Thalaivaa

Plot

Vishwa (Vijay) is a dancer who lives in Sydney, Australia. He also manages a water distribution business there with his childhood friend Logu (Santhanam) and his dance team members. He is the son of Ramadorai (Sathyaraj), a Mumbai-based don who fights for the rights of the Tamil-speaking migrants in the city. Ramadorai had sent Vishwa away to Australia when he was a child for his safety and although they are in regular contact, he lies to Vishwa that he is a businessman.

Vishwa falls in love with Meera (Amala Paul), the daughter of a restaurateur (Suresh) who is one of his customers. Meera reciprocates Vishwa's love and joins his dance team, helping them to win a dance competition. She soon proposes marriage to Vishwa, who agrees. Meera's father too agrees to the marriage, but he wants to discuss the matter formally with Ramadorai. They leave for Mumbai, where Vishwa finds out about his father's true identity and that he is currently in hiding due to several false cases registered against him by his arch-enemy, another don Bhima Bhai (Abhimanyu Singh). Vishwa also finds out that Meera and her "father" are CBI officers who lured him to Mumbai so that they could locate and arrest Ramadorai. Ramadorai is arrested, but just after he enters the police van, a bomb planted by Bhima in the van explodes, killing him. Vishwa is distraught over his father's death and eventually decides to stay back in Mumbai and take over his father's crime syndicate. He dons the title of Thalaivaa and provides his own brand of justice for the helpless and downtrodden.

Meanwhile, Bhima instigates riots in Mumbai which kill many people and leave several others injured. Although there is seemingly no evidence that Bhima is responsible, a tape recorded by a cameraman highlighting Bhima's involvement in the riots is stolen by a Bhojpuri-speaking pickpocket. Vishwa and his gang manage to reclaim the tape from the pickpocket and publicise it, leading to Bhima's arrest. Vishwa also kills the corrupt Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who had given Bhima and his gang free rein, and puts the blame on Bhima. But Bhima soon escapes from prison and kills most of Vishwa's henchmen on the night of Maha Shivaratri, with the help of Vishwa's uncle Ranga (Ponvannan), who is Vishwa's second-in-command. When Vishwa enters a fort after hearing that Ranga is being "held hostage" there by Bhima, he is stabbed by Ranga, who immediately informs the police that Vishwa is "dead" and leaves the fort with his physically handicapped son (M. R. Kishore Kumar), who is Vishwa's driver. When Ranga's son hears about his father's treachery, he becomes enraged and deliberately drives the car into a petroleum tanker, killing them both. Meanwhile, Vishwa, though injured, is still alive and after a bitter fight, he kills Bhima by stabbing his throat. Meera soon arrives at the fort and realises that Vishwa killed Bhima, but she acts quickly and shoots the corpses of Bhima and his henchmen to imply that she killed them, thus saving Vishwa from a jail term.

Meera eventually quits her job as a police officer after realising her love for Vishwa, and marries him. With Bhima and his gang out of the way, Vishwa is now the unchallenged don in Mumbai.

Casting

After watching A. L. Vijay's period drama film Madrasapattinam (2010), Vijay was impressed by the film and contacted the film director for a new project. A. L. Vijay later narrated the Thalaivaa story to Vijay and he agreed to play the role within fifteen minutes. Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Yami Gautam were initially approached for the lead female role. Later Amala Paul was selected. Vijay Yesudas was reported to be finalized for antagonist role in this film, but he denied it as rumour. Sathyaraj was also selected to be a part of this film. A. L. Vijay's brother Udhaya has been selected to feature in a prominent role. G. V. Prakash Kumar will be the music director while Nirav Shah will crank the camera. R.K. Naguraj has been enrolled as art director. Rumors about a Hollywood star portraying a singer, were refuted by Vijay.

Filming

The muhurta of the film was held in Chennai on 16 November 2012. The first schedule began in Mumbai from 23 November 2012. The title song "Thalaivaa Thalaivaa" was shot in Mumbai with 500 junior artists. A major portion of the film was shot in Australia. The first look and title was revealed on 14 January 2013. Additional posters were released on 26 January 2013.

As of 8 February 2013, 50 percent of total shootings were completed, with stunt scenes conducted by Stunt Silva. Ragini Nandwani, who plays a North Indian, stated that all of her film sequences were shot in Mumbai over 25–30 days. They moved to Chennai and shot a song at Binny Mills. A last shooting schedule in Australia was completed by 24 April. They shot scenes at the Bondi Beach in New South Wales. It was revealed that Vijay would portray a leader of a dance group based in Australia, performing dance styles of different genres including tap dancing with Sathish (June Ponal song fame), Karthik (Ungalil yaar Prabhu Deva winner) & their dance schoolmates.

