''Kaali'' is a 1980 Indian

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 ...

written by Mahendran and directed by

I. V. Sasi Irruppam Veedu Sasidaran (28 March 1947 – 24 October 2017), better known as I. V. Sasi, was an Indian film director who made over 110 films predominantly in Malayalam, in addition to Tamil and Hindi languages. In 2015, he was awarded the J. ...

. Produced by Hem-Nag, the film stars

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

, Seema,

Fatafat Jayalaxmi Jayalakshmi, whose popular screen name was Fatafat Jayalakshmi (also Phataphat Jayalaxmi) (1958–1980), was an Indian actress active mainly in Tamil and Telugu films. In Malayalam movies she was known as Supriya. She acted about 66 movies in T ...

and Shubha. The film was simultaneously made in

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 ...

and

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 ...

languages, with

Chiranjeevi Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, film producer and former politician, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi starred in over 150 feature films in Telugu language, Telugu, as ...

replacing Vijayakumar in Telugu. The cinematography was handled by

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

and soundtrack was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

. ''Kaali'' ran for 56 days in Chennai and was considered a box office failure.

Plot

Cast

as Kaali * Vijayakumar (Tamil) /

(Telugu) as G.K. * Seema as Anitha/Geetha *

as Alangaram *

Major Sundarrajan Srinivasan Sundarrajan (17 March 1925 – 28 February 2003), popularly known as Major Sundarrajan, was an Indian actor and director who performed predominantly in Tamil language films and plays. He was well known for his sophisticated and ...

(Tamil) /

Kantha Rao Tadepalli Lakshmi Kantha Rao (16 November 1923 – 22 March 2009) was an Indian actor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. Regarded as one of the finest method actors, Rao starred in more than four hundred feature ...

(Telugu) as Sampath * Manorama as Thayamma *

Suruli Rajan Suruli Rajan was a Tamil film comedian/character artiste. He was a recipient of Tamil Nadu State Government's Best Comedian Award for the year 1981–82. Biography Suruli Rajan was born in 1938 in Periyakulam, near Theni. His father ''Ponnai ...

as Sokku * Shubha as Sampath's wife *

Vennira Aadai Nirmala Vennira Aadai Nirmala (born as A. B. Shanthi in Kumbakonam) is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. She was a prominent lead actress from 1960s and 70s. She is credited as Ushakumari in Malayalam film indust ...

as Rajinikanth's sister * V. Gopalakrishnan (Tamil) /

Giri Babu Yerra Seshagiri Rao, popularly known as Giri Babu, is an Indian actor, producer, and director who primarily woks in Telugu films. His son, Raghu Babu, is a notable actor-director. Career Giri Babu hails from a middle class agricultural famil ...

(Telugu) as Somu *

Kaikala Satyanarayana Kaikala Satyanarayana (25 July 1935 – 23 December 2022) was an Indian actor, producer, director, and politician who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He appeared in over 750 films and served as the Member of Parliament in the 11th Lok S ...

as Rajaram *

Prasad Babu Prasad Babu is an Indian actor who acts in predominantly Telugu films and also TV serials. Filmography * ''Punadhirallu'' * ''Anthuleni Katha'' * ''Mana Voori Pandavulu'' (1978) * '' I Love You'' (1979) * '' Aarani Mantalu'' (1980) * ''Bobbi ...

as Rajram's one the son *

Sundar Raj Sundar Raj is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry (Sandalwood). Some of the notable films of Sundar Raj as an actor include ''Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane'', ''Ondanondu Kaladalli'', ''Chandanada Gombe'', '' Kurigalu Saar Kurigalu'' (2001) ...

as Rajram's one the son *

Pushpalatha Pushpalatha is an Indian actress, who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam language films. She has acted as heroine and character roles in more than 100 films. Her debut film was '' Sengottai Singam'', released in 1958. When ...

as Rajram's Wife *

Anuradha Sriram Anuradha Sriram (born 9 July 1970) is an Indian carnatic and playback singer and child actress who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 700 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Hindi f ...

as child artist *

Master Haja Sheriff ''Master'' Haja Sheriff (born Khaja Sheriff) is an Indian actor, who primarily worked in Tamil cinema (Kollywood). He has worked in popular movies like Uthiripookkal, Suvarilladha Chiththirangal, Andha 7 Naatkal. He debuted in the 1979 film Pu ...

as child artist *

Kumarimuthu Kumarimuthu (20 December 1940 – 28 February 2016) was a Tamil film character actor, comedian and politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He was known for his unique comical laugh. Career Kumarimuthu starred in 728 films in his car ...

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

. The film had

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...

's first written song, "Kali Bhadrakali".

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{I. V. Sasi 1980 films 1980 multilingual films 1980s Tamil-language films 1980s Telugu-language films Films directed by I. V. Sasi Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films with screenplays by Mahendran (filmmaker) Indian multilingual films