''Unnaipol Oruvan'' (also released internationally under the translated title ''Someone Like You'') is a 2009 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
vigilante
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
Chakri Toleti
Chakri Toleti is an Indian American business executive who is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of care.ai, a health technology company.
Before this, Toleti was the Founder and President of HealthGrid, an enterprise patient engage ...
in his directorial debut. It stars
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
and
Mohanlal
Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...
. The film was simultaneously made in
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
as ''Eenadu'' () with
Venkatesh Venkatesh is a given name and family name from the Indian subcontinent derived from Venkateswara, a Hindu deity.
Notable persons with the name include:
* A. Venkatesh Naik (born 1936), member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India
* A. Venkatesh (directo ...
playing Mohanlal's role, both remakes of the
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
film ''
A Wednesday!
''A Wednesday!'' is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language thriller film written and directed by Neeraj Pandey and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Anjum Rizvi and Shital Bhatia under UTV Motion Pictures and Friday Filmworks. Though a work of fiction, the sc ...
''.
The film tells the story of Chennai City /Hyderabad City(Telugu) (Police Commissioner/
DGP (Mohanlal / Venkatesh) who gets an anonymous call. The caller (Kamal Haasan) demands that he release militants in exchange for information about many bombs planted across the city. The caller is serious as the police find a bomb planted very close to their headquarters. The commissioner is later cornered between releasing militants who had been responsible for killing innocent people and stopping bomb blasts around the city. Whatever he chooses forms the rest of the plot.
Both ''Unnaipol Oruvan'' and ''Eenadu'' received positive reviews from the critics and were commercially successful. The Tamil version film was dubbed and released in
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
as ''Oru Budhanazhcha''.
Plot
Raghavan Maarar (Eashwar Prasad in Telugu version), the recently dismissed
DGP of
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
(
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
in Telugu version), describes in a
voice-over
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...
about his sudden termination for police, due to a common man who walked into his life. An unnamed man is shown strategically placing a travel bag in a train in the Chennai Central railway station and in a shopping mall. He proceeds to place another bag, under the pretence of lodging an
FIR
Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...
, in the toilet of a police station in
Anna Salai
Anna Salai (), formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towards St. Thomas Mount, and end ...
, Chennai (Lakdi-ka-pool, Hyderabad in Telugu version), and then arrives on the rooftop of an under-construction building and sets up his base of operations, equipped with gadgets and instruments.
The caller calls up Maraar and informs him that five bombs have been planted in locations throughout Chennai, which are programmed to explode simultaneously within 4 hours. The caller demands that he would like to negotiate with a senior government official, who has the full authority. Maraar seeks the services of the chief secretary to act as the negotiator. Maraar also alerts his team involved in intelligence research and surveillance, tapping all the available resources in gathering preliminary information and tracing the location of the caller, who later tips off
news reporter
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
Natasha Rajkumar, telling her to reach Anna Salai police station immediately. Maraar initially suspects the caller to be bluffing, but his doubts are dispelled as the caller, to prove his seriousness and the police force's helplessness, reveals that a bomb has been planted in the Anna Salai police station.
When the bomb disposal squad find the bomb, there is only three minutes left. They manage to deactivate the bomb after following the caller's instructions. Natasha reaches the scene on the caller's instructions and reports about the situation. An intense debate ensues between Maraar and the
chief secretary on who would act as the negotiator with the caller. The chief secretary appoints Maraar as the State's negotiator with unrestricted power for one day. The caller talks full of life logics and
religious philosophy
Religious philosophy is philosophical thinking that is influenced and directed as a consequence to teachings from a particular religion. It can be done objectively, but may also be done as a persuasion tool by believers in that faith. Religious ...
and finally asks Maarar to release three terrorists and one convicted arms seller, all who were arrested by him years ago. Maraar's men realise that the caller is using advanced software to automatically switch the numbers and locations of his mobile phone
SIM card
file:SIM-Karte von Telefónica O2 Europe - Standard und Micro.jpg, A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout)
file:Sim card.png, A smart card taken from a Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM mobile phone
file:Simkarte NFC SecureE ...
every minute, rendering their manpower and the obsolete equipment useless and prompting them to employ the services of a young hacker, an
IIT drop-out.
