Thalaivaa
| Thalaivaa [1] | |
|---|---|
Promotional poster
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| Directed by | A. L. Vijay |
| Produced by | S. Chandraprakash Jain |
| Written by | A. L. Vijay |
| Starring | |
| Music by | G. V. Prakash Kumar |
| Cinematography | Nirav Shah |
| Editing by | Anthony |
| Studio | Sri Mishri Productions |
| Distributed by | Vendhar Movies |
| Release date(s) |
August 8, 2013 (France,Canada) August 9, 2013 (Worldwide) TBA (Tamil Nadu) |
| Running time | 182 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget |  65 crore (US$11 million) |
Plot
In 1988, the areas of Dharavi, Matunga and Mahim in Bombay (now Mumbai) are ravaged by riots between the local Maharashtrians and the immigrant Tamilians. A Tamil coolie named Ramadurai (Sathyaraj), known as Anna among the locals, bravely fights the Maharashtrians and also encourages his fellow Tamilians to fight them. As a result, his wife is killed by the henchmen of the Marathi leader who instigated the riots. In retaliation, Ramadurai kills the Marathi leader and then gives away his young son Viswa to his friend Ratnam (Nassar) as he wants him to grow up away from the violence in Bombay. 25 years later, Ramadurai has established himself as a mafia don of Mumbai, providing his own brand of justice to protect the downtrodden and minorities and engaging in a bitter feud with the gang led by Bhima Bhai (Abhimanyu Singh), the son of the slain Marathi leader who has sworn to take revenge on Ramadurai for killing his father. Meanwhile, Viswa (Vijay), who is now an adult, lives in Sydney and is the head of his guardian Ratnam's (who is now expired) mineral water bottling plant, assisted by his childhood friend Logu (Santhanam). He maintains contact with his father regularly, though he is oblivious of his activities in Mumbai. While driving one day, he runs into a young woman named Meera Narayanan (Amala Paul) and immediately falls in love with her. He pursues her till her house, where her father (Suresh) takes an immediate liking to him. Soon, Meera too falls in in love with Viswa and together they revive Meera's father's unprofitable restaurant business and win a local dance competition. Eventually, Meera proposes to Viswa and expresses her intention to meet his father. When they arrive in Mumbai however, they are received by Ramadurai's assistant Ranga (Ponvannan), who tells them that Ramadurai is in hiding due to false cases framed on him by Bhima Bhai and his gang, supported by the Government of Maharashtra and the Mumbai police. However, he takes Viswa to Mahim fort, where he finally meets his father after many years. After hearing his story, Ramadurai decides to meet Meera and her father to finalise the wedding. It soon turns out that Meera is a police officer who knew that Viswa was Ramadurai's son and she along with another police officer (who pretended to be her father) decided to lure him to Mumbai to arrest his father by faking her love for him and pretending to show interest in meeting his father. Ramadurai is arrested, but as soon as he is locked in the police van, the van explodes, killing him. Viswa, who is also present, notices that the van was bombed by Bhima Bhai and his gang. A distraught Viswa refuses to return to Australia and instead takes charge of his father's gang. After stopping a Bhima Bhai-led eviction drive in Mahim, he is arrested and brutally beaten by the police, only to be released after Meera intervenes. However, his resilience and attempt to stand up to Bhima Bhai makes him a hero among the downtrodden and minorities and is hailed as the successor of Ramadurai. Later, clashes between Maharashtrians and non-Maharashtrians take place in Matunga. Video Kumar (Udhaya), who is video recording a