''Calls'' is a 2021 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

crime thriller film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

written and directed by J. Sabarish. The film stars V. J. Chitra,

Vinodhini Vinodhini is an Indian actress, who has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada films and Tamil serials. Beginning her acting career as a child artist, she went on to play lead and supporting roles before acting in television series as well. ...

Devadarshini Devadarshini is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Tamil films, in addition to few Telugu films and television series. She began her career as a television anchor before venturing into acting, first in television and then in films. ...

and R. Sundarrajan. The film also marks the posthumous release of Chitra who also made her first and only film appearance. The film is loosely inspired by ''

Aruvi ''Aruvi'' (; ) is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language political drama film written and directed by Arun Prabu Purushothaman, in his directorial debut. Produced and distributed by S. R. Prakash Babu and S. R. Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures, the film ...

''. The film had its theatrical release on 26 February 2021 and opened to negative reviews from critics.

Plot

Nandhini takes a job at a call centre due to her family situation. Her manager challenges her with renewing the subscriptions of at least 20 customers in a day or she will be fired.

Cast

* V. J. Chitra as Nandhini *

Vinodhini Vaidyanathan Vinodhini Vaidyanathan is an Indian actress and writer who has mainly worked in Tamil cinema and theatre. She made her debut in A. R. Murugadoss's ''Engaeyum Eppothum'' portraying Ananya's sister. She is best known for her performances in O ...

as Shailaja Deputy Director *

as Sangeetha * R. Sundarrajan as Security Alagar *

Sriranjani Sriranjani is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a hexatonic scale (''shadava'' rāgam, which means "of six"). It is a derived scale (''janya'' rāgam), as it does not have all the seven ''swaras' ...

as Bhagya Lakshmi , Nandhini's Mother *

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

as Karunakaran *

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and television series. He st ...

as Nandhini's Manager *

Jeeva Ravi Jeeva Ravi is an Indian actor, casting director and television actor who has worked in Tamil-language films and television. He made a breakthrough as an actor with his performances in '' 3'' (2012) and '' Jeeva'' (2014), with the latter film bei ...

as Govindhan, Nandhini's Father * Supergood Subramani as Azhagesan

Production

In September 2019, it was revealed that the television soap opera actress V. J. Chitra would make her film acting debut. Chitra signed on to appear in her first Kollywood film role in mid-2019 through ''Calls''. She was cast in the role of a

business process outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

professional.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

commenced in mid-2019 and wrapped in March 2020. The filmmaker J. Sabarish initially planned to cast

Riythvika Riythvika Panneerselvam also well known as Riythvika, is an Indian actress who appears in supporting roles in Tamil films. In 2018, she won the Tamil reality television show, '' Bigg Boss Tamil season 2'', and became the first and only woman to ...

in the lead role but he later changed his mind after noticing Riythvika taking part in the second edition of ''

Bigg Boss Tamil ''Bigg Boss'' also known as ''BB'' is an Indian Tamil-language version of the reality TV program ''Bigg Boss''. The program follows the '' Big Brother'' format developed by Endemol in the Netherlands. Over five years, Bigg Boss has rolled ou ...

''. He then insisted to cast either

Mahima Nambiar Mahima Nambiar is an Indian actress who appears in Tamil and Malayalam films. Early life and career Nambiar hails from Kasaragod, Kerala. In 2014, she was pursuing a BA in English Literature privately. She is a trained classical dancer and a ...

or Arthana Binu but both of them had reportedly turned down the offer. Sabarish finalized on VJ Chitra, who rose to limelight and prominence following her breakthrough performance through

Star Vijay Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly Star India), a subsidiary of Asianet Star Communications. The channel's headquarters is in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Star Vijay change ...

's television soap opera ''

Pandian Stores ''Pandian Stores'' is a 2018 Indian Tamil language television series airing on Star Vijay. The show stars with an ensemble cast includes Sujitha, Stalin, V J Chitra, Kumaran Thangarajan, Hema Rajkumar, Venkat Renganathan, Saravana Vickram and ...

''.

Release

The film initially supposed to have its theatrical release in July 2020 but it was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The filmmakers later confirmed the theatrical release of the film on 26 February 2021 and unveiled the official trailer of the film on 29 January 2021. It also marks the posthumous release of actress V. J. Chitra who died on 9 December 2020.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 13967988, Calls 2021 crime thriller films Indian crime thriller films Films about organised crime in India