Makkal En Pakkam

Makkal En Pakkam (transl. People are on my side) is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language gangster action film directed by Karthik Raghunath. The film stars Sathyaraj, Rajesh, and Ambika. It is a remake of the 1986 Malayalam film Rajavinte Makan. The film was released on 14 April 1987.

Makkal En Pakkam
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Karthick Raghunath
Story by	Rajeev
Based on	Rajavinte Makan by Thampi Kannanthanam
Produced by	Suresh Balaje
Starring	Sathyaraj Ambika Rajesh
Cinematography	Ashok Chowdhry
Edited by	P. Vasu
Music by	Chandrabose
Production company	Suresh Arts
Release date	14 April 1987 (1987-04-14)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Samraj and Rajmohan are good friends who become enemies due to a false theft accusation on Samraj. Rajmohan becomes a great political leader whereas Samraj becomes a great smuggler. With Rajmohan's political influence, Samraj smuggling business was affected. Radha, Rajmohan's girlfriend, works as a junior assistant for his friend who hands an important file to her. It contains details on Samraj's illegal business. Knowing this, Samraj tries to retrieve the file, only to get Radha in trouble. When Samraj realises that she is in trouble he tries to help and consecutively falls in love with her. Radha lets Samraj know that she has a child by Rajmohan and that affair was unofficial.

Police officials respond to the order of Rajmohan and try to arrest Samraj. He escapes most occasions and continues to be king of smugglers. Finally when Rajmohan attempts to revenge Samraj, Samraj close friends Michael and Ramesh get killed. Samraj becomes extremely ferocious and chases Rajmohan at his residence with firearms, kills plenty of his party men, but hesitates to kill Rajmohan as Radha intercepts.

The film has two ends. One in which a police officer kills Samraj and another in which Radha kills Rajmohan after Samraj is dead. Both climaxes were well received by the audience.

Cast

• Sathyaraj as Samraj
• Ambika as Radha
• Rajesh as Rajmohan
• Nagesh as Chari
• Nizhalgal Ravi as Michael
• Raghuvaran as Ramesh
• Master Srikanth
• M. K. Muthu as Rajmohan's rowdy
• Babu Antony as the kidnapper
• Janagaraj
• Manorama as Vasanthamala
• Alex Mathew
• M. S. Bhaskar
• V.Gopalakrishnan
• Kallapetti Singaram

Production

In the 1970s, M. G. Ramachandran was due to star in a film titled Makkal En Pakkam, but the project was dropped after he quit the film industry to enter politics.^[1] In early 1987, producer K. Balaji launched a film with the same name starring Sathyaraj,^[2] which was a remake of the Malayalam film Rajavinte Makan (1986),^[3] itself inspired by Sidney Sheldon's novel Rage of Angels (1980).^[4] Alex Mathew, who appeared as a student leader in the Malayalam film, reprised his role in the Tamil remake.^[5] Sathyaraj said he accepted to act in the film because it was a remake of a successful film, and was guaranteed to do well.^[6] Makkal En Pakkam, like a previous Sathyaraj film Palaivana Rojakkal (1986), was made with political overtones.^[7][6]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Chandrabose, with lyrics by Vairamuthu.^[8][9]

Track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Kongu Nadu Thangam Ada"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	4:35
2.	"Maane Pon Maane Vilaiyada"	S. Janaki	4:06
3.	"Andavanai Paarkanum Avanukku"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	4:33
4.	"Panchangam Yeanga"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki	4:23
Total length:			17:37

Release and reception

Makkal En Pakkam was released on 14 April 1987.^[10] The following week, N. Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express wrote, "The film has enough 'dhum' to keep lay viewers happy" and praised the performances of Sathyaraj and Rajesh.^[7] Jayamanmadhan of Kalki criticised the film for its inconsistent tone.^[11]

References

1. சரவணன், சி.பி. (30 October 2017). "எம்ஜிஆரின் திரைப்பயணம் குறித்த சில சுவாரஸ்யமான செய்திகள்..." Dinamani (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
2. Sunil, K. P. (14 June 1987). "Trading Places". The Illustrated Weekly of India. Vol. 108. pp. 22–23. Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
3. Narayanan, Sujatha (26 December 2016). "From Drishyam to Oppam, why Mohanlal's films are remade in other languages often". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
4. Pillai, Sreedhar (28 February 1987). "Malayalam film makers in Kerala transposes real life into reel life". India Today. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
5. Harris M. Lentz III (30 March 2016). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2015. McFarland. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-4766-2553-9.
6. Sunil, K. P. (29 November 1987). "The Anti-Hero". The Illustrated Weekly of India. Vol. 108. The Times Group. pp. 40–41. Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
7. Krishnaswamy, N. (24 April 1987). "Politics again". The Indian Express. p. 12. Retrieved 22 April 2018 – via Google News Archive.
8. "Makkal Yen Pakkam (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – EP". Apple Music. 1 January 1987. Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
9. "Makkal En pakkam Tamil Film EP Vinyl Record by Chandrabose". Macsendisk. Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
10. "Makkal En Pakkam". The Indian Express. 14 April 1987. p. 7. Retrieved 22 April 2018 – via Google News Archive.
11. ஜெயமன்மதன் (3 May 1987). "மக்கள் என் பக்கம்". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 64. Archived from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2022.

External links

• Makkal En Pakkam at IMDb