Karagaattakkaran came out of nowhere to create box-office history. Though the soundtrack was phenomenally popular, no one had an inkling of the magnitude of the movie's eventual success. It turned out to be the highest grossing movie of all time, a record which was later broken by Chinna Thambi. It solidified Ramarajan's status as the number one choice for rural movies, catapulted Kanaga to the top rung of heroines after a single movie and made the Koundamani-Senthil team, the hottest comedy pairing since N.S.Krishnan and T.A.Muthuram.

Kamatchi(Kanaga) is a famed exponent of karagam in her village. Traditionally, she performs the dance at the annual function in the village. When she insults the village headman(Santhanabharathi) who tries to misbehave with her, he calls in a dance troupe from another village to perform at the function. The troupe is led by Muthaiyan(Ramarajan). Love blossoms between Muthaiyan and Kamatchi. But he learns from his mother(Kanthimathi) that Kamatchi's father(Shanmugasundaram) is none other than his uncle. He had cheated Muthaiyan's father and so his mother now forbids him from marrying Kamatchi. Meanwhile the headman bribes Kamatchi's brother-in-law and tries to marry Kamatchi.

Music and comedy are the two pillars that prop up this otherwise flimsy story that offers nothing new in the romance department. Gangai Amaran almost deifies his brother Ilaiyaraja by going to Raja for singing the title song and falling at his feet to get his blessings. Raja rises to the occasion with a blockbuster soundtrack. I still remember Maanguyile Poonguyile... blaring out of loudspeakers at every street corner when the movie was released. Both versions of the song are a pleasure to hear with S.P.Balasubramaniam infusing life into his solo version. Kudagumalai... and Indha Maan... are the other melodious duets. Ooru Vittu... is the catchy, rowdy group song while Maariyamma... provides the perfect background to the standard scene of the hero and heroine dancing in front of the deity.

The comedy sequences in the movie are legendary. Koundamani and Senthil have perfected their routine by this time and their interactions are hilarious. The 'vaazhappazham' scene has been imitated countless times but is still fresh. Other scenes like Senthil sleeping while Koundamani is playing his thavil and the antics of a rust-iron buyer who makes his sales pitch close to their eternally troublesome car are also very funny. 'Kovai' Sarala also joins in the fun and their final scene, where Koundamani stumbles upon Senthil feeding her halwa, is the pick of the lot and has several funny lines. The comedy sequence was done by a special person, A.Veerappan, and it is laudable that he has not resorted to vulgarity inspite of the extensive comedy sequences.

If you trim out the music and comedy from the movie, there is not much left. The romance between Ramarajan and Kanaga is cursory at best. It takes no more than one dance performance by him and a few glances from her for them to fall in love and swear undying love to each other. There is one sweet moment when Ramarajan bids goodbye to Kanaga at her house with an almost imperceptible nod of his head but scenes like this are few. The issue of Kanthimathi's opposition to their union is also solved conveniently without generating too much tension.

Gangai Amaran deserves praise for the way the climax has been picturised. Putting aside the illogicality of the situation (hero and heroine dancing on hot coal to prove their 'purity'), the picturisation of the sequence itself is very well done. As the Maariyamma... song ends, Raja's background music rises to a crescendo and the scene is painted in a red hue as the couple step on the coal. The scene is surprisingly effective and I have no problem believing the news items that people started dancing passionately in the theatres in the villages when this movie was first released.

Ramarajan sticks to his sobriquet of 'village hero' once more and surprisingly, his few steps of karagam do not look too awkward. The bright colored shirts, a trademark of his and the source of so many spoofs in college culturals, are seen here too. Kanaga has a dream debut and suits the role well. She used this launching pad quite well and had a nice run, acting with all the top heroes except Kamalhassan. But the surprise packet is 'Kovai' Sarala whose dance steps and movements in the few scenes she is in, would put a professional to shame.