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 Prabhu, Neil Nitin
Mukesh, Tota 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 Chennai, Nellore 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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