''Vilai'' ( ''Price'') is a 2010

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 P ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by G. Kamaraj. The film stars

Saravanan Saravanan is a Tamil male given name. Due to the Tamil tradition of using patronymic surnames, it may also be a surname for males and females. It is one of the names of the Hindu god Murugan. It may refer to: *Saravanan (actor) *M. Saravanan ( ...

Bharani Bharani (Devanagari: भरणी) is the second nakshatra in Hindu astronomy, corresponding to 35, 39, and 41 Arietis all together. In Jyotiṣa, Bharani is ruled by Shukra (the planet Venus). Also, it is classified as a Cruel or Active naks ...

, Udhayathara and newcomer Ritu Soni, with Fathima,

Charmila Charmila (born 2 October 1974) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Apart from movies in Malayalam, she acted in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies. She completed almost 38 films in the Malayalam film industry. Ea ...

, Shathiga, Krishnamoorthy, Gemini Balaji, Rajasanthuru and Devaraj playing supporting roles. The film, produced by M. Sathia and S. Babu, had musical score by

D. Imman Immanuel Vasanth Dinakaran (born 24 January 1983), better known as D. Imman, is an Indian film composer and singer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema. Also worked in Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi film industry. His first film as mu ...

and was released on 27 August 2010.

Plot

The jobless Nandhu (

) and his sister Vandana (Ritu Soni) live in a village in

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

with their parents. Nandhu and Vandana are constantly squabbling like kids. One day, Nandhu gets into a fight to save his friends and Vandana denounces him to the police thus he is arrested. Their father who got fed up with their dispute arrange his daughter marriage but the topper Vandana wants to continue her studies. Nandhu opposes his decision and he convinces her of studying higher studies in

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 ...

. Nandhu and Vandana come to Chennai, and a call taxi driver kidnaps Vandana. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Tamil girl ( Udhayathara) and the daughter of a prostitute Mani (Shathiga) are kidnapped in the same way. The three are abducted by a gang of traffickers (Gemini Balaji and Rajasanthuru) along with other girls and plan to sell them. The Deputy Commissioner of Police Shanmugavel (

) comes to his rescue and promises him to find his sister. The two travel together between cities, Shanmugavel eventually arrests one of the traffickers and he reveals everything about their prostitution network. Mirchi Maya (Fathima) is a ruthless female don 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 ...

and the leader of the entire trafficking business. In Andhra Pradesh, they meet DCP Venkatanarayanan ( Bhanu Chander) who he is pessimistic about the fate of Vandana but he decides to help them anyway. In the meantime, Mani and the Srilankan Tamil girl committed suicide to save their dignity. In the past, Shanmugavel lived happily with his wife (

) and little daughter. The local don Farooq Bhai (Devaraj) wanted to take revenge on Shanmugavel who accidentally killed his daughter. Farooq Bhai abducted his daughter and sold her to a prostitution network. However, in spite of these efforts, Shanmugavel could not find her. To save Vandana, DCP Shanmugavel goes to her brothel and poses as a client. He then selects Vandana but Mirchi Maya already knew about his identity. At that time, the police arrived at the place and ask Mirchi Maya to surrender but she reveals that she is Shanmugavel's daughter and shoots herself in front of her father. The abducted women including Vandana are saved.

Cast

as DCP Shanmugavel *

as Nandhu * Udhayathara *Ritu Soni as Vandana *Fathima as Mirchi Maya *

as Shanmugavel's wife *Shathiga as Mani * Krishnamoorthy *Gemini Balaji as Riaz *Rajasanthuru *Devaraj as Farooq Bhai * Bhanu Chander as DCP Venkatanarayanan (guest appearance)

Production

Director G. Kamaraj, who directed the gangster film ''Perusu'' (2005), directed ''Vilai'' who was inspired by a real-life story and told the story of a prostitution racket that kidnapped and sold women against their will.

was selected to play the lead role alongside veteran actors

and Bhanu Chander while Udhayathara, Ritu Soni, Shathiga and Fathima played the female lead. The film was primarily shot in

and

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by

. The soundtrack features 4 tracks. The audio was released on 23 May 2010 in Chennai. Directors

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 Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-la ...

Vetrimaaran Vetrimaaran is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer, who works in the Tamil film industry. As of 2021, he has won five National Film Awards, eight Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, two Filmfare South Awards and the Amnesty Inte ...

V. C. Guhanathan V. C. Guhanathan is a film screenwriter, director and producer who has worked on Indian Tamil films. He made his directorial debut in the 1970s, before proceeding to make successful films like ''Thanikattu Raja'' (1982) and ''Michael Raj'' (1987 ...

K. Bhagyaraj Krishnasaamy Bhagyaraj (born 7 January 1953) is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter, music director, producer and politician active mainly in Tamil films. He has also written and directed Hindi and Telugu films and TV serials. As an actor ...

and

A. L. Vijay A. L. Vijay, known professionally as Vijay, is an Indian film director who works in the Tamil film industry. An assistant director with Priyadarshan, he debuted as director with films such as '' Kireedam'' and the critically acclaimed ''Madr ...

attended the audio launch.

Release

The film was released on 27 August 2010 alongside five other films.

Critical reception

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 ...

said, "it misses the emotional punch, the script never really allows us to get involved or empathise with the plight of the girls. On the flip side, it is appreciable that the director has chosen a socially relevant theme, and that he has resisted slipping in sleaze, or any overt skin show". S. R. Ashok Kumar 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 ...

'' praised the cast and wrote, "director G. Kamaraj handles the scenes deftly and with sensitivity. However, he could have looked into the slow pace of the first half".

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 ...

stated, "the film is too long winded and moves at a snail pace. There is also too much mush and melodrama, towards the climax ".

Box office

The film took a below average opening at the

box office.

References

{{reflist 2010 films 2010s Tamil-language films Indian drama films Films shot in Chennai Films shot in Madurai Films scored by D. Imman 2010 drama films