Soodhu Kavvum

Soodhu Kavvuum
Directed by	Nalan Kumarasamy
Produced by	C. V. Kumar
Screenplay by	Nalan Kumarasamy
Story by	Nalan Kumarasamy Srinivas Kavenayam
Starring	Vijay Sethupathi Sanchita Shetty
Music by	Santhosh Narayanan
Cinematography	Dinesh Krishnan
Editing by	Leo John Paul
Studio	Thirukumaran Entertainment
Distributed by	Studio Green
Release dates	1 May 2013 (2013-05-01)
Running time	138 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	40 million (US$640,000)[1]
Box office	450 million (US$7.2 million)

Soodhu Kavvum (Tamil: சூது கவ்வும், English: Evil Engulfs) is a 2013 Tamil comedy film directed by Nalan Kumarasamy of Naalaya Iyakunar fame.^[2] The film's main concept is about how baloney has engulfed people's day-to-day life and modern society. It features Vijay Sethupathi and Sanchita Shetty in the lead roles. The film was released on 1 May to universal acclaim from critics.^[3] It became a blockbuster and is set to be remade in various Indian languages.^[4][5]

Plot

Friends Kesavan (Ashok Selvan), Sekar and Pagalavan (Bobby Simha) meet Das (Vijay Sethupathi), a middle-aged man with an imaginary girlfriend named Shalu (Sanchita Shetty) who does low-profile kidnappings for a living. Broke, the trio decide to become his assistants. One day, they kidnap a young boy and successfully obtain ransom money from his father Nambikkai Kannan. Nambikkai's contractor brother has been arrested for attempted bribery by State Minister Gnanodayam (M. S. Bhaskar), a disciplined politician who plays by the book. Impressed with Das' kidnapping skills, Nambikkai asks him to kidnap the minister's son Arumai Pragasam (Karuna Karan) as revenge and offers to pay Das up to 20 million (US$320,000).

The next day, the four men set out to kidnap Arumai but are astonished to see him get kidnapped by another group. They kidnap Arumai from the other kidnappers and discover that the first kidnapping was staged by Arumai himself to extort money from his father. Arumai manages to convince Das and his men to collude with him to obtain ransom money from his father. The group demands 20 million (US$320,000) from the minister and receives the money

An argument over splitting the cash arises between Arumai and the rest during which their van loses control and falls from a bridge. Arumai runs away with all the money. The minister seeks the assistance of Encounter Specialist Bramma, a brutal and merciless cop to hunt down the kidnappers. Arumai returns to his house and hides the money in his room. Das devices a plan to kidnap Arumai again to retrieve the money. They accidentally meet Arumai and successfully kidnap him again. But Das lets Arumai go free, after making him promise that he should not tell anything about them to the police. Arumai also promises to return their share of the money. Bramma finds that Arumai staged his own kidnapping and uses this information to threaten Arumai into testifying against the Das gang.

Arumai tells the court that the Das gang did not kidnap him and they are acquitted. A furious Bramma takes the gang to a remote location and brutally beats them and plans to kill them. But they are saved by a rusty gun that misfires into Bramma's buttocks, allowing them to escape. Arumai's father breaks in and takes the money bag to the Chief Minister, who provided the ransom money. When he opens the bag, the minister is shocked to find it filled with newspapers instead of cash. Arumai had transferred the cash to another bag and gives the Das gang their share.

The Chief Minister calls Arumai to his office and asks him to stand as a candidate in the upcoming elections in lieu of his father, who never brought much income to the party due to his refusal to be corrupt. The Chief Minister praises Arumai's shrewdness and believes he can rake in substantial income for the party. Arumai wins the election and appoints Sekar and Kesavan as his Personal Advisers. Pagalavan becomes an actor. Das continues his kidnapping business with new band of young men. They kidnap a woman who looks exactly like Shalu, but later only he knows that she is a Ministers Daughter, which means he has broken the 1st law of Kidnapping.

