Bheemaa

Plot

The movie revolves around two powerful gangs in Chennai, one led by Chinna (Prakash Raj) and the other by Periyavar (Raghuvaran). Enmity prevails between both gangs, with frequent clashes happening, as they try to overpower each other. One day, when Periyavar’s gang tries to kill Chinna, he is saved by Shekar (Vikram). Chinna meets Shekar on a few more occasions and is impressed by his courage. Chinna feels Shekar to be his resemblance as he too possesses similar characteristics.

Shekar reveals that he keeps following Chinna right from his childhood and adores him as a role model. Shekar joins Chinna’s gang and with the help of him, Chinna overpowers Periayavar in the city. Shekar wins the trust of Chinna and both get close each other. This brings up jealousy to one of Chinna’s gang man (Shafi) and he hates Shekar.

Shekar arranges Chinna’s wedding with Padma (Lakshmi Gopalaswamy) knowing that both were in love for long but Chinna decided not to express his love after becoming a don but still he loves her. Chinna is married to Padma. Meanwhile, Shekar meets Shalini (Trisha) and befriends her. Slowly love blossoms between the two.

A new police commissioner (Ashish Vidyarthi) is appointed to control violence in the city and his first targets are Chinna and Periyavar. Shekar gives the necessary courage to Chinna and asks him not to fear for the commissioner as he will always be there for protection.

One day, Shekar and Shalu decide to get married. But Shalu's parents will not agree for this wedding, so she decides to elope with Shekar. The police department secretly plans to encounter Chinna’s gang and Periavar’s gang. Shalu requests Shekar to come with her and lead a peaceful life free from violence. Shekar understands and decides to lead a normal life. He informs this with hesitation to Chinna to which Chinna agrees immediately. Chinna gives some money to Shekar and blesses him to start a new life with Shalu. Shekar and Shalu get married and move to a new apartment.

However, Chinna misses Shekar so much and he keeps worrying unable to bear Shekar’s departure. Saamy (Thalaivasal Vijay), an ally of Chinna, suggests calling back Shekar so that Chinna might feel better. But Chinna does not want to disturb Shekar as he has just started a new life. Finally Chinna decides to try calling Shekar to see whether he is interested in joining him again.

Chinna, Saamy and Shafi go to Shekar’s new apartment where he stays with Shalu. Chinna feels bad calling Shekar back and sends Shafi alone to talk to Shekar. Shafi, who already has misunderstanding with Shekar goes to meet him and lies that Chinna wanted Shekar to come back and join his gang. Shekar does not believe this and refuses to go with Shafi. Suddenly, Shafi takes a gun and shoots Shalu saying that she is responsible for Shekar leaving their gang.

Shalu dies on the spot and Shekar is shocked by this. Shekar cries and hits Shafi. Shafi falls from apartment window on to the floor and dies. Shekar unable to bear the pain of losing Shalu runs down to meet Chinna and Saamy who are waiting downstairs. Shekar believes that it was Chinna who had sent Shafi to bring him back failing which to kill Shalu.

Shekar cries seeing Chinna. Suddenly, Chinna takes a gun and shoots Shekar which shocks him. Shekar retaliates by shooting Chinna dead in turn thinking that Chinna has tried killing him. But to his shock, Shekar sees a police man behind him being hit by the bullet fired from Chinna’s gun. Now Shekar understands that Chinna has actually shot the policeman who tried to shoot Shekar from behind.

Shekar cries inconsolably as he has killed Chinna whom he considered as a role model throughout his life. Also, Saamy is suddenly shot by someone. Shekar understands that police has surrounded them for encounter. Ashish Vidyarthi instructs his team not to kill Shekar and instead catch him alive. But Shekar does not want to live as he has lost both Shalu and Chinna now. Shekar points an empty gun towards police seeing which they shoot Shekar and he also dies.

Cast

Development

After Vikram had created an identity for himself by portraying performance oriented offbeat roles, he began alternating between commercial cinema and arthouse films. After playing heavy roles in Arul and Anniyan, Vikram wanted to make a light hearted comedy film. Upon seeing the Malayalam film Thommanum Makkalum starring Mammootty, Vikram approached the director of the film Shafi and expressed interest in remaking it in Tamil. The film was titled Majaa and the film shooting began. During the production of Majaa, Vikram met with actor Dileep who was then working on his film Chanthupottu. Chanthupottu had Dileep playing an effeminate character. When it was released, it was commercially successful and brought critical acclaim for Dileep's portrayal.

