Thondan (2017 film)

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Thondan
Thondan poster.jpg
Directed by Samuthirakani
Produced byR. Manikandan
Written bySamuthirakani
Starring Samuthirakani
Vikranth
Sunaina
Arthana Binu
Gouri Nair
Namo Narayana
Music by Justin Prabhakaran
Cinematography N. K. Ekambaram
Richard M. Nathan
Edited by A. L. Ramesh
Production
company
Vasundara Devi Cine Films
Distributed byVasundara Devi Cine Films
Release date
  • 26 May 2017 (2017-05-26)
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Thondan (transl. Votary) is a 2017 Indian Tamil vigilante drama film written and directed by Samuthirakani. The film features Samuthirakani himself in the lead role, with Vikranth, Sunaina, Arthana Binu and Gouri Nair amongst others in pivotal roles. The music is composed by Justin Prabhakaran with editing by A. L. Ramesh. The venture began production in December 2016 and had a theatrical release on 26 May 2017.

The vigilante film is a film genre in which the protagonist or protagonists engage in vigilante behavior, taking the law into their own hands. Vigilante films are usually revenge films in which the legal system fails protagonists, leading them to become vigilantes.

Samuthirakani Indian film director

P. Samuthirakani is an Indian film actor and director who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry besides appearing in a number of Malayalam and Telugu films. He worked as an assistant to director K Balachander. His 2009 directorial Naadodigal was a runaway hit, which was later remade in three languages. He has acted in several films as well and is best known for his performances in Subramaniapuram, Easan, Saattai and Oppam. He won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2016 for Visaranai. He currently resides at Tivoli Gardens, Saligramam, Chennai.

Vikranth is an Indian film actor who has appeared in Tamil language films. He was first introduced in the film Karka Kasadara (2005) directed by R. V. Udayakumar and later appeared in other romantic drama films. Following his participation in the Celebrity Cricket League, Vikranth has moved on to work in bigger film projects.

Contents

Plot

Narayanan (Namo Narayana) is the son of Central Minister Pandiyanar (G. Gnanasambandam). Narayanan uses Pandiyanar's name to make money by corruption, much to the latter's dismay. One day, some goons try to kill a man in daylight, as instructed by Narayanan. The man is lying in a pool of blood, and a local witnesses this and informs to the ambulance. The ambulance driver is Maha Vishnu (Samuthirakani), a kindhearted man who has never let anyone whom he has taken in his ambulance die. Vishnu admits the man in the hospital, and he is saved. Narayanan is angry with Vishnu for saving his enemy, for which he replies that saving the lives of people is his duty.

Namo Narayana is an Indian actor who has worked in Tamil films. He made a breakthrough as an actor with his performances in Naadodigal (2009) and Komban (2015).

Dr G Gnanasambandam, also known as G Gnanasambandam, is an Indian professor, Tamil scholar, orator and an actor who appears in Tamil films. He frequently chairs Tamil debate shows (Pattimandrams). Dr G Gnanasambandam is originally from Sholavandan of Madurai district. He was a Professor of Tamil language at Thiagarajar College, Madurai. He is known for his association with actor Kamal Haasan.

Vishnu has a father (Vela Ramamoorthy) and sister Mahishasuramardini (Arthana Binu). Mahi is stalked by Vicky (Vikranth), a drunkard and jobless youth who happens to be a friend of Vishnu. Vishnu convinces Vicky to reform and attend the medical technician course. Vicky completes it successfully and saves people's lives, earning the love of Vishnu and his family. Mahi has a friend named Gowri (Gouri Nair), who is stalked by Narayanan's brother Chinna Pandi (Soundararaja), and she beats him in a bus. Insulted by this, Chinna Pandi beats Gowri up with a wooden log. Enraged, Mahi and the students kill him. Vishnu arrives with his ambulance to admit Chinna Pandi to the hospital. To avoid traffic, he takes the outer bypass, infuriating Narayanan. Chinna Pandi succumbs to the injury, and Narayanan blames Vishnu for this and beats him up, but he is saved by the public. Narayanan vows to kill Vishnu.

Vela Ramamoorthy is an Indian writer and actor who has appeared in Tamil language films. He has acted in films including Paayum Puli (2015) and Sethupathi (2016).

Arthana Binu

Arthana Binu is an Indian film actress, who appears in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil Film Industry. Hailing from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, she made her debut in the 2016 Telugu film Seethamma Andalu Ramayya Sitralu. She is known for films such as Mudhugauv (2016), Thondan (2017), Semma (2018) and Kadaikutty Singam (2018). She is the daughter of actor Vijayakumar, who was active during the early 1990s.

