Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru
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''Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru'' (), also known as ''D-16'', is a 2016 Indian
neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
crime thriller film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
written and directed by
Karthick Naren Karthick Naren (born 23 July 1994) is an Indian filmmaker who works in Tamil cinema. Naren broke into the Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry having had directed several award-winning short films like ''Pradhi'' and ''Nirangal Moondru'' before his ...
, and starring Rahman. Featuring a predominantly new cast and crew, the film features music composed by
Jakes Bejoy Jakes Bejoy (born 27 May 1984) is an Indian film score composer, music producer, and singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, but has also worked in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages. He started his film musical career as a singer, i ...
, cinematography handled by
Sujith Sarang Sujith Sarang (born 22 June 1985) is an Indian cinematographer known for his work in ''Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru'', ''Taxiwaala'', ''Dear Comrade'', ''Mudhal Nee Mudivum Nee'', '' Kanam'' and '' Oke Oka Jeevitham''. He works predominantly in Tam ...
and editing done by
Sreejith Sarang Sreejith may refer to: * Sreejith Ravi, Indian film actor * Sreejith Ramanan, Indian theatre director, actor, theatre trainer * Sreejith Vijay, Indian film and television actor See also * Srijit Mukherji, Indian Bengali film director {{disambig, ...
. Released on 29 December 2016, the film went on to gain positive reviews from film critics as well becoming a
sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...
and
blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Bl ...
. The film was remade in Kannada as ''
Aa Drushya ''Aa Drushya'' is a 2019 Indian Kannada language neo-noir Crime film, crime Thriller film, thriller written by Karthick Naren and directed by Shiva Ganesh. The film is produced by K. Manju under his banner K Manju Cinemas. It features Ravichan ...
'' (2019). The film is going to be remade in Hindi with
Varun Dhawan Varun Dhawan (; born 24 April 1987) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. One of India's highest-paid actors, he has been featured in ''Forbes India'' Celebrity 100 list since 2014. He has starred in 11 consecutive box-office successes b ...
in the lead role.


