''Sandakozhi'' () is a 2005 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, nati ...

-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 ...

written and directed by

N. Linguswamy Nammalvar Lingusamy, (born 14 November 1967), is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and film producer in Tamil cinema based in Chennai. Lingusamy made his directorial debut with ''Aanandham'' in 2001 and followed by ''Run'' (2002), ''Sandak ...

and produced by Vikram Krishna under the banner of G K Film Corporation, which stars Vishal,

Meera Jasmine Jasmine Mary Joseph, known professionally as Meera Jasmine, is an Indian actress who appears primarily in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language films. Meera Jasmine won the National Film Award for Best Actress in 2004 for her role in ' ...

Rajkiran J. Mohideen Abdul Khadar, known by his stage name Rajkiran, is an Indian actor, producer and director, who has acted in more than 30 Tamil films. Early life Rajkiran was born as J. Mohideen Abdul Khadar on 16 March 1959 at Keelakarai into a Mu ...

, and

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 ...

in lead roles, whilst Raja,

Suman Setty Suman Shetty is an Indian actor known for his comic roles. He appears in Telugu and Tamil Films. He won the Nandi Award for Best Male Comedian for his comic role in Jayam film.(in Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidi ...

, and

Ganja Karuppu Ganja Karuppu is an Indian actor who has predominantly appeared in comedy roles in Tamil cinema. After making his debut in Bala's '' Pithamagan'' (2003), Ganja Karuppu experienced success in the late 2000s with his roles in '' Raam'' (2005), ...

as supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by

Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja or Abdul Haliq (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Wes ...

. The film released on 16 December 2005 to rave reviews and has become one of the huge hits in 2005, running for more than 200 days in theatres. It was declared a blockbuster at the box office and

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

for action film genre. The

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 ...

dubbed version titled ''Pandem Kodi'' was released on 19 May 2006 and was commercially successful. The film was remade in Kannada as ''

Vayuputra ''Vayuputra'' () is a 2009 Indian Kannada-language romantic action film directed by Kishore Sarja and produced by his brother, actor Arjun Sarja. The Sarja brothers launched their nephew Chiranjeevi Sarja through this film in the lead role. Th ...

''. It was also remade in Odia as '' Ganja Ladhei''. A

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

titled ''

Sandakozhi 2 ''Sandakozhi 2'' () is a 2018 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language action film written and directed by N. Linguswamy. A sequel to ''Sandakozhi'', the film stars Vishal (actor), Vishal and Rajkiran reprising their roles from the first film, alo ...

'' was released in 2018.

Plot

Balu is an engineering student, who visits his classmate and friend Karthik's home in

Chidambaram Chidambaram is a town and municipality in Cuddalore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on the banks of the Vellar River where it meets the Bay of Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Chidambaram taluk. The town is believed to be of si ...

after the final exams. He meets Karthik's sister Hema and they develop an affection which transforms into love. Kasi is the local gangster in Chidambaram who is feared by the entire town. On his way back to his place, Balu sees Kasi chasing a man with an

aruval The aruval (, , ISO: ), also known as koḍuvāḷ (), is a type of billhook machete from southern India, particularly common in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It is a type of long sickle with a knife-like scythe-handle, and is used b ...

. When Kasi was about to kill the man he was chasing, Balu interferes and stops Kasi. An angered Kasi immediately tries to attack Balu, Balu smashes Kasi in front of everyone to save himself and leaves. Kasi is furious and wants vengeance against Balu. Kasi's men trap Karthik/Hema's father and learns about Balu's native place. Kasi sets goons to kill Balu, but gets shocked when he learns that Balu's father is a powerful chieftan of

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 ...

named Durai, and it will be difficult to attack them. Kasi leaves to Theni and waits for the right moment to kill Balu and his family. Balu meets Hema, Karthik and their family at a temple. Hema/Karthik's father is initially angered by seeing Balu as he was responsible to bring trouble by hitting Kasi, but Balu convinces him and both the families decide to get Balu and Hema married to each other. One day, Kasi tries to kill Balu, but instead attacks Durai. Durai understands that Balu is being targeted and decides to protect him. A localite in Theni hates Durai and his family and decides to help Kasi kill Durai. Kasi utilize the opportunity to kill Balu and Durai, during a temple festival, but Balu saves Durai and fights Kasi. Durai asks Balu to fight with him and win. Balu thrashes Kasi and leaves, challenging him to return if he still has guts to finish him.

