Subramaniapuram

Subramaniapuram is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language gangster action drama film written, produced, and directed by Sasikumar. The film stars Jai, Swathi, Sasikumar himself, Ganja Karuppu and Samuthirakani. The music was composed by James Vasanthan, with cinematography by S. R. Kathir and editing by Raja Mohammad.

The film released on 4 July 2008. Although a low-budget film, it received critical acclaim for its original script, direction, screenplay, performances, editing, fresh music, accurate sets, and costumes to resurrect Madurai from the 1980s. It became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year. The film was dubbed into Telugu as Ananthapuram 1980, and remade in Kannada as Prem Adda (2012).

The story takes place in the Subramaniapuram area of Madurai city. A convict is released from prison in 2008 after serving 27 years, and an unknown person stabs him outside the prison gates. The police are baffled at this as the convict refused to meet anyone coming to visit him during his time in prison. They are shocked that someone who had a grudge against him for 28 years would stab him when he stepped outside the prison. A flashback to 1980 reveals the events that led to the stabbing.

Azhagar, Paraman, Kasi, Dopa, and Dumka, are part of a set of unemployed close friends. They pass their time drinking liquor, smoking cigarettes, and fooling around on the streets with Chitthan opposite the house of an ex-councillor Somu and his brother Kanugu. Apart from them, the family consists of Somu's wife, their three children, including Thulasi and her two younger brothers, and Somu's elder brother Chidambaram and his wife.

The five friends, particularly Paraman and Azhagar, often end up in prison due to frequent fighting. Every time police arrest them, Kanugu and Somu bail them out immediately. In the meantime, Azhagu and Thulasi develop mutual feelings for each other. Paraman is against his friend developing feelings for the girl, and Azhagu, not heeding his friends' thoughts, begins to have a relationship with her.

There are signs of things to come when a local temple's committee especially the head Mokkaswamy does not select Somu for a function. Things suddenly turn for the worse when Somu fails to get people to elect him for his party's (Tamil Nadu's ruling party at the time) district chief post, and his wife ridicules him for being jobless. Kanugu locks himself up in a lodge and drinks all day. He makes sure his friends hear about him and come to visit. He requests that they murder Palaniswamy who is chosen for the district chief of party post. Azhagar, Paraman, and Kasi hatch a plan and execute the person almost perfectly with Azhagar striking the final blow. They run away, leaving the bicycle behind which leads to the cops to discover Paraman and Azhagar being responsible.

Azhagar and Paraman surrender themselves, hoping Kanagu will bail them out soon. But they come in for a rude shock when they learn from Kasi that Somu is selected for the district chief of party post and is avoiding their contact. They confront reality and stay helpless in jail, where they befriend a fellow inmate Ravi. He learns about their situation and bails them out. After their release Azhagar and Paraman break into Kanugu's house to take their revenge but stop when they find Thulasi crying. Azhagar later reconciles with Thulasi and they continue to meet.

Ravi expects a favour from them — to kill his brother-in-law Munish for murdering his sister. Accomplishing this task when Paraman kills Munish, Ravi impressed gives the duo additional weapons to kill Kanugu. In the meantime, Chidambaram learns about Azhagar and Thulasi's relationship and tries to convince Thulasi to end her relationship with Azhagar. Munish's men attempt to kill Azhagar and Kasi to avenge their boss's death but they fail. Azhagar and Paraman strike back, killing those men later in the day. The next day, Azhagar accidentally stabs Chidambaram in an attempt to kill Kanugu and manages to escape with the help of Paraman. To save himself from these buddies, Kanugu after learning from Chidambaram about Azhagar and Thulasi's relationship convinces the unwilling Thulasi to betray Azhagar. Kanugu sets a trap for Azhagar using the grieving Thulasi as bait and has his men kill him as Azhagar is in shock that Thulasi had betrayed him. Kanugu then informs Chidambaram(who is still recovering from his wounds) on what had happened the next day and Paraman avenges his friend's death by kidnapping Kanugu into an auto rickshaw and brutally but slowly decapitates him. He then lays his head at his friend's murder site and reflects on his friendship with Azhagar. Paraman then calls Kasi and reminds him about Azhagar and how he killed Kanugu. He also informs him that he will kill the rest of the men in his family during which he sees Somu's henchmen rushing behind Kasi. Kasi betrays Paraman by leaving him at the mercy of the henchmen who kill him in exchange for the money from Somu.