Plot

The story begins with Deepak narrating the story of one of his cases that occurred during his service as a police officer in Coimbatore. Deepak narrates the story to a man who is the son of another police officer who has come for taking career advice from him. Three young men - Fabian, Mano and Melvin - hit a man with the car they were driving on a rainy day in a neighborhood. Afraid that they might get caught, they carry the body to their home. Deepak continues the story from his perspective. He comes to his office in the morning and his subordinate officer informs him about the suicide of a person named Krish that has happened in the area and hands over the license of that person. The informer, who is a paperboy, is called in to give his information. On his way out, the paperboy sees the car from the crime scene and shouts out to the police, but they ignore him. Deepak visits the crime scene and meets the new police officer, Gautham. Gautham follows his instinct and mentions those young men. They go to investigate them and act suspiciously. After finding nothing, they return to the office. While on their way, they get a call informing them of another incident. They go there to find that Shruti is missing and there are bloodstains in her bedroom. Her friend Vaishnavi was the one to identify this. Later, Deepak gets a call saying that the previous day's evening, Shruti had filed a complained against someone called Mano. Deepak recognizes the name as that of one of the young men and interrogates them. They tell of the incident that happened 10 days prior to missing of Shruti. The incident was - she unknowingly over speeds and nearly hits them. The three young men also confess that after the incident, they have not met her. On further investigation in Shruti's apartment, it is revealed that the blood group is B+, which matches with Krish. Gautham investigates and identifies that Shruti had told the neighbor about a young man who is her fiancé. They decide that the fiancé might be Krish and decide to watch the young men as suspects. As the day ends, Deepak decides to go home. His neighbor informs him about a young man who was waiting for him. Deepak had captured a camera from some kids. These kids were asked to meet him at his residence for getting back the camera. From the camera, Deepak sees that Vaishnavi has lied about arriving late to the house, while she was there earlier. He also notices the car number from the video. Both Gautham and Deepak decide to check on Vaishnavi, but they realize that she is missing from her house. They go looking for her everywhere but she is not found. She is then shown to be at the airport. Gautham and Deepak come to the conclusion that one among the young boys might have been the suspect and that Shruti would have given a complaint against the one whose name she would have confused with. After this conclusion, they see Mano (one among the three young boys) on the road on his way to the police station. To Deepak and Gautham, Mano narrates the incident of how they hit the man while driving the car, and later carrying the body and finally realizing that the body was taken by the original killer. He confesses this to the police and says that the paperboy who saw them hit the man has been asking for ransom and threatening them. The paperboy explains to the police that on the day of the incidence, he saw a man with a bullet wound who had apparently committed suicide and another case where the car hit a man. Gautham and Deepak hypothesize the situation by narrating a story: Both Krish and Shruti are in the apartment and then the anonymous killer breaks in and kidnaps Shruti, Krish, and Vaishnavi's assumed boyfriend and threatens Vaishnavi. While trying to escape, Krish is killed. Vaishnavi's boyfriend (assumed) also escapes and is hit by the car and killed. But they are not sure of the story. They get a lead that a guy is throwing a dead body near the outskirts and go there. Finally, they see the car number and follows it. But Gautham and Deepak meet with an accident. Deepak's left foot is amputated, and he retires from the force. After narrating this much, Deepak asks the other man to whom he was narrating the story whether he still wants to be in the police. Deepak excuses himself into the house. While he is there, he realises that the person with whom he was conversing is not whom he thought. He becomes cautious and takes his pistol. When Deepak meets the other man at the lawn table, the other man points his pistol at Deepak and reveals himself to be Gowtham. Gowtham had suffered burns from the accident and was comatose for five years. Due to his burn injuries, he had been permanently relieved from field duty, and his voice also changed. His face was also reconstructed due to burns. When Gowtham decided to meet Deepak to solve his only field case, he had seen the killer leaving Deepak's home, after meeting Deepak. Shocked, Gowtham had posed as someone else and all led to that moment. Meanwhile, Deepak's staff call in the police, and Gautham is about to be nabbed. He asks Deepak about the killer, and Deepak reveals the killer as his own Son Rajiv. The true incident is revealed: It was Shruti's birthday. Vaishnavi and Shruti's boyfriend Rajiv come home early to surprise her. Krish, faking his name is Mano, comes inside the apartment with his friend, rapes her, and shoots the same in their phone. He is the same guy against whom Shruti has filed an eve-teasing complaint. They later take Shruti with them and Rajiv chases them. Near the park, Rajiv fights and kills Krish and the other one while trying to run from Rajiv is hit in the car by three young men. Rajiv asks Vaishnavi to report that Shruti is missing. Rajiv later takes Shruti and Vaishnavi back to Nashik to save them. He takes the other guy's body from the three young men's (Fabian, Mano and Melvin) car to take his phone where they recorded Shruti's rape. After the accident, Vaishnavi comes to Deepak to tell him what happened. Deepak is shot by Gowtham and dies, while Gowtham is killed by police fire. He says he saved his son, but now can die without guilt.


Cast

* Rahman as Deepak, retired Inspector of Police * Prakash Vijayaraghavan as Gautham, before he underwent reconstruction facial surgery due to the accident. * Ashwin Kumar as Gautham, after he underwent reconstruction facial surgery due to the accident. * Pradeep as Rajan *
Anjana Jayaprakash Anjana Jayaprakash is an Indian actress, who has appeared in Tamil and Malayalam language films. She had acted in several short films in lead roles and a few supporting roles in feature films, before making her breakthrough appearing in the blo ...
as Vaishnavi *
Yashika Aannand Yashika Aanand (born 4 August 1999) is an Indian actress, model and television personality, who works predominantly in Tamil films and television shows. Early life Yashika Aannand was born into a Punjabi Hindu family on 4 August 1999 in New D ...
as Shruti * Kunal Kaushik as Rajiv * "Irumbu Thirai" Sharath Ravi as Paperboy * Santhosh Krishna as Fabian * Praveen as Mano * Karthikeyan as Melvin * Vinod Varma as Krish * Bala Hasan as Prem *
Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...
as Sriram * SM. Sivakumar *
Karthick Naren Karthick Naren (born 23 July 1994) is an Indian filmmaker who works in Tamil cinema. Naren broke into the Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry having had directed several award-winning short films like ''Pradhi'' and ''Nirangal Moondru'' before his ...
as
Short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
(cameo)


Note

The name of the movie "Dhuruvangal 16" also alludes to the fact that there are 16 characters in it as mentioned above, and they indulge in extreme life events, making it 16 extremes (Dhuruvangal 16).


