Chennai City Gangsters

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Chennai City Gangsters
Chennai City Gangsters.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byVikram Rajeshwar
Arun Keshav
Written byVikram Rajeshwar
Produced byBobby Balachandran
Starring
CinematographyTijo Tomy
Edited bySuresh A Prasad
Music by D. Imman
Production
company
BTG Universal
Release date
  • 20 June 2025 (2025-06-20)
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Box officeest.9.7 crore [1]

Chennai City Gangsters is a 2025 Indian Tamil-language comedy heist film written by Vikram Rajeshwar and directed along with Arun Keshav and produced by Bobby Balachandran under his BTG Universal banner. [2] The film stars Vaibhav, Athulya Ravi and Manikandan Rajesh in the lead roles, alongside an ensemble cast including Anandaraj, Livingston, Rajendran, John Vijay, Redin Kingsley, and Ilavarasu in supporting roles. [3] The film has music scored by D. Imman, cinematography handled by Tijo Tomy, and editing by Suresh A Prasad.

Contents

Chennai City Gangsters released in theatres on 20 June 2025.

Plot

Paandi and Poochi, lifelong friends and petty thieves, are raised by Pasupathy, a former drug peddler and thief turned businessman who now owns a pizza restaurant. Psycho Salim, a retired goon, is planning a fake robbery worth ₹2 crore at his house to claim the insurance money. He enlists Pasupathy's help, asking him to keep the jewels safe and promising to return Pasupathy's cash and jewels once the insurance money is received. Pasupathy tasks Paandi and Poochi with carrying out the fake robbery at Psycho Salim's house. However, the duo gets the door number wrong and ends up at Door No. 56 instead of 65, where they brutally beat up the occupant, Inspector Aabathu, a police officer. After being reprimanded by Pasupathy, Paandi and Poochi proceed to Psycho Salim's house and complete the robbery. During their celebratory drinking spree, they transfer the looted money to a new backpack, and Paandi buys an identical bag and hands it over to a rag picker. Unbeknownst to them, a rag picker mistakes Paandi's bag for his own and takes it, leaving Paandi and Poochi with a bag full of trash.

Meanwhile, Paandi harbors unrequited love for Jennifer "Jenny," Pasupathy's France-returned daughter and their childhood friend. The police investigation into the theft at Psycho Salim's house is led by none other than Inspector Aabathu, who was beaten by Paandi and Poochi earlier. Nettai, who was saved by Paandi and Poochi in a bar fight, reaches out to them for help in retrieving the lost money. They, in turn, contact four former gangsters: Memory Dass, who suffers from memory loss; Dhamuthara "Damar" Lal, a deaf gangster; Kudi Kumar, a drunkard; and Split Soosai, a gangster with split memory who thinks he's also a policeman. These four eccentric gangsters agree to help Paandi and Poochi. Initially, Paandi and Poochi plan to loot a jewelry shop with these four aged gangsters. However, their disabilities and carelessness foil the plan, leading Paandi and Poochi to abandon the idea in frustration.

Later, Paandi returns to the aged gangsters as they reveal their plan to loot the World Oriental Wealth (WOW) Bank. The gangsters had previously attempted to rob the bank with the help of the bank's manager, Dharman, who provided them with the floor plan. However, Dharman betrayed them, and they were arrested. During their prison term, they developed various disabilities due to fear and torture. Feeling sympathetic towards the aged gangsters, Paandi decides to cooperate with them to loot the bank and exact revenge on Dharman. To execute their plan, they set up a fake pizza shop near the bank, using Jenny as a front. From this shop, they begin digging a 1.5km long subway leading to the bank's locker, which is already 50% complete.

Minister Sengundran's private videos have been leaked, and the person holding the videos is threatening him. Sengundran seeks Inspector Aabathu's help to delete the video and eliminate the threat. Before Aabathu can capture the person, he dies from a dog attack. Aabathu learns that the private videos are on a pen drive hidden in the WOW Bank locker. Aabathu plans to set up a fake robbery attempt at the bank, allowing him to take charge and retrieve the pen drive. Meanwhile, Pasupathy learns that Paandi and Poochi have lost Psycho Salim's ₹2 crore money and, fearing Salim's wrath, joins them to dig a subway to the bank. As they dig intensely, they finally reach below WOW Bank. Before entering the bank, Split Soosai suggests kidnapping Dharman's daughter, Priya. Paandi and his team kidnap Priya, who is planning to elope with her boyfriend. However, Paandi decides to reunite Priya with her lover, and Jenny confesses her feelings for Paandi after witnessing his good deed. Memory Dass forgets about the kidnapping plan and starts cooking at Dharman's house. Later, he remembers and kidnaps Priya again, leading to a ransom demand of ₹1 crore from Dharman.

