Kasi is a tale about the deception of appearances. Kasi(Vikram) is a blind poet and singer who supports his family by his songs. He has an older brother Sevalai(Thalaivasal Vijay) who spends what money he has drinking, an abusive, crippled father and a younger sister Lakshmi(Kavya Madhavan). When the local landlord, Raghupathi(Rajeev) returns to the district, he brings along with him Mr Dinesh, the CM's son and his wife Radhika(Aishwarya). Raghupathi has a reputation as a God in the area because of his charitable works and when a specialist eye doctor arrives he promises to pay the fees for an operation to give back Kasi's vision. Elated by this news, Kasi learns that he has to find an eye-donor and his girlfriend Kaveri(Kaveri), who cannot speak, offers one of her eyes. Unfortunately, something happens that shows that the 'God-like' Raghupathi and Mr Dinesh are not what they seem. Blissfully unaware of the sadness of those around him, Kasi looks forward to his operation.
The film was released on November 14, 2001 and won positive reviews from critics upon release. Vikram won the Filmfare Best Actor Award.
The film was also dubbed and released in Telugu as "Kashinath" in 2012. It was produced by Gajula Nageswara Rao and distributed by Kumari G Kirthana of Sri Siva Parvathi Productions. The lyrics were written by Vanamali.
The Sinhalese Tamil version "Sooriyaa" is directed by Dr Niranjan starring himself in the title role.
"Seenu Vasanthi Lakshmi", the Telugu version, starring RP Patnaik in the lead released on March 24, 2004.
"Namma Preethiya Ramu", the Kannada version, starred Darshan in the lead and was released on November 2003.
A remake of the Malayalam film "Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njaanum", "Kasi" was further remade in Kannada, Telugu and Sinhala.
For the movie, he sunbathed on the terrace of his beachside home in Chennai for a sunburnt look and got dizzying headaches while practising to look blind.
The shooting was completed in just 45 days. Vikram had rolled up his eyes to look convincingly blind in the film for this deglamorised role of an innocent, rural, struggling blind lead character.
It is a remake of the director's own 1999 Malayalam film "Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njaanum", the film has Kaveri, reprising her role from the original and Kavya Madhavan making her Tamil debut in supporting roles.
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