Production


Development

In September 2015, Rahman revealed that he would work on a Tamil thriller film to be directed by Karthick Naren, then only aged twenty-one years old. Rahman stated that was initially apprehensive about signing on to feature in a film to be made by newcomers and held a few hearings despite being impressed with the way the script was presented to him through a narration that was both "appealing and convincing". Debutant director Karthick revealed that Rahman was his "only choice" for the lead role, while stating the script was "the culmination of an intensive probe into the world of crime" and that his father would back the film as the producer.


Cast and crew

Sujith Sarang,
Sreejith Sarang Sreejith may refer to: * Sreejith Ravi, Indian film actor * Sreejith Ramanan, Indian theatre director, actor, theatre trainer * Sreejith Vijay, Indian film and television actor See also * Srijit Mukherji, Indian Bengali film director {{disambig, ...
and Jakes Bejoy, who had previously worked together in ''
Thakka Thakka ''Thakka Thakka'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Sanjeev, whose younger brother, Vikranth, plays the lead role. The film, earlier titled ''Piravi'', also stars Rahul Venkat, Abhinaya ( ...
'' (2015), collaborated again to work as the cinematographer, editor and music composer for the project. Sachin Sudhakaran and Hariharan worked on the sound engineering for the film, with Rajakrishnan assisting as the mixing engineer. Apart from Rahman, the only other notable actor cast in the film was
Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...
, with most of the remaining actors being newcomers. Ashwin Kumar, who previously appeared in a supporting role in ''
Jacobinte Swargarajyam ''Jacobinte Swargarajyam'' () is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language family-drama film written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan. The film revolves around Jacob Zacharia (Renji Panicker) and the struggles faced by his son (Nivin Pauly) to clear h ...
'' (2016), was also picked to play a role, with his identity kept secret during the promotions. Rookie actress
Yaashika Aanand Yashika Aanand (born 4 August 1999) is an Indian actress, model and television personality, who works predominantly in Tamil films and television shows. Early life Yashika Aannand was born into a Punjabi Hindu family on 4 August 1999 in New D ...
appeared in the role of Shruti, her second film appearance following a brief role in ''
Kavalai Vendam ''Kavalai Vendam'' () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Deekay. The film stars Jiiva and Kajal Aggarwal, while Bobby Simha and Sunaina play supporting roles. The film, which is said to be an urban r ...
'' (2016).
Anjana Jayaprakash Anjana Jayaprakash is an Indian actress, who has appeared in Tamil and Malayalam language films. She had acted in several short films in lead roles and a few supporting roles in feature films, before making her breakthrough appearing in the blo ...
, who portrayed the role of Vaishnavi, was a college senior of the director and was signed after the pair had a mutual interest for working on short films.


Filming

The film was predominantly shot in October and November 2015, over a short period of 28 days in and around
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 ...
,
Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...
and
Ooty Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and so ...
.


Music

The film's soundtrack consists of two songs composed by
Jakes Bejoy Jakes Bejoy (born 27 May 1984) is an Indian film score composer, music producer, and singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, but has also worked in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages. He started his film musical career as a singer, i ...
, which had lyrics written by
Vivek Vivek (or Bibek/Bivek in some regions) (विवेक in Devanagari script) is a masculine given name that is popular in South Asia, particularly in India and Nepal. It is of Sanskrit origin and means "wisdom" and/or "conscience". Vivek may refe ...
and Mani Amudhavan.


