Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai () is a 1979 Tamil-language drama film, directed by S. P. Muthuraman, starring Rajinikanth. The film was written and produced by Panju Arunachalam under P. A. Arts Productions. The cast also included Thilak, Cho, Thengai Seenivasan, Jayalakshmi, Sangeeta, Jaya and Mallika. Soundtrack for the film was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The movie is a portrayal of the life of Santhanam (Rajinikanth), the eldest son of a poor widow who struggles to make ends meet. He spends the first half of his life toiling day and night to provide his younger siblings an education and spends second half watching them leading comfortable lives, while he continues his struggle for survival. The film was screened for 25 weeks in the Midland theatre, Chennai. It was remade into Telugu as Maharaju (1985) with Sobhan Babu. The film was also remade in Kannada as Poorna Chandra with Ambareesh. Plot The story begins with a family man who has a wife and four children. He values the present moment and wants to lead a luxurious life along with his family. He spends a lot of his earnings rather than saving. Suddenly, one day, when his eldest son is just six years old, he dies in a road accident after getting heavily drunk. The eldest boy, Santhanam, visits his father's boss and asks for a job. He gets a job at the printing press and learns a trade running the printing press. He also does many other odd jobs. He aspires to give his siblings the comfort that his father wanted for his family. All four children grow up and their mother dies suddenly. While Santhanam continues working in the print press, his siblings go to college. He seeks the help of his friend and his boss, asking them for money as and when he requires for his siblings' studies. Santhanam and a co-worker fall in love, but she breaks off when she learns of his numerous debts and continuing responsibilities towards his siblings. Santhanam's sister falls in love with a rich man and Santhanam feels he needs to give a suitable dowry to get his sister married to the rich man. His younger brother advises him not to give a dowry as the groom did not ask for it and also because they cannot afford a dowry. Santhanam goes ahead with the dowry and finds he is short of money, despite help from