Kaappaan

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Kaappaan
Kaappaan poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byK. V. Anand
Written byPattukkottai Prabakar
R. M. Muthu Ganesan (Dialogues)
Screenplay byK. V. Anand
Pattukkottai Prabakar
Story byK. V. Anand
Pattukkottai Prabakar
Produced bySubaskaran Allirajah
Starring
CinematographyM. S. Prabhu
Abinandhan Ramanujam
Edited byAnthony
Music byHarris Jayaraj
Production
company
Release date
  • 20 September 2019 (2019-09-20)[1]
Running time
163 minutes[2]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹75 crore[3]
Box office₹100 crore[4][5][6]

Kaappaan (transl. Protector) is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by K. V. Anand and co-written by Pattukkottai Prabakar.[7] It was produced by Lyca Productions and stars Suriya and Mohanlal[8] with Arya, Sayyeshaa Saigal, Boman Irani, Samuthirakani and Chirag Jani in supporting roles.[9][10][11]

The narrative revolves around Kathir, an organic farmer and a Special Protection Group (SPG) officer who struggles to protect the Prime Minister from a mysterious man who threatens his life. Kathir also has to deal with agricultural issues cropping in his village and those responsible for it. The film was released theatrically on 20 September 2019 and emerged as a commercial success by grossing ₹100 crore at the box office.[1][12][5]

It was the final directorial work of K. V. Anand before his death on 30 April 2021.

Plot[]

Terrorists attempt to assassinate the Indian Prime Minister, Chandrakanth Varma (Mohanlal), in New Delhi. The event security services learn about this, and the attack is started when the PM arrives. The PM is saved and sent to his office. The Government thwarts the attempt with National Security Guard (NSG) operations on Varma's direct orders. Unfortunately, the Union Minister for Communications is killed as collateral damage. The deceased's daughter is Anjali (Sayyesha), the PM's junior office secretary. At the same time, in Thanjavur, Kathiravan, aka Kathir (Surya), is an organic farmer who also moonlights as a special agent working for the country's military intelligence. Meanwhile, the captured terrorist reveals another plot to assassinate the PM during his visit to London. The SPG seek Kathir's help to protect the PM in London, and Kathir is able to identify and shoot the suspect. Anjali mistakes Kathir for the assassin and tails him, but he tricks her into getting drunk and shakes her off. Varma then leaves for India only to find that the Indian soldiers in Kashmir were killed by the Pakistani army. Business tycoon and public figure Rajan Mahadev (Boman Irani) meets with Varma and secretly discusses about methods of retaliation.

While celebrating Kathir's coworker and friend Joseph () and his wife Priya's (Poorna) wedding anniversary, Joseph gets a murder threat, and his pet cat is fatally shot. Kathir and Joseph track the mysterious caller, but he diverts them with a mini bomb blast and escapes. Meanwhile, Varma leaves for Kashmir to address the public. A mysterious caller tampers with the SPG's communication system and points to a bomb on the stage where Varma is present. Kathir locates the explosive and throws it away without any casualties. Varma is moved to his convoy, but the caller uses this scuffle to diffuse yet another bomb planted in Varma's car, killing him instantly.

As an aftermath of Varma's untimely demise, there is a power struggle for the successor to the PM's position. Varma's advisor chooses Varma's son, Abhishek Chandrakanth Varma (Arya), to be the next PM to avoid a political split. Kathir returns to the crime scene and finds an abandoned house in the vicinity, which is revealed to be the place where the killer had been. Joseph and the forensic team find evidence and match it to Ranjith (Chirag Jani), a disgraced double agent in the SPG and also their friend. Ranjith is now out for revenge on Varma and the SPG because of his prior arrest resulting in his family's suicide.

Meanwhile, the farmers are rioting against the construction of mines in Thanjavur, since it is destroying their agriculture. Abhishek plans to shut down the mines but is resisted by Mahadev, who owns them, and the two get into a political cold war. Despite security warnings, Abhishek takes Anjali out on her birthday, and a murder attempt is made on him, and Anjali injures her arm. Kathir and Joseph save Abhishek, but while escaping, Joseph is mortally wounded. During the post-mortem, Kathir finds that one of his officers, Prem (Prem), has tried to tamper with the evidence. Prem reveals he is a double agent as well and is in cahoots with Ranjith, and he was the one who killed Joseph while he was rescuing Abhishek.

