''Kaalai'' () is a 2008 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 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 ...

directed by

Tharun Gopi Tarun Gopi (born 10 April) is an Indian film director, scriptwriter and film producer. His first film as director was ''Thimiru'' (2006), which became one of the year's top-grossing Tamil films. He later ventured into acting roles, but has sinc ...

. The lead roles are played by

Silambarasan Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar, nicknamed as Simbu or his initials S. T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker and musician in Tamil cinema. He began his acting career by playing roles as a child artist in films directed by his father T. Rajendar, b ...

and

Vedhika Vedhika Kumar is an Indian actress and model who has established a career in the Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. She started her acting career with the Tamil film ''Madrasi''. She made her breakthrough portraying ''Angamma'' in Ba ...

. Supporting roles are played by Sangeetha, Seema,

Santhanam Santhanam or Santanam ( te, సంతానం) is an Indian name that may refer to: People * K. Santhanam (1895–1980), Indian politician * Madabusi Santanam Raghunathan (born 1941), Indian mathematician * Maharajapuram Santhanam (1928–1992) ...

Lal Lal ( fa, لعل, hi, लाल, bn, লাল, ur, لال, ps, Lāl) is an Indo-Iranian surname and given name, which means "darling", "precious", or "beloved", from the Sanskrit ''lala'' ("cajoling").''Dictionary of American Family Names''F ...

and

Sulile Kumar Sulile Kumar, also known by his stage name Tharun Kumar (also credited as Tarun Shatriya) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil and Kannada films. He made his debut in a supporting role in Tarun Gopi's ''Kaalai'' (2008), before going on t ...

. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. The film opened on 14 January 2008 to mixed reviews and was a commercial failure. The Hindi dubbed version was named, ''Jwalamukhi (Man With Fire)''.

Plot

Jeeva shares his name with two other people: one villain and one police officer Jeevanandham who becomes a villain. The confusion arising from this is a significant part of the plot. At the age of nine, Jeeva’s grandmother Karuppayi Aatha slays five men because they scorned her father’s advice and illegally distilled alcohol in the village. After her return from prison, the villagers both fear and revere her, and consider her the head of the village. Jeevanandham comes to the village ruled by Karuppayi Aatha to try to find illicit activity. When he cannot find anything, he is thrashed by the villagers. He returns to take vengeance, and in the course of the hostilities burns Karuppayi Aatha alive. Jeeva the criminal is meanwhile wooing Jeevanandham’s daughter Brindha. But Brindha loves Jeeva, Karuppayi's grandson, and he wants to take revenge on his namesake for the death of his grandmother. He abducts Brindha as a hostage to lure her father to his death.

Cast

as Jeeva *

as Brindha * Sangeetha as Lakshmi * Seema as Karuppayi Aatha *

as Jeevanandham IPS *

as Jeeva *

Shanmugarajan Shanmugarajan is an Indian actor who appears in Tamil films. He is an alumnus of The American College in Madurai and National School of Drama National School of Drama (NSD) is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India. It i ...

as A.C.P Vallayan *

Dhandapani Kadhal Dhandapani (17 April 1943 – 20 July 2014) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He rose to fame portraying the antagonist in Balaji Sakthivel's ''Kaadhal'' (2004), and is credited with the film's name as ...

*Sabarna as Brindha's friend *

Nellai Siva Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

as Police officer * Nila as dancer in "Guththa Lakkadi" *Rinson Simon as a background dancer in the song "Kutti Pisaase" (uncredited) *

Mahat Raghavendra Mahat Raghavendra is an Indian actor who works in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi cinema. He is best known for his supporting roles in the heist thriller film, ''Mankatha'' (2011), the action drama, ''Jilla'' (2014) and As lead in the ''Double XL'' (20 ...

as Jeeva's friend (uncredited) *

Ramdoss Ramdoss, better known as Munishkanth, is an Indian actor who appears in Tamil language films. He had notable roles in films, including ''Mundasupatti'' (2014), ''Maanagaram'' (2017), ''Maragadha Naanayam'' (2017) and ''Raatchasan'' (2018). Ca ...

as Tea shop fight participant (uncredited)

Production

Casting

In pre-production work,

Tarun Gopi Tarun Gopi (born 10 April) is an Indian film director, scriptwriter and film producer. His first film as director was ''Thimiru'' (2006), which became one of the year's top-grossing Tamil films. He later ventured into acting roles, but has sinc ...

originally offered the lead role to

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 ...