Soundararaja Indian actor

Soundararaja (சௌந்தரராஜா) is an Indian film actor and film producer who appears in South Indian Films. He is also a dedicated Social Worker and an Environmentalist. Following a stint as a system engineer had worked in Singapore and France he began considering acting as career. He was working as a background actor, playing minor supporting roles for over five years; he started his career as villain role in S. R. Prabakaran in Sundarapandian (2012), Varuthapadatha Valiber Sangam (2013) and Jigarthanda (2014), in between he did many roles in various projects again in 2016 he acted as Villain again in Dharma Durai (2016) with his best friend Vijay Sethupathi. In the same year, 2016 he got introduced as a second hero in Enakku Veru Engum Kilaigal Kidayathu (2016), with Goundamani, which earned critical and commercial success and turned Soundararaja into a popular name in Tamil cinema.

Vishnu gets mad after his father loses his hearing ability and his wife Bagalamugi (Sunaina) suffers a miscarriage. Deeply saddened by this, he confronts Narayanan, who pleads that he is innocent. Vishnu believes that being a common man, he cannot do anything against a powerful man who has political support. Narayanan bribes Inspector Uthaman (Anil Murali) and three government officials and has them under his control. Vishnu is helped by Sub-Inspector Rahman (Poraali Dileepan). Vishnu plans to destroy Narayanan and bring him to justice. He gathers all the details of the properties owned by Narayanan and a video footage of him insulting Uthaman and the government officials while bribing from Narayanan's auditor, who helps Vishnu because he saved his wife's life. Vishnu realizes that Narayanan used Pandiyanar's name to earn huge amounts of money and buy so many properties by corruption. Vishnu sends the evidences them to IT, Vigilance, and other departments. He also sends the video footage to Uthaman's wife and the government officials' wives, who lose respect among their family. Uthaman and the government officials decide to stop supporting Narayanan for his further actions.

Sunaina Indian actress

Sunaina is an Indian film actress and model. She predominantly works in Tamil movies as well as few Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages. She made her on-screen debut with Telugu film Kumar Vs Kumari (2005) and her Tamil debut Kadhalil Vizhunthen (2008).

Anil Murali is an Indian film actor in Malayalam cinema. He has acted more than 200 films. He started out in the film industry as a villain before later taking on character roles.

The IT department raids Narayanan's house, confiscates his belongings, and arrests him. Narayanan tries to escape but meets with an accident. While he is struggling, Vishnu comes with his ambulance and saves him.

Cast

Ganja Karuppu Indian actor

Ganja Karuppu is an Indian film actor who has predominantly appeared in comedy roles in Tamil cinema. After making his debut in Bala's Pithamagan (2003), Ganja Karuppu experienced success in the late 2000s with his roles in Raam (2005), Sivakasi (2005), Paruthiveeran (2007), Subramaniyapuram (2008) and Naadodigal (2009).

Badava Gopi is an Indian stand-up comedian and film actor.

A. Govindamoorthy is an Indian film director who has worked on Tamil films. After making his debut with Karuppusamy Kuththagaithaarar (2007), he has gone on to make Vedigundu Murugesan (2009) and Pappali (2014).

Production

In May 2016, Samuthirakani revealed that he was set to work with Jayam Ravi for the second time after Nimirndhu Nil on a project titled Thondan, using a script that he had initially written for Sasikumar. He stated that production would begin by the end of the year, with Allari Naresh also selected to play a role. [1] [2] However Jayam Ravi's busy schedule during 2016 and 2017 meant that the pair could not eventually work together. [3]

Jayam Ravi Indian actor

Ravi Mohan, better known by his stage name Jayam Ravi, is an Indian Tamil actor who works in the Tamil film industry. The son of veteran film editor Mohan, Ravi made his debut as an actor in the romantic drama film Jayam (2003), directed by his elder brother Mohan Raja and produced by his father. The success of the film prompted the title to become a prefix to his stage name, and he continued to collaborate with his brother for other films including Jayam (2003), M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi (2004), Unakkum Enakkum (2006), Santhosh Subramaniam (2008), Thillalangadi (2010) and Thani Oruvan (2015).

<i>Nimirndhu Nil</i> 2014 film directed by P. Samuthirakani

Nimirndhu Nil is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Samuthirakani featuring Jayam Ravi and Amala Paul in the lead roles. It was produced by KS Sreenivasan's Vaasan Visual Ventures. The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. Ravi played a revolutionist for a social cause. The film, which was simultaneously made in Telugu as Janda Pai Kapiraju with Nani in place of Jayam Ravi, released on 8 March 2014 and received mostly positive reviews.

M. Sasikumar Indian film director

Mahalingam Sasikumar is an Indian film director, actor, singer and producer. He worked as an assistant director for director Bala in Sethu (1999), also worked for director Ameer in his first two films Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002) and Raam (2005). He is best known in the Tamil film industry for his debut film Subramaniapuram (2008), which became a blockbuster. He has been praised for his crystal-clear screenplay and realism.

