Maariyappan "Maari" is a fun-loving gangster whose sidekicks are Sanikkizhamai and Robert, alias Adithangi (punching bag). Maari is chased around by Araathu Aanandi, an auto rickshaw driver who is totally in love with him. However, despite her efforts, he does not give her a second glance and constantly shows his annoyance toward her.
Meanwhile, gangster Gangadhar Beeja alias "Thanatos" escapes from prison after killing two officers. He is out for vengeance against Maari as his brother, a defence lawyer, promised to get Beeja released from prison. However, his brother is killed at the hands of Maari as the former tried to molest Aanandi's elder sister (unknown to Beeja). This is why Aanandi loves Maari. While returning from a party, Maari is attacked and Aanandi takes him to the hospital and takes care of him. Kalai's brother Vallavan is shown to be cooperating with Singayya, who has formed an alliance with Beeja to overthrow Maari.
Per Beeja's plan, Vallavan asks Sani to send Aanandi for a job, which turns out to be drug smuggling. She unknowingly goes to do the job and gets caught by Kalai. Upon being confronted, she tells him that Maari asked her to do it. This sparks doubt for Kalai. Vallavan is caught by Maari carrying drugs, and when Maari confronts Kalai, a fight erupts. Maari and his sidekicks set fire to all the drugs, and Beeja kills Vallavan, making it look as though Maari killed him. Kalai becomes enraged and orders his men to kill Maari, who is injured in the battle. Beeja reveals himself as the perpetrator and shoots Maari, but he is saved by Aanandi, who takes the bullet for him, which ends up in her spinal cord, paralysing her for life.
Vijaya Chamundeshwari is the newly appointed District Collector, who comes out to restore order and stop all gang violence. Maari goes into hiding with Aanandi, whose legs are paralysed. Eight years pass, and Beeja and Kalai have grown to become powerful gangsters, but when Kalai has a chance to become a legislative candidate of the ruling party, Beeja takes the opportunity to threaten Kalai and his family. Vijaya, now the Deputy Home Secretary, in an effort to find Maari, posts his picture along with Aanandi's in newspapers. Maari meets Vijaya and requests that she remove the photos. He then reveals that he was living in Tenkasi with an elderly couple.
Maari and Aanandi get married, Aanandi gets pregnant, and a healthy baby boy is born. However, due to complications from paralysis, Aanandi dies minutes after childbirth. Maari then raises the boy, called Kaali, with help from the old couple, Sani and Robert. Kaali is shown to have inherited Maari's behaviour and keeps picking fights in school. Maari then requests Vijaya stop coming after him as he has changed his ways. When Kaali sees some students teasing a teacher, he complains about them to the principal. In retribution, the boys chase and attack him, only to get beaten by Kaali. The local council member, who is also the father of one of the boys, summons Kaali in order to beat him up, but Maari goes and begs for forgiveness.
Meanwhile, the city police commissioner mentions to the media that there is an informant within Beeja's gang. Using his moles in the police department, Beeja tries to figure out who the mole is but fails. It is then revealed that there was no mole and that the whole story was fabricated to identify corrupt policemen in the department, including the commissioner. Further, it is revealed that Beeja has had ties with the commissioner and was the mole himself.[contradictory] He had been leaking information about his men in order to clear his name and become a candidate.
It is also revealed that despite begging for forgiveness, the counsellor insists on his son beating up Kaali, and so Maari beats up the counsellor and his henchmen. In a final encounter, the police turn against Beeja. Maari fights Beeja and paralyses him for revenge for Aanandi and reveals to him that Maari killed his brother to prevent him from killing Beeja for his wealth. Soon, Beeja gets sentenced to life in prison, and Maari is shown with his sidekicks, continuing his old life and reuniting with Kalai.
