Anthimanthaarai is a period arthouse Tamil language

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 released in 1996. The film has Vijayakumar, Jayasudha in lead roles. Its produced by Chandraleela Bharathiraja and Thilaka Ganesh The director of this film is Bharathiraja

Bharathiraja

P. Bharathiraja , is a critically acclaimed South Indian filmmaker.He displayed a story-teller's potential from an early age. Bharathiraja is known for his realistic and sensitive portrayal of village-life in his movies....

. The film won the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Tamil

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil

The following lists the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. The year in the header refers to the date when the film was censored and submitted for the awards, without of regard of when the award was presented. Apart from the Silver Lotus Award "Certificate of Merit" was also given...

 for the year 1997.

The music for the film is composed by A.R. Rahman. The film is relatively unknown and it had a brief run lasting for a week in major cinemas. This film is known for the background score by A.R. Rahman and had become a cult classic among his fans.

Plot

A wartime freedom fighter seeks refuge in a young woman's home after being pursued. A platonic relationship forms between them which they will not forget for the rest of their lives.

Production

Anthimanthaarai is a low budget production targeted primarily at the arthouse movie audience. It features period contemporary backdrop settings. Originally, it was set to be released without a soundtrack. When the film got the tax break from the Govt of India, the director Bharathiraja had included music and songs for commercial purpose. A.R. Rahman accepted no payment for the music of this film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by A. R. Rahman

A. R. Rahman

Allah Rakha Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and philanthropist. Described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time, his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and...

 and was a promotional audio for the film which had just a few snatches of these songs in the background. It has 4 songs including a pure Carnatic

Carnatic music

Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...

 song written in Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 and 3 instrumental themes.

Track #	Song	Singer(s)
1	Sakhiye Nee	Unnikrishnan
2	Oru Naal	Swarnalatha Swarnalatha Swarnalatha was a Indian playback singer. From 1987 onward, she rendered nearly 7000 songs in many languages including Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi and Badaga....
3	Pullai Thinnum	Sumangali Sumangali Sumangali is a 1940 Telugu film directed by B. N. Reddi. The main concept of the film Widow remarriage is inspired by Kandukuri Veeresalingam. The protagonist role was played by Chittor V. Nagaiah and A. S. Giri.-The plot:...
4	Theme Music 1	Instrumental
5	Theme Music 2	Instrumental
6	Theme Music 3	Instrumental
7	Vanajakshiro (Theme Music 4)	Unnikrishnan

The soundtrack became a cult favourite among fans of A.R. Rahman for its soul stirring music compositions.