Badri

 

Badri is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language sports romantic comedy film directed by P. A. Arun Prasad. The film stars Vijay in the titular role as a spoilt college brat who turns into a kickboxer to prove himself, whereas Bhumika plays the lead heroine. Monal, Vivek, Riyaz Khan and Bhupinder Singh play supporting roles. The film's soundtrack was composed by Ramana Gogula, while the background score was composed by Devi Sri Prasad. It is the official remake of director's own Telugu movie Thammudu which was based on the 1992 Hindi movie Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander which in turn was based on the 1979 English movie Breaking Away. Filming began in August 2000 and was completed by March 2001. The film had its theatrical release on 12 April 2001. The film completed 100 days theatrical run and was successful at the box office. India Today listed the film under top ten films performed by Vijay.

 

Plot

Sri Badrinatha Moorthy aka "Badri" is a happy-go-lucky youth who spends his days roaming around with his friends Azhagu, Howrah and Joot, ogling girls and repeatedly failing his exams. His father Viswanathan, a cafe owner, is disgusted with his irresponsibility and constantly chides him. His older brother Vetri, who is a college-level kickboxer and Viswanathan's favourite son, on the other hand, dotes on him. Janaki aka "Janu", who is Badri's neighbour and childhood friend, is in love with him, but the feeling is one-sided as Badri mainly considers her as a source of money and cars; Badri constantly borrows large amounts of money from Janu as well as expensive cars from her father's garage to impress girls.

One day, Badri meets Mamathi, who is a rich college girl, and poses as a rich industrialist's son in order to impress her. Mamathi falls for Badri's lies and soon expresses her love to him. But when she finds out the truth, she breaks up with him and insults him in front of Viswanathan. When Viswanathan further finds out that Badri has taken large amounts of money from Janu, he disowns Badri, tired of his antics.

Badri, who is now homeless, finds support from Janu, who advises him to be more responsible and redeem himself in Viswanathan's eyes. He realises the love Janu has for him and begins to reform himself. Meanwhile, Vetri is attacked and seriously injured by his kickboxing arch-rival Rohit, who happens to be Mamathi's new boyfriend and Badri's enemy as well, thus ruling him out for the final match of the inter-collegiate kickboxing championship against Rohit. Badri decides to fight for Vetri by taking his place in the final and trains hard for it. He defeats Rohit in the final, thus winning the kickboxing championship. He dedicates the trophy to Vetri, reconciles with Viswanathan and reciprocates Janu's love.

 

Cast

·         Vijay as Sri Badrinatha Moorthy, "Badri"

·         Bhumika Chawla as Janaki, "Janu"

·         Monal as Mamathi

·         Vivek as Azhagu

·         Riyaz Khan as Vetri, Badri's brother

·         Bhupinder Singh as Rohith

·         Kitty as Viswanathan, Badri and Vetri's father

·         Malaysia Vasudevan as Janaki's father

·         Dhamu as Howrah, Badri's friend

·         Sanjeev as Joot, Badri's friend

·         Anu Mohan as Shanmugam

·         Pandu as Professor (cameo)

·         Shihan Hussaini as Vetri's coach

·         Kazan Khan as Rohith's coach

·         Meenakumari as Anitha

·         Alphonsa special appearance in the song "Salaam Maharasa"