Meanwhile, the fields in Thanjavur have suddenly infested with male caelifera locusts. It is orchestrated by Mahadev, since the farmers didn't give up their land for his mining company. Mahadev also happens to be the brain behind Varma's assassination, and Ranjith and Prem are merely his puppets. Abhishek and Mahadev discuss about this ongoing feud and make a deal that in the immediate press conference, Mahadev will agree to shutting down his mines in Thanjavur. Mahadev seemingly agrees, but secretly plans to release both male and female caelifera, which will ensure the destruction of the crops without any chances of revival, and his mining company can be established without further problems. Kathir figures this out and destroys the train in which the locusts are being transported. At the press conference, Ranjith gains entry to the control room and plans to kill Abhishek on Mahadev's orders. Kathir beats up Ranjith, who reveals that the bomb is with Anjali. She is called to the control room, and they find that the cast on her broken arm contains the bomb. Anjali's cast is removed, and the bomb is disposed of. Furthermore, Ranjith also says that Kathir's jacket has a bomb and removing it will cause it to detonate. With Kathir frozen on the spot, Ranjith and Mahadev escape and enter the latter's car and detonate the bomb. But we find that Kathir had found the bomb in his jacket earlier and placed it in Mahadev's car. The bomb gets detonated, and Mahadev and Ranjith are killed on the spot, thus ending their reign of terror.

Cast[]

  • Suriya as Kathiravan (Kathir), an Organic Farmer, SPG Commando, later PM's Principal Security Adviser
  • Mohanlal as Chandrakanth Varma, Prime Minister of India[8][13][14]
  • Arya as Abhishek (Abhi) Varma, Son of Chandrakanth Varma, later Prime Minister of India
  • Sayyeshaa as Anjali, PM's Press Secretary (Kathir's love interest)
  • Samuthirakani as Joseph Selvaraj, SPG Director
  • Poorna as Priya, Joseph's wife[15]
  • Boman Irani as Rajan Mahadev, Industrialist and the main antagonist[16]
  • Chirag Jani as Ranjith Kumar, former intelligence agent, The second antagonist.[17]
  • Prem as Prem, SPG Commando[11]
  • Kiran as Vivek, SPG Commando [18]
  • Uma Padmanabhan as Chandrakanth Varma's wife
  • Thalaivasal Vijay as Santhosh,[19] Cabinet Secretary
  • Paruthiveeran Sujatha as Kathiravan's mother
  • Shankar Krishnamurthy as Sundhar
  • Nagineedu as Sikander, Defense Minister
  • Swaminathan as Ramanujam
  • Mayilswamy as police inspector
  • Ravi Prakash as Mahadev's assistant
  • Manoj Lulla as Manoj
  • R. N. R. Manohar as Member of Parliament
  • Anitha Sampath as Newsreader Kavitha
  • Pattukkottai Prabakar in a special appearance as a journalist
  • Mohan in a special appearance as Kuldeep
  • M. S. Prabhu in a special appearance as Kashmir collector
  • Anthony in a special appearance as Irfan, interrogation officer
  • Nikitha Harris Jayaraj in a special appearance in the song "Vinnil Vinmeen"
  • Danielle Haden as an item number in the song "Machan Inga Vandhira"

Production[]

Principal photography of the film commenced on 25 June 2018,in London. Arya replaced Allu Sirish who opted out of the film due to scheduling conflicts, making his first collaboration with Suriya.[20][21] The film was shot on multiple locations at various places across the world including New York, Brazil, New Delhi and Hyderabad.[9][10][22] It was referred to, colloquially, by the media as Suriya 37 as it is the thirty-seventh film to star Suriya.[23] The film also marks Boman Irani's Tamil debut. Amitabh Bachchan was approached for a role as the Prime Minister of India, but later Mohanlal was roped in.[13][14]

Initially, Gavemic U. Ary of Jigarthanda fame was announced as the cinematographer of the film, but in a turn of events Abhinandan Ramanujam replaces him. Later, cinematographer Ramanujam left the project after the first schedule, apparently due to scheduling conflicts with cinematography commitments for Malayalam film 9. Subsequently, M. S. Prabhu who previously collaborate with Suriya and director Anand for the film Ayan was assigned as cinematographer.[24][25]

Also, it was revealed that Harris Jayaraj, Anthony and D. R. K. Kiran was assigned as music director, film editor and art director, respectively, continuing their association with the director from his previous films.[26]

The makers had registered three titles: Kaappaan, Meetpaan and Uyirkaa, and asked fans to choose what title to name the film through a poll. Although the majority of fans voted for Uyirkaa,[27] on 31 December 2018, Lyca Productions announced the film's title as Kaappaan.[28][29]

