Naaigal Jaakirathai

Naaigal Jaakirathai
Film poster
Directed by	Shakti Soundar Rajan
Produced by	Sathyaraj Maheswari Sathyaraj
Written by	Shakti Soundar Rajan
Starring	Sibi Sathyaraj Arundhati
Music by	Dharan Kumar
Cinematography	Nizar Shafi
Edited by	Praveen K. L.
Production company	Nathambal Film Factory
Release dates	November 21, 2014 (2014-11-21)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	4 crore (US$630,000)[1]
Box office	10 crore (US$1.6 million)[1]

Naaigal Jaakirathai (English: Beware of Dogs) is a 2014 Indian Tamil comedy-thriller film, written and directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan featuring Sibi Sathyaraj and a Belgian Shepherd dog named Idoh in the lead, which is an Indian adaptation of the Hollywood comedy-crime film, Turner&Hooch. ^[2] The film was produced by Sibiraj's father Sathyaraj under the banner Nathambal Film Factory, which had earlier produced Lee. While the music was composed by Dharan Kumar, cinematography was handled by Nizar Shifi and editing by Praveen K. L. Naaigal Jaakirathai received positive reviews from critics,^[3] and was one of the most profitable ventures of 2014.^[4]

Plot

A gang has kidnapped a girl and several police officers, including Karthik (Sibiraj), attempt to rescue her. During a shootout, one man from the gang and a police officer, a good friend of Karthik, are killed, while Karthik himself gets injured. He is put out of action and also suffers from post-traumatic stress.

Subramani (Idoh) is a trained military dog, which has the potential to nab culprits and to decipher a crime scene. After its owner, an army officer, is shot dead, the dog is returned to the officer's father in Coimbatore, who is a neighbor of Karthik. The neighbor leaves the town and requests Karthik to provide refuge to the dog during his absence. Karthik is initially hesitant to take care of Subramani but soon warms up to him.

Meanwhile, Karthik's wife, Renuka (Arundhati), is abducted by Anbu Das (Balaji), the head of the kidnapping ring, and buried alive inside a coffin. A web camera is attached into the coffin to which Karthik has access. Karthik learns that Renuka can breathe for about 6 hours. Renuka speaks to someone and with the help of deaf and dumb teacher Karthik deciphers what Renuka had conveyed. Suddenly water trickles into the coffin and Karthik concludes that it has to be rainwater.

He along with Idoh and his cop friends, travel to Ooty, the only place in Tamil Nadu, where it is raining at the moment. Anbu had kidnapped Renuka to avenge the death of his brother, who was not the man from his gang but the police officer, who worked as a mole in the police department. Karthik is then hit by a metal rod and also buried in a coffin. Idoh sniffs out Anbu and his henchmen. While Anbu can escape to a tree house, his henchmen get bitten by Iodh, who then saves Karthik by digging a pit. Anbu gets hold of a gun and shoots at Idoh, injuring him fatally, before Karthik manages to outwit Anbu. Before dying, Idoh had marked the place where Renuka is buried and Karthik can save her, while Anbudas has been buried alive in the same manner.

Idoh has got offsprings and Karthik is given one of the puppies. He and the new dog are being entrusted to investigate a new case.

Cast

• Idoh as Subramani
• Sibi Sathyaraj as Karthik Chinnamalai
• Arundhati as Renuka
• Balaji Venugopal as Anbu Das
• Manobala as Pichumani
• Mayilsamy as a dog owner
• Prinz Nithik as Arunachalam
• Venkat Sundar as Appu
• Maheswaran Muthusamy as Rajesh
• Raghav Umasrinivasan as Arul Das
• Abhimanyu Nallamuthu as Selvam
• Varsha as Vidya
• Aroul Jody

Production

After Naanayam, Sibi Sathyaraj was on the lookout for a script for his next film. Since nothing interesting turned up, he took a brief hiatus, still reading scripts. Sibiraj is a dog-lover and has 3 dogs. So, he expressed his eagerness in working with animals in a film.^[5] Director Shakti S. Rajan, who had earlier directed Sibiraj in Naanayam,^[6] came up with a script with a dog in the lead.^[7] The film is about a military-trained dog and a man, and their journey. Finally, the film was announced in July 2013.^[8] The film was titled Naaigal Jaakirathai meaning 'Beware of Dogs'.

Sibiraj plays the second hero and will be sharing screen space with a military trained canine.^[9][10] Apart from playing the hero, the dog would also do several action sequences and comedy tracks in the film.^[11] Arundhati of Sundaattam fame was signed as the female lead.^[12]

The crew was on the lookout for a trained dog,^[13] preferably a German Shepherd.^[14] After a search, they found a dog from Bangalore.^[15] Filming began on 9 October 2013.^[11] The story takes place in Coimbatore, and travels to Ooty, Palakkad and Chennai.^[15]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was composed by Dharan Kumar while the lyrics were written by Yugabharathi and Madhan Karky.

• Doggy Style - Gaana Bala
• En Nenjil - Naresh Iyer
• Oyaathe - Haricharan, Dharan
• Man's Best friend - Theme Music

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV.^[16]

Critical reception

The film received generally positive reviews.^[3] The Times of India gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Naaigal Jaakirathai's success lies in how cannily Soundar Rajan gives us a thriller that also feels light. But there is a bit of spoon-feeding in the form of exposition that is necessary but sticks out on screen because of how it is presented".^[17] Rediff gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Whatever its faults, director Shakti Soundar Rajan's Naaigal Jaakirathai is a decent fun-filled entertainer".^[18] The New Indian Express wrote, "The uncomplicated tale of a man and his dog may have its glitches. But it’s refreshing in its premise and has many charming moments".^[19] Filmibeat rated 3 out of 5 and stated "Naaigal Jaakirathai is an amazingly new attempt as you don't get to see a dog in the lead very often in Indian cinemas. Kudos to Sibiraj who has played a second protagonist while the dog gets the central character as the story demands for it. Watch the movie for Idoh, the Belgian Shepherd and its splendid performance and of course for Sibiraj who has done justice to his character by portraying a neat and a sturdy looking cop".^[20]

The Hindu wrote, "You wouldn’t perhaps begrudge the makers their ‘influences’ if the result was a film we generally don’t see a lot of, but Naaigal reneges on the promise of its first portions".^[21] Sify stated "Naaigal Jaakirathai is a film where the idea sounds good but falls short in execution. Shakti Soundar Rajan’s idea of making an investigation thriller along with the fun elements of a dog is laudable but what lacks in the film is detailing of characters".^[22] Behindwoods rated 2.75 out of 5 and stated "Giving so much importance to a dog over the hero, logical screenplay, duration of the film and a engaging climax are the positives of Naaigal Jaakirathai. This is arguably the only authentic dog based film after the well known Rama Narayan directed stories that had animals playing vital roles".^[23]

Box office

On December 8, 2014, Sreedhar Pillai from Sify reported that the film, made on a budget of 4 crores,^[24] had grossed 7.25 crores till then.^[25] Furthermore, the satellite rights were sold for 2.5 crores, making it a profitable venture for its producers.^[1]

Sequel

After the film became a commercial success, Shakti Soundar Rajan informed that he had plans to make a sequel to Naaigal Jaakirathai. It would feature Sibiraj and the dog as well as the lead characters from the first part and is scheduled to commence in 2016.^[4]

References

External links

• Naaigal Jaakirathai at the Internet Movie Database