
- Rambha as Yamuna
- Vijayakumar as Sekhar's father
- Rajan P. Dev as Thirumoorthy
- Hemanth Ravan
- Delhi Ganesh as Neelakanda, Meena's father
- Kalajothi Jayanthi
- Kumarimuthu
- Chinni Jayanth
- Roshan Seth as Prime Minister
- Sethu Vinayagam
- Franka as Franka
- Cameo appearances
Soundtrack
editThe music was composed by Vidyasagar.[3]
| Song | Singer(s) | Lyrics | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Boomiyea Boomiyea" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | Vairamuthu | 5:19 |
| "Paadu Paadu" | K. S. Chithra, Anuradha Sriram | Muthulingam | 4:36 |
| "Uchchi Muthal Patham" | Hariharan, Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik | Palani Bharathi | 5:06 |
| "Vennilave Velli Poove" | Mano, K. S. Chithra | Vaali | 4:06 |
| "Vinnum Mannum" | Mano, Swarnalatha | 4:35 |
Reception
editTharamani of Kalki praised Yogamagi's art direction and Manikandan's cinematography and the performances of Meena and her friend. He also added the screenplay in first half is yawn inducing however despite picking up pace in second half its let down by illogical sequences.[4] D. S. Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote, "Arjun never puts a wrong foot forward, at his agile best in the action scenes and dancing and romancing with his known flourish, the Taj Mahal and other picturesque places in Agra making the frames look enchanting through Manikantan's cinematography".[5]
References
edit- ^ "Senkottai ( 1996 )". Cinesouth. Archived from the original on 18 September 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ^ Sitaraman, Sandya (17 January 1997). "Tamil Movie News--Pudhu Edition 2". Google Groups. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
Even though it had all the right ingredients of a good masala, "Shengotai" bombed
- ^ "Sengottai (1996)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ தரமணி (26 May 1996). "செங்கோட்டை". Kalki (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Ramanujam, D. S. (26 April 1996). "Cinema: Karuppu Roja/Chiraichalai/Sengottai/Raajali". The Hindu. p. 27. Archived from the original on 21 December 1996. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
