Sangathalaivan

The story follows the life of Rangan, a powerloom worker. A tragic incident leads to Rangan's first brush with Communism, and its representative, Sivalingam. Rangan is unsure of Communism at first; he doesn't even want to be seen aligning with Communists for fear of repercussion from his capitalist employer Current office Govindaraj.

• Samuthirakani as Sivalingam
• Karunas as Ranganathan
• Ramya Subramanian as Lakshmi
• Sunu Lakshmi
• Sampath Ram as Police Officer
• Cheenu Mohan as Capitalist
• G. Marimuthu as Govindarajan
• E.Ramdoss as Rangan's father
• Bala Singh as communist (Special appearance)

The film was announced in October 2017, with director Manimaran and producer Vetrimaaran announcing that they would make a film starring Samuthirakani. Based on the novel Thariyudan, the story was to be set in the areas of Salem, Erode and Tirupur, and was said to focus on the lives of handloom weavers and the struggles they face.[2][3] Ramya Subramanian was cast in the film after being recommended by Velraj and shot for the film in rural Tamil Nadu.[4][5][6]

Soundtrack was composed by Robert Sargunam.[7]

• Sarvesa – Jayamoorthy
• Pudhu Vidha – Saindhavi
• Porattam Illamal – Teejay, Arunraja Kamaraj

The film was released theatrically across Tamil Nadu on 26 February 2021. A critic from The Hindu noted "this idealistic take on an ideology lacks verve" and that the film "fails to sell its politics convincingly".[8][9] A reviewer from the Times of India stated "despite having a few interestingly-written characters, Sangathalaivan is another half-baked attempt which relies more on conveying ideologies."[10]

Sify called the film "average", adding "the problem is that the director fails to pack the content of the novel within a two-hour film. The editing is shoddy and we get the feel that several scenes were chopped off to speed up the proceedings."[11] In contrast, News Today noted "Sangathalaivan provides a good watch. The characters shown with various emotions engrosses audience. Had it been less preachy, this sure to leave an impact."[12] Likewise, Cinema Express noted it was "a slow-burn drama that give us the pleasant feeling of reading a novel from the 90s."[13]

• Sangathalaivan at IMDb