The Ruthless Man) is a 1980 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film produced by S. Ravi, written and directed by his father Muktha Srinivasan.

The film revolves around a wealthy merchant who keeps his daughter's nanny, an eyewitness to a murder committed by him, captive in his house.

The film was shot mainly in Bangalore, with additional shooting taking place in Madras, Shimla and Kashmir.

Manohar threatens Seetha not to tell anyone and makes sure to prevent her from leaving his estate as she is keen on reporting him to the police.

Later, Seetha somehow sees beneath the rough, mean Manohar and grows fond of him but is confused why such a nice man is acting so arrogantly.

In flashbacks, Manohar and a woman named Kumudha fell in love and married; shortly thereafter, their daughter, Shoba, was born.

Rajinikanth initially wanted to star in a Tamil remake of the Hindi film Vishwanath (1978), with S. Ravi producing.

K. Balaji gave Ravi a video cassette of the Kannada film Premada Kanike (1976), and told him to tell Rajinikanth to watch it.

[14][15] Nalini Sastry of Kalki wrote that the director, by taking an ordinary story and transforming it, was himself a ruthless man.

[16] Despite facing competition from other Diwali releases such as Varumayin Niram Sivappu and Nizhalgal,[17] the film was a commercial success,[18][19] and cemented Rajinikanth's "hold over the box office".