The film re-materialised during December 2016, with Vikranth signed on to portray the role originally assigned to Naresh, while Samuthirakani himself would play the lead role. Vikranth revealed that he would star in the project alongside commitments to work in Suseenthiran's ventures Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu 2 and Nenjil Thunivirundhal . Samuthirakani stated the film would be about "simple men, their lives, problems and pain" and "these are people who provide a service to the society; they might earn a less salaries, but they definitely get more satisfaction out of life". [4] He added that the film would tackle several social issues in India including demonetisation, corruption in politics, the farmers' plight, jallikattu and the harassment of women. [5] [6] Production began during early December 2016, with Sunaina added to the cast after Samuthirakani was impressed with her performance in Neerparavai (2012). [7] [8]

Soundtrack

Thondan
Soundtrack album by
Justin Prabhakaran
Released9 April 2017
Recorded2016–17
LanguageTamil
Label U1 Records
Justin Prabhakaran chronology
Kaalakkoothu
(2017)		Thondan
(2017)		 Oru Nalla Naal Paathu Solren
(2018)

The film's music was composed by Justin Prabhakaran and featured five songs. The album was released on 9 April 2017 through Yuvan Shankar Raja's U1 Records label.

Track list
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Thondan Thondan" Yugabharathi Diwakar 3:13
2."Chellakutti Joraa" Vivek Justin Prabhakaran, Prashanthini3:25
3."Poi Varavaa" Yugabharathi Sean Roldan 4:31
4."Ettoorum Kekkum" Yugabharathi Pradeep Kumar4:08
5."Vaasamulla Poovaa" Yugabharathi Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, Daya Bijibal3:21

Release

The film had a theatrical release across Tamil Nadu on 26 May 2017, alongside Radha Mohan's Brindavanam (2017 film) , and earned mixed to negative reviews. The satellite rights of the film were sold to Zee Tamil. [9] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote "All of which would be okay...if there was a grain of good filmmaking. But the utterly generic bring-down-the-bad-guy story is preposterous, and scenes go on and on." [10]

Reception

Anupama Subramaniam of the Deccan Chronicle wrote Thondan is an "interesting film sans entertainment values" and "all is well and good, but things do become a bit self-righteous and annoying when a fictional film begins to give you lessons on ethics and morality". [11] India Today's review stated that "Thondan is Samuthirakani's TED Talk in Tamil that runs for more than two hours", adding that it is "an uninteresting social commentary". [12] On a positive note, film critic Santhosh Mathevan wrote, "Kani documents a lot of true events, and he also comes out with some real time and cinematic references  in his screenplay." He also criticised, "Usually, the mercury level of preaching would always touch the peak of thermometer in every of Kani's movie. But, Thondan has let the mercury bulb burst, as the film seems to be a 138 minute-tight-pack of loads of moral values to teach." [13] Sify.com stated the film was "filled with a plethora of messages in an over preachy tone". [14] A critic from The New Indian Express wrote the film was "a basket of moral lectures", concluding "Thondan is what you feared would happen once Appa (2016) did as well as it did". [15] Baradwaj Rangan rated the film 1 out of 5 and wrote, "As expected, actor and director Samuthirakani, delivers yet another sermon disguised as a movie". [16] The film took a lukewarm opening at the Chennai box office and fared averagely commercially. [17]

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References

  1. ↑ http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/regional/planning-a-film-with-jayam-ravi-samuthirakani-2897127/
  2. ↑ http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-cinema-news-16/jayam-ravis-next-film-with-samuthirakani-has-been-titled-as-thondan.html
  3. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/Planning-a-film-with-Jayam-Ravi-Samuthirakani/article14474401.ece
  4. ↑ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/tamil/movies/news/Samuthirakani-An-ambulance-driver/articleshow/55911045.cms
  5. ↑ http://www.deccanherald.com/content/612647/samuthirakani-his-finest-work-till.html
  6. ↑ http://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/kollywood/070417/thondan-is-not-a-political-film-samuthirakani.html
  7. ↑ http://behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-cinema-news-16/sunaina-joins-the-cast-of-samuthirakanis-thondan-with-vikranth.html
  8. ↑ http://www.sify.com/movies/samuthirakani-not-only-in-cinema-harassment-against-women-happens-everywhere-news-tamil-rfxjPxehebdhj.html
  9. ↑ "Thondan Movie Premiere". tamiltvchannelexpress.blogspot.com. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  10. ↑ https://www.filmcompanion.in/thondan-movie-review/
  11. ↑ http://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/270517/thondon-movie-review-interesting-film-sans-entertainment-values.html
  12. ↑ https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/thodan-movie-review-samuthirakani-vikranth-santhosh-sunaina-979602-2017-05-28
  13. ↑ "Thondan: He serves too much for the community". www.santhoshmathevan.com. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  14. ↑ http://www.sify.com/movies/thondan-review-old-fashioned--preachy-review-tamil-rf0jQzaajadcg.html
  15. ↑ http://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/review/2017/may/26/thondan-movie-review-a-big-basket-of-moral-lectures-1609389.html
  16. ↑ Rangan, Baradwaj (2 June 2017). "Thondan Movie Review". Film Companion. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  17. ↑ http://www.sify.com/movies/boxoffice.php?id=rf4lesgeiidgj
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