Appu (2000 film)

Appu is a taxi driver in Mumbai. One day, Appu meets Seetha and develops affection instantly. Seetha is also sold by her uncle to a brothel managed by Maharani, a transgender, as he is unable to repay his debt. Appu decides to save Seetha from the brothel. Appu visits the brothel as a customer and plans to make Seetha escape from there.

A small flashback is shown where Appu had a sister Saradha who eloped with her lover a few years back. However, Saradha's lover ditched her by selling her to a brothel. Saradha tries to escape from the brothel but gets caught and commits suicide. Appu vaguely sees the brothel owner from a distance who happens to be Maharani and plans to take revenge. The film comes to the present and Appu realises that Maharani was responsible for his sister's death as well.

Appu helps Seetha escape from the brothel and Maharani's henchmen are in search of them. Slowly, love blossoms between Appu and Seetha. In the chase, Appu loses his friend Mano and his lover Pooja, as they both get killed by Maharani. Finally, Appu kills Maharani and unites with Seetha.

K. Balachander wanted to produce a "quickie", and when he offered Vasanth to direct a remake of the Hindi film Sadak (1991), Vasanth agreed as he could not refuse an offer from his mentor. When casting the lead actor, Vasanth intentionally chose Prashanth, who he felt was stereotyped as a "lover boy", as he wanted to experiment with his acting prowess.^[2] The film entered development in mid-1999.^[3] During production, the film was briefly titled Surya before being renamed to Appu.^[4] Devayani plays the lead actress, and her voice was dubbed by Deepa Venkat, who make her debut as a dubbing artist.^[5]

Prakash Raj played the character of a eunuch, reuniting with Vasanth after Aasai (1995). Vasanth said he considered various actors before finalising Raj because he "has got a lot of fire in him and we vibe very well too".^[6] During production, some eunuchs hailing from Thiruvannamalai threatened that if portions of the film were not reshot, they would initiate large scale protests and do their best to hinder shooting schedules. They were upset that Raj played a "sexually handicapped" person who is the antagonist. They argued that the eunuchs are treated as socially unwanted having little social standing, and that such films would further threaten their status in the society.^[7] The song "Idam Tharuvaya" was shot in South Africa while the song "Punnagaikku" was shot at Chennakeshava Temple, Somanathapura.^[8]

The soundtrack was composed by Deva, all song lyrics were by Vairamuthu.^[9] The audio was launched at Kamarajar Memorial Hall.^[10] Venky of Chennai Online wrote, "Though the songs sound familiar, they are definitely worth a hear".^[11]