The rag picker opens the bag and finds it filled with money and jewels, and places them in his locker at WOW Bank. Meanwhile, Paandi and his team sneak into the locker room, and Aabathu's fake theft team also enters the bank. With the expertise of the 4 aged gangsters, they open the locker, and Paandi retrieves his lost bag containing ₹2 crore, which the rag picker had just placed there a few minutes ago. They further loot the locker, and Sengundran's pen drive is mistakenly taken by Paandi during the loot. Before Aabathu arrives to take control of the bank locker, Paandi and his team escape with the money via the subway, but Split Soosai gets caught and his split personality behavior emerges, causing him to behave like a police officer. Meanwhile, Paandi loses Sengundran's pen drive, which is picked up by a group of transgender people on the road. They hand it over to Sengundran's PA, who mistakenly plays the minister's private video in front of a public gathering, making it go viral.

Psycho Salim apprehends Pasupathy and his family for losing his money. Paandi and Poochi arrive just in time with the money, freeing them from Psycho Salim's clutches. Aabathu and the police team arrive to retrieve the pen drive, unaware that Sengundran's video has already gone viral. During the fight, Jenny proposes her love to Paandi. A shootout and a fight ensue between Paandi's team and the police. Just as they realize the chaos, a news report states that the Indian currency notes have been completely devalued, rendering their entire looted money worthless. Paandi's team then remembers the ransom jewels given by Dharman, which are kept near a highway stone. However, before they can retrieve them, the same rag picker takes the bag containing the jewels.

Cast

Production

Development

On 24 October 2023, actor Vaibhav who was then last seen in Buffoon (2022) announced his untitled project directed by the debutant duo brothers Vikram Rajeshwar and Arun Keshav and produced by Bobby Balachandran under BTG Universal headed by Dr. M. Manoj Beno. [3] The film marks the first time collaboration of the brothers Vaibhav and Sunil Reddy [9] sharing screenspace together and the film's director Vikram Rajeshwar who had earlier worked on advertisements was revealed to be the son of an acclaimed Tamil filmmaker and screenwriter K. Rajeshwar known for the classics Idhaya Thamarai (1990), Amaran (1992) and Kovilpatti Veeralakshmi (2003) as director and for Panneer Pushpangal (1981), Kadalora Kavithaigal (1986) and Seevalaperi Pandi (1994) as writer. [10]

Athulya Ravi [11] was announced to play the female lead along with an ensemble cast including Anandaraj, [6] Rajendran, [7] John Vijay, [8] Redin Kingsley and Ilavarasu in this romantic heist comedy film. [2] Music composer D. Imman, editor Suresh A Prasad and cinematographer Tijo Tomy were chosen for the technical crew. [12]

Filming

Principal photography began on 25 October 2023, and was planned in two schedules for 35 days and to wrap the filming by December with major portions being shot in places in and around Chennai. [12] On 13 April 2024, the makers announced that the entire filming had been wrapped up. [13]

Music

Chennai City Gangsters
Soundtrack album by
StudioD.Imman’s Sound Factory (Audio suite A and B), Chennai
Genre Feature film soundtrack
LanguageTamil
Label BTG Music
Producer D. Imman
D. Imman chronology
Eleven
(2025)
Chennai City Gangsters
(2025)
Singles from Chennai City Gangsters
  1. "Meyya Mummari"
    Released: 21 August 2024
  2. "My Maima (Promo Song)"
    Released: 21 September 2024
  3. "O Meri Jaan"
    Released: 24 October 2024

The music and background score is composed by D. Imman. The first single "Meyya Mummari" lyrical video was released on 21 August 2024 [14] and the video song was released on 29 August 2024. [15] The audio launch was held on 18 September 2024 in Chennai. [16] The promo song "My Maima" was released on 21 September 2024, and had lyrics written by Super Subu and Ofro, with Ofro also singing along with Gaana Guna and Gaana Dharani. [17] The third single "O Meri Jaan" was released on 24 October 2024. [18]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Singer(s)Length
1."Meyya Mummari"Karthik Netha Karthik 3:35
2."My Maima (Promo Song)"Super Subu, OfroGaana Guna, Gaana Dharani, Ofro3:36
3."O Meri Jaan"Karunakaran Vijay Prakash, Chinmayi Sripada 3:24

Marketing

On 25 December 2023, the project's title Chennai City Gangsters, [4] a callback to the famous song of Anirudh Ravichander from the film Vanakkam Chennai (2013) was announced through a first-look poster. [19] On 27 March 2024, a one-minute long motion poster showing a gang digging to loot a bank, and a wanted list poster following a chase scene was released along with the second-look poster. [20] Following an audio launch event, the teaser was released on 18 August 2024. [21] [22] The makers began releasing the individual character reveal posters from 3 September 2024. [5] The film trailer was released on 7 October 2024. [23]

