his students' sacrifice and surrenders himself, on the condition that all the other members of the ACF be released. He is tried and convicted of being the mastermind organiser behind the murders of Bhadrinarayanan and 14 other government officials, and is sentenced to death. Public pressure from the sympathetic community and family makes the Chief Minister offer Ramanaa a pardon appeal, which will definitely give him complete freedom. However, Ramanaa refuses, stating that only he must face the consequences of his actions, and is hanged the next day. The constable is offered a promotion for his role in disbanding the ACF, but he refuses out of guilt. Cast Vijayakanth as M. Ramanaa Simran as Chithra Ashima Bhalla as Devaki Vijayan as Bhadrinarayanan Yugi Sethu as Narayanan Riyaz Khan as Rishi (Bhadrinarayanan's son) Ravichandran as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Rajesh as District Collector Mukesh Rishi as Jalandhar Singh Sudarshan Ravikumar Durai as ACF Member Kalairani Kalyani U. B. G. Menon Ilavarasu Pooja Sundharesh as Ramanaa's late daughter Mahanadhi Shankar as Rowdy Sampath Ram as Rowdy Pondy Ravi Crane Manohar P. S. Sridhar as Henchman (uncredited) Production The film was initially titled as Valluvan. Yugi Sethu replaced R. Madhavan in the role of a constable in the film. Remakes Ramanaa was remade in Telugu as Tagore and it was made several changes for different scenes, flashback episode and the climax, in its Kannada as Vishnu Sena, the climax was borrowed from Telugu version climax. In Bengali as Tiger and in Hindi as Gabbar is Back. The Bangladeshi film Warning was an unofficial remake of this movie. Soundtrack The Ramanaa soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, and is the only collaboration by Murugadoss and Ilaiyaraaja. The soundtrack has 8 songs. Reception Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu opined that "The concept is Utopian and the sequences almost implausible, but A. R. Murugadas sends a ray of hope for society's honest lot, through his 'Ramana'". A critic from Sify wrote that "Vijaykanth's Ramanaa is an engrossing crime drama which overflows with sharp dialogues against the corrupt system and is shot stylishly by director A.R. Murugadoss". Malini Mannath of Chennai Online said that "'Ramana' is a watch 'able' film despite its flaws". Box office The film was a critical and commercial success. It served as a trendsetter in later years. The film had a strong cult following till date. References External links 2002 films Indian action