''Villain'' is a 2002 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 heist

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

K. S. Ravikumar K. S. Ravikumar (born 30 May 1958) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, primarily working in Tamil films. Career 1990–1997 Ravikumar worked as co-director on R. B. Choudary's production ''Pudhu Vasantham'' direct ...

and produced by

S. S. Chakravarthy S. S. Chakravarthy (S.Shajahan Chakravarthy) is an Indian film producer in Tamil cinema. He has produced a number of Tamil films through his Production company is NIC Arts. Most of his films had actor Ajith Kumar & Silambarasan in the lead roles. ...

. The film stars

Ajith Kumar Ajith Kumar (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil films. To date, he has starred in over 60 films. His awards include four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Tamil N ...

in a dual role alongside

Meena Meena () is a sub-group of Bhils. They speak Meena language. They started adopting the Brahmin worship system. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mina''. Historians claim that they belong to the Matsya tribe. They got the sta ...

and

Kiran Rathod Kiran Rathod (born 11 January 1981) is an Indian actress. She has acted in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. Early life Rathod was born on 11 January 1981 in Jaipur. She is a cousin of actress Raveena Tandon. Rathod graduated ...

. Vidyasagar composed the score and soundtrack for the film. It was remade in Telugu as the same name in 2003. The film released on 4 November 2002. It received positive reviews and became a huge commercial success.

Plot

Shiva and Vishnu are identical twins. Shiva, the elder one, is a bus conductor, while Vishnu, the younger one, has a mild intellectual disability. During their childhood, Shiva overhears his parents' plot to send Vishnu to an unknown orphanage and to hide this information from him. To save his brother Vishnu, Shiva runs away to another city with him and strives hard to look after him. A 'dada' Sundaramoorthy, who runs a beggar trade, beats Vishnu brutally, and Vishnu becomes disabled for life. Shiva leaves Vishnu in a home run by a social worker Lalitha. During the day, Shiva works as a bus conductor, and at the same time, poses as Vishnu: to play

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...

and steal from the rich and corrupt. A gang including Thangam, Mani, and others assist him in these operations. He is never suspected, and so, with the stolen money, he takes care of not only Vishnu, but also 800 people in other institutions for the physically disabled. A college student Lavanya falls in love with Shiva, but he later learns that she is Sundaramoorthy's sister-in-law. Matters worsen when Sundaramoorthy becomes the chairman of the institute for the physically disabled. How Shiva deals with the situation forms the rest of the story. Meanwhile, Thangam is secretly in love with Shiva, though he does not know this. Later she gives up her love and lets Lavanya marry Shiva. At last, Shiva marries Lavanya and Thangam marries Vishnu. The brothers live happily ever after.

Cast

as Shiva and Vishnu (dual role) *

as Thangam *

as Lavanya * Sujatha as Lalitha Subramaniam *

FEFSI Vijayan FEFSI Vijayan simply known as ''Vijayan'' is an Indian action choreographer, stunt coordinator, actor who works in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi language films. He has the record of being the youngest stunt master in the Indian film indust ...

as Sundaramoorthy *

Ramesh Khanna Ramesh Khanna (also spelt as Ramesh Kanna) is an Indian actor and film director who has worked in Tamil cinema. He has acted in a number of supporting and comedian roles. Early life Khanna was born on 12 June 1954 in Chennai and third child to ...

as Mani, Shiva's friend *

Karunas Karunas (born 21 February 1970 as Karunanidhi Sethu) is an Indian actor, politician and comedian in the Tamil film industry. Appearing mostly in supporting roles, he has also played lead roles in films including ''Dindigul Sarathy'' (2008) an ...

as Nochikuppam Dampudi * Vijayakumar as ACP *

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and television series. He st ...

as Shiva and Vishnu's father * Dinesh Sha as Childhood Shiva * Naresh Sha as Childhood Vishnu *

Pyramid Natarajan Pyramid Natarajan is a former Indian actor and producer, who has appeared in character roles in Tamil cinema. He made his breakthrough as an actor playing a role in Mani Ratnam's ''Alaipayuthey'' (2000) portraying the role of Madhavan's father ...

as Minister *

Manobala Manobala (born 8 December 1953) is an Indian film director, producer, actor and comedian who predominantly plays supporting roles in Tamil-language films. He started his career in Tamil cinema in the early 1970s and with Kamal Haasan's referen ...

as Pyramid Natarajan's brother-in-law *

Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in more than 180 fil ...

as Rajalakshmi, Lavanya's sister *

Santhana Bharathi Santhana Bharathi is an Indian film director and actor who has primarily worked in Tamil cinema. Career Santhana Bharathi originally wanted to be a director but didn't get the right opportunity, even after working for a well known director ...

