Kaithi (2019 film)


Kaithi is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The film stars Karthi with Narain, Arjun Das, George Maryan and Dheena in pivotal roles. It is produced by S. R. Prakashbabu and S. R. Prabhu under the banner Dream Warrior Pictures and co-produced by Tiruppur Vivek under the banner Vivekananda Pictures. The film score and soundtrack was composed by Sam C. S. The cinematography was handled by Sathyan Sooryan, and edited by Philomin Raj.The core plot of the movie was reportedly inspired by the 1976 movie Assault on Precinct 13.
The film follows Dilli, a recently freed prisoner who is arrested due to suspicion while en route to meet his daughter for the first time in life. When a number of police officers are poisoned at a party following a drug bust, Inspector Bejoy enlists Dilli's help to drive the officers to hospital in a lorry, in exchange for seeing his daughter. Dilli, Bejoy and the lorry's owner find themselves in a chase with the criminals and must race against time to reach hospital and also save a police station about to come under siege.
Kaithi was released on 25 October 2019, coinciding on Diwali, along with the Telugu dub version titled Khaidi. It opened to generally favorable reviews praising the action sequences, performances, writing and exclusion of songs. Following the positive reception, the film became a blockbuster and went on to win a number of accolades. A Hindi-language remake starring Ajay Devgn has been officially announced.Kaithi was selected for official screening at International Indian Film Festival Toronto, 2020.

Plot

At a children's hostel for orphaned girls, a 10-year-old girl named Amudha is told by the caretakers that someone important is going to meet her at 10:00 AM, the next morning. She waits anxiously, wondering who it may be.
A smuggling van carrying a ton of drugs and a group of smugglers are captured by Inspector Bejoy and his team. The drugs belong to Adaikalam, who none of the police officers have seen nor know how he looks. Adaikalam's brother Anbu plans to capture the five police officials, kill them, and take their drugs back from them. According to Anbu's plan, all the police officials in the city get unconscious after consuming poisoned drinks at a higher official's retirement party. Bejoy, who avoided the drinks as he was under medication, tries to save the lives of all the unconscious officials without letting the media or anyone else finding out. He convinces Dilli, an ex-prisoner who happened to be there with him as he was detained for looking suspicious to help him save the officers' lives by threatening him that he would not let him meet his daughter Amudha for the first time the next morning, with the help of a lorry borrowed from Kamatchi, a caterer present at the party. As Kamatchi has good knowledge of routes and roads, Dilli tells him to come with them as well. Dilli, Bejoy, and Kamatchi together load the unconscious bodies of the officials onto the lorry and try their best to get them to the hospital as soon as possible without any casualties.
As Anbu enlists a huge sum of money as the reward for catching the policemen, gangsters from Anbu's gangs try to hunt down Bejoy and his team. They are guided by Paalpandi, a corrupt cop who is acting unconsciously while giving information about the location of the lorry to the gangs.
Meanwhile, at the commissioner's office, the drugs are hidden along with Adaikalam's men who are under custody. As Anbu and his gang would take the drugs and free Adaikalam's men, Bejoy orders constable Napoleon and a group of college students detained due to drunken driving, to close all the possible exits and to try and keep the gangsters outside the commissioner's office at the cost of their own lives while they wait for higher officials.
Dilli, Bejoy, and Kamatchi come across the various gangs but Dilli takes care of them brutally. Back at the building, Napoleon is instructed by Bejoy to negotiate a deal with the captured men of Adaikalam. Napoleon makes one of the men call Anbu and agrees to release the prisoners in exchange for his and the students' safety. Surprisingly, Anbu agrees. However, Bejoy realizes that Adaikalam himself is captured with his men and instructs Napoleon to cancel the deal. Adaikalam tries to guide Anbu into the commissioner's office, but one of the students purposely blasts loud music to keep him from hearing Adaikalam. Anbu manages to climb up to the roof and break into the building, but he is subdued by the students and tied up.
Dilli and Kamatchi manage to transfer the unconscious officers to a school bus from the hospital so that they can continue to the commissioner's office. Paalpandi then convinces them that he is alright, so they take him with them. However, they come across another gang who beats up Bejoy and Paalpandi stabs Dilli twice in the back. Dilli still manages to kill Paalpandi and the gangsters, while rescuing Bejoy and proceeding to the building. Anbu's gang outside the building manage to catch a student, and under the order of Anbu, they kill him. Napoleon bludgeons and kills Anbu with a fire extinguisher, to which Adaikalam swears he will kill all of them and their families. Dilli, Bejoy, and Kamatchi make it to the building. Dilli alone enters the building through a secret underground passage and sends the students out through the secret passage, while he and Napoleon go to burn up all the drugs. The Duo reach the drug stored room, but to their surprise, they also find a confiscated high-power Gatling gun. Instead of just burning the drugs, Napoleon decides to eliminate all the drug dealing rowdies. They reach the ground floor as the goons break in. Dilli uses the gun to kill nearly all of Anbu's gang outside the building. All the police are resuscitated and Bejoy finds the moles in his department. Stephen raj is incriminated and all injured are moved to the Government Hospital overnight. Bejoy thanks Dilli and promises him that he will soon arrange a good life for him and his daughter. The Doctor from Dilli's prison brings Dilli's daughter Amudha to the spot, and they meet with tears of joy. Dilli, Amudha, and Kamatchi leave for Dilli's village.
One of the captured men tells Adaikalam that Dilli, who had no connection with the gangs, was the prime reason for all of their losses, to which Adaikalam responds by saying that Dilli does have a connection, leaving open the possibility for a sequel.

