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''Kaakha Kaakha'' (), titled ''The Police'' in the UK, is a 2003 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
action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
written and directed by
Gautham Vasudev Menon Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. He has also directed Telugu cinema, Telugu and Hindi cinema, Hindi films th ...
. It stars Suriya and
Jyothika Jyothika Saravanan (; born 18 October 1978) is an Indian actress, model and film producer who predominantly appears in Tamil films.
, with Jeevan playing the antagonist. The film featured music composed by
Harris Jayaraj Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Telugu and two films in Hindi. He has been honoured with K ...
and cinematography by R. D. Rajasekhar. The film released on 1 August 2003 to highly positive reviews and was considered a comeback film for producer
Kalaipuli S. Thanu Kalaipuli S. Thanu is an Indian film producer, director and distributor, known for his films in Tamil cinema. He has produced several films through his two companies, V Creations and Kalaipuli Films International. Many of his films have been co ...
. It became Suriya's first biggest blockbuster. Owing to its commercial success, the film has been remade in several languages.


Plot

Anbuselvan is an honest, daring
IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...
officer with the
Chennai City Police The Greater Chennai Police, a division of the Tamil Nadu Police, is the law enforcement agency for the city of Chennai in India and the surrounding area. The city police force is headed by a Commissioner of Police and the administrative contr ...
as the ACP in the Crime Branch. As he has no family or relatives, he lives with no fear. Anbuselvan and his IPS friends Srikanth, Arul, and Ilamaran are recruited for part of a special unit of police officers who are battling
organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
in Chennai. Violent and laconic, Anbuselvan finds little patience for his personal life. The unit is ruthless in its confrontation with criminals, going as far as assassinating gang members. The unit is finally disbanded after 5 encounters in 3 months, by Human rights authorities, where Anbuselvan is posted to
Control Room A control room or operations room is a central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. It is often part of a larger command center. Overview A control room's purpose is produc ...
Duties. One day, a school teacher named Maya rebuffs Anbuselvan's routine questions regarding safety, not knowing that he is a police officer. Anbuselvan meets Maya again when she and her friend are questioned for driving without a license. However, Anbuselvan lets them off with a warning. When one of Maya's students has a problem with local kids, she asks Anbuselvan for help. Anbuselvan resolves this problem, a mutual respect grows between them, and they begin seeing one another. When Maya gets into a road accident, Anbuselvan helps her recover, and they fall in love. Srikanth and his wife Swathi become good friends with Maya. Sethu is a gangster, who escaped the encounter operations, meets his estranged brother Pandiya, who returns to Chennai after 14 years of crime life in Maharashtra. Pandiya has a peculiar tactic: he kills a family member of his opponent, but leaves the opponent alive to rot in failure and depression on the loss of his family member. Sethu's gang, aided by Pandiya's planning, commit major kidnappings in the city and become very powerful in 6 months. The 10-year-old son of an influential movie producer is kidnapped and killed, and later his daughter is also kidnapped for ransom. The special unit is reassembled by the commissioner with all four back in the crime branch. The unit tracks down and kills Sethu in a railyard, as others escape. Pandiya takes over the gang, promising grave revenge over his brother's death. Pandiya and his gang members target the families of the men in the special unit, but the police close in, and a badly injured Pandiya barely escapes Anbuselvan. Pandiya and his men brutally kill Ilamaran the same night, and escape. The entire department is mobilised, and all family members of the remaining three are sent into hiding. Maya and Anbuselvan get married in a hurry and leave for
Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...
. However, Pandiya and his thugs enter the cottage the next day where the couple are honeymooning and attack Anbuselvan, leaving him for dead, and kidnapping Maya. Anbuselvan is battling for life but thinking only about rescuing Maya. Srikanth and Arul arrive at the cottage, discover Anbuselvan, and take him to the Pondicherry Government Hospital. Srikanth reveals that Swathi was kidnapped earlier at the airport and confesses that it was he who gave away Anbuselvan's location to Pandiya, for Swathi's safe return. Srikanth feels extreme remorse over what has happened. Whilst in the hospital, they receive a message from Pandiya to meet him at a particular location in
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
. When they go there, they find two packages, one containing Swathi's severed head and the other one containing Maya's arm flesh. Srikanth and Anbuselvan are distraught, with the former being hysterical upon seeing his wife's head, and in an agony of grief and guilt at being responsible, he shoots himself dead. Anbuselvan and Arul track down Pandiya before he can escape from
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
and fight with the gang. Anbuselvan aims to shoot Pandiya, but Pandiya ends up shooting Maya while using her as a shield, and she dies in Anbuselvan's arms. An enraged Anbuselvan tracks down Pandiya and brutally finishes him off, avenging Maya and his friends' deaths. An epilogue shows that Anbuselvan, after the death of Maya, continues his job as an IPS officer some months later, while still reminiscing his moments with Maya.