Release

Theatrical

Chennai City Gangsters released in theatres on 20 June 2025. [24]

Reception

Abhinav Subramanian of The Times of India gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Director Vikram Rajeshwar seems to operate on quantity over quality, firing jokes like a malfunctioning comedy cannon. The film treats its plot as optional scaffolding for sketch comedy, but forgets that even sketch comedy needs timing." [25] Jayabhuvaneshwari B of Cinema Express gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "The setups are promising, but the punchlines fizzle out before they can crack the vault of real humour. In the end, Chennai City Gangsters feels like a heist movie where the biggest thing stolen is the audience’s time, with no getaway car in sight." [26]

References

  1. "Chennai City Gangsters Day 9 Box Office Collection Worldwide". Filmivilla. 29 June 2025. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
  2. 1 2 M, Suganth (26 October 2023). "Vaibhav and Athulya to star in a romantic heist comedy". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  3. 1 2 Sundar, Anusha (26 October 2023). "Vaibhav's next goes on floors". The Indian Express . Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Vaibhav's character poster from Chennai City Gangsters out". Cinema Express . 3 September 2024. Archived from the original on 3 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Character poster of Athulya Ravi from Chennai City Gangsters out". Cinema Express . 3 September 2024. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Anand Raj to play Split Soosai in Chennai City Gangsters". Cinema Express . 5 September 2024. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  7. 1 2 "Rajendran is Memory Dass in Vaibhav's Chennai City Gangsters". Cinema Express . 5 September 2024. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  8. 1 2 "John Vijay to play Damar Lal in Chennai City Gangsters". Cinema Express . 6 September 2024. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 "சுனில் ரெட்டி மற்றும் மணிகண்டனின் கதாப்பாத்திர போஸ்டர் - சென்னை சிட்டி கேங்ஸ்டர்ஸ்". Maalaimalar (in Tamil). 8 September 2024. Archived from the original on 8 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  10. Rajaraman, Kaushik (26 October 2023). "This script intrigued me when I re-read it: Vikram Rajeshwar". DTNext. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  11. Mullapilly, Sreejith (22 August 2024). "'Like Simran, I would love to explore a variety of roles': Actor Athulya Ravi". The Indian Express . Archived from the original on 22 August 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  12. 1 2 Sundar, Anusha (25 October 2023). "Actor Vaibhav's next launched". Cinema Express . Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  13. "Shooting wrapped for Vaibhav-Athulya Ravi starrer Chennai City Gangsters". Cinema Express . 13 April 2023. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  14. "First single promo of Chennai City Gangsters out". Cinema Express . 20 August 2024. Archived from the original on 22 August 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  15. "'Meyya Mummari' video song from Chennai City Gangsters out". Cinema Express . 29 August 2024. Archived from the original on 29 August 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  16. "சென்னை சிட்டி கேங்ஸ்டர்ஸ் படத்தின் டீசர் மற்றும் இசை வெளியீட்டு விழா நடைப்பெற்றது". Maalaimalar (in Tamil). 18 August 2024. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  17. "'My Maima' from Vaibhav-Athulya Ravi's Chennai City Gangsters out". Cinema Express . 21 September 2024. Archived from the original on 21 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  18. Kumar, Akshay (24 October 2024). "'O Meri Jaan' from Vaibhav-Athulya's Chennai City Gangsters out". Cinema Express. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  19. "Vaibhav & Athulya Ravi's film title 'Chennai City Gangsters'". The Times of India . 26 December 2023. Archived from the original on 27 December 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  20. "Vaibhav starrer 'Chennai City Gangsters' motion poster out!". The Times of India . 28 March 2024. Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  21. "Vaibhav & Athulya Ravi's 'Chennai City Gangsters' teaser". The Times of India . 19 August 2024. Archived from the original on 20 August 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  22. "Chennai City Gangsters Teaser: Small-time gangster diaries". Cinema Express . 18 August 2024. Archived from the original on 29 August 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  23. "Vaibhav & Athulya Ravi's 'Chennai City Gangsters' trailer". The Times of India . 7 October 2024. ISSN   0971-8257. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  24. Kumar, Akshay (5 May 2025). "Vaibhav-Athulya Ravi's Chennai City Gangsters gets a release date". Cinema Express . Archived from the original on 13 May 2025. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  25. "Chennai City Gangsters Movie Review: Gangsters without the gang or the stars". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  26. B, Jayabhuvaneshwari (20 June 2025). "Chennai City Gangsters Movie Review: A comedy of errors, minus the comedy". Cinema Express. Retrieved 21 June 2025.