Baashha is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language gangster action film written and directed by Suresh Krissna. The film stars Rajinikanth, Nagma and Raghuvaran, with Janagaraj, Devan, Shashi Kumar, Vijayakumar, Anandaraj, Charan Raj, Kitty, Sathyapriya, Shenbaga and Yuvarani in supporting roles. It revolves around an auto-driver who maintains a humble exterior and stays away from violence, but has a dark past which he conceals from his family. During the making of Annaamalai (1992), Rajinikanth and Krissna discussed a scene from the former's Hindi film Hum (1991) which was not filmed. The story of Baashha was adapted from that scene along with that film's core plot and key elements. Principal photography began in August 1994 and was completed in less than five months. P. S. Prakash was the cinematographer, and it was edited by Ganesh Kumar. The dialogues were written by Balakumaran. The music was composed by Deva and lyrics were written by Vairamuthu. Baashha was released on 12 January 1995 to positive feedback and became one of the most successful films and in the career of Rajinikanth, running for nearly 15 months in theatres. Rajinikanth won the Filmfans Association Award and the Cinema Express Award for Best Actor for his performance. The film was remade in Kannada as Kotigobba (2001). A digitally restored version of the film was released on 3 March 2017. Plot Manikam is a humble auto-driver who lives in Madras with his mother Vijayalakshmi, brother Shiva, and sisters Geetha and Kavitha, and would go to any extent for their well-being. He gets Kavitha married to her boyfriend, who is from an affluent family. Shiva manages to become a sub-inspector. On seeing Manikam's photo, DIG Dinakar, who interviewed Shiva, wants to meet Manikam. Manikam hesitatingly comes to meet Dinakar in his office. Dinakar suspects Manikam's identity. Geetha gets admission in a medical college, but the chairman asks for her carnal company in return for a seat. Manikam interferes and tells the chairman something behind closed doors that Geetha cannot hear, after which the chairman unconditionally gives Geetha a seat. Meanwhile, Priya travels in Manikam's auto frequently and develops a liking towards him seeing his good character. Priya discovers that her father is a smuggler and decides to maintain a distance from him. Priya proposes her love to Manikam but Manikam does not initially accept as he learns she is the daughter of Kesavan (with whom Manikam has a past history)