Siruthai !!! ~ Panthera pardus fusca

Enjoyed interview scene in Vaalu – Brahmanandam asking Simbu & repeating the same Qs to Santhanam  -  ‘rocket entha speedla pogum !’   .. .. Singathukkum Siruthaikkum enna vithiyasam ! [what is the difference between Lion and Leopard !!]

The movie opens  with Bhavuji, a ruthless rowdy, receiving a call that IPS officer, Rathnavel Pandian is still alive, when everyone believed that he was killed by Bhavuji's younger brother, Badhra. Bhavuji and his henchmen went to Rathnavel's grave to exhume his body to which they found a coffin of heavy rocks, which meant that Rathnavel was still alive and Bhavuji is desperate to know his current location.

Meanwhile, Rocket Raja and his friend Kaatupoochi are small-time criminals who steals expensive items and cons people into giving them money. Kaatupoochi receives a call that a very rich person is having a wedding near their area, which Raja and Kaatupoochi go there to steal. In the wedding, Raja meets Swetha and immediately is attracted to her, which she also reciprocates. 

Moving away from Movies – the big awesome animals that fit into the Cat family are :  Lion, Tiger and ………  Leopard, Panther, Cheetah, Jaguar, Puma .. . and 

The Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) is  widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent. It is threatened by illegal trade of skins and body parts, and persecution due to human-leopard conflict and retaliation for livestock depredation.

Felis fusca was the scientific name proposed by Friedrich Albrecht Anton Meyer in 1794 who described a black leopard from Bengal that was on display at the Tower of London.  Leopardus perniger proposed by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1863 were five leopard skins from Nepal, out of which three were black.  Since leopard populations in Nepal, Sikkim and Kashmir are not geographically isolated from leopard populations in the Indian subcontinent, they were subsumed to P. p. fusca in 1996.    

The Indian leopard has strong legs and a long, well-formed tail, broad muzzle, short ears, small, yellowish-grey eyes, and light-grey ocular bulbs.  Its coat is spotted and rosetted on a pale yellow to yellowish-brown or golden background, except for the melanistic forms; the spots fade toward the white underbelly and the insides and lower parts of the legs.   

Here is a Leopard [Siruthai] photographed at Vandalur Zoo recently.

The movie described in 2^nd & 3^rd para was “Siruthai” – starring Karthi, Tamanna, Santhanam, directed by SS Rajamouli with the music of Vidyasagar.   The story revolves around "Rocket" Raja, a petty thief who comes across a little girl says that he's her father. When he learns the truth about his lookalike Rathnavel Pandian, who's an honest cop, he decides to turn a new leaf and help get rid of a crime gang.  The film hit the screens during Pongal 2011.  

It was a remake of 2006 Telegu movie directed by Rajmouli – ‘Vikramarkudu’    based on a story by V. Vijayendra Prasad.  The movie starred  Ravi Teja and Anushka to the music of M. M. Keeravani, with cinematography by Sarvesh Murari.  

Regards – S Sampathkumar

10.3.2026