Following the release of Maari, director Balaji Mohan announced the sequel in November 2015, with Dhanush again in the lead, and also hinted that the film would begin shooting from January 2016.[2] The film's script was finalised in December 2016.[3] In September 2017, Balaji said via a tweet that the film would be a bilingual film in Tamil and Telugu;[4] however, the Telugu version was later dropped.[citation needed]
Casting
On 24 September 2017, it was announced that Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas had joined the cast, portraying the antagonist.[5] A few days later, Sai Pallavi was finalised as the heroine.[6] Later, actor Krishna joined the cast on 7 October 2017,[7] and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar joined the cast in December 2017.[8]
Anirudh Ravichander, who composed for the film's first installment, was expected to join its successor. However, Mohan announced in December 2017 that Yuvan Shankar Raja would be the composer of Maari 2.[9]Om Prakash and Prasanna GK were retained as the cinematographer and editor respectively, following their work on the original film. A.Amaran was signed as the art director, replacing R.K.Vijaimurugan, who had handled art direction for the original.
Filming
The film's puja ceremony took place on 14 December 2017,[10] and principal photography began on 22 January 2018.[11] The first filming schedule took place in Tenkasi.[12] Varalaxmi began shooting for her portions in mid-February.[13] The makers completed 40% of the filming before a strike by the Tamil Film Producers Council occurred on 16 March 2018,[14] with shooting resuming in April after the strike was called off.[15] The music sequence for "Rowdy Baby" was filmed on 2 August, under the supervision of dance choreographer Prabhu Deva.[16] After the sequence was filmed, the makers wrapped principal photography on 24 August 2018.[17]
Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the soundtrack album and background score for Maari 2, collaborating with Dhanush again after a 10-year hiatus, since their last film Yaaradi Nee Mohini (2008). The album also marks the composer's first collaboration with Balaji Mohan. The audio rights to the film are secured by the production house's subsidiary audio label Wunderbar Studios, with Divo as their digital partner. The album features three tracks written by Dhanush and Raja himself and was released on 5 November 2018, except for "Rowdy Baby", sung by Dhanush and Dhee, which was released as a single on 25 October 2018.
The music video for the single was released on YouTube in January 2019 and received positive reviews for the choreography as well as its cinematography. On September 24, 2023, the song became the first South Indian film song to clock over 1.5 billion views on YouTube.[18] The other two songs written by Dhanush or Raja, "Maari Gethu" sung by Dhanush, Chinnaponnu, V.M. Mahalingam and Yuvan Shankar Raja, with lyrics penned by the latter and "Maari's Anandhi", written by Dhanush, and sung by Ilaiyaraaja and M. M. Manasi, were released as a part of the album.
Maari 2 was released on 21 December 2018.[19] Srivatsan of The Hindu called the film a significant improvement over its predecessor, but criticised its second half, and overuse of characters.[20] Anusha Iyengar of Times Now also called the film significantly better than its predecessor, especially with regards to Dhanush's performance and also praised the treatment of Tovino Thomas and Sai Pallavi's characters, but criticised the use of slow motion in the majority of fight scenes and felt the plot was becoming predictable.[21] M. Suganth of The Times of India rated the film 2.5 stars out of 5, appreciating the "dignified" treatment of Sai Pallavi's character, but felt Varalakshmi was underutilised, and criticised the film's second half.[22]
Abdul Haliq is an Indian composer and playback singer, who continues to use his birth name professionally. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Western music elements and often credited with having introduced hip hop to the Tamil film and music industry and started the "era of remixes" in Tamil Nadu which included mixed EDM and jazz. He is frequently referred to as the "BGM King" and the "Young Maestro" of Tamil Film Music. Yuvan has won two Filmfare Awards South, five Mirchi Music Awards South, three Vijay Awards and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.
Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja, known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, lyricist and playback singer who primarily works in Tamil cinema. Having starred in 50 films over his career, his accolades include four National Film Awards, fourteen SIIMA Awards, eight Filmfare Awards South and a Filmfare Award. One of the highest paid actors in Indian cinema, he has been included in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list six times.
The Tamil Filmfare Best Male Playback Award is given by the Filmfare magazine for best playback singer as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Tamil films. The award was first presented in 2005 with Karthik as winner.
Revathy, known by her stage name Kadhal Sandhya, is an Indian former actress who appeared mainly in Tamil film industry and in a few Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films.