In the meantime, Maraar is able to obtain a facial composite of the caller with help of the police officer to whom the caller had approached to lodge the fake FIR, but much of the time passes without any concrete results on the identity or the location of the caller. Ultimately, Maraar agrees with the caller's demand and puts two of his best men, Arif Khan and Sethuraman (Gautham Reddy in Telugu version), in charge of handing over the four terrorists at the
Sholavaram
Cholavaram, also spelled Sholavaram, is a suburb north of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is popular as Sholavaram and is also known for the Cholavaram lake. Adjoining the lake, there was an defunct Air Force Airfield which was used as a moto ...
airstrip. Once there, the caller confirms the identity of the four men via a conference call with Arif and Maraar. He then asks Arif and Sethu to unlock their handcuffs and leave them alone at a particular spot. Sethu orders his men to do as told but, at the last moment, Arif decides not to hand over terrorist Abdullah, to ensure all the information regarding the locations of the bombs can be forced out from the caller.
Sethu argues with Arif and demands he do as ordered, but Arif forcefully grabs Abdullah and starts walking away. The other three enter a car which explodes soon after, killing them, but the caller knows that Abdullah is alive, and threatens to blow up the remaining bombs across the city unless Arif and Sethu kill Abdullah. The Chief Secretary tells Maraar that the
CM has to know about the current situation but Maraar disagrees and tells her that he will face the consequences, and orders Arif to kill the terrorist. Arif kills Abdullah and Sethu shoots Arif in the hand to make it look like an attack for self-defense. The caller confirms it via the news and reveals that he was bluffing and there are no more bombs anywhere in Chennai. He tells that as terrorism is instant, justice and safety must be so. Then Maarar questions the IIT hacker to trace the caller, but he refuses.
Maraar looks in the hacker's computer, discovers the location, and leaves abruptly towards the site. The caller, meanwhile destroys all of his gadgets with a mini-bomb inside a drum. As he leaves his hideout with all his camouflage, Maarar catches up to him. Both shake hands; in a voiceover, Maraar says the caller told him his real name, but does not reveal it as it does not have any significance. He adds that the higher most officials saved themselves by framing him as a recluse and the CM fired him. Maraar admits that they all knew the caller was disturbed because of the insecure environment and the incompetence of the governing authorities but he never imagined him to go to
such lengths and have the guts to do something like that. He also repeats that the facts of this incident cannot be found in any written records but only in the memories of those who actually witnessed it. Maarar acknowledges that although the incident has ambiguous moral significance, he personally feels that whatever happened, happened for the best.
Cast
Production
Casting
While
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
was cast in the lead role; confirmation of
Mohanlal
Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...
's presence in the film followed. The film was announced as a bilingual film with
Venkatesh Venkatesh is a given name and family name from the Indian subcontinent derived from Venkateswara, a Hindu deity.
Notable persons with the name include:
* A. Venkatesh Naik (born 1936), member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India
* A. Venkatesh (directo ...
reprising Mohanlal's role in the Telugu version.
Ganesh Venkatraman
Ganesh Venkatraman is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu films. He had acted in Radha Mohan's ''Abhiyum Naanum'' (2008), before working in '' Unnaipol Oruvan'' (2009) and ''Kandahar'' (2010).
Career
Ganesh began his ac ...
, who debuted in the 2008 film ''
Abhiyum Naanum Abhiyum Naanum may refer to:
* ''Abhiyum Naanum'' (film), a 2008 Indian Tamil-language film
* ''Abhiyum Naanum'' (TV series), a 2020 Indian Tamil-language soap opera
See also
* ''Abhiyum Njanum
''Abhiyum Njanum'' (''Abhi and Me'') is a 2013 ...
'', was later confirmed for a supporting role.
Bharath Reddy, who played a cop in the Telugu film ''
Siddam'', is playing another supporting cop role.
UTV Motion Pictures distributed the film along with
Raaj Kamal Films International
Raaj Kamal Films International is an Indian film production and distribution company founded and headed by Kamal Haasan. ''Raja Paarvai'' (1981) was the first film to be produced by them under the banner "Haasan Brothers" before renaming it t ...
, Haasan's home production company, which produced it. ''Unnaipol Oruvan'' was directed by Chakri, a US-based filmmaker and a close friend of Haasan. Chakri had previously played the role of Govind's friend, Sai Ram, in ''
Dasavathaaram
''Dasavathaaram'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It stars Kamal Haasan, who also wrote the script, in ten distinct roles. Asin appears in two roles and Mallika Sherawat plays a subs ...
'', and the role of a child who takes still photographs of Kamal in the 1983
Telugu film
Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...
''
Saagara Sangamam''. Neeraj Pandey wrote the film's dialogue and
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
. The music was composed by Kamal Haasan's daughter,
Shruthi Haasan
Shruti Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. Born in the Haasan family, she is the daughter of actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika Thaku ...
.
