''Kaadu'' () is a 2014 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

film written and directed by Stalin Ramalingam and produced by Nehru Nagar Nandhu. The film stars

Vidharth Vidharth is an Indian actor, appearing in Tamil films. He started his career in 2001 doing uncredited roles. His first major role was in ''Mynaa'' (2010), which became a huge success. He has also done a film for AVM Productions titled ''Mudhal ...

and

Samskruthy Shenoy Samskruthy Shenoy (born 20 November 1998) is an Indian actress who has acted in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. Early life Samskruthy Shenoy was educated at Saraswathi Vidyanikethan Public School in Kochi. She is trained in Bharat ...

, while Vettai Muthukumar,

Samuthirakani Samuthirakani (born 26 April 1973) is an Indian actor and film director who predominantly works in Tamil films and Telugu films besides appearing in a number of Malayalam films. He worked as an assistant to director K Balachander. He won the N ...

Thambi Ramaiah Thambi Ramaiah is an Indian actor, director and comedian who works in the Tamil film industry. He has also worked occasionally as a lyricist. He directed three films, ''Manu Needhi'' (2000), '' Indiralohathil Na Azhagappan'' (2008) and '' Maniy ...

, and

Aadukalam Naren Narayanan (better known as Aadukalam Naren) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil and few Telugu films, mainly in supporting roles. He made his début in 1997 film ''Raman Abdullah'' but he got noticed for his role in the 2011 film, ''Aa ...

, among others, play supporting roles. Editing was done by Kasi Vishwanathan, and the music was composed by K. The film was released on 21 November 2014.

Plot

Velu has his livelihood based on the forest nearby, selling firewood collected from the forest to the people in the locality. He believes in nature and conserving it to give the next generation all the resources that they have obtained. Poongodi, a school student, lives in a nearby town. She falls in love with Velu and vice versa. Karuna, Velu's friend, aspires to be a forest officer, but being poor, he is unable to cope up the bribe that is needed by the selectors. In desperation, he tries to smuggle sandalwood for an agent but gets caught. He requests Velu to take his place so as to not ruin his chance of getting his dream job. The amiable Velu agrees, not realizing that his friend might not be the man that he is posing to be. Velu comes across Nandha, a political leader and social reformist in the jail where he is imprisoned. Under Nandha's guidance, Velu transforms into a different man. Here, things take a turn in his life. Meanwhile, Karuna tricks the DFO, becomes a forest officer, and tries to take over the forest for his personal gains by driving away the people of the forest. In the crossfire between the government and the smugglers, the gullible villagers are exploited by both the parties. Velu gets bail and fights against Karuna and the smugglers to save the villagers from migrating to the city for survival and forest from the smugglers. The movie ends with a message that if we are not going to take care of our forests and continue to ravage it, then nature would hit us with such power that humankind would not be able to withstand its onslaught.

Cast

as Velu *

as Poonkodi *Vettai Muthukumar as Karuna *

as Nanda *

as Forest Officer *

as Chettiar *

George Maryan George Maryan (born 23 March 1963) is an Indian actor and comedian, who has appeared in Tamil cinema. He started his career in theatre, before working in Tamil cinema and has often collaborated with film-makers A. L. Vijay, Sundar C and Priyada ...

as Koottayan *

Singampuli Singampuli is an Indian actor and director. After making ''Red'' (2002) and ''Maayavi'' (2005), he has made a career appearing in supporting roles in films. Career Singampuli was born and brought up in Theni, Periyakulam and after studying eng ...

as Madurai * T. K. Kala as Velu's mother * V. K. Thanabalan as Judge *

R. N. R. Manohar R. N. R. Manohar (died 17 November 2021) was an Indian actor and director. He directed films like ''Maasilamani'' (2009) and ''Vellore Maavattam'' (2011). Career RNR Manohar started his career as a child artist, having played roles in films suc ...

Vichu Vishwanath Vichu Vishwanath is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films and serials. He has worked in comedy and supporting roles, often associating with director Sundar C. Career Vichu Vishwanath was born in Coimbatore, India and atten ...

*Poo Ram as Forest Ranger Gopal *Lakshmi Vasudevan as Poonkodi's mother *Adhiravan as Poonkodi's uncle *Ravi Venkataraman as Ravichandran IAS *Supergood Kannan

Production

began work on his portions in January 2014, taking part in a schedule held in

Dharmapuri Dharmapuri is a special grade town in the north western part of Tamil Nadu, India. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Dharmapuri district which is the first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by splitti ...

which lasted for a month. The team subsequently completed schedules throughout 2014 and promotional activity began in October 2014.

Release

The film had a limited release across Tamil Nadu on 21 November 2014, owing to the presence of several other releases at the box office. It opened to mixed reviews, though

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

gave the film a positive review, stating "fairly neatly scripted and narrated, Kaadu is a very promising effort from a debutant maker."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by K.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 4221390 2014 films Films shot in Tamil Nadu 2010s Tamil-language films Films scored by K (composer)