Mallayapuram is a village hit by severe drought due to lack of rainfall . The villagers decide to honor their God, Azhagarsami so that their fortunes change for the better. They start collecting funds for the festival and to repair the wooden horse of the God. But the wooden horse suddenly goes missing much to the shock of the villagers
At this time, a villager (named Azhagarsami) from the neighboring Aagamalai village in Periyakulam loses his horse and this horse comes to Mallayapuram by wandering and the villagers think that this real horse is God’s own horse. Azhagar finds his horse in Mallayapuram but he is hit badly by the villagers and he is refused his own horse. He needs this horse for his livelihood as well as for his marriage.
It is decided that Azhagar will live in Mallayapuram till the festival happens and then he can leave with his horse. The villagers feel that after the arrival of this horse, things have indeed changed for the better and the god-men in the village make a 'killing' thanks to the horse and the blind belief of the villagers.
There are some opposing people who don’t want this festival to happen and they try to harm Azhagar and his horse. There are also a bunch of youngsters in the village who don’t believe in God and are always behind truth and not blind superstitions
But, things change for the good towards the end as the wooden horse is returned to its original place. There is a touching reason for the wooden horse going missing and in the end the festival also happens well. Azhagar manages to get his horse after the wooden horse reappears and his marriage happens as planned
Ilaiyaraja’s BGM is mesmerizing. 'Kuthikkira Kuthikkira' song sung by the maestro himself is another sheer delight. But it is the BGM which proves the man's class. Such variety and such feeling in the music.
Village life has been shown so authentically. Each character in the village has some mischief and uniqueness. This adds to the energy of the movie. The feeling of seeing a 'movie' comes only during the small dramatic episode towards the climax when the horse runs loose and causes some havoc.
Appukutty turns in a powerhouse cameo. All emotions come so easily to him. The fight he has with the villagers during his intro is so raw and real. His bonding with the horse is touching. His humanity even towards a thief is another nice addition to his character sketch.
Both the little romance tracks in the movie are cute and realistic. While Appukutty's marriage is arranged purely on trust, the other love track is between people of opposing castes.
The superstitions followed by the villagers, the culture of god-men and the lackadaisical attitude of policemen have been sarcastically portrayed with good impact
VERDICT: Very realistic portrayal of village life with the 'horse' angle being totally new to Tamil cinema.
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