The subsequent unpopularity and jealousy that the old Chief Minister goes through results in him taking revenge on Pugazh, and how he is stopped forms the crux of the story.

One day, a riot occurs between the students and the bus drivers in the city following a communal clash that disrupts normal life.

The Chief Minister of the state, Aranganathar, informs the police over wireless not to arrest the protesters as they belong to his community and political party.

Aranganathar justifies his indifferent stands and challenges Pugazh to accept his post for a day so that he will realise the pressures faced on a daily basis.

He helps poor people rightfully reclaim houses allotted by the government and requests every Indian citizen to pay all required taxes even if it is for a day, highlighting the effects of avoiding the same.

Finally, Pugazh digs a case of corruption against the ruling party leading to the arrest of multiple ex-ministers and even Aranganathar.

Meanwhile, Aranganathar's image is tarnished before the public, and all of his coalition parties refuse to support him to become CM again, resulting in the dissolution of the legislature, and precipitating a General election.

Thenmozhi's father meets him and advises him not to go into politics while accepting his marriage to Thenmozhi, but Mayakrishnan makes Pugazh understand the vast support he has and shows the plight of people and advises him to sacrifice his comfort zone for the sake of achieving heights in the politics and doing good for the people.

His party wins by the vast majority of votes never seen in the political history of Tamil Nadu and takes all seats in the Legislature.

After assuming the office, Pugazh is keen on state development and gets busy with his schedule of doing welfare to the people, while Aranganathar and other politicians unite and plot to avenge their political failure.

To avoid their presence Pugazh change his look as a traditional Tamil man by wearing white dhotis, yellow colour shirt and blue scarf.

Pugazh narrowly escapes from the murder attempt with the help of the Z Cadre security guard officials, who kill the hitman.

When Pugazh hears this news from outside (there was no range inside the house, when Mayakrishnan phoned him), the bomb explodes by taking the lives of his parents.

[6][7] Arjun, who had previously collaborated with Shankar in Gentleman (1993), was willing to offer bulk schedule dates for the film and was subsequently signed on.

Originally, her role was supposed to feature throughout the film, but Shankar shortened her character, owing to her call sheet problems.

[19][20][21] Stunt master Peter Hein revealed that he worked as a body double for Arjun in the scene where he had to run nude on the streets.

[22] The film dealt with the theme of a television cameraman who is forced to take over the duty of Chief Minister for one day.

[25][26] The song "Shakalaka Baby" was re-edited by A. R. Rahman and featured on the international musical production Bombay Dreams, which ran in Europe and North America from 2002 to 2005.

A Mandarin Chinese remix of the track sung by Singaporean singer Kelly Poon was featured in her album In the Heart Of The World (2007).

The special guests for the event were actor Kamal Haasan and actress Sushmita Sen, who performed an item number in the film.

The event was well attended by the cast and the crew of the film, with other guests including cinematographer P. C. Sriram, actress Sarika, and actor Suriya.

[33] On 21 November 1999, Ananda Vikatan in its review gave 43 marks and appreciated the film stating that: "One can see Shankar's grandeur in the way he presented a social problem magnificently.

[34] The New Indian Express described the film as "absorbing" and praised certain scenes, although it criticised the videos of the songs as a "fiasco".

[35] Aurangazeb of Kalki praised the screenplay and certain scenes which make impact but panned the visual effects and felt the film has a documentary feel which is both positive and negative.

[42] A film titled Lukku Vida Thonalaiyaa, a line from the song "Shakalaka Baby", also began production in 2002 but was not released.

[44] The scenes, songs and dialogues from the film have been parodied in Budget Padmanabhan (2000),[45] Kandha Kadamba Kathir Vela (2000),[46] Kanna Unnai Thedukiren (2001),[47] Run (2002),[48] Dubai Seenu (2007),[49] Sivaji: The Boss (2007),[50] Singakutty (2008),[51] and Kaalaippani (2008).