The title was changed from ''Thalaivan Irukkiran'' to ''Unnaipol Oruvan'' in early April 2009, named after a novel by Jayakanthan.
Filming
''Unnaipol Oruvan'' started its first filming schedule on 6 February 2009. It completed shooting in 65 days.
Themes
According to Kamal, ''Unnaipol Oruvan'' portrays the "common man's anger, angst and suffering".
Soundtrack
The music was composed by
Shruti Haasan
Shruti Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. Born in the Haasan family, she is the daughter of actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika Thakur.
...
, daughter of
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
. The album contains four songs and a remix. The songs are featured throughout the film. Kamal Haasan, singer Blaaze, and Manyusha Puthran contributed the lyrics. The audio launch was held on 6 September 2009 at Sathyam Cinemas.
; Tamil Track List
; Telugu Track List
Release
''Unnaipol Oruvan'' was initially set to release on 12 August 2009, since the date coincided with the release of Kamal Haasan's first film ''
Kalathur Kannamma
''Kalathur Kannamma'' is a 1960 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by A. Bhimsingh and written by Javar Seetharaman. The film stars Gemini Ganesh, Savitri Ganesh and Kamal Haasan. It revolves around a couple — a wealth ...
''. However, owing to technical and administrative difficulties, the release was postponed to 18 September. The film was given a
U/A (Parental Guidance) rating from the
Central Board of Film Certification
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...
, mainly because of its theme – terrorism. In 2015, Telugu version ''Eeenadu'' was screened at the Habitat Film Festival.
Critical reception
''Unnaipol Oruvan''
Writing for ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' , Gautaman Bhaskaran wrote that ''Unnaipol Oruvan'' is "far more engaging and energetic than its predecessor" and that "superstar Mohanlal plays Chennai police commissioner Raghavan Maraar with rare finesse and extraordinary subtlety ... His screen presence is so overwhelming that an equally great Tamil superstar, Kamal Haasan, as the nameless Common Man, is overshadowed".
Sify
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...
said that technically the film is picture-perfect and that both Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal coming together is worth the ticket money. It mentioned that unlike in the Hindi version where
Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare A ...
had an edge over
Anupam Kher, here the best dialogues were almost equally given to Mohanlal as well, "what elevates the film to a new high is the crisp presentation and outstanding performances from the lead actors, mainly Kamal and Mohanlal, who simply rock".
Behindwoods rated that overall it was a brilliant work which will be appreciated by every socially responsible citizen of India.
''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and stated that "Debutant director Chakri Toleti's job is a cakewalk. Having chosen a proven subject, and a formidable star cast which does not have to be told anything beyond the shooting schedule, the captain's hat sits on his head easily".
''Eenadu''
Regarding the Telugu version, ''
Rediff.com
Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.
, it had more than 300 e ...
'' stated that "For the Telugu audience, ''Eenadu'' is a film which is out of the formulaic pattern and the hero warp Telugu cinema is in, and shows that films like it can be made too which can be seen and enjoyed with the audience taking home something extra too!" ''The Times of India'' gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated that "The much-awaited ''Eenadu'' lives up to the big expectations and carries the essence of the original (''A Wednesday'')".
Awards and nominations
Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards
Mohanlal
Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...
– Best Supporting Actor
;
57th Filmfare Awards South
The 57th Filmfare Awards South ceremony honoring the winners and nominees of the best of South Indian cinema in 2009 was held on 7 August 2010 in Chennai, India.
Nominations
The Filmfare Best Film Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as ...
;;Nominated
*
Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu
The Filmfare Best Actor Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Telugu films. The awards were extended to "Best Actor" in 1972. Film world, p 43 The year indicates the year of release of the f ...
–
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
*
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu
The Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Telugu films.
The award was introduced and first given at the 50th South Filmfare Awards in 2002, with Prakash Raj being t ...
–
Venkatesh Venkatesh is a given name and family name from the Indian subcontinent derived from Venkateswara, a Hindu deity.
Notable persons with the name include:
* A. Venkatesh Naik (born 1936), member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India
* A. Venkatesh (directo ...
*
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu –
Lakshmi
Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Chakri Toleti
2009 films
2009 thriller films
Indian thriller films
Films about terrorism in India
Films set in Chennai
Films set in Hyderabad, India
Films about organised crime in India
Tamil remakes of Hindi films
Telugu remakes of Hindi films
Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police
Fictional portrayals of the Andhra Pradesh Police
2000s Tamil-language films
2000s Telugu-language films
Indian multilingual films
UTV Motion Pictures films
2009 directorial debut films
Indian vigilante films
2009 multilingual films
Films directed by Chakri Toleti
2000s vigilante films