Cast

• Vijay Sethupathi as Das
• Sanchita Shetty as Shalu/Shalini Gupta
• Radha Ravi as the Chief Minister
• M. S. Bhaskar as Gnanodayam
• Ashok Selvan as Kesavan
• Bobby Simha as Pagalavan
• RJ Ramesh Thilak as Sekhar
• Karuna Karan as Arumai Pragasam
• Yog Japee as K. Bramma
• Aruldass as Rowdy Doctor/Das's brother
• Sivakumar as Nambikkai Kannan
• "Boys" Rajan as AC Manikandan
• Radha as Arumai Pragasam's mother
• Kannayiram
• Gaana Bala in the song 'Kaasu Panam'
• Karthik Subbaraj as cameo

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album and background music was scored by Santhosh Narayanan. Milliblog wrote:"With Soodhu Kavvum, Santhosh proves that his unconventional style is here to stay".^[6]

Tracklist^[7]

Release

Soodhu Kavvum was released on 1 May 2013 alongside Ethir Neechal and Moondru Per Moondru Kadhal.^[8] Satellite rights were bagged by Zee Tamil.

Critical reception

Soodhu Kavvum opened to highly positive reviews. Baradwaj Rangan from The Hindu stated "Nalan Kumarasamy’s Soodhu Kavvum is a demonstration of what’s possible when movies are made for the sheer joy of making movies. There isn’t a single calculated moment, something cynically aimed to satisfy this segment of the audience or that one. Everything is organic, the events rooted in a nutty story and sprouting through a brilliant screenplay".^[9] S. Saraswathi from Rediff gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "Soodhu Kavvum is an engaging film, with ingenious characters and entertaining situations" and called it a "must-watch".^[10] N Venkateswaran from The Times of India wrote "Nalan Kumarasamy establishes himself as a director to watch out for in this laugh riot of a debut movie. Carrying off a dark comedy is no mean task, but Nalan hits the target right in his first attempt. His writing is crisp, the lines are down to earth and funny, the characters well-etched and the screenplay has no dull moments".^[11] Sify wrote "Soodhu Kavvum works big time due to smart writing and perfect characterisation. Final verdict on Soodhu Kavvum is that it is a gutsy great film. It is one of the best films to have emerged out of Kollywood in a long, long time".^[12] Cinemalead wrote "Soodhu Kavvum is definitely a new attempt in Tamil cinema, go for it."^[13]

Malini Mannath from The New Indian Express wrote "Engaging screenplay, deft narration, well-etched characters and twists and humour generated at unexpected moments, make Soodhu Kavvum a wacky jolly fun ride".^[14] Behindwoods gave 3 stars out of 5 and said "Soodhu Kavvum’s scoring area is definitely its characterizations as Nalan Kumarasamy offers each of the central characters a back story that’s unique and more importantly contributing to the character’s present circumstance".^[15] Haricharan Pudipeddi gave 3 stars out of 5 and stated "Soodhu Kavvum an entertaining watch".^[16] Vivek Ramz from in.com rated the film 3.5 out of 5 and wrote "Soodhu Kavvum is a total laugh riot!^[17]

Sudhish Kamath later picked Soodhu Kavvum as one of five films that have redefined Tamil cinema in 2013, writing, "This film is a joy to watch, full of laughs and unpredictable situations with great wit, dark humour and satire. Writer-director Nalan Kumarasamy, the winner of the first season of Nalaya Iyakkunar, is one of the most exciting filmmakers of our times with his ability to turn a cliché on the head".^[18] The film also featured in IANS's list of 10 best southern films of 2013, who called it "unarguably the funniest film of the year".^[19] Sify^[20] and Rediff^[21] listed the film in the year-end top Tamil films lists too.

Box office

Soodhu Kavvum grossed 15.1 million (US$240,000) in Chennai theatres on its first weekend.^[4] In its opening weekend it grossed 1570000 (US$25,000) in US.^[22] The film had collected 52 million in two weeks in Tamil Nadu, according to IANS.^[23] In June 2013, IANS reported that it had earned 450 million totally.^[24]

Remakes

After the film's release, PVP Cinema purchased the Telugu remake rights in July 2013.^[25] The Kannada remake rights were bought by Rockline Venkatesh.^[1] In October 2013, it was announced that Rohit Shetty will remake the film in Hindi.^[26] It was reported to be remade in Malayalam too.^[27]

References

External links

• Soodhu Kavvum at the Internet Movie Database