Kannathil Muthamittal

Kannathil Muthamittal
Tamil	கன்னத்தில் முத்தமிட்டால்
Directed by	Mani Ratnam
Produced by	Mani Ratnam G. Srinivasan
Written by	Sujatha (Dialogue)
Screenplay by	Mani Ratnam
Story by	Mani Ratnam
Starring	Madhavan P. S. Keerthana Simran Nandita Das Prakash Raj J. D. Chakravarthy Pasupathy Siddharth Shefali Chowdhury G. Srinivasan
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Ravi K. Chandran
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Production company	Madras Talkies
Distributed by	Madras Talkies
Release date	14 February 2002
Running time	137 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Kannathil Muthamittal (English: A Peck on the Cheek) is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language musical war drama film written, produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. It features Madhavan, P. S. Keerthana and Simran in the leading roles with Nandita Das, J. D. Chakravarthy, Prakash Raj and Pasupathy portraying other pivotal characters. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman, while Ravi K. Chandran handled the cinematography. Mani Ratnam presents the story of a child of Sri Lankan Tamil parentage adopted by Indian parents, who desires to meet her biological mother in the midst of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

The film premiered at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, It also received a strong reception when screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2003. The film received high critical acclaim upon release and went on to win six National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards South , seven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and Best Film awards at six international film festivals.

The film begins in a small village in Sri Lanka called Mankulam, where M. D. Shyama (Nandita Das) is married to Dileepan (J. D. Chakravarthy), who along with few other Sri Lankan Tamils in the village, is part of the Tamil Tigers rebel association. While having a quiet moment, the couple hears sounds of Sri Lankan army troops approaching. He asks Shyama to leave while he remains in the forest. Shyama realizes that she is pregnant and waits in vain for Dileepan’s return. Her villagers begin fleeing to India to seek refugee due to the war. Shyama is initially stubborn to leave her husband behind, but her relatives convince her to seek refuge for her unborn child's sake. The villagers board a boat to the shores of Rameswaram. On the journey one of the rebels says that he has seen her husband, Dileepan, with bullet wounds in the forest. Shyama wants the boat to turn around but it is too late. In Rameswaram, while a local collector takes down the names of the refugees, Shyama gives birth to a baby girl. However, the urge to find her possibly wounded husband and be with her people back home overwhelms Shyama and she leaves behind the newborn girl, hoping that the girl will lead a better life.