| Kaakha Kaakha | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Gautham Vasudev Menon |
| Written by | Gautham Vasudev Menon |
| Produced by | Kalaipuli S. Thanu |
| Starring | Suriya Jyothika Jeevan |
| Narrated by | Sathyaraj |
| Cinematography | R. D. Rajasekhar |
| Edited by | Anthony |
| Music by | Harris Jayaraj |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 153 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Kaakha Kaakha (transl. To Protect) is a 2003 IndianTamil-languageaction thriller film written and directed byGautham Vasudev Menon and produced byKalaipuli S. Thanu. The film starsSuriya,Jyothika andJeevan, withDaniel Balaji, Vivek Anand,Devadarshini, Sethu Rajan andYog Japee in supporting roles. The music was composed byHarris Jayaraj, while cinematography and editing were handled byR. D. Rajasekhar andAnthony.
Kaakha Kaakha released on 1 August 2003 and became a commercial success, winning fiveFilmfare Awards South, twoTamil Nadu State Film Awards and threeITFA Awards. It was considered a breakthrough for Menon, Suriya and Jeevan. The film was remade inTelugu asGharshana (2004) by Menon, inHindi asForce and inKannada asDandam Dashagunam (both 2011).
Anbuselvan, an orphan and an honest but stone-heartedIPS officer in theChennai City Police, works as theACP in the Crime Branch. Anbuselvan and his IPS friends Shrikanth, Arul and Ilamaran are recruited as a part of a special unit of police officers, who are battlingorganised crime in Chennai. Anbuselvan is violent and laconic in his duties and finds little patience for his personal life. The unit is ruthless in its confrontation with criminals, going as far as assassinating gang members. The unit is finally disbanded byhuman rights authorities when they assassinate five gangsters in three months, believing that killing them is more beneficial than arresting them and dealing with the legal system, and so Anbuselvan is posted to duties in thecontrol room.
One day, Maya, a school teacher, rebuffs Anbuselvan's routine questions regarding safety, not knowing about his profession. Anbuselvan meets Maya again when she and her friend are questioned for driving without a license. However, Anbuselvan lets them off with a warning. When one of Maya's students has a problem with local kids, she asks Anbuselvan for help. Anbuselvan resolves this problem and a mutual respect develops between them, where they begin to see each other everyday. When Maya gets into a road accident, Anbuselvan helps her recover and they fall in love with each other. Shrikanth and his wife Swathi become good friends with Maya.
Meanwhile, Agaram Sethu, a gangster who escaped fromencounter operations, meets his estranged brother Pandiya, who returns to Chennai after 14 years of crime life inMaharashtra. Pandiya has a peculiar tactic: he kills a family member of his opponent, but leaves the opponent alive to rot in depression over the loss of his family member. Sethu's gang, aided by Pandiya's planning, commits major kidnappings in the city and becomes powerful in 6 months. The special unit is reassembled by the commissioner with all four back in the crime branch. The unit tracks down and kills Sethu in a railyard, while the others escape.
Pandiya takes over the gang, promising to exact revenge against the special unit for Sethu's death. Pandiya and his gang members target the families of the special unit, but the police close in, and a badly injured Pandiya escapes Anbuselvan. Pandiya and his men murder Ilamaran the same night. The entire department is mobilised and all family members of the remaining three are sent into hiding. Maya and Anbuselvan get married in a hurry and leave forPondicherry, but Pandiya and his thugs track down the couple at their cottage. Anbuselvan tries to defend but his gun is unloaded. Pandiya and his thugs kidnap Maya and seemingly kill Anbuselvan, who later survives and is admitted to the hospital by Shrikanth and Arul.
Shrikanth reveals that Swathi was kidnapped earlier at the airport and confesses that he was the one who gave away Anbuselvan's location to Pandiya and swapped his pistol's magazine with an empty one, for Swathi's safe return. Shrikanth feels extreme remorse over the brutal events that happened to Anbuselvan and Maya. While in the hospital, they receive a message from Pandiya to meet him at a particular location inAndhra Pradesh. When they go there, they find two packages, one containing Swathi's severed head and the other containing Maya's arm flesh. Shrikanth and Anbuselvan are distraught, with the former being hysterical upon seeing Swathi's head. Feeling guilty and responsible, Shrikanth shoots himself dead.
Anbuselvan and Arul track down Pandiya before he can escape fromTamil Nadu and fights with the gang. Anbuselvan aims to shoot Pandiya, but Pandiya, while using Maya as a human shield shoots her and she dies in Anbuselvan's arms. An enraged Anbuselvan tracks down Pandiya and kills him, avenging Maya and his friends' deaths. In the aftermath, Anbuselvan continues his job as an IPS officer, while still reminiscing about his moments with Maya.