Gujarati wedding there, finds out that Bhima Bhai and his henchmen are responsible for instigating the riots in order to lure Viswa there and kill him. He records their conversation, but is immediately noticed by them, who pursue and kill him. However, they are not able to steal the tape where their conversation was recorded as it had been stolen from Kumar while he was escaping from them in a local train. Viswa finds out about the incident and immediately tracks the pickpocket who stole the tape, acquiring the tape much before Bhima Bhai and his henchmen acquire it. When the tape is made public, Bhima Bhai is arrested. Some days later, at the Maha Shivaratri celebrations at Mahim, Viswa and his men get drunk. The next morning, he realises that six of his men, along with a young Gujarati woman Gowri (Ragini Nandwani), who had a crush on Viswa, were killed the previous night while he was drunk. He also finds out that Ranga is kidnapped by Bhima Bhai, who has escaped from prison and is keeping him prisoner in a fort. He immediately rushes there, only to find out that Ranga was working for Bhima Bhai all along. He had killed Viswa's henchmen when Viswa was drunk and also killed Gowri after she saved Viswa from being killed. He then stabs Viswa and then escapes with one of Viswa's henchmen (who is oblivious of Ranga's double agent role). After finding out that Ranga had killed Viswa and was a traitor, he dashes the car they are in into an oil truck, killing them both. It is then revealed that Viswa did not die as claimed by Ranga, but is still fighting Bhima Bhai and his henchmen at the fort. After subduing all the henchmen, he finally stabs Bhima Bhai in the neck, killing him. Soon, Meera arrives there with the police and after finding out that Viswa killed Bhima Bhai and his henchmen, she shoots their dead bodies as she has now fallen in love with Viswa as a result of which she doesn't have the heart to arrest him. She then resigns from the police. The movie ends with Viswa and Meera getting married. Also, the surviving members of Bhima Bhai's gang, unwilling to face Viswa, flee Mumbai.Cast
- Vijay as Viswa Ramadurai "Vishwa Bhai"
- Amala Paul as A.C.P Meera Narayanan
- Sathyaraj as Ramadurai "Anna"
- Abhimanyu Singh as Bhima
- Rajiv Pillai as Raju
- Santhanam as Logu
- Ragini Nandwani as Gowri
- Nassar as Ratnam
- Udhaya as Video Kumar
- Ponvannan as Ranga
- Y. Gee. Mahendra as Lawyer Radhakrishnan
- Suresh
- Manobala
- Subbu Panchu as Ravi Kiran
- Rekha as Ganga
- Ravi Prakash as Kesav
- Sam Anderson (Cameo Appearance)
- G. V. Prakash Kumar (Special Appearance in Vaanganna Vanakkanganna Song)
Production
Development and casting
Filming
The muhurta of the film was held in Chennai on November 16, 2012.[21] The first schedule began in Mumbai from November 23, 2012.[22] The title song "Thalaivaa Thalaivaa" was shot in Mumbai with 500 junior artists.[23] A major portion of the film was shot in Australia.[24] The first look and title was revealed on January 14, 2013. Additional posters were released on January 26, 2013.[25] .As of February 8, 2013, 50 percent of total shootings were completed, with stunt scenes conducted by Stunt Silva.[26] Ragini Nandwani, who plays a North Indian, stated that all of her film sequences were shot in Mumbai over 25–30 days. They moved to Chennai and shot a song at Binny Mills.[27] A last shooting schedule in Australia was completed by April 24.[28][29] They shot scenes at the Bondi Beach in New South Wales.[30] It was revealed that Vijay would portray a leader of a dance group based in Australia. Vijay would be seen performing dance styles of different genres including tap dancing with Sathish(June ponal song fame), Karthik(Ungalil yaar Prabhu Deva winner) & sathish dance schoolmates.[31].
