Sandakozhi is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by N. Linguswamy and produced by Vikram Krishna under the banner of G K Film Corporation. The film was inspired by the relationship between MC Thatha and Harikrishnan from Trichy District. The film stars Vishal as Harikrishnan, Meera Jasmine, Rajkiran as MC Thatha and Lal in lead roles, whilst Raja, Suman Setty, and Ganja Karuppu as supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The film released on 16 December 2005 to rave reviews and has become one of the huge hits in 2005, running for more than 200 days in theatres. The film was dubbed and released in Telugu as Pandem Kodi. The film was remade in Kannada as Vayuputra. It was also remade in Odia as Ganja Ladhei. It was declared a blockbuster at the box office and cult film for action film genre. The film was also later dubbed into Hindi as Jeet Hamari in 2012. A sequel titled Sandakozhi 2 was released in 2018.
Plot
Balu visits his friend Karthik's home in Chidambaram after completion of engineering. He meets Hema, Karthik's sister, and they develop an affection which transforms into love. Kasi is the local gangster in Chidambaram who is feared by the entire town. Balu, on his way back to his place, sees Kasi chasing a man with a sickle. When Kasi was about to kill the man he was chasing, Balu interferes and stops Kasi. An angered Kasi immediately tries to attack Balu, and to save himself, Balu retaliates by hitting Kasi. Only then, Balu comes to know that the person he hit is Kasi. To everyone's surprise, Balu smashes Kasi in front of everyone and leaves. Kasi is furious and wants to take revenge on Balu. Kasi's men trap Karthik's father and get to know about Balu's native place. Kasi sets goons to kill Balu but gets shocked when he knows that Balu's father is Durai, a powerful man in Madurai, and it will be very difficult to attack them. Kasi leaves to Madurai and waits for the right moment to kill Balu and his family. Meanwhile, Balu meets Hema and her family at a temple. Hema's father initially gets angry seeing Balu as he was responsible to bring trouble by hitting Kasi, but later, Balu convinces him. Both the families decide to get Balu and Hema married to each other. But before their marriage Hema is stabbed by one of Kasi's thug and she dies in front of Balu. One day, Kasi tries to kill Balu but instead attacks Durai. Durai understands that Balu is being targeted and decides to protect him. A localite in Madurai hates Durai and his family and decides to help Kasi so Durai can get killed. Kasi decides to bring in violence during a temple festival day and utilize that opportunity to kill Balu and Durai. But Balu saves Durai and fights Kasi. In the end, Balu hits Kasi and leaves, challenging him to return if he still has guts to take revenge.
The role of Vishal was originally scripted for Ajith. Vishal says that he worked hard for the role by taking courses in acting and dancing. A fight scene involving hero Vishal and Lal was picturised in Dindigul for seven days. The songs have been shot at locations in Australia, New Zealand and Chennai. An introduction song for Rajkiran was shot at Theni.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, teaming up for the first time with director N. Linguswamy, was released on 25 November 2005. It features 5 tracks, the lyrics of which were written by Pa. Vijay, Na. Muthukumar, Yugabharathi and Thamarai. Both the film score as well as the songs were appreciated and praised as outstanding with the song "Dhavanipotta Deepavali" considered as the pick of the album.
Reception
Chennai Online wrote "'Sandakozhi' is an engaging entertainer, an action-flick with a difference". Sify wrote "It is well-packaged film without any big stars or unwanted sentiments. Technically, the film is slick with good music by Yuvan and outstanding camerawork by Jeeva and Nirav Shah".
Box office
The film was a commercial success grossing $3.5 million at the box office.
Sequel
In 2015, Linguswamy announced that he would direct the sequel of Sandakozhi with Vishal again, which was shelved. However the project was revived in 2017 with Vishal confirming his presence in the sequel. Rajkiran from the original has been retained in the sequel with additional new cast involving Keerthi Suresh and Varalaxmi. The film was released in 2018 failed to replicate the success of its original film.
