Unnal Mudiyum Thambi (1988)

Udayamoorthy is born into music: his father is a famous, rigidly orthodox Carnatic vocalist who expects his sons to carry the tradition. But Udayamoorthy cannot ignore the misery in the streets outside, from drunkenness that ruins families to the contempt shown to lower castes, and his idealism sets him on a collision course with his father's pride. Thrown out of home, he takes up the cause of a village and tries to change it with small, stubborn acts. K. Balachander made this film in Tamil after directing the same story in Telugu as Rudraveena with Chiranjeevi in 1988. Kamal Haasan plays the idealist with restraint, Gemini Ganesan is memorable as the stern father, and Ilaiyaraaja's music, steeped in classical forms, is one of the film's great strengths. The title means "You can do it, brother".