Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989 film)
Apoorva Sagodharargal () is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao. The film features an ensemble cast including Kamal Haasan, Jaishankar, Nagesh, Gautami, Rupini, Manorama, Srividya, Janagaraj, Moulee, Delhi Ganesh and Nassar. The plot centers on the twins Raju and Appu, who were separated during childhood, and Appu's quest for revenge against the criminals who killed his father. Apoorva Sagodharargal was produced by Haasan under the production company Raaj Kamal Films International. The film was written by Panchu Arunachalam, while Haasan and Crazy Mohan wrote the screenplay and dialogues, respectively. B. Lenin and V. T. Vijayan handled editing, and P. C. Sriram served as cinematographer. The music for the film was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with lyrics by Vaali. Apoorva Sagodharargal premiered at the International Film Festival of India. The film was theatrically released on 14 April 1989 and was a major box office success, completing a 200-day run in theatres and becoming the highest grossing Tamil film at that time. It won the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil, and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards: Best Actor (Haasan) and Best Lyricist (Vaali). Plot 
Sethupathi is an honest and upright police officer. When he arrests four bigwigs – Dharmaraj, Francis Anbarasu, Nallasivam and Satyamoorthy – they escape justice easily and return to take revenge. They kill him and poison his pregnant wife Kaveri. However, she manages to survive. She gives birth to twins with the help of a woman named Muniyamma, but the babies are separated due to circumstances. One of the twins, Raja, grows up as a mechanic with Muniyamma, while the other, Appu, a dwarf, grows up in the circus with his mother. Appu falls in love with Mano, the daughter of the circus owner, mistakenly thinking that she was asking him to elope with her, but she actually had asked him to be a witness to her marriage with her fiancé Vincent, which was not approved by her father. Appu becomes heartbroken and insecure about his height, and he attempts suicide but is stopped by his mother, who then reveals that his dwarfism might have been because of the poison force-fed to her when she was pregnant. This leads Appu to learn about his father's murder and decides to avenge him. Meanwhile, Raja falls in love with Janaki, who happens to be Satyamoorthy's daughter. As Raja resembles Sethupathi, Satyamoorthy and his three accomplices become interested in him. Appu uses two of his circus Indian Spitz puppies to lure Francis to an abandoned building, and kills him using a Rube Goldberg machine; Francis's corpse falls into a lorry covered with hay. Raja and Janaki have car trouble and hitchhike a ride in the same lorry, oblivious to the corpse. The lorry driver discovers the corpse when he reaches his destination and calls the police. The inspector in charge of the case traces the car number given by the lorry driver and comes to suspect Raja of the murder. Appu kills Nallasivam in a golf course using a tiger from his circus, but Nallasivam's caddie sees Appu's face, and the tiger's tail from afar. This leads the inspector to Raja again, who, coincidentally, is wearing a tiger costume while performing a song at a festival in the street. Janaki becomes enraged when she learns that Raja is suspected of killing her father's friends and breaks up with him. Raja is released from custody as the postmortem examination has revealed real tiger wounds. Raja goes to Janaki's house to reconcile, with the inspector following him covertly. While Raja is talking to her, Appu tricks Satyamoorthy into killing himself with a circus handgun that shoots backwards. Appu escapes, but Raja and Janaki enter Satyamoorthy's room, having heard the gunshot a few moments before the inspector arrived. Janaki faints when she sees her father dead, and the inspector now believes that Raja shot Satyamoorthy. Raja escapes and becomes a fugitive. When he is spotted in a market, Raja takes a woman hostage and threatens to kill her, not knowing that the woman is his mother Kaveri. When the crowd backs down, he releases Kaveri and flees. Kaveri realises that Raja is her first son and seeks out Muniyamma. Together they realise that the murders were committed by Appu, and that Raja has been mistaken for Appu, who overhears their conversation. Dharmaraj believes that it is Raja avenging his father's death and that he is the next target. He is shocked to see Kaveri, whom he believed to be dead. Nonetheless, he kidnaps both Muniyamma and Kaveri, and threatens to kill them unless Raja surrenders to him. Appu escapes, helps Raja evade the police, and tells him everything. They team up and go to the circus where the women are held captive. In the ensuing battle, Appu and Raja overpower Dharmaraj's henchmen and Dharmaraj ends up hanging by a rope. With Kaveri's silent approval, Appu shoots the rope, causing Dharmaraj to fall and be eaten by circus lions. Appu surrenders to the police, while Raja and Janaki reunite. 