Vikram, who saw the movie, was impressed and wanted to remake it in Tamil. Vikram approached producer Mohan Natarajan to buy the remake rights of the film. The remake was tentatively titled Bheemaa. When his film Majaa hit the screens, it had only average success, and Vikram was skeptical about remaking Chanthupottu. The film was first postponed but later shelved. The producer of the film, A. M. Rathnam, approached director Lingusamy to come up with a new script.

After Ji, Lingusamy announced his next project, Bheemaa, in 2005. Vikram trained his body for three months with the help of former Mr. Tamil Nadu bodybuilding champion Rajendran for the part of Sekar so that he would look more like the physically strong character of Bheemaa. Vikram stated that he approached the film like an actor even though the film's script was written "for a star" and furthermore he said that it is one of the most powerful roles.

Casting

Katrina Kaif, and Deepika Padukone were considered to play heroine but replaced by Trisha. Simran was considered for Second lead opposite to Prakash Raj. There were rumours that Mammootty would act in the film but reports proved untrue. Nana Patekar was replaced by Prakash Raj to play villain. Raghuvaran was selected to play an important role. Sherin was selected to perform item number.

Filming

A song was shot with 3000 junior artistes flown in from Mumbai. The duet song was shot at Madurai Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal. The scenes were shot in Rameshwaram and Tuticorin. A song sequence with Vikram and Trisha was picturised for the last few days on a huge ship located in mid sea. A song was shot in Australia. Re-recording was completed in 30 days and the song "Oru Mugamo" was shot with 30 scenes.

Since the film was in production for such a long time, Vikram had no releases in 2006 and 2007. The filming was finally completed in 2007.

Controversy

Vijaykanth has lodged a formal complaint at the Producers’ Council and the Nadigar Sangam against producer A. M. Rathnam for settlement of dues amounting to ₹85 lakh (US$130,000). According to Vijayakanth’s sources, the producer had promised the actor to pay the amount after the release of the movie Dharmapuri in which he had acted. However, the producer moved on to his next project, Bheemaa, starring Vikram, without keeping his promise. Perturbed by this, the actor has sought action against the producer and has requested Rama Narayanan, president of the Producers’ Council, to intervene and stop the release of Bheemaa until his dues are settled.

A petition was filed by a travels company alleging that Sri Surya Movies, who had produced Bheemaa, had card dues for air tickets bought from them to go abroad and shoot Bheemaa. Hence, the petitioners sought a stay on the movie's release. When the petition came up for hearing at the Madras High Court on Friday, the judges declined to grant the stay and they rather insisted the production house to pay dues from their property security amount.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by Harris Jayaraj. The lyrics are penned by Na. Muthukumar, Pa.Vijay, Thamarai and Yugabharathi. it was well received by the audience. Bheemaa is the only film Harris scored for Linguswamy. The soundtrack received tremendous response, both critically and commercially. Behindwoods rated the soundtrack 4 out of 5 and mentioned, "Overall the music is good and Harris has once again proved his mettle with six numbers which are sure to be lapped up by all the music lovers in the coming months. "

Tamil track list

Telugu track list

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Kalaignar. The film was given an "A" certificate by the Indian Censor Board. After three years of production, Bheemaa was finally released on 14 January 2008, on the eve of Pongal, alongside other releases like Pazhani, Kaalai, Vaazhthugal, Pidichirukku and Pirivom Santhippom.

Critical response

Nowrunning wrote: "Bheema is a mix of action, romance, thrill and sentiment, but fails to impress. The shoddy screenplay and jerky narration are more to blame than the lack of ingenuity on the part of the director, Bheema is a one-man show of Vikram". Sify wrote: "The film lacks a solid story with no twists, and instead it tests the patience of the viewers as it turns out to be a mix of fight followed by a song, and again breaking out into another well choreographed action scene that dissolves into yet another song in Switzerland and followed by more stunt scenes". Behindwoods wrote: "For pure lovers of action, Bheema might just be the Pongal movie they are looking for, but those expecting an action movie with a strong story will be disappointed". Rediff wrote: "A M Rathnam's flashy Tamil venture, produced with state-of-the-art techniques and freeze frames that promise to dazzle you. That promise, at least, they manage to deliver".

Box office

The film debuted in the number one position at the Chennai box office and grossed ₹58 lakh (US$90,000) in the first four days of release, eventually grossing ₹3 crore (US$470,000) there. In the overseas market, the film grossed US$637,779 in United Kingdom and Malaysia. The film was considered an average grosser overall.