| Ghilli | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Dharani |
| Screenplay by | Dharani |
| Dialogues by | |
| Story by | Gunasekhar |
| Based on | Okkadu by Gunasekhar[1] |
| Produced by | A. M. Rathnam |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography |
|
| Edited by | B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan |
| Music by | Vidyasagar |
Production company | Sri Surya Movies |
Release date |
|
Running time | 158 minutes[2] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ₹8crore[3][4] |
| Box office | ₹50 crore (initial run)[5][6] ₹26–32.50 (re-release)[b] |
Ghilli (/ɡɪllɪ/transl. Gutsy) is a 2004 IndianTamil-languagesportsaction film[12] directed byDharani and produced byA. M. Rathnam. It is a remake of theTelugu filmOkkadu (2003), written and directed byGunasekhar, with few changes made to the story. The film starsVijay in the lead role, alongsideTrisha andPrakash Raj (reprising his role from the original version).Ashish Vidyarthi,Dhamu,Mayilsamy,Janaki Sabesh,Nancy Jennifer,Nagendra Prasad,Ponnambalam andPandu play supporting roles. The film is about aKabaddi player, who goes toMadurai to participate in an exhibition match, but instead rescues a woman from a gang leader, who wants to marry her.
The soundtrack album and score were composed byVidyasagar, while cinematography was handled by Gopinath and editing byV. T. Vijayan andB. Lenin. The dialogues for the film were written byBharathan. The film was released on 16 April 2004 to positive reviews from critics. The film ran for more than 200 days at the box office and emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2004.Ghilli is considered to be one of the best films in Vijay's career, starting his acting trend from romance to action.[13][5]
A re-mastered version in 4K was re-released worldwide in theatres on 20 April 2024 and received huge response among the audience.[14] It has grossed around₹26–32.50 crore during its re-release, becoming thehighest grossing re-release in Indian cinema overtakingTitanic.[15][4] This record was later broken by Hindi filmTumbbad in September 2024.[c]
Saravanavelu "Velu", a state-levelKabaddi player living inChennai with his family, is constantly rebuked by his father,DCP Sivasubramaniam for neglecting his studies and favouring Kabaddi, while his mother Janaki dotes on him. Velu's younger sister Bhuvana "Bhuvi", a sharp and inquisitive schoolgirl, constantly gets Velu into trouble with their father, but she adores him. One day, Velu is sent to his relative's wedding inTrichy, but he secretly skips the wedding to play a Kabaddi match inMadurai for his Kabbadi team named Ghilli.
Muthupandi, a charismatic gang leader in Madurai, desires to marry a girl named Dhanalakshmi and kills Dhanalakshmi's older brother as he rejects Muthupandi's offer to marry her. Dhanalakshmi's second brother is also killed by Muthupandi when attempting to avenge his brother's murder. Dhanalakshmi's father gets terrified by Muthupandi's acts and asks Dhanalakshmi to leave Madurai and lead a peaceful life with her uncle in the United States, giving her money and heruniversity certificates. While attempting to escape, Muthupandi catches Dhanalakshmi. However, while preparing for a Kabaddi match in Madurai, Velu sees Dhanalakshmi and rescues her by thrashing Muthupandi and taking her to Chennai.
Velu takes Dhanalakshmi to his house and hides her in his room without his family's knowledge. Meanwhile, Muthupandi and his fatherHome Minister Rajapandi asks Sivasubramaniam to search for Dhanalakshmi and the apparent kidnapper. Velu soon arranges a passport and flight tickets for Dhanalakshmi, who begins to fall for Velu. When Sivasubramaniam discovers that his son is the apparent kidnapper, Velu and Dhanalakshmi escape from Sivasubramaniam and hide inthe lighthouse. Velu, along with his friends, reachesthe airport in time for Dhanalakshmi's flight before their Kabaddi match againstPunjab in the final match of the National League. Sivasubramaniam is enraged that Velu is playing in the Kabaddi match despite being a wanted criminal, where he goes to the stadium to arrest Velu, but decides to arrest him after the Kabaddi match upon Bhuvana's request.