Cast


Production

The film was initially titled as ''Paathi'' (Half) and then as ''Kalam'', before the team opted to change the title to ''Kaakha Kaakha''. Menon revealed that he was inspired to make the film after reading of articles on how encounter specialists shoot gangsters and how their families get threatening calls in return, and initially approached
Madhavan Madhavan may refer to: People * James Madhavan (died 1973), Fijian politician * Kavya Madhavan (born 1985), Indian actress * Mahesh Madhavan (born 1963/64), Indian businessman, CEO of Bacardi * N. S. Madhavan (born 1948), Indian writer * O. Madha ...
, Ajith Kumar and Vikram for the role without success. The lead actress
Jyothika Jyothika Saravanan (; born 18 October 1978) is an Indian actress, model and film producer who predominantly appears in Tamil films.
asked Menon to consider Suriya for the role, and he was subsequently selected after Menon saw his portrayal in ''
Nandha ''Nandha'' is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Bala. The film stars Suriya in the lead role, while Rajkiran, Laila, Saravanan and Rajshree play other supporting roles. The film also marked the debut of com ...
''. He did a rehearsal of the script with the actors, a costume trial with Jyothika and then enrolled Suriya in a commando training school before beginning production, which he described as a "very planned shoot". The film had an
alternate ending An alternate ending (or alternative ending) is an ending of a story that was considered, or even written or produced, but ultimately discarded in favour of another resolution. Generally, alternative endings are considered to have no bearing on t ...
which showed Jyothika's character surviving; it was released only on DVD.


Release

Guru Subramaniam of ''
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'' labelled ''Kaakha Kaakha'' a "career high film". Malathi Rangarajan of ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'' described it as for "action lovers who believe in logical storylines and deft treatment" and praised Menon for his linear narrative screenplay. The film was a major breakthrough for both Menon and Suriya.


Remakes

Menon remade the film in Telugu as ''
Gharshana ''Gharshana'' () is a 2004 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film produced by G. Sivaraju, C. Venkatraju, and Kalaipuli S. Thanu. It is directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, in his Telugu debut. It is the remake of the 2003 Tamil blockbuste ...
'' (2004) for producer Venkata Raj and it went on to be highly successful as well as being a hit in Telugu theatres. In July 2004, he agreed terms to direct and produce another version of ''Kaakha Kaakha'' in Hindi with Sunny Deol in the lead role and revealed that the script was written five years ago with Deol in mind, but the film eventually failed to take off. Producer
Vipul Amrutlal Shah Vipul Amrutlal Shah (commonly known as Vipul Shah) is a film producer and director of Hindi films. He began his career with Gujarati theater. He was part/director of a number of Gujarati dramas, some of which were well received by Gujarati audie ...
approached him to direct the Hindi version of the film in 2010 as '' Force'', and Menon initially agreed before pulling out again. The film was also made in Kannada in 2011 as '' Dandam Dashagunam''. Menon and the original producer, Dhanu, also floated an idea of an English version with a Chechnyan backdrop, though talks with a potential collaboration with Ashok Amritraj collapsed.


Accolades

In addition to the following list of awards and nominations, prominent Indian film websites named ''Kaakha Kaakha'' one of the 10 best Tamil films of 2003, with
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,
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 ...
and ''Behindwoods'' all doing so. The film was, before release, in "most awaited" lists from film websites.


Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by
Harris Jayaraj Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Telugu and two films in Hindi. He has been honoured with K ...
, who reunited with Menon after the soundtrack of ''
Minnale ''Minnale'' () is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The story was written by Menon and Vipul D. Shah, starring Madhavan, Abbas, Reema Sen (in her Tamil debut), Vivek and Nagesh. The film tells the ...
''. The song "Ondra Renda" is based on "Dil Ko Tumse Pyar Hua" from the 2001 Hindi film '' Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein'' in which Harris himself was the music director.


References


External links

* {{Gautham Vasudev Menon 2000s police procedural films 2000s romantic action films 2000s Tamil-language films 2003 action thriller films 2003 films Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Films about organised crime in India Films directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon Films scored by Harris Jayaraj Films set in Chennai Indian action thriller films Indian nonlinear narrative films Indian romantic action films Tamil films remade in other languages