Music
| Thalaivaa | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Thalaivaa audio art.jpg | ||||
| Soundtrack album by G. V. Prakash Kumar | ||||
| Released | June 21, 2013[32] | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 31:25 | |||
| Language | Tamil | |||
| Label | Sony Music India | |||
| Producer | G. V. Prakash Kumar | |||
| G. V. Prakash Kumar chronology | ||||
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Tamil
All lyrics written by Na. Muthukumar.| Track listing | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Tamil Pasanga" | Benny Dayal, Sheezay.Psycho Unit | 5:06 | |||||||
| 2. | "Yaar Indha Saalai Oram" | G. V. Prakash Kumar, Saindhavi | 5:12 | |||||||
| 3. | "Vaanganna Vanakkanganna" | Vijay, Santhanam | 5:31 | |||||||
| 4. | "Sol Sol" | Vijay Prakash, Abhay Jodhpurkar, Megha | 5:46 | |||||||
| 5. | "The Ecstacy Of Dance" | Kiran , Chennai Symphony | 2:08 | |||||||
| 6. | "Thalapathy Thalapathy" | Haricharan, Pooja Vaidyanath, Zia Ulhaq | 5:36 | |||||||
| 7. | "Thalaivaa Theme" | G. V. Prakash Kumar | 2:46 | |||||||
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Total length:
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31:25 | |||||||||
Telugu version
- Tamil boys - Rakenda Moulie
- Yem maya jarughuthondho - Chinmayi, Rakena Mouli
- Single kinguvanna - udhayabhanu, hema Chandra
- Po po - Vijay Prakash, Abishek, Latha
- Dalapathi Dalapathi - Haricharan, A.V. pooja
Reception
The soundtrack garnered positive reviews from audience and critics. Behindwoods rated 3 / 5 stating "A true for the fans, high on energy and drama".[38] OneIndia said GV Prakash Kumar has composed the songs keeping new-age audience in mind. Thalaivaa album simply cannot be ignored.[39] Indiaglitz said Thalaivaa is all about energy and jive. Ranging from foot tapping to soul lifting, the album is elevating in all respects. For a crowd puller like Vijay, this album is aptly scored to be cheery and soulful. In all, GV Prakash has redefined music crafted for dance and rated 3.75 / 5 - Energy packed album Get up and dance.[40]Release
Thalaivaa distribution rights for the US and Canada territory were bought by Bharat Creations.[41] Ayngaran International acquired the overseas rights for Thalaivaa[42] Tamil Nadu rights were bought by Vendhar Movies and Kerala rights by Thameens via vendhar movies. The music rights were sold to Sony Music.[43] Prior to Vijay's birthday on June 21 a theatrical film trailer was released by Sony Music India on their YouTube channel.[44] Trailer got 1 million views in 32 hours and 2 million views within 10 days on YouTube after its release. Satellite rights has been bagged by Sun TV. The Film running length is 3 hours 2 minutes and has bagged a "U" Certiticate from CBFC. The film has been released on Friday, August 9 all over India and abroad except in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.Controversy
On 10th August 2013, it was confirmed that Thalaiva was scheduled be released in Tamil Nadu on 11th of August, by various sources including Vijay fans club. [45] An official confirmation is still awaited on the exact release date of the movie in Tamilnadu and Pondicherry.As on 9th August 2013, the release of the said film in the State of Tamil Nadu was stalled as several prominent theatres of the Chennai city received bomb threats [46] [47] [48] [49] and also that the film has failed to receive tax exemption from the state revenue department till now. [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55]
On 7th August 2013, the film was dragged to court with the real life son of a Mumbai-based Tamil businessman, the role which Vijay is said to be portraying in the movie, filing a civil suit charging the makers of the film with distorting the lives of both his late father and grandfather.[56] [57] [58] [54] [55]
In the petition, S.K.R. Karnan of Seethaparpanallur in Tirunelveli district said he reliably learnt that the film’s story was based on the real life of his grandfather S.S. Kandasamy Sait alias SSK and his father S.K. Ramasamy alias SKR. His grandfather and father were well known among the Tamils in Dharavi, Mumbai. Both did not indulge in illegal activities. Karnan also argued that his grandfather and father were being portrayed as dons in the Dharavi area in the likes of the famous Varadarajan Mudaliar, which was a total distortion of facts. According to the petitioner, they never indulged in illegal activities and were social leaders.[56] [57] [58][54] [55]
It was a civil suit seeking an interim injunction to restrain the producer and others from releasing the Vijay-starrer “Thalaiva.” On the same day the Chennai city civil court allowed notice to the film director and producer on the same appeal. [56] [57] [58][54] [55]
Tamil actor Vijay's film 'Thalaivaa' not released in Tamilnadu so ,one of his die-hard fan ended his life .[59]
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