Kaththi

''Kaththi'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by AR Murugadoss. It is produced by Subaskaran Allirajah's Lyca Productions. The film stars Vijay in dual roles alongside Samantha, Neil Nitin Mukesh (in his Tamil debut), Tota Roy Chowdhury, Sathish, Sudip Mukherjee, Rama, and Jeeva Ravi. In the film, a petty thief assumes the identity of his lookalike and attempts to lead a rebellion by farmers from the latter's village, Thanoothu, and helps them fight against an entrepreneur who exploited Thanoothu's water resources.

The film was officially announced in November 2013, and principal photography took place between February and September 2014. Primarily shot across Chennai, it was also filmed in Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Begumpet, Nellore. The cinematography was handled by George C. Williams, and the film was edited by A. Sreekar Prasad. The music is composed by Anirudh Ravichander. The film marks the Tamil debuts of Mukesh and Chowdhury.

Made on a budget of 70 crore, ''Kaththi'' was released worldwide on 22 October 2014, coinciding with Diwali, and received critical acclaim. Before the film's release, it faced controversies for plagiarism allegations, and the business link of Subaskaran, the film's producer, with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, which resulted in Tamil fringe groups protesting against the film. Despite this, the film was a commercial success, grossing around , and was remade into Telugu as '' Khaidi No. 150'' (2017). ''Kaththi'' is the second highest-grossing Tamil movie of 2014.

A recipient of various accolades, the film won three out of seven nominations at the Filmfare Awards South, including the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil. It won four SIIMA (including Best Film) and two Vijay Awards ( Favourite Film and Favourite Director for Murugadoss). Additionally, the film won an IIFA Utsavam and Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards each, three Edison Awards and a nomination for Best Social Awareness at the Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards before eventually losing to '' Sigaram Thodu'' (2014).

Plot

In Kolkata, Kathiresan "Kathir" is a prisoner who helps the police capture an escaping prisoner, Vivek Banerjee, but escapes afterwards. In Chennai, Kathir plans to run away to Bangkok with his friend Ravi. However, he drops this plan after falling in love with Ankitha. Later, Kathir and Ravi notice thugs shooting Jeevanandham "Jeeva", who resembles Kathir. They admit him to a hospital, and Kathir decides to impersonate Jeeva to avoid the police. Under Jeeva's name, Kathir and Ravi enter a retirement home run by Jeeva, planning to steal for their Bangkok trip until Kathir learns about Jeeva's mission.

Jeeva was a communist ideologue and post-graduate in hydrology from the arid village of Thanoothu in Tirunelveli district who had discovered groundwater under some lands of the hamlet. The villagers could use the water as an irrigation source for the entire Tirunelveli district and the neighbouring Thoothukudi district. However, a greedy entrepreneur, Shirag, tricked the villagers into giving their lands for factory construction. Jeeva got arrested, and six villagers committed suicide to bring this news to the forefront of the media and get Jeeva released.

Moved by Jeeva's past, Kathir takes up the cause for the villagers while still posing as Jeeva. The people of the retirement home and Kathir go to the jury to convince them in their favour, but Kathir starts stating rules and scares the main jury person (whom Shirag had bribed). Kathir then sends a person disguised as a hairdresser to Shirag and makes him lay a fingerprint on Shirag's neck. After that, Shirag sends fifty men to kill Kathir, but he defeats them. Meanwhile, Jeeva finds himself in the Kolkata prison. With the help of Vivek, who has heard his story and plans to kill Kathir, he escapes with Vivek's henchmen. Unaware that Jeeva is heading for Chennai with Vivek's henchmen, Kathir attempts to convince the media to bring the villagers' plight to national consciousness.

A few days later, at the Madras High Court, the judge declares the verdict in favour of Jeeva and the villagers but adds that Shirag has claimed that certain villagers working abroad have shown their support for the factory. If they cannot prove that Shirag faked their support within the next five days, the verdict will go in Shirag's favour. Since the villagers who have denied supporting the factory are abroad and cannot come to Chennai so soon to rebut Shirag's claims, Kathir decides to take drastic measures to sensationalise the issue. He, Ankitha, Ravi, and the retirement home inmates block the water supply to Chennai by sitting on the pipelines. A few days after the plight of the Chennai people gained national attention, Kathir emerges and highlights the villagers' plight to the media. His speech is broadcast nationwide.