as Father Karunakaran *

Crane Manohar Crane Manohar (born 4 October 1965) is an Indian actor who appears in Tamil films, mostly in comedy roles. He appeared in many Vadivelu and Vivek comedy tracks. Career Manohar initially worked as a crane technician for films and when he start ...

as Shiva's friend *

Vasu Vikram Vasu Vikram is an Indian actor and stage director who has worked on Tamil-language films and in television dramas. Career Vasu Vikram is the son of actor M. R. R. Vasu, and the grandson of M. R. Radha. Several other members of his family are ...

as Shiva's friend *

Pandu In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', Pandu ( sa, पाण्डु, Pāṇḍu, pale) was a king of the Kuru Kingdom. He was the foster-father of the five Pandava brothers, who were the boons bestowed upon his wife Kunti by a number of deities ...

as a police officer * Bayilvan Ranganathan as a police officer *

Madhan Bob S. Krishnamoorthy (born 19 October 1953) professionally known as Madhan Bob, is an Indian actor and comedian, appearing in many Tamil films in supporting roles. Madhan Babu is known for his amusing facial expressions, laughter and protruding ey ...

as Sundaramoorthy's assistant * Lavanya as Thangam's friend *

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Badaga and Malayalam mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or in ...

as Minister *

Priyanka ''Priyanka'' is a popular female given name in Hindu and Buddhist cultures. It is a name derived from the Sanskrit word 'Priyankera' or 'Priyankara', meaning someone or something that is amiable, lovable, or makes you happy and the one who has lov ...

as Lavanya's friend *

R. S. Shivaji R. S. Shivaji (born 26 October 1956) is an Indian actor, who is known for his work in Tamil films. He has often collaborated in films involving Kamal Haasan and Raaj Kamal Films International, working as an assistant director, sound designer an ...

as Pyramid Natarajan's House Security * R. Sundarrajan as Minister's related *

Besant Ravi Besant Ravi (born R. Ravi Kumar; 1 June 1970) is an Indian actor and stunt choreographer. He has played antagonistic supporting roles in Tamil, Hindi and several other Indian language films. Early life Besant Ravi, who was born and brought up ...

Kanal Kannan Kanal Kannan (born as V. Kannan) is an Indian actor, action choreographer and screenwriter who works in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films. He has worked with actors Mammootty, Prithviraj , Unni Mukundan Unnikrishnan Mukund ...

in a special appearance as a henchman *

in a special appearance as himself * Vasanthi (

Agent Tina ''Vikram'' is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, who co-wrote the script with Rathna Kumar and produced by Kamal Haasan who also stars in the titular role as agent Vikram, who leads a black-ops squad ...

) in a special appearance in "Adicha Nethi Adi"

Production

The film saw the first collaboration of Ajith and K. S. Ravikumar, with the former revealing that he was initially reluctant to work with the director in fear of a misunderstanding. Kiran was signed the film after the success of ''

Gemini Gemini may refer to: Space * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac ** Gemini in Chinese astronomy * Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program * Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Northern ...

''. The shooting of the film was completed in 39 days.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features 7 songs composed by Vidyasagar and lyrics written by

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 ...

Release and reception

The film was released in Diwali on 4 November 2002 alongside Vijay starrer ''

Bagavathi ''Bagavathi'' is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by A. Venkatesh, which features Vijay and Reemma Sen. Jai, Vadivelu, Ashish Vidyarthi, K. Vishwanath, and Yugendran play supporting roles, while Deva composed t ...

''.

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 ...

reviewer claimed that "if you don't rack your brains about the feasibility of the hero's game plans, you could enjoy watching "Villain"" and that "Ajit scores on both fronts". Another critic cited that it was "great slag-less and racy screenplay and some stunning performances from Ajith make this film a treat for the senses". Ajith's performance earned him his second

Filmfare Award for Best Actor The Filmfare Award for Best Actor is an award, begun in 1954, presented annually at the Filmfare Awards to an actor via a jury. This is given by '' Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi (Bollywood) films. The award was firs ...

.10 years ago
Cinematoday3.itgo.com. Retrieved on 26 July 2015. The film was later remade in Telugu with the same title by Ravikumar with Rajasekhar, while the original was also dubbed into Hindi.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villain (2002 Film) 2002 films Tamil films remade in other languages Films set in Chennai Twins in Indian films Films directed by K. S. Ravikumar 2000s Tamil-language films Films scored by Vidyasagar Robin Hood films Indian action films 2002 action films