Bigil

Bigil is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language sports action film written and directed by Atlee and produced by Kalpathi S. Aghoram under the banner AGS Entertainment. The film stars Vijay in dual lead roles as Michael, a mobster and former footballer and Rayappan, a gangster and Michael's father, alongside Nayanthara, Jackie Shroff, Vivek and Kathir in other prominent roles. The film follows Michael, a mobster and a former footballer who decides to coach a women's football team when their coach gets attacked. Michael faces challenges when his team does not cooperate with him due to his violent background and also finds himself hunted by some rivals who want revenge.

The film was officially announced on 14 November 2018, under its working title Thalapathy 63. This film marked the third collaboration of Vijay and Atlee, after Theri and Mersal. Principal photography for this film commenced on 21 January 2019, at Chennai and ended on 10 August. The film's title Bigil, was announced on 22 June 2019, along with the first look poster. The film has music composed by A. R. Rahman, with cinematography handled by G. K. Vishnu and editing done by Ruben.

Made on a budget of ₹180 crore, Bigil released theatrically in India on 25 October 2019, coinciding with the occasion of Diwali festival. It was dubbed and released simultaneously in Kannada in same name and in Telugu under the title Whistle. The film received mixed reviews upon release, with Vijay's performance, and direction was praised, but criticism was aimed at the fault in delivering social message, casual screenplay, weak and formulaic first half and excessive length. Bigil emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2019, collecting ₹285–300 crore, upon its release, and Vijay's highest-grossing film in his career.The film completed its 100-day theatrical run on 1 February 2020, and also won two awards each at the Zee Cine Awards Tamil and Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards.

It was the first Tamil film to be released in Egypt and Jordan

Bigil surpassed the box office collections of Rajnikanth's Endhiran and Petta and emerged as the fifth-highest grossing south Indian film of all-time. It collected US$1.46 million at the U.S box office. The film registered 35,000 footfalls in France highest for a Tamil film all-time in France

Plot

Michael Rayappan is a crime boss from Chennai who works for the welfare of people in his slum. He has a romantic relationship with Angel Aasirvatham, a physiotherapist who comically refuses to marry any groom at the last minute due to their love. He has a running feud with a rival don named Daniel. One night, Daniel attacks Michael and his close friend Kathir, who is the coach of the Tamil Nadu women's football team. Kathir suffers spinal injuries during the attack, due to which he is paralysed for a year. To allow the women's football team to take part in the upcoming National Championship in Delhi, Kathir requests to the Tamil Nadu Football Federation to replace him with his former teammate named "Bigil", who is none other than Michael. The story then shifts to Michael's past as a football player.

Seven years earlier, Michael was an aspiring footballer and contributed to victories for the Tamil Nadu football team along with Kathir. His father was Rayappan, a don who had a feud with a rival don named Alex, who was Daniel's father. Rayappan encouraged his son's passion for football as he did not want him to end up as a criminal like him. When Michael was unable to make it to the Indian football team due to Rayappan's criminal record, Rayappan personally took up the matter with the All India Football Federation president J. K. Sharma and forcefully ensured Sharma to include Michael and Kathir in the Indian team probable list. But despite Rayappan's efforts, Michael's football career was cut short as he witnessed Rayappan getting stabbed to death by Alex and Daniel, just when he was about to leave for Delhi to attend the selection trial for the Indian football team. Michael killed Alex in front of Daniel, taking revenge for Rayappan's death, and instead stayed back in Chennai to become the new leader of Rayappan's gang.

In the present day, Michael confronts Daniel and attempts to kill him for the earlier attack, but fortunately the police intervene to arrest Daniel and send him to prison. Michael later accepts Kathir's request to coach the women's football team and leaves for Delhi with the team, with Angel also accompanying them as team physiotherapist. However, due to his criminal background, the girls refuse to cooperate with him, even blaming him for the team's opening loss to Manipur in the National Championship and requesting the Federation to have him removed. Dejected, Michael gives his resignation to Sharma, but he soon discovers that Sharma is targeting him in revenge for the humiliation that he had faced at the hands of Rayappan to allow him into the Indian football team. Sharma sends armed assailants to attack Michael; however, Michael subdues the assailants and withdraws his resignation. He convinces the girls to support him and starts training them hard with the sole focus of winning the Championship. He even manages to bring back two former key players to boost the team's strength: Gayathri, a Brahmin girl who quit playing football after she was married to a conservative family; and Anitha, who is in depression and has refused to even leave her room ever since a man threw acid on her face when she spurned his advances. Despite Sharma trying to rig the team's next match against Haryana so that they will be eliminated and sent home, they manage to beat Haryana and win all their remaining matches, eventually qualifying for the Final at Chennai, where they are to play Manipur again.

On the eve of the final, one of the team's players, Vembu, is kidnapped and forcefully injected with cocaine by Daniel, who is bailed out from jail and hired by Sharma in order to sabotage the team's chances of winning the Championship. Though she recovers, she is unable to play in the final as she would fail the dope test. The team's captain, Thendral, is also kidnapped by Daniel, who attempts to forcefully inject cocaine on her as well; however, Michael manages to rescue her. Michael chases Daniel to his house and proceeds to kill him once and for all, but once he sees Daniel's young son, he changes his mind and spares Daniel, as he realises he does not want the young boy's future to end up like his by killing his father. The next day, Tamil Nadu plays the Final against Manipur without Vembu. The match turns out to be a thriller with Tamil Nadu winning the Championship through a penalty shootout. Michael and the team dedicate their success to Kathir, who is watching the match from the dugout in a wheelchair.

During the credits, Michael gets Sharma exposed for drug possession, leading to Sharma's arrest and subsequent execution in Malaysia, where he is on a holiday. A few months later, Michael, no longer a rowdy, takes up football coaching for children, with one of his students being the son of Daniel, both of whom have now made peace with Michael.