Kathir discovers that Jeeva has escaped and is searching for him. Meanwhile, Jeeva and Vivek's henchmen reach Chennai, but Shirag's henchmen kidnap Jeeva. While in Shirag's custody, he sees Kathir's speech on television and feels moved by his efforts to help the villagers. On the eve before the verdict, a phone call exposes Kathir's bluff, but Kathir promises the villagers that he will surely help them. He tells them that Jeeva is alive and will rescue him from Shirag. Kathir goes to Shirag's office, rescues Jeeva, and kills Shirag.

The next day, the judge declares the verdict in favour of Jeeva and the villagers. Despite the success, Kathir does not take part in the ensuing celebrations. Instead, he surrenders to the police after promising Ankitha, who has fallen in love with him, that he will marry her once he is released.

Cast

Production

Development

In February 2013, director AR Murugadoss confirmed that he would collaborate with actor Vijay again, after the success of their '' Thuppakki'' (2012). By that July, the scripting was in its final stage, and filming was planned to begin in late-2013, after Vijay completing the shooting for ''Jilla'', and Murugadoss' completion on the Hindi remake of ''Thuppakki'', titled '' Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty'' (2014).

The project was officially confirmed by Murugadoss on mid-November 2013, through his Twitter page. Subaskaran Allirajah, a British-Sri Lankan based Tamil entrepreneur, agreed to become the major investor in the film, by producing it under his newly backed film distribution and production company Lyca Productions. The film eventually became the first production of the company, with Ayngaran International co-producing.

Murugadoss replaced his usual music composer Harris Jayaraj with Anirudh Ravichander signing for the project. George C. Williams, who worked on the director's production '' Raja Rani'' (2013), was signed as the cinematographer. Art director Lalgudi N. Ilayaraja was selected to handle the production design. The film was earlier rumoured to be titled as ''Dheeran'' and ''Vaal''. However, in March 2014, Murugadoss confirmed that the film would be titled ''Kaththi'' and that it was scheduled to be released on Diwali. In June 2014, Murugadoss speaking in an interview, dismissed claims of being a gangster film, and Vijay playing father-son role in the film, and added that the film will be set in Chennai.

Casting

Murugadoss stated that Vijay will play dual roles in the film, and his character names were revealed as Kathiresan and Jeevanantham. In September 2013, even before the film was officially announced, Samantha Ruth Prabhu was reportedly selected as the female lead in September 2013. Speaking about her role in the film, Murugadoss stated that "Samantha has exceeded my expectations for the role ..She always carries a smiling face and bring a lot of energy on the sets and has added more flavor to every scene."

Bengali actor Tota Roy Chowdhury was signed for an antagonistic role in February 2014. In March 2014, Neil Nitin Mukesh was selected to play the main antagonist, making his debut in Tamil cinema. Neil was inspired by his look in his debut film, '' Johnny Gaddaar'' (2007). He described his character as one who does not "fight the hero with physical power, but with intelligence". He learned Tamil for his role, as he did not want to speak his dialogues without understanding their meaning. Neil had lost weight for the role and modelled his looks to be along the lines of the American actor Brad Pitt and the English footballer David Beckham.

Filming

The film was launched in Kolkata on 3 February 2014 by Lyca Productions with a pooja ceremony in front of the Kalighat Kali Temple, after which principal photography began. A fight sequence was canned in this schedule for seven days, and later the team returned to Chennai on 10 February 2014, for a song shoot which took place at Chennai International Airport from 14 to 17 February, with special permissions being procured to shoot at the runway. On 20 February, the team headed to Hyderabad for shooting a major 30-day schedule at Rajahmundry and Begumpet. After a break for two-weeks, shooting resumed on 13 March in Hyderabad with another song being shot at Ramoji Film City.

A climax sequence featuring Vijay and Neil, made at a cost of was shot at Nellore in mid-April. The film was then shot in Pushpa Gardens in Chennai, where a huge set which costed around was erected and most of the indoor scenes were completed in this set. Shooting continued for a 40-day-long schedule in and around the city by 2 June 2014. In between, Murugadoss, took a break to promote his then upcoming Hindi film, ''Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty'' in Mumbai. After Murugadoss returned to Chennai on 8 June, followed by location scouting, shooting of the film resumed, the following day. On 26 June 2014, the team headed to Kadapa for a 12-day schedule. By July 2014, 60 percent of the film's shoot had been completed.

The final leg of the film began on 1 August 2014 in Chennai. In late August 2014, 15 days of filming, including patch-work and a few fight sequences, remained. Filming moved back to Hyderabad, where the rest of the fight sequences were canned. On 1 September 2014, the second half of the film was nearly completed. Additional filming took place at the Chennai Central railway station. On 4 September 2014, Neil Nitin Mukesh dubbed in Tamil himself for his role and completed his dubbing portions for the first half of the film. The climax sequences were shot in Nellore

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