Thalaivaa

 

Thalaivaa is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language musical action thriller film written and directed by A. L. Vijay. It stars Vijay in the title role, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, with Abhimanyu Singh, Santhanam and Ragini Nandwani, in supporting roles. The film, produced by Chandraprakash Jain, features background score and soundtrack composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar with cinematography and editing handled by Nirav Shah and Anthony respectively. The story revolves around a dancer who takes over his father's duty as a crime boss after his death.

The film, which commenced production in November 2012 in Mumbai, was released on 8 August 2013. The film upon its early release was successful at the overseas box office and also successful in Andhra pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka box office. Due to opposition from the ruling AIADMK as insisted by the then Chief minister J Jayalalithaa, the film had a delayed release in Tamil Nadu on 20 August 2013 and its performance was affected at the Tamil Nadu box office. The film was remade into Punjabi as Sardar Saab in 2017

Plot

Vishwa is a dancer who lives in Sydney, Australia and also manages a water distribution business in the name of his deceased mother Ganga there with his childhood friend Logu and his dance team members. He is the son of Ramadurai, a Mumbai-based don who fights for rights of the Tamil-speaking migrants in the city. Ramadurai, fearing for his son's safety since Ganga's murder at the hands of rivals, had sent him away to Australia via Ratnam, his friend. Although they are in regular contact, Ramadurai lies to Vishwa that he is a businessman.

Vishwa falls in love with Meera, the daughter of a restaurateur, who is one of his customers. Meera reciprocates Vishwa's love and joins his dance team, helping them win a dance competition. She soon proposes marriage to Vishwa, who agrees. Meera's father too agrees to the marriage but wants to discuss the matter formally with Ramadurai. They leave for Mumbai, where Vishwa finds out about his father's true identity and that he is currently in hiding due to several false cases registered against him by his archenemy, another don Bhima Bhai. This is because Ramadurai murdered Bhima's father for killing Ganga, so Bhima swore revenge. Vishwa also finds out that Meera and her "father" are officers of the crime branch who lured him to Mumbai so that they could locate and arrest Ramadurai. Ramadurai is arrested, but just after he enters the police van, a bomb planted by Bhima in the van explodes, killing him. Vishwa is distraught over his father's death and decides to stay back in Mumbai and take over his father's crime syndicate. He dons the title of Thalaivaa and provides his own brand of justice for the helpless and downtrodden.

Meanwhile, Bhima instigates riots in Mumbai which kill many people and leave several others injured. Vishwa arrives at the scene and saves several others, including Gowri, a Bhojpuri woman who marriage was nullified due to the riots. Although there is seemingly no evidence that Bhima is responsible, a tape recorded by a cameraman Video Kumar, highlighting Bhima's involvement in the riots is stolen by a Bhojpuri-speaking pickpocket. Vishwa and his gang manage to reclaim the tape from the pickpocket and publicize it, leading to Bhima's arrest. Vishwa also kills the corrupt Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who had given Bhima and his gang free rein, and puts the blame on Bhima. However, Bhima soon escapes from prison and kills most of Vishwa's henchmen on the night of Maha Shivaratri including Gowri, with the help of Vishwa's uncle Ranga, who is Vishwa's second-in-command. When Vishwa enters a fort after hearing Ranga is being "held hostage" there by Bhima, he is stabbed by Ranga, who immediately informs the police that Vishwa is "dead" and leaves the fort with his physically handicapped son, who is Vishwa's cousin and driver. When Ranga's son hears about his father's treachery, he becomes enraged and drives the car into a petroleum tanker, killing them both. Meanwhile, Vishwa, though injured, is still alive. After a bitter fight, he kills Bhima by stabbing his throat. Meera soon arrives at the fort and realizes that Vishwa killed Bhima, but she acts quickly and shoots the corpses of Bhima and his henchmen to imply that she killed them, thus saving Vishwa from a jail term.

Meera eventually quits her job as a police officer after realizing her love for Vishwa, and marries him. With Bhima and his gang out of the way, Vishwa is now the unchallenged don in Mumbai.

 

Cast

·         Vijay as Vishwa (Vishwa Bhai), Mumbai Tamilian don Anna's son. Later, he turned as Mumbai don (Thalaivaa).

·         Amala Paul as ACP Meera Narayanan, a Crime branch officer who wants to find Anna with the help of Vishwa by falling in love with him and becomes Vishwa's wife

·         Sathyaraj as Ramadurai (Anna), Vishwa's deceased father and Mumbai underworld don.

·         Abhimanyu Singh as Bhima Bhai, Anna's enemy from his childhood, and later Vishwa's.

·         Santhanam as Logu, Vishwa's best friend and Ratnam's son.

·         Ragini Nandwani as Gowri Mohan, a Bhojpuri woman who falls for Vishwa after he saves her from the rioters. She is later killed by Bhima's men.

·         Nassar as Ratnam, Logu's father.

·         Rajiv Pillai as Raju, Anna's henchman.

·         N. L. Srinivasan as Anna's henchman

·         Udhaya as Video Kumar

·         Tanu Vidyarthi as Video Kumar's wife

·         Ponvannan as Ranga (Chithappa), Anna's brother, Vishwa's uncle and second-in-command who betrays Vishwa but later dies.

·         M. R. Kishore Kumar as Ranga's physically handicapped son and Vishwa's cousin who acts as Vishwa's driver.

·         Rekha as Ganga Ramadurai, Vishwa's deceased mother under whose name he manages a water distribution business.

·         Suresh as Crime Branch officer who acts as Meera's father

·         Y. Gee. Mahendra as Lawyer Radhakrishnan

·         Manobala as Anna's assistant

·         Subbu Panchu as Ravi Kiran

·         Mathivanan Sakthivel as doctor in Australia

·         Ravi Prakash as Kesav

·         Varun as Vishwa's friend

·         Sathish Krishnan as Vishwa's friend

·         Prabhu as Vishwa's friend

·         Pooran Kiri as Jadhav

·         Raj Arjun as Bhima's henchman

·         Japan Kumar as Japan

·         Stunt Silva in a special appearance as himself

·         Sam Anderson as himself (special appearance)

·         G. V. Prakash Kumar (special appearance in the song "Vaanganna Vanakkanganna")

·         Sridhar (special appearance in the song "Tamil Pasanga")