Release

The film's first look was released by director
Gautham Vasudev Menon Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. He has also directed Telugu cinema, Telugu and Hindi cinema, Hindi films th ...
through a poster in January 2016, while
R. Madhavan Ranganathan Madhavan (born 1 June 1970) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who predominantly appears in Tamil and Hindi films. Madhavan has won four Filmfare Awards South and three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. Madhava ...
and
A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
released a further poster and the trailer of the film, respectively, during August 2016. Prior to the theatrical release of the film, Rahman screened the film for his friends in the film industry. The film was theatrically released across Tamil Nadu on 29 December 2016, alongside seven other films and played initially in 95 screens. However, by the first show, the film started receiving a good response, and positive word-of-mouth meant that 160 screens played the film in its second week. Furthermore, the film was moved from smaller halls in cinemas to the biggest main screens in several multiplexes across Chennai. It subsequently went on to become a commercial success at the box office, with Sify.com stating it was a "multiplex super hit". Following the release of the film, it received widespread critical acclaim with several Indian actors and technicians praising the venture. Rahman praised the team and stated he was "left in awe at the efforts of the youthful brigade, and things fell in place as if it was programmed that way" and noted that "the success should inspire other directors to think out of the box". Leading Tamil film technicians including
A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
,
Shankar Shankar may refer to: People * Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * San ...
,
AR Murugadoss Murugadoss Arunasalam (born 25 September 1974), commonly known as A. R. Murugadoss, is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry. He is best known for directing action films mainly on ...
and
Karthik Subbaraj Karthik Subbaraj is an Indian film director, writer and producer working mainly in Tamil cinema. Life and career Karthik did his schooling in SBOA Matriculation and Higher Secondary School, Madurai after which he went on to study Mechatron ...
tweeted appreciating the film, as did actors such as Vijay,
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 ...
,
Sivakarthikeyan Sivakarthikeyan (born 17 February 1985), also referred to as SK, is an Indian actor, singer, film producer, lyricist, and television presenter, who works predominantly in Tamil films. He has also won a Tamil Nadu State Film Award, four Edison A ...
,
Rana Daggubati Ramanaidu "Rana" Daggubati (; born 14 December 1984) is an Indian actor and producer known primarily for his work in Telugu language films, in addition to Hindi and Tamil languages. Rana is described as one of the few actors in India who were ...
and
Prashanth Prashanth Thiagarajan (born 6 April 1973), known professionally as Prashanth, is an Indian actor and businessman, known for his works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil films, he has also appeared in few Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam fi ...
.


Dubs

It was dubbed and released in Telugu as ''16- Every Detail Counts'' alongside Tamil. In 2019, its Hindi dubbed version was released as ''D-16''. The Hindi version's satellite rights belong to Star India and the digital rights are acquired by Disney+ Hotstar.


Reception


Critical response

In his review for
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 ...
, film critic Baradwaj Rangan gave the film a positive review and concluded that ''Dhruvangal Pathinaaru'' was "a procedural with solid writing, first-rate filmmaking", adding that the director had "announced that he’s a filmmaker". Similarly, The New Indian Express gave the film a very positive review stating "an eminently watchable suspense- thriller, ''Dhruvangal Pathinaaru'' has a universal sensibility and a feel that makes Tamil cinema proud", while also singling out Rahman stating he gave a "truly brilliant performance and the best in his career". Sify.com wrote it was a "well executed whodunit murder mystery" and added that the film "engages us throughout and keep throwing surprises till the end". Likewise, Behindwoods.com noted that it was "an engaging thriller with an impressive storyline" and that "Karthick is a director to look out for". Indiaglitz.com stated it was a "fantastic thriller", concluding "''D16'' is surely the surprise end package to the year 2016, a good finish from a logically sound and promising director supported by a good cast and fine technicalities". The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu as ''D16'' was released in March 2017, after plans to remake it was dropped.


Box office

The film collected , to 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 ...
in ten days. Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, made on a shoe-string budget of around ₹2.5 crore, is said to have earned a distributor's share of ₹3.5 crore from Tamil Nadu theatricals alone. Add another ₹3 crore for digital, satellite and remake rights (Hindi and Telugu), and it can be termed a superhit in terms of return on investment


Spin-off

In 2017, Karthick Naren announced that his upcoming directorial venture '' Naragasooran'' would be the second of a "thriller trilogy" of films that began with ''Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru'', and set in the same
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...
as the latter film.


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, 6380520 2016 films 2016 crime thriller films 2010s Tamil-language films 2016 crime drama films Indian crime drama films Indian crime thriller films Indian detective films Indian nonlinear narrative films Films shot in Chennai Films shot in Coimbatore Films shot in Ooty Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police 2010s police procedural films Films scored by Jakes Bejoy Tamil films remade in other languages 2016 directorial debut films Films directed by Karthick Naren