Gautham Vasudev Menon revealed that he was inspired to makeKaakha Kaakha after reading articles aboutencounter specialists.[4] The film was initially titled asPaathi (transl. Half),[5] and then asKalam (transl. Field) before the team opted to change the title toKaakha Kaakha, a line fromKanda Shasti Kavasam.[6] Many producers refused to finance this film as they could not make a film on the budget fixed by Menon; it wasKalaipuli S. Thanu who finally agreed.[7] Cinematography was handled byR. D. Rajasekhar, editing byAnthony and art direction byRajeevan.[1]
Menon approachedR. Madhavan for the lead role, but the actor felt he could not convincingly play an encounter specialist.[8]Ajith Kumar andVikram were also approached, but were reluctant to play a police officer at the time.[4] Menon approachedVijay, who declined as he wanted a complete script, whereas Menon decided to finalise the climax only near the end of filming.[9][10] The lead actressJyothika asked Menon to considerSuriya for the role, and he was selected after Menon saw his portrayal inNandhaa (2001).[8]Jeevan was cast as the antagonist after Menon saw him on a poster ofUniversity (2002), the actor's debut.[11] His voice was dubbed by Menon.[12]
Menon did a rehearsal of the script with the actors, a costume trial with Jyothika and then enrolled Suriya in a commando training school before beginning production, which he described as a "very planned shoot".[8] To prepare for the role, Suriya met real-life police officers Vijayakumar and Shailendra Babu and discussed about their encounter experiences.[7] An outhouse set was built at Nuwera Eliya at Sri Lanka which cost₹5 lakh (equivalent to₹18 lakh or US$21,000 in 2023).[7] To build the set on 24 feet of water, Rajeevan hired thirteen carpenters, two painters and the set was built within 15 days and the green-grass roof of the house had to be watered every day to prevent the grass from drying up.[13] Suriya performed the scene where his character falls from the outhouse without a stunt double.[7]
The film's music was composed byHarris Jayaraj, marking his second collaboration with Menon afterMinnale. The song "Ondra Renda" is based on "Dil Ko Tumse Pyar Hua" from the 2001 Hindi filmRehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein in which Harris himself was the music composer.[14]
All tracks are written byThamarai
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ennai Konjam" | Timmy,Tippu,Pop Shalini | 4:57 |
| 2. | "Ondra Renda" | Bombay Jayashri | 5:07 |
| 3. | "Oru Ooril" | Karthik | 4:50 |
| 4. | "Thoodhu Varuma" | Sunitha Sarathy,Febi Mani | 4:42 |
| 5. | "Uyirin Uyirae" | KK,Suchitra | 5:22 |
| Total length: | 25:48 | ||
Kaakha Kaakha was released on 1 August 2003.[1] It was released in the United Kingdom under the titleThe Police.[15] The film emerged a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.[16] It had analternate ending which showed Jyothika's character surviving, but was released only on DVD as an extra.[17][18]
Guru Subramaniam ofRediff.com labelledKaakha Kaakha a "career high film" and wrote, "Though the director is a tad biased while describing the police, one must salute his positive attitude."[19] Malathi Rangarajan ofThe Hindu described it as for "action lovers who believe in logical storylines and deft treatment."[20]Cinesouth wrote, "Goutham has made an action film without getting caught in the masala trap. Appreciated!".[21]Ananda Vikatan rated the film 41 out of 100, praising Suriya and Jyothika's performances and Menon's direction, saying the director proved thatRam Gopal Varma-type films could be made even in Tamil.[22]
Menon remade the film in Telugu asGharshana (2004).[28] In July 2004, he agreed terms to direct and produce another version ofKaakha Kaakha in Hindi withSunny Deol in the lead role and revealed that the script was written five years ago with Deol in mind, but the film eventually failed to take off.[29] In 2010, producerVipul Amrutlal Shah approached him to direct the Hindi versionForce (2011) and Menon initially agreed before pulling out.[30] The film was also remade in Kannada in 2011 asDandam Dashagunam.[31] Menon and Thanu also floated the idea of an English version with aChechnyan backdrop, though talks with a potential collaboration withAshok Amritraj collapsed.[8]
Kaakha Kaakha emerged a breakthrough for Menon and Suriya.[32][33][34] Thanu considered it his comeback after the failure ofAalavandhan (2001).[35] Though Jeevan fetched significant attention for his role and more offers to play antagonists, he declined as he was only in favour of lead roles.[36]