, then to Telugu actor

Prabhas Uppalapati Venkata Suryanarayana Prabhas Raju (born 23 October 1979), known mononymously as Prabhas (), is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. One of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema, Prabhas has featured in ''Fo ...

. Neither was able to take up the role, so Silambarasan was recruited instead. The original choice for the lead female role was

Trisha Trisha is a unisex given name, usually derived from the female Latin given name Patricia. Notable people and characters with the name include: People *Trisha (actress), Indian film actress Trisha Krishnan (born 1983) * Trisha Baptie (born 1973 ...

, who was replaced by Vedhika.

Prakashraj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of several ...

was originally selected for the role of the police officer Jeeva, but he was replaced by Malayalam actor Lal.

Filming

Most of the film was shot in the villages around

Theni Theni is a valley town situated in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu at the foothills of Western Ghats. It is the headquarters of the Theni district, located in a distance of 70km from Madurai. It is known for the large-scale trading of garlic, c ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

was originally planned to be the location for filming songs, but due to visa problems these scenes were shifted to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. A fast beat song sequence was shot at the

Golden Beach, Chennai Golden Beach is a natural urban beach located along the Bay of Bengal in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. VGP Golden Beach is a major tourist attraction in Chennai. It is situated on the East Coast Road, the seaside road from Chennai to Cuddalore v ...

with Simbu and Vedhika. For much of the filming the heroine was not finalized, so large sections of the movie were shot without the female lead. The shoots appeared disorganized, with few actors recruited ahead of time. Silambarasan did some editing work with

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonia (gens), Antonii'', a ''gens'' (Roman naming conventions, Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were ...

, who is said to have been impressed by his work and presented him with 25,000 rands.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack consists of six songs composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. Actress

Mamta Mohandas Mamta Mohandas is an Indian actress, film producer and a playback singer of Malayalam film industry, she has also worked in Tamil and Telugu productions. She has acted in more than 50 films and won several accolades including two Filmfare Awar ...

sang the song Kaala Kaala. The soundtrack had a soft launch.

Release

The rights for satellite broadcast were sold to Sun TV. The film was given an "A" certificate by the

Indian Censor Board 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 ...

. The film was released at the Pongal 2008 festival at the same time as ''

Bheemaa ''Bheemaa'' is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language crime action film written and directed by N. Linguswamy, and produced by A. M. Rathnam. It stars Vikram, Trisha, Prakash Raj, Raghuvaran, and Ashish Vidyarthi. The film score and soundtrack was com ...

'', ''

Pidichirukku ''Pidichirukku'' ( en, I like it) is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film, produced by Kool Productions Chida Shenbaga Kumar, directed by Kanagu, starring Ashok Kumar, Vishakha Singh, Sampath Raj, Ganja Karuppu and Saranya Ponvannan. ...

'', ''

Pirivom Santhippom ''Pirivom Santhippom'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language family drama film written and directed by Karu Pazhaniappan starring Cheran and Sneha alongside an ensemble cast. The film is about the life of a young couple in a joint family with ...

'', ''

Pazhani Palani ( or ''Palni'' as in British records, is a town and a taluk headquarters in Dindigul district of the western part of Tamil Nadu state in India. It is located about south-east of Coimbatore and north-west of Madurai, from Kodaikanal ...

'' and ''

Vaazhthugal ''Vaazhthugal'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Seeman (director), Seeman, in his final directorial work before his entry into politics. The film stars R. Madhavan, Madhavan and Bhav ...

''.

Critical reception

Indiaglitz wrote: "The narrative is too loud and it lacks finesse. Silambarasan handles the 'omnipotent hero' character with confidence.

announces her arrival as the potential glam girl of 2008. This one with a beautiful and innocent face has just the right figure to take up glamour roles". Nowrunning wrote: "Silambarasan's more than life image is unrealistic if not out of place.

exudes glamour and performs well in duet songs". Sify wrote: "When Silambarasan and director Tarun Gopi came together in Kaalai we expected a racy masala entertainer. Sadly it is a watered down version of earlier films and ends up as an over-the-top ham enterprise, Kaalai is like a bull in a china shop and makes you groan".

References

{{reflist 2008 action films 2000s Tamil-language films 2008 films Indian films about revenge Films set in Tamil Nadu Films shot in Malaysia Films shot in Tamil Nadu Indian action films 2000s masala films Films scored by G. V. Prakash Kumar Films shot in Australia