# Kodambakkam (film)
**Kodambakkam** was released on 10 February 2006 according to some listings, while the Moviebuff database records a wide theatrical release in India on 11 February 2006.[1](https://assets.moviebuff.com/kodambakkam)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | K. P. Jagan (also credited as Jaganji), his second film after *Pudhiya Geethai* (2003)[2](https://www.behindwoods.com/features/News/News1/17-6-05/new.html) |
| Starring | Nandaa, Diya, Tejashree, with Manivannan, Ramesh Khanna, and Kalairani in supporting roles[3](https://www.geocities.ws/bbreviews/2006/kodambakkam.html) |
| Release | 10 February 2006 (some listings); 11 February 2006 wide theatrical release in India (Moviebuff)[1](https://assets.moviebuff.com/kodambakkam) |
| Runtime and format | 2 hours 11 minutes; color, 24 fps, 2.39:1 scope; certified U in India[1](https://assets.moviebuff.com/kodambakkam) |
| Genre | Drama, set in the Tamil film world[1](https://assets.moviebuff.com/kodambakkam) • [3](https://www.geocities.ws/bbreviews/2006/kodambakkam.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Sugavannan (Nandaa) comes from a village to Chennai with the dream of becoming a film director, supported by his mother (Kalairani) and his lover Dhanam (Diya), the daughter of a money-lender.[3](https://www.geocities.ws/bbreviews/2006/kodambakkam.html) After working as an assistant director, he prepares a woman-centric film titled *Neyar Viruppam*, without the usual glamour and stunts, but a distributor-turned-producer rejects the script and advises him to change it.[3](https://www.geocities.ws/bbreviews/2006/kodambakkam.html)With help from the production manager Kumar ([Ramesh Khanna](https://www.edgepedia.org/ramesh-khanna)) and financing from Ramasamy Gounder ([Manivannan](https://www.edgepedia.org/manivannan)), a villager new to cinema, Sugavannan begins production.[3](https://www.geocities.ws/bbreviews/2006/kodambakkam.html) The shoot is troubled by the heroine, ego clashes, and, toward the end, finances.[4](https://anurussell.blogspot.com/2006/03/kodambakkam-2006-tamil-movie-review.html) No distributor will pay for the finished film, so Gounder releases it with his own money, and it reaches theaters a day late.[4](https://anurussell.blogspot.com/2006/03/kodambakkam-2006-tamil-movie-review.html) On the first day of release the film fails to debut as scheduled, and Sugavannan's mother, humiliated before the villagers who had gathered to watch, dies of heartbreak.[4](https://anurussell.blogspot.com/2006/03/kodambakkam-2006-tamil-movie-review.html) The late-released film then runs well, and Sugavannan becomes successful, but he realizes that success that does not come on time has no value in life.[4](https://anurussell.blogspot.com/2006/03/kodambakkam-2006-tamil-movie-review.html)
## Production
Shooting was under way at the AVM Studios by June 2005. Behindwoods reported at that time that Jagan, after his first film *Pudhiya Geethai* with Vijay did not do well, had worked under director Cheran as an associate before making this film.[2](https://www.behindwoods.com/features/News/News1/17-6-05/new.html) The report described the story as emphasizing the importance of timing in everyone's life: basic needs such as food, shelter, and security, or a child's parental affection and attention, must arrive at the right time, or life takes an irreversibly downhill path.[2](https://www.behindwoods.com/features/News/News1/17-6-05/new.html)
## Reception
The reviewer Balaji Balasubramaniam called *Kodambakkam* a rarity, a film that portrays [Tamil cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/tamil-cinema) as it is, charting in detail the tedious journey of a new director from financing to censor-board decisions to getting prints out the door, while avoiding a pure sob story by making the hero three-dimensional, with a passion for his work matched by a short temper.[3](https://www.geocities.ws/bbreviews/2006/kodambakkam.html) He noted that the director resorted to exaggerations at points, most notably a caricatured heroine, and that the film's own glamorous song-and-dance additions read as a confession by the director himself.[3](https://www.geocities.ws/bbreviews/2006/kodambakkam.html) Anu Russell's review was far less favorable, ranking the film 2.5 out of 5 and criticizing the slow pace, songs, and screenplay, while crediting the actors with apt performances.[4](https://anurussell.blogspot.com/2006/03/kodambakkam-2006-tamil-movie-review.html)
A later news roundup described the film as having received good comments even though it did not yield good collections at the box office.[5](https://mychennaicity.blogspot.com/2007/11/tamil-cinema-news.html) IMDb records a user rating of 4.9 out of 10, based on 11 votes.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6765436/)
## Context: the neighborhood
The film takes its title from [Kodambakkam](https://www.edgepedia.org/kodambakkam), the west Chennai neighborhood that has served as the address of the Tamil film industry, colloquially called Kollywood, a portmanteau of Kodambakkam and Hollywood.[7](https://www.hindustantimes.com/regional-movies/tamil-films-how-north-chennai-marks-its-present-while-kodambakkam-thrives/story-TrsZN4P2BCWrIz61aOOBsK_amp.html) Studios moved to the area in the mid-1940s, drawn by the power house built there by the Madras Electric Supply Corporation, and AVM Studios was established in the neighborhood in 1949.[7](https://www.hindustantimes.com/regional-movies/tamil-films-how-north-chennai-marks-its-present-while-kodambakkam-thrives/story-TrsZN4P2BCWrIz61aOOBsK_amp.html) • [8](https://www.sahapedia.org/chennais-avm-studios-behind-scenes-silver-screen) A scholarly account describes Kodambakkam as the nerve center for film production in [South India](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-india), the base for Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam production until the 1980s.[9](https://www.luminosoa.org/books/211/files/4500c057-af83-4597-9a8f-dad71f1ecfde.pdf)
## References
1. [Kodambakkam (2006), Moviebuff](https://assets.moviebuff.com/kodambakkam)
2. [New Film News, Behindwoods, 17 June 2005](https://www.behindwoods.com/features/News/News1/17-6-05/new.html)
3. [Kodambakkam review by Balaji Balasubramaniam](https://www.geocities.ws/bbreviews/2006/kodambakkam.html)
4. [Kodambakkam (2006) Tamil Movie Review, Anu Russell](https://anurussell.blogspot.com/2006/03/kodambakkam-2006-tamil-movie-review.html)
5. [My Chennai City: Tamil Cinema News](https://mychennaicity.blogspot.com/2007/11/tamil-cinema-news.html)
6. [Kodambakkam (2006), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6765436/)
7. [Tamil films: How north Chennai marks its presence while Kodambakkam thrives, Hindustan Times](https://www.hindustantimes.com/regional-movies/tamil-films-how-north-chennai-marks-its-present-while-kodambakkam-thrives/story-TrsZN4P2BCWrIz61aOOBsK_amp.html)
8. [Chennai's AVM Studios: Behind the Scenes of the Silver Screen, Sahapedia](https://www.sahapedia.org/chennais-avm-studios-behind-scenes-silver-screen)
9. [Rated A: Soft-Porn Cinema and Mediations of Desire in India, Luminosoa](https://www.luminosoa.org/books/211/files/4500c057-af83-4597-9a8f-dad71f1ecfde.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Tamil films of the 2000s › Tamil films of the late 2000s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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