The Rickshaw Man) is a 1971 Indian Tamil-language vigilante film directed by M. Krishnan and produced by R. M. Veerappan, who doubled as screenwriter.

The film stars M. G. Ramachandran, Padmini and Manjula, with S. A. Ashokan, Major Sundarrajan and Manohar in supporting roles.

Selvam moves the court on Manickam's murder case and Kailasam demands Dharmaraj to support him, which he rejects.

Karmegham tries to kill Parvathi, doubting her chastity as she had a baby when he was away serving a jail term and Selvam saves her.

Parvathi reveals the facts: Uma is actually the daughter of her friend Kamalam, who was Dharmaraj's wife and Selvam's sister.

[9] Padmini was cast Parvathi, replacing the original actress who was removed after 3,000 feet (910 m) was canned as the makers were not satisfied.

[10] Padmini's casting caused some backlash among the public since she and Ramachandran had acted as lovers in earlier films.

[11] The director was billed in the opening credits as "M. Krishnan", omitting his surname Nair at Ramachandran's suggestion.

[13][14] According to critic Gautaman Bhaskaran, Rickshawkaran, like most other films starring Ramachandran, portrays him simultaneously as an action hero and champion for the downtrodden.

[15] A writer for the magazine Asiaweek described Rickshawkaran as being a "sympathetic movie" about rickshaw pullers in Madras (now Chennai).

[16] S. Rajanayagam wrote in the book Popular Cinema and Politics in South India: The Films of MGR and Rajinikanth that in most of his films such as Rickshawkaran, Ramachandran took care to behaviourally exhibit his character's subaltern identity by showing the character engaged in a specific action that characterises the occupation.

[17] He also considered that the pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, C. N. Annadurai, Subramania Bharati and Crucifix being props in Selvam's hut was an example of Ramachandran subtly manipulating cinema to maintain his identity as an artiste of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and simultaneously propagate his own vision of society.

[19] Writing for Jump Cut, Kumuthan Maderya felt that Ramachandran wearing a red shirt and black pants onscreen was an "anagrammatic" reference to the colours of the DMK flag.

[7] The magazine Ananda Vikatan, in a review dated 13 June 1971, wrote that the film was an excellent companion to spend three hours in a theatre, and also praised the story.

[3] On 4 June 1971, The Hindu wrote that Ramachandran, despite his advanced age was still a "popular, vigorous romantic hero" who "demonstrates the dignity of labour".

[25] R. Kannan, author of MGR: A Life, considered the film his "biggest box office hit ever".

[11] Critics accused the victory of being orchestrated by the DMK, with Blitz alleging that Ramachandran paid ₹40,000 (equivalent to ₹1.9 million or US$22,000 in 2023) for the award, a story that was backed by Dina Thanthi.

"[28] Ashis Barman wrote in the magazine Link, "both the film [Rickshawkaran] and Ramachandran's acting in it were atrocious.