Yuvan – Live in Concert is a concert by Indian musician Yuvan Shankar Raja. The concert, Yuvan's second in his career, took place on Pongal, 16 January 2011 at the YMCA Grounds, Nandanam, Chennai. Following the announcement, popular Tamil television STAR Vijay agreed to collaborate, sponsoring, organising and marketing the concert, while airing a special television series about Yuvan Shankar Raja, with family members and prominent celebrities closely associated to him participating, besides producing a promotional music video, titled "I'll be there for you". The five-hour show, which was attended by 20,000 people, including several noted film personalities, was received very positively and considered a highly successful event. The concert was aired on 11 and 12 February, Friday and Saturday at 2000 hrs on Vijay TV.
Balaji Mohan is an Indian filmmaker and actor in Tamil-language films. After discontinuing his engineering studies to pursue his passion for becoming a director, he enrolled at a film academy and attended courses and workshops, besides participating in short film contests. After shooting more than half a dozen short films, he directed his first full-length film, a romantic comedy Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi based on one of his own short films.
Varalaxmi Sarathkumar is an Indian actress who appears in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. She made her debut with the Tamil film Podaa Podi (2012).
Maari is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Balaji Mohan, jointly produced by Listin Stephen and Radhika's Magic Frames and Dhanush's Wunderbar Films. The film stars Dhanush, singer Vijay Yesudas, and Kajal Aggarwal, while Robo Shankar, Kalloori Vinoth, Kaali Venkat, and Mime Gopi play supporting roles. Dhanush plays Maari, a local gangster. This film also marks Vijay Yesudas's Tamil debut.
Sai Pallavi Senthamarai Kannan is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films. She has received numerous accolades, including six Filmfare Awards South and two South Indian International Movie Awards. She was featured by Forbes magazine as one of India's 30 Under 30 in 2020.
Padaiveeran (transl. Soldier) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Dhana. The film stars Vijay Yesudas and debutant Amritha Aiyer, with Bharathiraja and Akhil in supporting roles. The film features music composed by Karthik Raja, editing by Bhuvan Srinivasan, and cinematography by Rajavel Mohan. Padaiveeran was released on 2 February 2018.
Natpudan Apsara (Tamil: நட்புடன் அப்சரா; is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language talk show that aired every Saturday on Thanthi TV from 13 July 2013 to 1 January 2014, for 26 episodes. The show is hosted by Apsara 2356, This is the Second TV show in India hosted by a transgender person.
Sandakozhi 2 is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by N. Linguswamy. A sequel to Sandakozhi, the film stars Vishal and Rajkiran reprising their roles from the first film, alongside Keerthy Suresh and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar. It also happens to be Vishal's 25th film. The film began production during September 2017 and was released on 18 October 2018.
Kanni Raasi (transl. Virgo) is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Muthukumaran and produced by Shameem Ibraham. The film stars Vimal and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, with Pandiarajan, Yogi Babu, Kaali Venkat and Robo Shankar amongst others in supporting roles.
Kalloori Vinoth is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films.
Kazhugu 2 is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language comedy thriller film written and directed by Sathyasiva, starring Krishna and Bindu Madhavi. It is the sequel to the 2012 film, Kazhugu. It was produced by Singaravelan under the banner Madhukkoor films. The music was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The film was released on 1 August 2019 to below average reviews. The Hindi dubbed version was telecast on Dhinchaak TV channel As A Shatir Chor on 22 June 2020.
"Rowdy Baby" is a Tamil language song composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja for the soundtrack of the 2018 action comedy film Maari 2 and sung by Dhanush alongside Dhee. The song was officially released on 28 November 2018 as a single from the film.
Naane Varuvean is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language horror thriller film directed by Selvaraghavan and produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu under V Creations. The film stars Dhanush in dual roles as the hero and villain, alongside Indhuja Ravichandran, Elli AvrRam, Prabhu, and Yogi Babu, while Selvaraghavan makes a cameo appearance.
Aranthangi Nisha is an Indian actress and comedian who predominantly works in Tamil film and television. She is known for appearing in films such as Maari 2 (2018), Aan Devathai and Thiruchitrambalam (2022). She has also performed in more than 800 stage shows as a comedian.
Super Singer Season 9 is a 2022-2023 Indian Tamil-language reality television singing competition show. The ninth season of Super Singer, which airs on Star Vijay and streams on Disney+ Hotstar, telecasts every Saturday and Sunday at 6:30 PM, which started from 19 November 2022. MRF Vapocure Paints is the main sponsor for this season.
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