Vettaikaaran (2009 film)

Vettaikaaran
Promotional Poster
Directed by	Babu Sivan
Produced by	M. Saravanan M. S. Guhan
Written by	Babu Sivan
Starring	Vijay Anushka Shetty Srihari Sayaji Shinde Salim Ghouse Sathyan
Music by	Vijay Antony
Cinematography	S. Gopinath
Editing by	V. T. Vijayan
Studio	AVM Productions
Distributed by	Sun Pictures
Release date(s)	December 18, 2009 (2009-12-18) (Worldwide)
Running time	165 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	35 crore[1]
Box office	50 crore[1]

Vettaikaaran (Tamil: வேட்டைக்காரன், Vēṭṭaikkāraṉ ^?; English: Hunter) is a 2009 Tamil action film directed by debutant B. Babusivan that stars Vijay and Anushka Shetty. Gopinath handled cinematography while V. T. Vijayan was the film's editor. The film, produced by AVM Productions and distributed by Sun Pictures, was launched in February 2009 and the shooting for the film commenced the following month. The film revolves around a youngster who aims to be a cop just like a local police commissioner whom he idolizes, but during the process he is stopped by the evil done to his friends by a local mobster. The film's soundtrack, composed by Vijay Antony, was released in September 2009. The film was released worldwide on 18 December 2009, receiving overal negative reviews. It was also dubbed into Telugu as Puli Veta.^[2]

Plot

Ravi (Vijay) lives in Tuticorin. He aspires to become a policeman like his idol, Police Officer Devaraj IPS(Srihari). After completing his higher education, he joins a college in Chennai, and also earns a living by driving an auto rickshaw. During the course, he meets Suseela (Anushka) and falls in love with her instantly. With the help of her grandmother, he succeeds in winning Suseela's heart.

Soon, Ravi comes across a local thug, Chella (Ravishankar), who tries to play spoilsport in the life of his classmate Uma (Sanchita Padukone). Ravi comes to her defense and defeats Chella, hospitalizing him. His troubles start as Chella's father, a criminal don named Vedanayakam (Salim Ghouse), with the help of corrupt cop Kattabomman (Sayaji Shinde), begins to create havoc in Ravi's life. As Ravi turns to his mentor Devaraj for help, he shockingly learns that Devaraj's family has died at the hands of Vedanayakam and that Devaraj himself has been blinded and is helpless. It is at this stage that Ravi takes up a new persona called "Police" Ravi to clean up the illegal activities of Vedanayakam and instill hope in the public, something that Devaraj was unable to do.

In the process, however, Vedanayakam kills Ravi's close friend (Sathyan), prompting Ravi to kill Chella in retribution. Vedanayakam decides soon after to become a minister, knowing that it is the only way to put a stop to Ravi's activities. As Ravi finally plans to kill Vedanayakam, knowing the danger of him becoming a minister, the police arrive to arrest Ravi. However, Ravi sees Devaraj in the crowd and announces Vedanayakam's location to him just as he is being arrested, allowing Devaraj to shoot and kill Vedanayakam, effectively taking his revenge.

In the end, Devraj is re-instituted into the police force and agrees to make Ravi a police officer. However, Ravi states that he does not need to become one, for he has found the police officer within himself and that is all he needs to succeed in life. The film ends as Ravi happily leaves with Suseela and his friends.

Cast

• Vijay as Ravi, the protagonist who wants to become a great IPS officer
• Anushka Shetty as Susheela, Ravi's love interest
• Srihari as Devaraj, the IPS officer who Ravi's idolizes
• Sayaji Shinde as Kattabomman
• Salim Ghouse as Vedanayagam, the main antagonist
• Sanchita Padukone as Uma
• Sathyan as Sugu, Ravi's friend who is killed by Vedanayagam
• Ravishankar as Chella Vedanayagam
• Srinath as Valayapathi
• Cochin Haneefa as the owner of a complex
• Delhi Ganesh as Ravi's father
• Jason Sanjay in a special appearance
• Madalasa Sharma in a cameo appearance

Production

Development

During the filming of Kuruvi, directed by S. Dharani, B. Babusivan served as one of his assistant directors in the film and wrote the dialogues. Sivan was later prompted to begin his maiden directorial venture with Vijay in the lead role. He was eventually chosen as the director for the next feature film to be produced AVM Productions. The project was originally titled as Police Ravi but in August 2008 it was re-titled as Vettaikkaaran, taken from the 1964 Tamil film starring M. G. Ramachandran.^[3]

Vettaikaran was formally launched the next month. The film's director Babusivan, producers M. Balasubramaniam and B. Gurunath Meyyappan, Vijay and his wife, Vijay Antony, S. A. Chandrasekhar and director Dharani were present at the film's inauguration.

Casting

Commercial directors Perarasu and Hari were mentioned, but AVM Productions chose B. Babusivan to be the director of the film.^[4][5]

Several actresses were considered for the lead female role with Shriya Saran, Tamannaah, Ileana D'Cruz, Bhavana, Asin,^[6] Nayantara and Anushka Shetty^[7] being considered for the role. Afterwards, Anushka was finalized to portray the role. Cinematographer Gopinath was chosen to be the lead cameraman in the film after Ravi Varman was dropped from the film.^[8] V. T. Vijayan was signed as the film's editor.

