Mudhalvan

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 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 dialogues by Sujatha.

The film revolves around an ambitious TV journalist, Pughazhendi, who gets his first interview with the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Pughazh asks harder 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 to be their new official Chief Minister. The subsequent unpopularity and jealousy that the old Chief Minister goes through results in him taking revenge on Pugazh, and how he has 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 huge blockbuster. This film 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 later remade in Hindi as Nayak: The Real Hero (2001). Also, the film was remade in Bangladeshi Bengali as Minister (2002) and loosely remade in Indian Bengali as MLA Fatakeshto (2006). This film was very significant in heightening the stardom of Arjun. This film marks the second collaboration of Arjun and S. Shankar after Gentleman (1993). This movie is a trendsetter in Tamil Cinema.