Cast

, initially chose Mansoor Ali Khan to play the lead role. But as the process of writing went forth the story demanded Karthi, to play the lead role and the scale of the film also increased. Karthi suggested Pon Parthiban as an additional screenplay writer as Karthi appreciated the latter's work in Kaatrin Mozhi. The film was announced on 12 December 2018, and the principal photography of the film commenced around late December 2018. The film marks the second film for director Lokesh after Maanagaram in 2017. The filmmakers revealed that the film does not have any songs nor a female lead with Karthi who had signed in to play the role of a prisoner which the title of the film itself reveals. The portions of the film were shot around Chennai and in Tirunelveli, and no day sequences took place for this film. Action choreography is done by the duo Anbariv.

Soundtrack

composed the film's score. Initially, it was reported that the film does not feature any songs. However, a song titled "Neel Iravil" sung by Sam, was featured in the film's teaser. The original soundtrack which features 17 tracks in the album, with four songs and rest of them were themes was released on 22 November 2019, a month after the film's release. The vocals for the songs were written and performed by Sam and Sharanya Gopinath, with the latter rapping a few versions in English.

Release

The film was initially slated to release on 27 September 2019, but the release was pushed to October, and the makers announced that the film will be released on 25 October 2019, coinciding with Diwali.

Home media

The TV rights were brought by STAR Vijay and the film released on the channel on 16 January 2020, coinciding Maatu Pongal.
The Tamil version of the film was made available to stream on OTT platform Hotstar on 25 November 2019. The Telugu version of the film was made available to stream on OTT platform Ahavideo.

Reception

Kaithi received highly positive reviews from critics who praised Karthi's performance, Lokesh's direction and the screenplay. India Today gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "Kaithi is a film that showcases filmmaking at its best, and Karthi is terrific and so natural that you could literally picture a prisoner going through a tough time." The Times of India gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "Kaithi is a tense, impressively shot action thriller, a pure genre film." News18 gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "Karthi's stunning performance makes it an engaging watch, Kaithi plays at multiple levels." Firstpost gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "Karthi is terrific with his eyes, especially in a scene involving his daughter where he breaks down. It is a well made film that takes the road less travelled and provides enough thrills."
The Indian Express gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "The characters in this Karthi starrer are in a constant fight-or-flight mode. Lokesh forces them to choose between pain and pride. Surrender or resist." Sify gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "Kaithi is a solid action thriller and it will be a feast for action lovers. The film also has a lovely underlying father-daughter sentiment which works well in the climax! Prepare to be thrilled." Great Andhra gave 3 out of 5 stars stating " ‘Khaidi’ is a unique action drama that should be appreciated. It will appeal to serious movie lovers." The News Minute gave 4 out of 5 stars stating "A gripping tale of men imprisoned by their circumstances, There is no star in 'Kaithi'. Director Lokesh shows that a hero is anyone who goes beyond thinking about just himself." Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "But what I missed more is character building. Everyone stays the same from start to end. This isn't about twists and shock-reveals. This is just about transforming these one-note “types” into flesh-and-blood people".
The film also revived the popularity of the song "Jumbalakka" from the film En Swasa Kaatre ; in a scene from Kaithi where the students play an assortment of songs using a music player in loud volume to distract the prisoners from commandeering instructions to their comrades outside the police station. The song became a trend after the release of the film.

Box office

The film collected around on first day, on second day, about on third day, total of on 3 day weekend, close to on fourth and fifth day and and added a little over in 3 days to take on 10 days in Tamil Nadu. The film collected over in Chennai. The film collected over in Kerala, close to in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from Tamil and Telugu versions and over in Karnataka. The film collected around in Overseas to take its worldwide collection of in 10 days. The film collected in Overseas on 12 days. The film collected worldwide.

Future

As implied at the end of the movie, a sequel is planned. The director Lokesh and Karthi have confirmed the same. The dates and whereabouts are yet to be mentioned. Lokesh has also conveyed his interest in developing the film into a franchise, and also that he has an idea for both a prequel and sequel.

Remake

along with Reliance Entertainment bought the rights for the Hindi remake of the film, and Ajay Devgn is signed to play the lead role.

Awards and nominations