| Kaappaan | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | K. V. Anand |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | Allirajah Subaskaran |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | |
| Edited by | Anthony |
| Music by | Harris Jayaraj |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 163 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ₹75 crore[2] |
| Box office | ₹100 crore[3][4] |
Kaappaan (transl. Protector) is a 2019 IndianTamil-languageaction thriller film directed byK. V. Anand, who co-wrote the script withPattukkottai Prabakar. The film, produced byLyca Productions, starsSuriya,Mohanlal andArya in lead roles along withSayyeshaa,Samuthirakani,Poorna,Boman Irani andChirag Jani in supporting roles. The narrative revolves around aSpecial Protection Group (SPG) officer who struggles to protect thePrime Minister of India from a mysterious man who threatens to assassinate him.
The film was announced in January 2018. Filming took place between June 2018 and June 2019. The music was composed byHarris Jayaraj, with cinematography handled byAbhinandhan Ramanujam andM. S. Prabhu, and editing byAnthony. It was the final directorial work of Anand, before his death in 2021.[5]
Kaappaan was released theatrically on 20 September 2019 and received mixed reviews from critics but grossed ₹100 crore at the box office.[4]
Terrorists tried to kill thePrime Minister of India (PM), Chandrakanth Varma, inNew Delhi, but security services were able to stop the attack, save the PM, and send him to his office. The government usedNSG operations to prevent the assassination. However, theMinister for Communications, Vasudev, was killed ascollateral damage, and his daughter Anjali is the PM's junioroffice secretary.
Kathiravan "Kathir" is anorganic farmer inThanjavur who secretly works for the country'smilitary intelligence. TheSPG asks him to help protect the PM during his visit to London after a captured terrorist reveals a plot to assassinate him. Kathir identifies and shoots the suspect. Anjali, who mistakes Kathir for the assassin, tries to follow him, but he tricks her into getting drunk and loses her. Varma goes to India and discovers that thePakistan army killed the Indian soldiers inKashmir. Rajan Mahadev, abusiness tycoon and a public figure, meets Varma to discuss ways of retaliation.
Joseph, Kathir's co-worker and friend, gets a death threat during Joseph and Priya's wedding anniversary celebration. Suddenly, a sniper kills his pet cat. Kathir and Joseph try to track the killer, but he diverts them by murdering the sniper with a small bomb blast and escapes. Varma goes to Kashmir to speak to the public, but a mysterious caller interferes with the communication system of the SPG and alerts them to a bomb on the stage where Varma is speaking. Kathir discovers the bomb and throws it away. However, the caller uses the distraction to detonate another bomb in Varma's car, killing him. After Varma's death, there is a struggle for the position of the next PM, but Varma's advisor chooses his son, Abhishek, to prevent a political divide.
Kathir gets suspended for failing to protect the PM. He discovers evidence that links their friend Ranjith, a disgraced double agent, to the killer. Ranjith seeks revenge on Varma and the SPG for his arrest, which led to his family's suicide. In addition, farmers are protesting against the construction of mines in Thanjavur, which are destroying their crops. Abhishek plans to close the mines, but Mahadev, the owner, opposes his decision, resulting in a political conflict. Despite security warnings, Abhishek takes Anjali out for her birthday, and there is an assassination attempt on him that injures Anjali. Joseph dies while trying to save Abhishek. Kathir gets angry at Abhishek for going outside with no security.
During the post-mortem, Kathir finds that one of his officers, Prem, has tried to tamper with the evidence. Prem reveals himself as a double agent who is in cahoots with Ranjith and was the one who killed Joseph while he was rescuing Abhishek. Meanwhile, male caelifera locusts suddenly infest the fields in Thanjavur. Mahadev orchestrated the outbreak since the farmers did not give up their land for his mining company. Mahadev is also the brain behind Varma's assassination, and Ranjith and Prem are simply his puppets. Abhishek and Mahadev discuss this ongoing feud and agree that in the immediate press conference, Mahadev agrees to shut down his mines in Thanjavur. Mahadev seemingly agrees but secretly plans to release both male and female caelifera, which will ensure the destruction of the crops without any chances of revival and allow him to establish his mining company without further problems.
