Kaththi

 


Kaththi  is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by A. R. Murugadoss, and produced by Allirajah Subaskaran under the banner Lyca Productions, along with Ayngaran International, as the co-producer and Eros International, who distributed the film. The film stars Vijay in a dual role as lookalikes Kathiresan and Jeevanantham, and focuses on the issue of farmers committing suicide due to corporate encroachment. Samantha Ruth PrabhuNeil Nitin MukeshTota Roy Chowdhury and Sathish, appear in other prominent roles.

The film's principal photography commenced on 3 February 2014 in Kolkata, and shooting took places in ChennaiNellore and Kadapa. This film marks the second collaboration of Vijay and Murugadoss, after Thuppakki (2012). The cinematography for the film was handled by George C. Williams and the film was edited by A. Sreekar Prasad. The music is composed by Anirudh Ravichander, and the film's soundtrack received positive responses upon release.

Kaththi was released worldwide on 22 October 2014, coinciding with the Diwali festival, and received positive responses, with praises for the story and screenplay by Murugadoss, Vijay's performance, and the film's score and soundtrack. Before, the film's release, it faced controversies for plagiarism allegations, and the business link of Subaskaran, the film's producer, with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, which resulted Tamil fringe groups to protest against the film. Kaththi emerged as one of the highest grossing Tamil film of 2014, grossing ₹130 crore, thus becoming a success. It was also one of the highest-grossing Tamil film in U.S at that time. The film was dubbed into Hindi as Khaki Aur Khiladi. Despite being dubbed into Telugu, the film was remade into Telugu as Khaidi No. 150, starring Chiranjeevi.





Plot

In Kolkata, prisoner Kathiresan "Kaththi" helps the police capture an escaping prisoner Vivek Banerjee but escapes afterwards. He goes to Chennai to escape to Bangkok with his friend Ravi. However, he drops this plan after meeting and falling in love with Ankitha, who dupes him into believing that she wants to marry him after realising that he is having a crush on her and gives him a false phone number claiming it is her own.

Later, Kaththi and Ravi notice Jeevanandam, who resembles Kaththi, being shot by a group of thugs. They admit him to a hospital, and Kaththi decides to impersonate the injured Jeeva to escape from the police. Under Jeeva's name, Kaththi and Ravi enter an old-age home run by Jeeva with the intention of stealing ₹ 25 lakhs from there for their Bangkok trip, until Kaththi learns about Jeeva's mission.

Jeeva is a communist ideologue and post-graduate in hydrology from the arid village of Thanoothu in Tirunelveli district who had discovered groundwater under some lands of the village which could be used as an irrigation source not only for the village, but for the entire Tirunelveli district and the neighbouring Thoothukudi district. However, a greedy MNC owner Chirag cheated the villagers into giving their lands for the construction of a factory. Jeeva gets arrested by the police, and six villagers commit suicide to bring this news to the media forefront and release Jeeva from prison. On learning of the plight of Jeeva and the villagers, Kaththi decides to fight for their cause while still posing as Jeeva.

The people of the old home and Kaththi go to the jury and try to convince him to go in favour of them, but Kaththi starts stating rules and scares the main jury person (whom Chirag had bribed). Kaththi then sends a person (disguised as a hairdresser) to Chirag and makes him lay a fingerprint on Chirag's neck. After that, Chirag sends 50 men to kill Kaththi, but he defeats them. Meanwhile, Jeeva finds himself in the Kolkata prison. With the help of Vivek, who has heard his story and plans to kill Kaththi, he escapes with Vivek's henchmen.

Unaware that Jeeva and Vivek's henchmen are headed for Chennai, Kaththi makes efforts to convince the media to bring the plight of the villagers to national consciousness, but the media is uninterested as they feel it is not a sensational news. A few days later, at the Madras High Court, the judge declares the verdict in favour of Jeeva and the villagers, but adds that Chirag has claimed that certain villagers working abroad have shown their support for the factory. If they cannot prove that their support was faked by Chirag within the next five days, the verdict will go in Chirag's favour.

Since the villagers who have denied supporting the factory are abroad and cannot come to Chennai within five days to rebut Chirag's claims as their passports are held by their contractors, Kaththi decides on drastic measures to sensationalise the issue. He, Ankitha, Ravi, and the old-age home inmates block water supply to Chennai by sitting on the pipelines which carry water to Chennai from five lakes. With the plight of Chennai people due to no water supply having gained national attention, Kaththi comes out of the pipeline after a few days and highlights the villagers' plight in a speech to the media, which is telecast nationwide and moves many people. By now, Kaththi has discovered that Jeeva has escaped and is searching for him.

Meanwhile, Jeeva and Vivek's henchmen reach Chennai, but Jeeva is kidnapped by Chirag's henchmen. While in Chirag's custody, he sees Kaththi's speech on television and is moved by his efforts to help the villagers. On the night before the verdict, Kaththi's bluff is exposed, but he promises the villagers that he will surely help them. He tells them that Jeeva is alive, that he will rescue him from Chirag and hand him back to the villagers with the assurance of a positive verdict. Kaththi goes to Chirag's office, rescues Jeeva and kills Chirag.

The next day, the verdict is declared in favour of Jeeva and the villagers. Kaththi, despite this success, does not take part in the ensuing celebrations. Instead, he surrenders to the police and returns to the Kolkata prison after promising Ankitha, who has now fallen in love with him, that he will marry her once he is released.

 



Cast

·         Vijay as Kathiresan (Kaththi) / Jeevanandam (Jeeva)

·         Samantha Ruth Prabhu as Ankita

·         Neil Nitin Mukesh as Chirag

·         Tota Roy Chowdhury as Vivek Banerjee

·         Sathish as Ravi

·         Rama as Jeeva's mother

·         Yuvina Parthavi as Ankitha's niece

·         Jeeva Ravi as Collector

·         Sudip Mukherjee as Kolkata Police Inspector

·         Tamiko Brownlee as Jennifer

·         Elisabeth P. Carpenter as Katherine

·         Rupesh Gupta

·         Veera Santhanam as Old villager

·         Nalinikanth as Old villager

·         Udayabhanu as Old villager

·         Mathew Varghese as Corporate Head

·         AR Murugadoss in a cameo appearance

 

 

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