Panakkaran (1990)

Panakkaran ("rich man") is the Tamil remake of the Hindi hit Laawaris (1981), which starred Amitabh Bachchan. Rajinikanth plays a young man who grows up poor and alone, believing he has no family, and makes his way in the world through hard work and his fists. He ends up working for a rich, proud businessman, played by Vijayakumar, and the two men clash and come to respect each other without knowing the secret that ties them together. Gautami plays the heroine. Directed by P. Vasu, who made several hits with Rajinikanth, and with songs by Ilaiyaraaja, the film was a commercial success during the star's peak years at the start of the 1990s.