Kathir figures this out and destroys the train transporting the locusts, killing all the locusts. Ranjith enters the control room at the press conference and plans to kill Abhishek on Mahadev's orders. Kathir beats up Ranjith, who reveals that the bomb is with Anjali. Kathir calls Anjali to thecontrol room, and they find that thecast on her broken arm contains the bomb. Kathir removes Anjali's plaster cast and disposes of the bomb. Kathir rushes to protect Abhishek but Ranjith says that Kathir's jacket has a bomb, and removing it will cause it to detonate. With Kathir frozen on the spot, Ranjith and Mahadev escape, enter the latter's car and detonate the bomb, but the bomb explodes in the car, thus killing Mahadev and Ranjith on the spot. In a flashback, Kathir had found the bomb in the jacket earlier and left thebulletproof vest in Mahadev's car. In the end, Kathir and Anjali are seen having romantic moments in his hometown.
In January 2018,Suriya announced that his next film,tentatively titledSuriya 38, would be directed byK. V. Anand, who earlier directed him inAyan (2009) andMaattrraan (2012).[7] A month later,Lyca Productions was announced to produce the film.[8] The script was written byPattukkottai Prabakar, rather than Anand's usual associates, the duoSubha,[9] though Anand shared screenwriting credit.[2] The technical crew includes editorAnthony, art directorD. R. K. Kiran and stunt choreographersPeter Hein and Dhilp Subbaryan, continuing their association with the director from his previous films.[10]
Initially,Gavemic U. Ary was announced as the cinematographer, but in a turn of eventsAbhinandhan Ramanujam replaced him. Later, he too left the project after the first schedule, apparently due to scheduling conflicts with cinematography commitments for the Malayalam film9. Subsequently,M. S. Prabhu who collaborated with Suriya and Anand onAyan, was finalised.[11][12] While the film was announced without a title, the makers had registered three titles:Kaappaan,Meetpaan andUyirkaa, and asked fans to choose the title through aTwitter poll. Although the majority of fans voted forUyirkaa,[13] on 31 December 2018, Lyca announced the film's title asKaappaan.[10][14]
Allu Sirish initially agreed to act in the film,[15] but later opted out due to scheduling conflicts withABCD (2019), and was replaced byArya.[16][17]Amitabh Bachchan was approached to portray the Prime Minister of India, but laterMohanlal agreed to do it.[18]Prem Kumar shot for the film simultaneously withSarkar (2018).[19] The film also marksBoman Irani's Tamil debut.[20]Principal photography commenced on 25 June 2018, in London.[21] The film was then planned to be shot in multiple locations across the world includingNew York, Brazil,New Delhi andHyderabad.[17] In March, an action sequence was filmed atVisakhapatnam.[22] A month later, the makers shot a song sequence on Indonesia'sJava island.[23][24] Filmingwrapped in June 2019.[25][26]
The soundtrack album is scored byHarris Jayaraj. The audio launch event was held on 21 July 2019 in Chennai.[27][28] Harris' daughter Karen Nikita Harris made her debut as a singer with the song "Vinnil Vinmeen".[29]
Upon release, the album received a positive review fromFirstpost, commenting that "Harris Jayraj composes yet another album loaded with chartbusters for Suriya's film. Dipped in quintessential Harris signature, the album offers different styles of music, ending up with different results."[30]
| Kaappaan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 21 July 2019 | |||
| Studio | Studio H | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 19:28 | |||
| Language | Tamil | |||
| Label | Sony Music India | |||
| Producer | Harris Jayaraj | |||
| Harris Jayaraj chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Kaappaan | ||||
| ||||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Siriki" | S. Gnanakaravel | Senthil Ganesh,Rockstar Ramani Ammal | 04:43 |
| 2. | "Vinnil Vinmeen" | Vairamuthu | Nikitha Harris | 03:54 |
| 3. | "Hey Amigo" | Vairamuthu | Leslee Lewis,Jonita Gandhi | 04:32 |
