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 to 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 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 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 informer 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 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 to 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] In an interaction with the media, the director stated that the film will have more depth to Dhanush's character.[3] Shooting for the film was expected to take place in early 2017,[4] and the film's script was finalised in December 2016.[5] However, the film shooting was rescheduled to August 2017, because of Dhanush's commitments with other projects.[6] In September 2017, Mohan said via tweet that the film would be a bilingual film in Tamil and Telugu;[7] however, the Telugu version was later dropped.[citation needed]
Casting
On 24 September 2017, it was announced that Tovino Thomas had joined the cast, portraying the antagonist.[8] A few days later, Sai Pallavi was finalised as the heroine.[9] Later, actor Krishna joined the cast on 7 October 2017,[10] and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar joined the cast in December 2017.[11]
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.[12]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,[13] and principal photography began on 22 January 2018.[14] The first filming schedule took place in Tenkasi.[15] Varalaxmi began shooting for her portions in mid-February.[16] The makers completed 40% of the filming before a strike by the Tamil Film Producers Council occurred on 16 March 2018,[17] with shooting resuming in April after the strike was called off.[18] The music sequence for "Rowdy Baby" was filmed on 2 August, under the supervision of dance choreographer Prabhu Deva.[19] After the sequence was filmed, the makers wrapped principal photography on 24 August 2018.[20]
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.[21] 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.[22] Srivatsan of The Hindu called the film a significant improvement over its predecessor, but criticised its second half, and overuse of characters.[23] 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.[24] 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.[25]
Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja, known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, producer, director, lyricist and playback singer who primarily works in Tamil cinema. Having starred in 46 films over his career, his accolades include four National Film Awards, fourteen SIIMA Awards, seven 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 Filmfare Best Actor Award is given by the Filmfare as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil film lead actors. The Filmfare Awards South Awards were extended to "Best Actor" in 1972. The year indicates the year of release of the film.
The Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil (Kollywood) films.
The Filmfare Best Music Director Award is given to film composers by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil (Kollywood) films. A. R. Rahman is the most frequent winner with sixteen wins, which also includes nine consecutive wins between 1992 and 2000. Harris Jayaraj follows A. R. Rahman with five wins.
Vijay Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of acclaimed singer K. J. Yesudas.
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.
The Tamil Filmfare Best Female Playback Award is given by Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Tamil films. The first Tamil award was given in 2006. However, since 1997 till 2005, a common award for playback was available for both male and female singers of all the four South Indian languages.
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).
Tovino Thomas is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2012 with the film Prabhuvinte Makkal. His breakthrough roles were in the films ABCD (2013), 7th Day (2014) and Ennu Ninte Moideen (2015). He starred as the titular character in the Netflix superhero film Minnal Murali (2021).
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.
Dhanush is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter known for his work in Tamil cinema. He has also appeared in some Hindi, English, Telugu, and Malayalam films. He made his acting debut in 2002 with the coming of age drama, Thulluvadho Ilamai, directed by his father Kasthuri Raja. His role as a mentally-disturbed man in Kaadhal Kondein (2003)—directed by his brother Selvaraghavan—won him critical acclaim. The following year, he starred in Subramaniam Siva's Thiruda Thirudi, a commercial success. This was followed by a series of commercial failures—Pudhukottaiyilirundhu Saravanan (2004), Sullan (2004) and Dreams (2004). He had two releases in 2005—Devathaiyai Kanden and Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam.
Sai Pallavi Senthamarai Kannan, known professionally as Sai Pallavi, is an Indian actress who works in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including four 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.
Jani is an Indian dance choreographer who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil language films. He has also worked in Kannada and Hindi films. He choreographs in a wide range of dancing styles, but he is mostly known for his western and folk styles.
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.
Kolamaavu Kokila is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language black comedy crime film written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar in his directorial debut, and produced by Lyca Productions. The film stars Nayanthara alongside a supporting cast including Yogi Babu, Saranya Ponvannan, VJ Jacqueline, R. S. Shivaji, Charles Vinoth, Hareesh Peradi and others. Anirudh Ravichander composed the film's music.
Kalloori Vinoth is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films.
"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.
Pyaar Prema Kaadhal is the soundtrack to the 2018 film of the same name directed by debutant Elan, starring Harish Kalyan and Raiza Wilson. The soundtrack to the film features 12 songs composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja with lyrics written by Niranjan Bharathi, Vivek, Madhan Karky, Mohan Rajan, Oviya Oompathy and Elan himself. It was preceded with two singles: "High On Love" and "Dope Track", before the full album being released through Yuvan's music label U1 Records and Divo on 29 July 2018.
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