Osthe

Plot

Velan, a young boy, lives with his younger half-brother Balan, stepfather (Nassar) and mother (Revathi) in Kattuppakkam in the Tirunelveli district. His stepfather is always partial towards Balan which constantly angers Velan.

Fifteen years later, a gang of robbers steals money from a bank and causes property damage while entering Kattuppakkam, when Velan (Silambarasan), now a cop going by the name "Osthe" Velan, apparently tries to recover the money by beating up the robbers. It becomes clear later that he keeps the money for himself, using it to buy new police jeeps and dividing it among his fellow cops (Santhanam, Thambi Ramaiah, Mayilsamy and Vaiyapuri). Velan still lives with his family and does not have a good relationship with his stepfather and Balan (whom he bullies at times).

Balan (Jithan Ramesh) is in love with Nirmala (Saranya Mohan) whose father (Nizhalgal Ravi) opposes their relationship. Osthe Velan, meanwhile, falls in love with Neduvaali (Richa Gangopadhyay), whom he chances upon while chasing a gang of thugs.

Boxer Daniel (Sonu Sood), an aspiring politician and goon, meets Velan and tells him that the people he beat up and stole the money from are party workers and that they were getting money for the party. Velan is unperturbed, and dismisses him flatly. Balan asks his father to arrange his marriage with Nirmala, but his father refuses saying that he needs money to repay the loans he took to make his factory so he needs his son to marry a rich girl. Balan, in desperate need of money, steals it from Velan's cupboard, but is caught red-handed by his mother. He tells his mother that he intends to give the money to Nirmala's father, who in turn will return the money after marriage through dowry. Although his mother refuses, he takes the money and gives it to Nirmala's father.

Meanwhile, Velan meets Neduvaali and proposes marriage. She rejects it saying that she has to look after her father (VTV Ganesh), who is always drunk and that she cannot marry while he is alive. Velan then comes home to find his mother dead. He tries to make peace with his stepfather, as he is the only family left, but his stepfather says that Velan is not part of the family any more.

Velan is then attacked at the railway station by Daniel's men, when he is with Neduvaali and her father, but, he beats up all of them in a fight.

He sees Balan buying a horse and chariot, though he does not suspect that Balan stole the money. Balan tells him that he is getting married to Nirmala and invites Velan to the marriage. Velan tries to convince Neduvaali's father to give his daughter's hand in marriage to him and to stop drinking. Neduvaali's father accepts and after Velan leaves, he plunges into a lake and commits suicide, as he knows that his daughter will not marry anyone while he is alive. Velan takes Neduvaali to Balan's exuberant wedding and, honouring his mother's wish that her elder son be married first, marries Neduvaali in an impromptu ceremony. Nirmala's father feels disgraced and cancels the wedding.

Balan beats up one of the workers in his factory due to a small accident. The worker goes to the police station along with his mother to file a complaint. But instead Velan beats up Balan in public, thus disgracing him. Daniel decides to take advantage of the situation and suspend Velan. He takes Balan and his father to the police station. But Balan's father resolves the situation by accepting an apology from Velan. Velan meets the minister leading Daniel's party (Vijayakumar) who also dislikes Daniel. They both come to an agreement to keep Daniel in control. Velan adulterates the breweries of Daniel due to which many people fall ill and Daniel is blamed. Daniel is confronted by Velan who openly reveals to him that he adulterated the breweries.

To take revenge, Daniel burns Balan's factory. Balan's father gets a heart attack due to shock and is hospitalised. Balan, in desperate need of money for his father's treatment agrees to do anything for Daniel, without realising that it was Daniel who burnt his factory. Daniel gives him a task telling him to deliver a crate of mangoes to the minister' house. But, unknown to Balan, there is a bomb in it. After he leaves the house, it explodes, killing the minister and many innocents. Daniel gives Balan a task to kill Velan. Balan, knowing that he would not do it, accepts it and meets Velan. He confesses to Velan that he was sent to kill him by Daniel. He reveals to Velan that Daniel made him plant the bomb unknowingly. Velan forgives him and reconciles with his stepfather.

Balan meets Daniel, who thinks that Balan killed Velan and reveals to Balan that he had killed Balan's mother. Daniel is then informed that Velan is arriving with a huge police force. Balan reveals to Daniel that he did not kill Velan. In a final battle, Velan arrives and takes down all the goons and rescues Balan, leading to a final fight with Daniel. After Balan reveals to Velan that Daniel killed their mother, the two kill Daniel by forcing smoke into his mouth.

In a happy ending, Velan gets Balan married to Nirmala in the presence of their father.