| 4. | "Kurilae Kurilae" | Kabilan | Javed Ali,Darshana KT | 04:21 |
| 5. | "Machan Inga Vandhira" | Kabilan Vairamuthu, GK | Kharesma Ravichandran,Nikhita Gandhi, Shabnam Muthu Munas | 03:38 |
| Total length: | 19:28 | |||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Yenno Thaarala Sangamam" | Vanamali | Nikitha Harris | 03:49 |
| 2. | "Seruku" | Chandrabose | Senthildass Velayutham, Senthil Ganesh, Ramani Ammal | 04:43 |
| 3. | "Hey Amigo" | Vanamali | Jonita Gandhi,Haricharan, Leslie Lewis | 04:32 |
| 4. | "Mecha Ninne" | Vanamali | Nikhita Gandhi | 03:36 |
| 5. | "Palike Palike" | Chandrabose | Javed Ali, Darshana KT, Pravin Saivi | 04:22 |
| Total length: | 19:20 | |||
Initially, the makers announced that the film is scheduled to release on 30 August 2019, but considering the release ofSaaho, which was scheduled on the same date, the release was pushed to 20 September 2019.[31] A Telugu dubbed version titledBandobast was released simultaneously with the Tamil version.[32] Ahead of the film's release, in late August, A. John Charles, an aspiring screenwriter, filed a petition in theMadras High Court accusing the filmmakers of plagiarism. He revealed that he wrote a script titledSaravedi which was registered in 2016, and even discussed the script with Anand in January 2017, but was shocked to find similarities between the teaser ofKaappaan teaser and the script ofSaravedi, since the script ofKaappaan was credited to Prabakar, and subsequently called for a stay on the film's release.[33] However, on 12 September, the court dismissed the petition, citing lack of evidence.[34]
Kaappaan received mixed reviews from critics.[35] M Suganth ofThe Times of India rated the film 2 out of 5 stars stating "KV Anand's Kaappaan feels like one of those patriotic films that Vijayakanth and Arjun frequently made in the 90s, but is not as entertaining as those".[36]Sify rated it 2 out of 5 stars stating "Usually Anand's films stand out in the technical department but here everything is strictly average including music, cinematography, writing and editing".[37]News18 rated 1 out of 5 stars and stated "Despite big names from the industry, the plot of Kaappaan wanders and loses its focus".[38] Sreedhar Pillai forFirstpost gave 2.25 out of 5 stars stating "Kaappaan starts with a bang and moves at a rapid pace, but somewhere towards the middle it gets bogged down and runs out of ideas".[39] Srivatsan S ofThe Hindu stated, "KV Anand's latest collaboration with his favourite leading man is a painstakingly long thriller, that neither has soul nor brain".[40]
The New Indian Express rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars stating "Never do you truly believe that this film has a real understanding of the world and its politics."[41] S. Subhakeerthana ofThe Indian Express rated 1 out of 5 stars stating "KV Anand fills Kaappaaan with props, in his never-ending endeavour to create that elusive surreal ambience. But the film has artificiality written all over."[42] Anupama Subramanian ofDeccan Chronicle rated 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Kaappaan plays a big game and is very commercial in nature."[43]Sowmya Rajendran ofThe News Minute rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "Other than Suriya, nobody in the SPG looks like they've even slow jogged on the treadmill, let alone performed miraculous high security ops."[44] Lakshmi Subramanian ofThe Week rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "The predictable screenplay, which reminds you of some old Vijayakanth or Arjun films, is disappointing as it comes from Anand who has had some decent outings with Suriya earlier, likeMaattraan andAyan."[45]
In its opening weekend, the film collected₹23 crore (US$3.27 million) in Tamil Nadu, which at the time made it one of the highest-grossing opening weekends in Tamil film history.[46] The film collected approximately₹50 crore (US$7.1 million) worldwide in its first weekend.[47]Kaappaan earned around₹100 crore worldwide.[4]