Reception and reviews

The film opened up to mostly negative reviews. Behindwoods gave 2 out of 5 and claimed that it was "not a bull's eye, not a big miss either",^[9] while sify.com stated that "entertainment was guaranteed" and that "strictly for Vijay's fans - it delivers the goods."^[10]

Indiaglitz gave a statement that "'Vettaikkaran' is an out and out action movie Vijay fans would lap it up".^[11] Rediff stated that "if you're a Vijay fan, you'll love his crackling style but for the others? Enjoy the unadulterated masala" giving 1.5 out of 5.^[12]

Awards

Vijay Awards

Won^[13]

• Vijay Award for Favourite Hero - Vijay
• Vijay Award for Favourite Heroine - Anushka
• Favourite Song of the Year - Chinna Thamarai

Nomination

• Vijay Award for Favourite Film - Vettaikaran
• Vijay Award for Best Music Director - Vijay Antony
• Vijay Award for Best Villain - Salim Ghouse
• Vijay Award for Best Male Playback Singer - Krish
• Vijay Award for Best Lyricist - Kabilan
• Vijay Award for Best Stunt Director - Kanal Kannan

Filmfare Awards South

Nomination

• Filmfare Best Lyricist Award - Kabilan - Karikaalan
• Filmfare Best Lyricist Award - Vivega - Oru Chinna Thamarai
• Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award - Krish - Oru Chinna Thamarai
• Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Award - Suchitra - Oru Chinna Thamarai

Edison Awards

Won

• Best Male Playback Singer - Krish

Soundtrack

Vettaikaaran
Soundtrack album by Vijay Antony
Released	September 23, 2009 (2009-09-23)
Recorded	Audiophiles
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	26:33
Label	Thinkmusic
Vijay Antony chronology
Mahatma (2009) Vettaikaran (2009) Rasikkum Seemane (2010)

Tamil

No.	Song	Singers	Length (m:ss)	Lyrics	Picturization
1	"Puli Urumudhu"	Ananthu, Mahesh Vinayakram	4:17	Kabilan	AVM Studio and Madurai
2	"Oru Chinna Thamarai"	Krish, Dinesh Kanagaratnam, Bonekilla, Suchitra	4:35	Vivega	Punai
3	"Naan Adicha"	Shankar Mahadevan	4:37	Kabilan	Raj Mundhir
4	"Karigalan Kala"	Surchith, Sangeetha Rajeshwaran	4:17	Kabilan	Pollachchi
5	"En Uchimandai"	Krishna Iyer, Shoba Chandrasekhar, Charulatha Mani, Sakthi Sree	4:12	Annamalai	AVM Studio

Telugu

No.	Song	Singers	Length (m:ss)	Lyrics	Picturization
1	"Puli Vetidi"	Ramu	4:17	Vennelakanthi	AVM Studio and Madurai
2	"Yeda Alapai"	Rakhi, Veena	4:35	Bhuvanachandra	Punai
3	"Adugesthey"	Tippu	4:37	Vennelakanthi	Raj Mundhir
4	"Karimabbu"	Saketh Naidu, Kavitha	4:17	Vennelakanthi	Pollachchi
5	"Thikkedo"	R.S. John Vianni, Aishwarya	4:12	Bhuvanachandra	AVM Studio

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/article/62007.html
2. ^ "Vijay-Anushka: Puli Veta releasing in 1st week of March". Ragalahari.com. 2011-02-22. http://www.ragalahari.com/news/11245/puli-veta-to-release-during-march-1st-week.aspx. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
3. ^ "Vijay to turn 'Vetaikkaaran' after loading 'Villu' - Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/40978.html. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
4. ^ Karthick ((2009-02-25)-Wednesday). "Wishes to Babu Sivan, all the best in his first film". Naive Expressions. http://www.nantucketdowntowntrafficstudy.com/2008/08/vijays-next-director.html. Retrieved 2009-02-25. 
5. ^ "Wishes to Babu Sivan, all the best in his first film". http://hamaraphotos.com/bollywood/regional-cinema/%E2%80%98jeyam%E2%80%99-raja-to-direct-vijay%E2%80%99s-50th-flick.html. 
6. ^ "Asin to act in Vijay’s Vettaikkaran Movie". TamilWire. 2008. http://www.tamilwire.com/asin-act-vijays-vettaikkaran/. Retrieved 2009-10-21. 
7. ^ "Anushka Vijay's Lady Love". TamilWire. 2008. http://www.tamilwire.com/anushka-vijays-lady-love/. Retrieved 2008-12-28. 
8. ^ "Ravivarman dropped from Vettaikaran". Poochandi. 2009. http://www.poochandi.com/movies/tamil/news/ravivarman-dropped-from-vettaikaran-3092.html. Retrieved 2008-02-16. 
9. ^ "Vettaikaran - Tamil Movie Reviews - Vettaikaran Vijay Anushka Vijay Antony Babu Sivan". Behindwoods.com. http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-reviews/reviews-2/vettaikaran-vijay-anushka.html. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
10. ^ "Movie Review:Vettaikaran review". Sify.com. http://www.sify.com/movies/tamil/review.php?id=14924110&ctid=5&cid=2429. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
11. ^ "Vettaikkaran Tamil Movie Review - cinema preview stills gallery trailer video clips showtimes". IndiaGlitz. 2009-12-18. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/review/10956.html. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
12. ^ "Review: Vettaikkaran is for Vijay fans - Rediff.com Movies". Rediff. 2009-12-18. http://movies.rediff.com/report/2009/dec/18/south-tamil-movie-review-vettaikkaran.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
13. ^ K. Lakshmi (2010-05-30). "The Hindu : Cities / Chennai : ‘Pasanga' steals show at Vijay awards". Beta.thehindu.com. http://beta.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article441682.ece?homepage=true. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 

External links

• Vettaikaaran at the Internet Movie Database