| 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 (Worldwide) |
| Running time | 165 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | 35 crore[1] |
| Box office | 70 crore[2](TamilNadu) |
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.[3]
Contents |
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 Shetty) 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.
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.[4]
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.
Commercial directors Perarasu and Hari were mentioned, but AVM Productions chose B. Babusivan to be the director of the film.[5][6]
Several actresses were considered for the lead female role with Shriya Saran, Tamannaah, Ileana D'Cruz, Bhavana, Asin,[7] Nayantara and Anushka Shetty[8] 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.[9] V. T. Vijayan was signed as the film's editor.
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",[10] while sify.com stated that "entertainment was guaranteed" and that "strictly for Vijay's fans - it delivers the goods."[11]
Indiaglitz gave a statement that "'Vettaikkaran' is an out and out action movie Vijay fans would lap it up".[12] 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.[13]
The film made on a budjet of 35 crores,collected 70 crores in Tamil Nadu being declared a commercial success.[2]
Won[14]
Nomination
Nomination
Won
| Vettaikaaran | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Vijay Antony | ||||
| Released | September 23, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | Audiophiles | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 26:33 | |||
| Label | Thinkmusic | |||
| Vijay Antony chronology | ||||
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| 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 |
| 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 |
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