Needhi

Needhi
Colour Poster
Directed by	C. V. Rajendran
Produced by	K. Balaji
Written by	A. L. Narayanan
Story by	Virendra Sinha
Starring	Sivaji Ganesan Sowcar Janaki Jayalalitha
Music by	M. S. Viswanathan Lyrics : Kannadasan
Cinematography	Masthan
Edited by	B. Kandaswamy
Production company	Sujatha Cine Arts
Distributed by	Sujatha Cine Arts
Release date	7 December 1972
Running time	159 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Needhi is a 1972 Tamil film produced by Sujatha Cine Arts and directed by C. V. Rajendran. It is a remake of the Hindi film, Dushman starring Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role opposite Jayalalithaa and supporting roles are played by Sowcar Janaki, Chittor V. Nagaiah, and Chandrababu are part of the cast.

Sivaji Ganesan earns a living driving a truck. He is a rash driver and more than usually also driving while drunk. One night he stops at a prostitute's, spends the night with her, and gets up late the next morning. He rushes out and drives at breakneck speed in thick fog to make up for lost time while again drinking. He inevitably ends up running over and killing a farmer. But despite the opportunity to hit and run, he decides to stay and face the consequences. He is arrested by the police, charged, and brought before the courts.

Sivaji Ganesan acknowledges his guilt to the Judge (Chittor V. Nagaiah) who in-turn knows that he should send him to prison for two years. But moved by the plight of the farmer's family (which include his widow (Sowcar Janaki), his sister (), two young sons; a crippled father (S. V. Subbaiah), and his blind mother (Ganthimathi), and his inherent belief that imprisonment does not serve the good of the victim or the perpetrator, the Judge resolves to try a novel experiment of forcing Sivaji Ganesan to live with the farmer's family and looking after their financial needs. A horrified Ganesan attempts in vain to convince the Judge to change his ruling. He is transported to his new "prison" under police protection (J. P. Chandrababu), where he is met by hostile villagers. The farmer's family detest his presence, and call him enemy. Sivaji Ganesan attempts to escape on the first night, but is apprehended and brought back to serve his time.