Cast

* Vishal as Balu *

as Hema *

as Durai *

as Kasi * Raja as Karthik *

as Ilango *

as Karuppu *

Thalaivasal Vijay Thalaivasal Vijay is an Indian actor and dubbing artist. He was born on 4 August 1962 in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India. He has acted predominantly in numerous Tamil and Malayalam films. Career Vijay's debut film was '' Thalaivaasal'' (1992), ...

as Durai's enemy who befriends Kasi * Jaya Murali as Hema's mother *

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 Durai's brother-in-law *

Thennavan ''Thennavan'' is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language political action film written and directed by newcomer A. M. Nandakumar and produced by Vijayakanth, who played the title role Thennavan IAS, in-charge as the Chief Election Commissioner and fight ...

as Durai's brother-in-law *

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 Lawyer *

Mu Ramaswamy Mu Ramaswamy is an Indian theatre artist, professor of drama, and actor best known for his dramas ''Durgira Avalam'', a Tamil adaptation of Sophocles' ''Antigone'', and ''Kalagakkarar Thozhar Periyar'', a biography of the life of Periyar. He la ...

as Villager *

Monica Monica may refer to: People *Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress *Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...

as Balu's cousin *

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 ...

* John Amirtharaj as Hema's father *

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 ...

(uncredited role) as Balu and Karthik's friend *

Elango Kumaravel Elango Kumaravel (born 27 August 1965) is an Indian theatre actor and writer. He is also a co-founder of the Chennai based theatre group "Magic Lantern". He is an alumnus of Pondicherry University's Sankaradas Swamigal School of Performing Arts ...

(uncredited role) as Balu and Karthik's friend

Production

The story was originally narrated for Vijay with

Jyothika Jyothika Saravanan (; born 18 October 1978) is an Indian actress, model and film producer who predominantly appears in Tamil films.

as heroine, but both were replaced by Vishal & Meera Jasmine later. Vishal says that he worked hard for the role by taking courses in acting and dancing. A fight scene involving Vishal and Lal was picturised in

Dindigul Dindigul, also spelt Thindukkal (), is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Dindigul district. Dindigul is located southwest from the state capital, Chennai, away from Tiruchirappalli, away ...

for seven days. The songs have been shot at locations in

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 ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

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 ...

. An introduction song for Rajkiran was shot at Theni.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, composed by

, teaming up for the first time with director

and Vishal, was released on 25 November 2005. It features 5 tracks, the lyrics of which were written by

Pa. Vijay Pa. Vijay is an Indian actor, poet, writer, director, producer and film lyricist for Tamil cinema. He won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics in India for his song ''Ovvoru Pookalume'' in Cheran's ''Autograph'' (2004). Career Vijay is a nat ...

Na. Muthukumar Nagarajan Muthukumar (12 July 1975 – 14 August 2016) was a Tamil poet, lyricist, and author. Best known for his Tamil language film songs, he received the most Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist in Tamil and was a two-time recipient of the Nat ...

Yugabharathi Yugabharathi is a Tamil poet and lyricist. His birth name was "Santhanam Desan" and he was known as "Santhanam" by his family and friends. During the early 1990s when he began writing poems for magazines he started using the pen name "Yugabharat ...

and

Thamarai Thamarai (born 10 November 1975) is a noted Tamil poet and lyricist. She is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. She made her debut in the Tamil film industry through the 1998 film Iniyavale, which was directed by Seeman and music co ...

. Both the film score as well as the songs were appreciated and praised as outstanding with the song "Dhavanipotta Deepavali" considered as the pick of the album.

Reception

''Chennai Online'' wrote "'Sandakozhi' is an engaging entertainer, an action-flick with a difference". ''Sify'' wrote "It is well-packaged film without any big stars or unwanted sentiments. Technically, the film is slick with good music by Yuvan and outstanding camerawork by Jeeva and Nirav Shah".

Box office

The film was a commercial success grossing $4.5 million at the box office.

Sequel

In December 2015, Linguswamy announced that he would direct the sequel of ''Sandakozhi'' with Vishal again, which was shelved. However the project was revived in 2017 with Vishal confirming his presence in the sequel. Rajkiran from the original has been retained in the sequel with additional new cast involving Keerthi Suresh and Varalaxmi.Sify.com
The film was released in 2018 failed to replicate the success of its original film.

References

External links

* {{N. Lingusamy 2005 films Films shot in Madurai 2005 action drama films 2000s masala films Tamil films remade in other languages Films directed by N. Lingusamy Films scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja 2000s Tamil-language films Films shot in Australia Films shot in New Zealand Indian action drama films