Music

The soundtrack was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar and the lyrics were written by Na. Muthukumar, both teaming with A. L. Vijay for the fifth time. The soundtrack features five songs and two theme music tracks. As of 21 November 2012, he had composed two songs for the film. One song had been sung by Vijay alongside Santhanam. A third song was completed on 11 February 2013. The audio launch took place on 21 June 2013 in Hotel Connemara. The audio rights of Thalaivaa were bought by Sony Music.

The album received positive reviews from the audience.Behindwoods rated it 3.5/5, stating "A true for the fans, high on energy and drama". Oneindia said GV Prakash Kumar has composed the songs keeping new-age audience in mind. Thalaivaa album simply cannot be ignored. Indiaglitz said "Thalaivaa is all about energy and jive. Ranging from foot tapping to soul lifting, the album is elevating in all respects. For a crowd puller like Vijay, this album is aptly scored to be cheery and soulful. In all, GV Prakash has redefined music crafted for dance and rated 3.75 / 5 – Energy packed album. Get up and dance."

All lyrics written by Na. Muthukumar.

Release

Thalaivaa distribution rights for the United States and Canada were bought by Bharat Creations. Ayngaran International acquired the overseas rights for Thalaivaa Tamil Nadu rights were bought by Vendhar Movies and Kerala rights by Thameens via Vendhar Movies. The music rights were sold to Sony Music. Prior to Vijay's birthday on 21 June a theatrical film trailer was released by Sony Music India on their YouTube channel. Trailer got 1.2 million in 32 hours and 2 million views within 2 days on YouTube after its release. The film garnered totally 3.4 million hits on YouTube. The satellite rights of the film were secured by Sun TV for a record sum of ₹15 crore (US$2.3 million). The film's running length is 3 hours 2 minutes and was given a "U" certiticate by the Indian Censor Board. The film has been released on Friday, 9 August 2013 worldwide.

Reception

Oneindia.in stated that the film is a typical entertainer from Vijay, and will make his fans proud to be his fans. IBN Live gave it a 3/5 rating, stating that the film is a full-baked product. Sify stated "Thalaivaa is good and the movie was racy and shorter". Metromasti.com gave the movie 3/5 stars, stating, "Thalaiva which runs for 185 minutes has very intelligent scenes and is expected to be a complete class hit entertainer movie of the year".

'Times of India' gave it a 3/5, stating Vijay is in top form when he's normal and menacing. Sathyaraj as the don is effective. But the one who makes this arduous journey enjoyable is Santhanam, whose poker-faced humour provides relief in a largely grim story. MovieCrow rated it a 3/5, stating that the movie is a typical entertainer. Bookmyshow rated the film 3/5, stating that "Overall, Thalaivaa is a very good movie to watch, not just for movie fanatics down south but all across the nation. If it's the one thing you learn from this flick is – If you're your father's son, you will follow his footsteps!".

Overseas

Thalaivaa opened well at international markets, especially in the USA and UK. In UK From the paid previews on Thursday till Saturday, Thalaivaa's gross in the UK is ₹78 lakh (US$120,000) approximate from 34 locations and it is seen as a very impressive opening. Vijay's films generally embark on a great start in the UK, and Thalaivaa is no exception. The film's UK collection is said to be ₹1.14 crore (US$180,000) in its opening weekend. Vijay starrer Thalaivaa has been declared a Hit in UK. In UK "Thalaivaa" made an impressive start earning ₹1.14 crore (US$180,000) (£1,21,249) from 36 screens in the opening weekend. The film has made higher collections than Suriya's "Singam 2" in the UK. "Singam 2" earned around ₹99 lakh (US$150,000) in the first week of its release. But Vijay's "Thalaivaa" crossed "Singam 2" collections in its debut weekend. The film continued its dream run at the UK box office even in its second weekend. Its total UK collections are now pegged at ₹2.09 crore (US$330,000).

At the end of the first weekend, the US gross of Thalaivaa from 44 reported locations is 212,000 USD ₹1.29 crore (US$200,000). A record total of 70 locations are screening Thalaivaa and the total gross for the first weekend is expected to be in the 250,000 USD range Thalaivaa fared well in Malaysia too. Thalaivaa has maintained exceptionally well in its second weekend in Malaysia. The film has become ninth highest grosser of all time in Malaysia's box office in just 10 days collection. In its second weekend the film has collected ₹1.14 crore (US$180,000) (MYR 579,153) on 60 screens and average working out per screens ₹1.90 lakh (US$3,000) (MYR 9,654). Thalaivaa collected around ₹8.34 crore (US$1.3 million) in just 10 days at the Malaysian box office.