Cast: Lakshman Narayanan, Karthika , Meenal, Manoj Bharathiraja, Roja, Renuka
Director: Bharathiraja
Producer: Manoj Creations
Banner: Manoj Creations
Music: G.V. Prakash
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 146 Mins
Release Date : 28 Jun 2013
Bharathiraja has chosen his protégé Radha’s daughter, Karthika Nair of Ko fame to play the titular role of Annakodi in the film. Debutant Lakshman Narayan plays the male lead as Kodiveeran, incidentally the film was initially titled Annakodiyum Kodiveeranum and later shortened to just Annakodi. The film also features director Bharatiraja’s son Manoj Bharathiraja, in the role of Sadayan , the lead antagonist. The film is produced by Bharathiraja himself and is distributed by their home banner, Manoj Creations.
Bharathiraja is known for his ‘manvaasanai’ movies and he loves to tell stories fresh out of the villages of Tamil Nadu, known for their innocence and earthy fragrance. And now almost 5 years later, this National Award winning director is back with what he does best, a village centric love story, Annakodi. Annakodi is another such typical Bharathiraja movie set in a bygone era and primarily around 3 villages – Kaariyaapatti, Uralpatti and Kidaripatti, and the movie has all the elements that you would associate with a rural potboiler.
Story
Poignant, beautiful love stories set in villages are Bharathiraja’s forte and Annakodi too is one such tale. Kodiveeran, a goatherd, meets and falls in love with the neighboring village belle, Annakodi. Sadayan is the son of the village moneylender, who confiscates people’s houses and land and also carries away their women, claiming them to be the interest for the money borrowed.
Poignant, beautiful love stories set in villages are Bharathiraja’s forte and Annakodi too is one such tale. Kodiveeran, a goatherd, meets and falls in love with the neighboring village belle, Annakodi. Sadayan is the son of the village moneylender, who confiscates people’s houses and land and also carries away their women, claiming them to be the interest for the money borrowed.
Sadayan too is attracted to the beautiful Annakodi, who thwarts his advances and insults him at every opportunity. Meanwhile love blossoms between Kodiveeran and Annakodi and encouraged by her love, Kodiveeran, who is a son of a shoemaker belonging to a lower caste compels his father, to ask for her hand in marriage.
Annakodi’s mother is enraged by their insolence, as they belong to a much higher caste, and disgraces them. The villagers beat up the father and son and hand them over to the local police, who are in cohorts with Sadayan. Kodiveeran is now booked for a theft he did not commit and sent to jail.
Unfortunately while he is jail, Annakodi’s mother meets with her death in an accident and leaves her daughter at the mercy of Sadayan, from whom she has borrowed a lot of money. With Kodiveeran in jail, and her mother dead, and no support from the villagers, Annakodi is forced to marry Sadayan.
So what happens to these poor helpless lovers separated by not only by caste and creed barriers, but also by cold and heartless humans. Are they destined to live without each other or does fate intervene and they have a happy ending, is what forms the rest of the story.
.jpg)