Vedham Pudhithu

Vedham Pudhithu (Tamil: வேதம் புதிது English: New vedha) (1987), starring Sathyaraj and Amala is a critically acclaimed Tamil movie, directed by Bharathiraja. Charuhasan, Saritha, Raja and 'Nizhalgal' Ravi played supporting roles in the movie. The story and dialogue was written by Kannan.

This is one of the few films that highlights some of the issues caused by the Caste system. The film's narrative was seamless and starred Sathyaraj as Balu Thevar. It contains some of Bharathiraja's trademark directorial touches as well as a lot of path breaking scenes, along with Kannan's powerful dialogues.

This was considered the last film MGR watched, before his death.

Plot

Balu Thevar (Sathyaraj) and Saritha live in a village and belong to a land-owning warrior caste (Thevar), held lower in the Vedic caste system hierarchy than Brahmins. Balu Thevar though, is an atheist and speaks openly against the caste system, but is nevertheless tolerated by the villagers because he is generous in helping others in need. Their son, Raja, has just returned from the city having completed his education. He meets Amala, who is the daughter of a Brahmin Sastri (Priest), and they fall in love. Both of their parents discover their love and Amala's father tries to marry her off to another man in a neighboring village. On the way, Amala fakes her suicide to escape the marriage, and hides in a house (Nizhalgal Ravi's) that she happens to pass by. In the meantime, thinking that Amala is really dead, Amala's father confronts Raja and accuses him of causing her death. During the discussion, they slip and fall into the waterfall and both men die.