Velu realises that he has fallen in love with Dhanalakshmi and begins to miss her, only to spot her in the stadium during the match. Velu's lack of focus in the game is quickly replaced by his best upon seeing Dhanalakshmi, which ultimately helps his team win the championship. Later, Velu is arrested by his father, but is then stopped by Muthupandi, who wants to fight Velu after having been incited by Dhanalakshmi to prove his worth. At first, Muthupandi subdues Velu but he regains his strength, defeats Muthupandi and embraces Dhanalakshmi. Muthupandi regains consciousness and tries to kill Velu with anaruval, but a floodlight, broken during the fight, touches the aruval, electrocuting Muthupandi to death.
After completingDhool (2003), Dharani watchedOkkadu and felt it had elements of a story idea "based on a kabaddi player, another storyline on a romance between a guy who hid his girl in a lighthouse, and another road film idea" which he thought of, he requested A.M. Rathnam to procure the remake rights.[27] Dharani made changes to the screenplay adding elements different from the original.[28] A major change was changing the father of the kabaddi player to disapprove of his son playing kabaddi.[6] Dharani's regular crew members including cinematographer Gopinath and music director Vidyasagar joined the film, whileRocky Rajesh andRaju Sundaram were chosen to choreograph the stunts and dances, respectively, for which Sundaram was awardedFilmfare Award for Best Dance Choreographer – South later.[29]
Vikram andJyothika were the first choice to play the lead roles. Due to other commitments, they were replaced byVijay andTrisha,[30] whilePrakash Raj reprised his role as the antagonist from the original.[31]Ajith Kumar was also considered for the lead role but he was hesitant to do a Telugu remake.[32]Thiagarajan's refusal to play Vijay's father meant thatAshish Vidyarthi was cast as in that role.[33][34] Playback singerT. K. Kala made her acting debut with this film.[35]Vimal who went on to act in films likePasanga (2009) andKalavani (2010) appeared in a small role as one of Vijay's teammates and also worked as "unofficial" assistant director.[36]
Filming began in August 2003, after Vijay finished shooting for his previous action masala filmThirumalai (2003), and was completed by February 2004. Shooting took place mainly in and aroundChennai, surrounding the areas likeMylapore andBesant Nagar and also at the cities ofRayagada inOdisha andAraku Valley andSimhachalam inAndhra Pradesh. The scene, in which Vijay, his coach and his friends arrive toMadurai Junction from Chennai, was shot actually inVisakhapatnam Railway Station to avoid crowd and confusion, with some Tamil signboards replacing the native Telugu signboards to suit nativity. The film's introduction fight scene and a song were shot at a costly set in Prasad studios.[37] While cinematography was primarily handled by Gopinath, one song "Appadi Podu" was filmed byK. V. Anand as Gopinath got hurt during the shoot.[27][38] As the original version hadCharminar, makers decided to replace it with theChennai Lighthouse. Since the location had to have a building and lighthouse to be opposite in the same area, a lighthouse set alongside quarters with terrace was erected at GV Gardens at Mahabalipuram.[39] The interval chasing sequences were canned near theMeenakshi Amman Temple inMadurai and atManapparai inTrichy district. The climax scene was shot in a crowd of one hundred thousand people in the 2003 Vinayagar Chaturthi occasion.[40]
Vidyasagar was signed to compose thesoundtrack album andbackground score forGhilli; it marks his fourth collaboration with bothDharani andVijay, with the former onEthirum Puthirum (1999),Dhill (2001) andDhool (2003), and working with the latter onCoimbatore Mappillai (1995),Nilaave Vaa (1998) andThirumalai (2003). The soundtrack features six songs. The lyrics were penned byYugabharathi,Pa. Vijay,Na. Muthukumar,Kabilan and Maran. The audio was launched at Nungambakkam’s School for the Deaf and Blind in March 2004.[41]
