his mentor and guide. Fearing what he has done might be out in the light, Durai pulls out the oxygen tube of Periyavar in the hospital when Nandha is not around and blames Nandha for murdering his father-in-law. Nandha, having to deal with the pain of losing the only man who gave him a second chance to live, struggles the fray of being convicted of murder once again and chooses to kill Durai in the court campus. However, the case is dismissed due to the lack of evidence. Finally, Nandha is acquitted as there are no eyewitnesses to the murder. After being acquitted for Durai's murder, Nandha returns home. However, his paranoid mother, still thinks that her son still has murder instincts, so she waits at home to feed a meal, which she has poisoned herself for him. Nandha finds out that the food is poisoned when he eats it, but continues to do so with a satisfaction that he is being fed by his mother. Nandha dies in his mother's lap and when his friend Lodukku Pandi, his sister and Kalyani come out to see what has happened, they realise that both mother and son are dead and the former three mourn the deaths of Nandha and his mother. The movie ends there. Cast Suriya as Nandha Laila as Kalyani Rajkiran as Periyavar Karunas as 'Lodukku' Pandi Saravanan as Periyavar's son-in-law, Durai Rajashree as Nandha's mother Sheela as Nandha's sister Vinod Kishan as Nandha (child) Mu Ramaswamy Production The title role was initially offered to Ajith Kumar, who rejected the film citing that Bala had not fully developed the story and screenplay before narrating the terms to him. Ajith's departure meant that the film's proposed producer, Poornachandra Rao, also backed out. Suriya was selected as his replacement instead. The director also tried to rope in Sivaji Ganesan for a character role in the film, but his unavailability led to Rajkiran being cast. Despite initial reports that Simran would work on the film, Laila was signed on as heroine to play a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee, Kalyani. The role required Suriya to undergo physical change, so production was delayed until Suriya had finished filming for Friends and Uyirile Kalanthathu. The first look of the film created media anticipation, with both Suriya and Rajkiran sporting looks which they had not portrayed before. Post-release, Suriya has stated "when Nandha happened, everything changed.