The movie shot a song sequence on Indonesia's Java island. Director K.V Anand shared the news via Twitter. It was also reported that Mohanlal would play the Indian Prime Minister, and Suriya is said to play a high-ranking security officer.[30][31]

Soundtrack[]

The soundtrack album is scored by Harris Jayaraj in his fifth collaboration with director K. V. Anand.[32] On July 21, the audio launch event of Kaappaan was held in Chennai in a grand manner.[33] It was a star-studded affair that saw the likes of Rajinikanth, director Shankar, and lyricist Vairamuthu attend the event.[34] Harris' daughter Karen Nikita Harris has made her debut as a singer with this film, lending her voice to the song 'Vinnil Vinmeen'.[35]

Upon release, the album received a positive review from Firstpost, commenting that "Harris Jayraj composes yet another album loaded with chartbusters for Suriya's film. Dipped in quintessential Harris signature, the album offers different styles of music, ending up with different results."[36] Suriya and Harris Jayaraj have collaborated for the 9th time through this film.

Kaappaan
Soundtrack album by
Harris Jayaraj
Released21 July 2019
StudioStudio H
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length19:28
LanguageTamil
LabelSony Music India
ProducerHarris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Dev
(2019) 		Kaappaan
(2019)
Singles from Kaappaan
  1. "Siriki"
    Released: 5 July 2019
  2. "Kurilae Kurilae"
    Released: 19 July 2019
Tamil Track-List
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Siriki"S. GnanakaravelSenthil Ganesh, Rockstar Ramani Ammal04:43
2."Vinnil Vinmeen"VairamuthuNikitha Harris03:54
3."Hey Amigo"VairamuthuLeslie Lewis, Jonita Gandhi04:32
4."Kurilae Kurilae"KabilanJaved Ali, Darshana KT04:21
5."Machan Inga Vandhira"Kabilan Vairamuthu, GKKharesma Ravichandran, Nikhita Gandhi03:38
Total length:19:28
Telugu Track-List
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Yenno Thaarala Sangamam"VanamaliNikitha Harris03:49
2."Seruku"ChandraboseSenthil Dass, Senthil Ganesh, Ramani Ammal04:43
3."Hey Amigo"VanamaliJonita Gandhi, Haricharan, Leslie Lewis04:32
4."Mecha Ninne"VanamaliNikhita Gandhi03:36
5."Palike Palike"ChandraboseJaved Ali, Darshana KT, Pravin Saivi04:22
Total length:19:20

Release[]

On 31 December 2018, Lyca Productions announced the film's title as Kaappaan, following by two first look posters released on the New Year's Day, 1 January 2019. The teaser for the film was released, coinciding with the Tamil New Year on 14 April 2019. Initially, the makers announced that the film is scheduled to release on 30 August 2019, but considering the release of Saaho, which is scheduled on the same date, the release was pushed to 20 September 2019. The first trailer of the film was released on the YouTube channel of the production company on 4 September 2019, followed by the second trailer, which was released on 14 September 2019. A Telugu dubbed version titled Bandobast was released simultaneously with the Tamil version.[37] Kaappaan earned ₹88.75 crore as pre-release business.[12]

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

The film received positive reviews from audience,[38] and mixed reviews from critics.[39] Behindwoods rated 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated, "Kaappaan is a watchable commercial drama and action treat to Suriya fans, that has some good engaging moments".[40] The Times of India rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "KV Anand’s Kaappaan feels like one of those patriotic films that Vijayakanth and Arjun frequently made in the 90s, but is not as entertaining as those".[18] Sify rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "Ambitious but exhausting!".[41] News18 rated 1 out of 5 stars and stated "Despite Stellar Star Cast, Suriya-Mohanlal Starrer Loses Focus".[42] Firstpost rated 2.25 out of 5 stars stating "Suriya, Mohanlal are charismatic in this formulaic action drama".[43] The Hindu stated, "KV Anand’s latest collaboration with his favourite leading man is a painstakingly long thriller, that neither has soul nor brain".[44] IndiaGlitz rated 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Interesting premise, let down by a predictable, dull screenplay."[45] The New Indian Express rated 1.5 out of 5 stars stating "Never do you truly believe that this film has a real understanding of the world and its politics."[46] The Indian Express rated 1 out of 5 stars stating "KV Anand fills Kaappaaan with props, in his never-ending endeavour to create that elusive surreal ambience. But the film has artificiality written all over."[47] Deccan Chronicle rated 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Kaappaan plays a big game and is very commercial in nature."[48] Nettv4u rated 3 out of 5 stars stating "The racy thriller with power-packed performances and the high-octane action sequences is sure to win the hearts. Suriya is definitely back on his track, after a few average films. Kaappaan… is really a Kaappaan for LYCA, Suriya and KV Anand."[49] The News Minute rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "Other than Suriya, nobody in the SPG looks like they’ve even slow jogged on the treadmill, let alone performed miraculous high security ops."[50] The Week rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "The predictable screenplay, which reminds you of some old Vijayakanth or Arjun films, is disappointing as it comes from Anand who has had some decent outings with Suriya earlier, like Maattraan and Ayan."[51] MovieCrow rated 3.25 stars out of 5 stating "Suriya delivers his charismatic Best as SPG agent."[52]