Cast

Casting

After considering Bollywood actresses Sonakshi Sinha and Sonam Kapoor, Bengali actress Richa Gangopadhyay, who had starred in a number of Telugu ventures before, was roped in to portray the lead female character. Githan Ramesh was chosen to play the lead character's brother, while Sonu Sood would reprise his role from the original. Reports indicating that Madhu Shalini of Avan Ivan fame was signed to play Ramesh's pair in the film, were dismissed by Silambarasan, who clarified that Saranya Mohan had been finalised for the role. Producer-turned-actor VTV Ganesh, following collaborations with Silambarasan in Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa and Vaanam was signed to portray the father of the female lead character, played by Mahesh Manjrekar in the original version. The team took considerably more time to finalise the actress to perform the item number in the film. Sources reported that several actresses including Nayantara, Shriya Saran, Zarine Khan, Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone, Mallika Sherawat and Vidya Balan were considered or even approached, with Sherawat eventually being selected.

Filming

The film was officially launched with a pooja held at the AVM studios in Chennai on 10 May 2011, while filming commenced on 26 June in Mysore. Almost the entire film was shot in and around Mysore in a single schedule, which was completed by mid-August. Silambarasan had hit the gyms to tone up his physique, on the contrary to Salman Khan who had undergone a special diet to shed his six pack abs. Silambarasan trained for an eight pack within 25 days for the climax scene as he wanted it to be the highlight of the film. The final schedule of the film was completed with a song shot in Dubai. Mallika Sherawat shot the anticipated item number "Kalasala" during late September and the first week of October in Chennai.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Osthe was scored by S. Thaman. Silambarasan revealed that composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, who he generally collaborates with, had suggested to sign Thaman as the music director. Initially planned to be released on 6 October, the audio launch was pushed to 19 October 2011. The lyrics were written by Vaali and Yugabharathi, while Silambarasan penned the lyrics for the song "Pondaati", which would revolve around a "husband's praises for his wife." The equivalent version to the chartbusting "Munni Badnaam Hui" from the original was named "Kalasala". Shruti Haasan was reported to have rendered her voice in "Kalasala", but the rumours were denied and instead veteran singer L. R. Eswari had sung the song. "Osthe" was Thaman's first combo with Dharani who usually collaborates with Vidyasagar. "Neduvaali" and "Vaadi Vaadi" has been reused from Thaman's own compositions from Telugu film Mirapakaay.

Elements of "Kalasala Kalasala" were also sampled in the song "Don't Sell Out" by rapper Tinie Tempah.

The soundtrack generally received mostly positive reviews from music critics and became a commercially successful album. P.G Devi from Behindwoods gave 3 out of 5 and stated that "Osthi lives up to its huge expectations with generous mass entertainers like 'Kalasala Kalasala', 'Pondatti' and 'Neduvaali'. It will be a top musical grosser, alluring listeners with its hits". Prakash Upadhyaya from Oneindia.in praised Thaman's music sense and claimed that it is Simbu's Diwali treat. Indiaglitz also gave a positive verdict writing that "'Kalasala' the Tamil equivalent of Bollywood chartbuster 'Munni' fulfills all expectations, and even exceeds at some places. If your choice is an album that is a collection of mass numbers, there can't be better pick than Osthi. Go and grab it". Pavithra Srinivasan from Rediff also complimented the soundtrack's "mildly appealing combination of masala beats", giving 2.5 out of 5.

Release

The satellite rights of the film were secured by Sun TV. The film was given a "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board. Osthe, released in more than 110 screens overseas in December 2011 and it was the biggest ever overseas release in Silambarasan's career, with the actor naming it the "biggest action film that he has done so far".

Critical reception

Osthe opened to mixed reviews. The New Indian Express said "unfortunately it's unable to recreate the same magic of the earlier version, the film a passable routine masala entertainer" and stated the movie lacked the punch in original. Deccan Chronicle rated the film three stars commenting "Osthi is worth watching once." Malathi Rangarajan of thehindu.com said "If Dabangg could make it, Osthe should! And if Salman could do it, so can STR." Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff rated it 2/5 complaining "Osthi lacks the magic that made Dabangg work." IndiaGlitz.com opined "Osthi ends up as an entertainer." Behindwoods rated it 2.5/5 stating that it entertains. Sify called it a "time-pass entertainer." Rohit Ramachandran of Nowrunning.com gave 2/5 and termed the movie "a snoozefest."

Box office

Osthe collected 7 crores worldwide on the first day. The film was reported to have got a "flying start at the box Office". The total worldwide gross is 36 crores at the box office. The film was a profitable venture. The film satellite rights was sold for ₹4.50 crore (US$700,000) to Sun TV. The film was declared Moderate Hit at the box office. Though the Telugu dubbed version Thimmiri couldn't beat the popularity of the original Telugu version Gabbar Singh.