The song "Appadi Podu" was later reused byChakri as "Adaragottu" in the Telugu filmKrishna (2008).[42] The song was also adapted byP. A. Deepak, a music producer, as "Hum Na Tode" in the 2013Hindi movieBoss.[43] The song is sung byVishal Dadlani. Following theinternet phenomenon of "Why This Kolaveri Di" in 2011, "Appadi Podu" was featured alongside "Oh Podu", "Nakka Mukka" and "Ringa Ringa" in a small collection ofSouth Indian songs that are considered a "national rage" in India.[44][45] The "Kabaddi" theme music from the soundtrack album was remixed byAnirudh Ravichander, forMaster (2021).[46]
| Ghilli | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 10 March 2004 | |||
| Recorded | Varsha Vallaki Studios | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 24:05 | |||
| Language | Tamil | |||
| Label | Five star Audio | |||
| Producer | Vidyasagar | |||
| Vidyasagar chronology | ||||
| ||||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Kabaddi" | Maran | Maran, Jayamoorty | 01:44 |
| 2. | "Arjunaru Villu" | Kabilan | Sukhwinder Singh,Manikka Vinayagam | 04:28 |
| 3. | "Sha La La" | P. Vijay | Sunidhi Chauhan | 04:30 |
| 4. | "Appadi Podu" | P. Vijay | KK,Anuradha Sriram | 04:53 |
| 5. | "Soora Thenga" | Na. Muthukumar | Tippu | 04:03 |
| 6. | "Kokkarakko" | Yugabharathi | Udit Narayan,Sujatha Mohan | 04:35 |
| 7. | "Kadhala Kadhala" | P. Vijay | Sujatha Mohan | 03:21 |
Ghilli was released on 17 April 2004,[47] delayed from 9 April. Though the reason for the postponement was not given out, rumours were that Rathnam's creditors put pressure on him to settle his accounts before release.[48]
The film was re-released worldwide on 20 April 2024, after 20 years of its original release.[49]
Ghilli opened to favourable reviews from critics.[34]IANS gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Gilli, story wise, is neither fresh popcorn nor spicy samosa found in theatres but the screenplay and overall treatment is as fresh and appetising as full meals after a long day."[50]Sify gave 5/5 stars and wrote "the good old formula is back withGilli. A one-man-army combats an eccentric villain against all odds as he tries to save a helpless girl from his clutches. Dharani has done it for the third time by churning out this hit-and-run yarn that keeps you engaged and entertained for 160 minutes.[51]The Hindu wrote "Vijay, the hero whom the masses today identify with, and Prakash Raj, the inimitable villain in tow, this remake of the Telugu flick, "Okkadu," comes a clear winner".[52]
Rediff wrote "Gilli portrays Vijay as a comic hero who battles his villains logically while his physical powers are exaggerated dramatically. Having said that,Gilli offers nothing less than sheer entertainment and an edgy thriller for the Tamil film industry, which is deprived of such films.[53]Ananda Vikatan rated the film 45 out of 100 and wrote "With a little bit of Kabaddi, with a little bit of love, its an perfect action masala [..] The film is full of speed like a raging Sivakasi rocket".[54][55] Visual Dasan ofKalki gave a negative review, saying as the entire film revolves around a chase and melee between the villain and the hero till the very last scene,Ghilli is the epitome of back-scratching exaggeration for die-hard fans.[56] Malini Mannath ofChennai Online wrote "Dharani's 'Dhil' and 'Dhool' from his original screenplays were far better than this film. A film only for ardent Vijay fans".[57] G. Ulaganathan ofDeccan Herald' wrote "Gilli’s plot is puerile — little emotion, many fights and a few songs which don’t gell with the story. Vijay is almost like a superman, jumping and flying like Spiderman!".[58]
Ghilli collected₹50 crore (equivalent to₹177 crore or US$20 million in 2023) worldwide in its initial run and₹3.5 crore (equivalent to₹12 crore or US$1.4 million in 2023) overseas, it was the highest grossing Tamil film of the year.[59] The film collected₹2.05 crore in the Coimbatore territory alone.[60]
The popularity of Prakash Raj's role as Muthupandi led to several parodies incorporating the character and the endearing name "Chellam" (the way Muthupandi addresses Dhanalakshmi) became popular to sarcastically address an enemy.[61]Janaki Sabesh and Vidyarthi, by portraying Vijay's parents, popularly became known as "Ghilli Amma" and "Ghilli Appa" respectively.[34]
The success of the film led the cast and crew to again collaborate with another similar action film titledKuruvi (2008).[62]
InMaster, a Kabaddi scene uses music montage invokingGhilli,[63] while the other song from the film, "Arjunaru Villu" was used inNaai Sekar (2022).[64]
