Ejamaan

Ejamaan (transl. Boss) is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by R. V. Udayakumar. It stars Rajinikanth and Meena, while Napoleon plays the antagonist. The film was produced by M. Saravanan, M. S. Guhan and M. Subrahmaniam under AVM Productions. Ilayaraaja scored and composed the film's soundtrack. It was later dubbed in Telugu as Rowdy Jamindar.

Ejamaan
Theatrical release poster
Tamil	எஜமான்
Directed by	R. V. Udayakumar
Produced by	M. Saravanan M.Balasubramaniam M. S. Guhan
Written by	R. V. Udayakumar Gokula Krishnan (dialogues)
Story by	Sujatha Udayakumar
Starring	Rajinikanth Meena
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	Karthik Raja
Edited by	B. S. Nagaraj
Production company	AVM Productions
Release date	18 February 1993
Running time	153 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Vaanavarayan (Rajinikanth) is a feudal chieftain, adored and respected by the people of his village. He lives with his grandparents (M. N. Nambiar & Manorama). Following his advice, they abstain from voting in the elections and instead, pool the money given by the candidates to get themselves some basic amenities. Vallavaraayan (Napoleon) is his arch enemy. Their enmity is further sharpened when Vaanavarayan wins the hand of Vaitheeswari (Meena), whom Vallavaraayan had also wished to wed. Vallavaraayan then convinces the priest of the village temple to mix poison in the holy water that Vaitheeswari drinks. As a result, she becomes incapable of conceiving a baby. But surprisingly, Vaitheeswari soon becomes pregnant-though she has pretended with the help of the mid-wife (S. N. Lakshmi), to do so to uphold her husband's honour. She takes poison and kills herself unable to bear the grief of being incapable of giving her husband a child and on her deathbed makes Vaanavarayan swear to take Ponni (Aishwariya) as his wife. Vaanavarayan however refuses until Ponni agrees to marry Sembattai (Thalapathi Dinesh)- Vallavarayan's henchman-who abandons her to Vallavarayan's vice. Infuriated, Vaanavarayan attacks Vallavarayan and spares his life after giving him a sermon on how to win the heart of the people.

Cast

• Rajinikanth as Kanthavelu Vaanavarayan, fondly referred as Yejamaan by the village people.
• Meena as Vaitheeswari Vaanavarayan
• Napoleon as Vallavarayan
• M. N. Nambiar as Vaanavarayan's grandfather
• Manorama as Akhilandeswari, Vaanavarayan's grandmother
• Aishwarya as Ponni
• Goundamani as Vellaiyangiri, a worker in Vaanavarayan's house
• Senthil as Azhagiri, Vellaiyangiri's half-brother and rival, a worker in Vaitheeswari's house
• Vijayakumar as Vaitheeswari's father
• S. N. Lakshmi as an old lady who acts as a village nurse
• Thalapathi Dinesh as Sembattai
• Rajesh Babu as Vallavarayan's younger brother
• Sandhya as Vallavarayan's wife
• M. Varalakshmi as Vaitheeswari's mother

Production

After the success of Chinna Gounder, Udayakumar was approached by various producers but he was unsure as to who should play the part of the hero for his next film. Subsequently, he decided to cast Rajini as the hero for his next film. Rajini agreed to act under the direction of Udayakumar. The director expressed his interest to make this film for AVM Productions. Initially, a different script titled "Jilla Collector"[1] was narrated but Udaykumar subsequently opted to film a different script altogether, since AVM Saravanan had felt that the original script might go over budget. The actress Meena was selected as the heroine. Rajini was initially reluctant to have her as the heroine because she had appeared as a child artist for his film Anbulla Rajinikanth and he felt that his fans might not readily accept this pairing. But he eventually agreed to have Meena play the part.[2] Ejamaan was Rajini's 141st film and his 8th collaboration with AVM Productions.[3]

Soundtrack

Yejaman
Soundtrack album by Ilayaraja
Released	1993
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	AVM Audio Agi Music Aditya Music
Producer	Ilayaraja
Ilayaraja chronology
Thevar Magan (1992) Yejaman (1993) Uzhaippali (1993)

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraja, while lyrics were written by Vaali and R. V. Udayakumar.[4][5] The song "Oru Naalum" is based on Sindhubhairavi raga.[6]

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Aalappol Velappol "	S. P. Balasubramaniam, K. S. Chitra	5:06
2.	"Adi Raakumuthu"	S. P. Balasubramaniam	5:10
3.	"Ejamaan Kaladi"	Malaysia Vasudevan	4:08
4.	"Idiye Aanaalum Thangi Kollum"	Malaysia Vasudevan	1:44
5.	"Nilave Mugam"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki	5:06
6.	"Oru Naalum"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki	6:00
7.	"Thookkuchattiye"	Malaysia Vasudevan	3:56
8.	"Urakka Kathuthu Kozhi"	S. Janaki	5:04

Release and reception

Ejamaan was released on 18 February 1993.[7] Malini Mannath of The Indian Express wrote, "Yajaman is a well meant film from AVM and from director Udayakumar".[8] K. Vijiyan of New Straits Times wrote, "The film begins well but gets bogged down after the interval and the large number of songs do not help matters".[9]

Legacy

Chinna Gounder and Ejamaan had started the trend of portrayals of village chieftain in films.[10] The success of the films inspired similar themes – including Nattamai (1994).

Director Rajmohan directed a film titled Vanavarayan Vallavarayan (2014) named after Rajinikanth and Napoleon's characters, and starring Kreshna and Makapa Anand in lead roles.[11] Dhanapal Padmanabhan who directed Krishnaveni Panjaalai (2012), rated Ejaman "as the film that best captured the village flavour and beauty of Pollachi".[12]

References

1. "KOLLYWOOD 'DREAMS' THAT NEVER WERE! | R.V.Udhayakumar – Jilla Collector". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
2. "ஆர்.வி.உதயகுமார் டைரக்ஷனில் ஏவி.எம். தயாரித்த 'எஜமான்' வெள்ளி விழா கொண்டாடியது" ['Ejaman' produced by AVM under RV Udayakumar's direction celebrated silver jubilee]. Maalai Malar. 3 January 2013. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
3. "The success journey of AVM with Rajini". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
4. "Ejamaan Tamil Audio Cassette". Banumass. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
5. "Ejamaan (1993)". Music India Online. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019.
6. Mani, Charulatha (10 May 2013). "Light and melodious". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019.
7. Saravanan 2013, p. 328.
8. Mannath, Malini (19 February 1993). "Inconsistent". The Indian Express. p. 16. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
9. Vijiyan, K. (6 March 1993). "Rajinikanth follows in MGR's path". New Straits Times. p. 12. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
10. "Top 10 Village Panchayat Presidents of Tamil Cinema | Rajinikanth – Ejaman". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019.
11. Srinivasan, Sudhir (12 September 2014). "Vanavarayan Vallavarayan: Siamese torture". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019.
12. Jeshi, K. (6 June 2014). "Creating a scene". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019.

Bibliography

• Saravanan, M. (2013). AVM 60 Cinema (in Tamil). Rajarajan Publications.

External links

• Yejaman at IMDb