Box office[]

In its opening weekend, the film collected ₹23 crore (US$3.59 million) in Tamil Nadu, which at the time made it the highest-grossing opening weekend in Tamil film history.[53] The film collected approximately more than ₹50 crore (US$7.79 million) worldwide in its first weekend.[54] According to the film's producers, Kaappaan earned approximately ₹100 crore (US$14 million) worldwide.[5] The film was a commercial success and emerged profitable for its makers.[12][5]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Suriya's Kaappaan gets new release date". The New Indian Express. 5 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Kaappaan (2019)". Irish Film Classification Office. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  3. ^ S, Srivatsan (17 August 2019). "Suriya has become socially-conscious now: KV Anand on 'Kaappaan'". The Hindu.
  4. ^ "Suriya and team celebrate as Kaappaan enters Rs 100-crore club". Cinema Express. 11 October 2019.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Suriya-Mohanlal's Kaappaan earns Rs 100 crore". The Times of India. 11 October 2019.
  6. ^ "Suriya and Mohanlal's Kaappaan enters the Rs 100 crore club at the box office". Bollywood Life. 11 October 2019.
  7. ^ "'Suriya 37' to be directed by KV Anand – Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b https://theprimetime.in/kaappaan-movie-review-and-live-updates/
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Suriya's next with KV Anand goes on the floors in London". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b "Suriya 37 director KV Anand ropes in Arya for pivotal role; Tamil actor joins shoot in London". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b "After Vijay's 'Sarkar', Prem Kumar also in Suriya 37!". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 24 August 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Is Kaappaan A Hit Or A Flop? Box Office Verdict Of The Movie Is Out!". Oneindia. 2 October 2019.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "KV Anand". Sify.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b "Let's focus our energies on more productive things: Suriya to fans on body shaming comments". 20 January 2018.
  15. ^ Sashidar Adivi (25 February 2019). "Poorna to act alongside Suriya". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  16. ^ David Johnson (10 June 2019). "Sun TV acquires satellite rights of Suriya-Mohanlal's Kaappaan". Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  17. ^ "Suriya's Kaappaan Villain Chirag Jani Well On the Road To Recovery". 20 June 2019. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b "Kaappaan Movie Review : Suriya and Mohanlal starrer is a frustrating action film". TimesofIndia.
  19. ^ "Kaappaan: Siriki lyric video promises a colorful festive feel!". 5 July 2019. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  20. ^ "Suriya 37: Allu Sirish not a part of Suriya-KV Anand film". indianexpress.com. 20 July 2018. Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  21. ^ "Suriya 37 director KV Anand ropes in Arya for pivotal role; Tamil actor joins shoot in London- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. 6 July 2018. Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  22. ^ "Suriya 37: Allu Sirish not a part of Suriya-KV Anand film". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  23. ^ "'Suriya 37': KV Anand releases new poster on Suriya's birthday". The Times of India. 23 July 2018. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  24. ^ "Abhinandan replaces Gavemic U Ary as cinematographer in Suriya-KV Anand project". Cinema Express. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  25. ^ "MS Prabhu replaces Abhinandan Ramanujam for Suriya-KV Anand film". Behindwoods. 16 August 2018. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  26. ^ "Suriya 37 is Kaappaan: Director KV Anand's film gets a name". India Today. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  27. ^ Suganth, M. (1 January 2019). "Suriya's film with KV Anand titled 'Kaappaan'". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  28. ^ Lyca Productions [@LycaProductions] (31 December 2018). "Here We Go! #Suriya37 is #KAAPPAAN