Kathakali (film)

Kathakali
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Pandiraj
Produced by	Pandiraj Vishal
Written by	Pandiraj
Starring	Vishal Catherine Tresa
Music by	Hiphop Tamizha
Cinematography	Balasubramaniem
Edited by	Pradeep E Ragav
Production company	Pasanga Productions Vishal Film Factory
Distributed by	Sri Thenandal Films
Release dates	14 January 2016 (2016-01-14)
Running time	125 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Kathakali is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action-thriller film directed by Pandiraj, starring Vishal and Catherine Tresa. Co-produced by both Pandiraj and Vishal, Kathakali released on 14 January 2016. The Telugu dubbed version with the same title was released on 18 March 2016.

Plot

Amudhavel (Vishal), after spending 5 years in the United States, returns to Cuddalore for his marriage to his long-time girlfriend Meenu Kutty (Catherine Tresa). He is forced to invite to his marriage a local don Thamba (Madhusudhan Rao), despite a previous history between them. Thamba was responsible for dragging Amudhavel and his elder brother Gnanavel (Mime Gopi) to jail 5 years ago on a false charge after Gnanavel, who worked in Thamba's fishing business, decided to leave Thamba and start his own fishing business. Thamba was also responsible for chopping off the leg of Amudhavel and Gnanavel's father Rajarathinam when he had tried to intervene in the fight between Thamba and his sons, confining him to a wheelchair. To escape from Thamba and his gang and not cause any more harm to his family, Amudhavel had emigrated to the USA.

While Amudhavel is in Chennai doing wedding shopping with Meenu Kutty, he gets the news that Thamba had been killed the previous day. Unfortunately for Amudhavel, he is soon suspected of murdering Thamba due to their enmity. Thamba's henchmen set Amudhavel's house on fire, forcing Gnanavel and his family to go into hiding. Inspector Saravana Vadivel (Sreejith Ravi), a cruel and merciless police officer, is assigned to bring Thamba's killer to justice. Since Amudhavel is the prime suspect, Vadivel orders him to present himself at Cuddalore the next day and prove his innocence, failing which he will be considered as the murderer of Thamba and will be thrown into jail. Amudhavel leaves for Cuddalore at midnight, with policemen heavily guarding the bus and route in which he is travelling to prevent him from escaping.

Amudhavel manages to escape from the police at Puducherry and meets up with Gnanavel and his family. Amudhavel and Gnanavel then leave for Cuddalore to meet Vadivel. They soon find out that Vadivel has no intention of hearing their story and is determined to throw them into prison. They escape from Vadivel and the police. While on the run, Amudhavel finds out that Vadivel himself is behind the death of Thamba. Vadivel had been humiliated in front of his wife by Thamba, because of which he had decided to take revenge on Thamba by sending men to kill him and then framing his death on Amudhavel. Amudhavel confronts Vadivel, forcing him to reveal that he was the murderer of Thamba in front of Thamba's teenage son, who then kills him.

In the end, it is revealed to the audience that, though Vadivel had plotted to kill Thamba, the real murderer of Thamba was none other than Amudhavel. Amudhavel, who was determined to take revenge against Thamba for the atrocities he committed against him and his family, had stabbed Thamba and escaped before Vadivel's men arrived and further stabbed a dying Thamba to death.

Cast

• Vishal as Amudhavel Rajarathnam
• Catherine Tresa as Meenu Kutty
• Madhusudhan Rao as Thamba (dubbed by Samuthirakani)
• Poster Nandakumar as Ex-MLA
• Mime Gopi as Gnanavel Rajarathnam
• Karunas as Karpooram
• Lakshmi Ramakrishnan as Thamba's Wife
• Sreejith Ravi as Cuddalore Inspector Saravana Vadivel
• Pawan as Sambantham
• Jayaprakash as textile mill owner
• Imman Annachi as Amudhavel's uncle

Production

Vishal and Pandiraj announced that they would be collaborating for a film venture in May 2015, with the pair sharing production duties. An official statement announced that work would begin on the film after Pandiraj had finished work on two other ongoing ventures, Pasanga 2 and Idhu Namma Aalu. The first filming schedule began in July 2015, with Catherine Tresa joining the team as the lead heroine after talks with Keerthy Suresh were unsuccessful. The film's title was revealed to be Kathakali in September 2015. Originally scheduled for a Diwali 2015 release, the film was postponed owing to Vishal's commitments in the Nadigar Sangam elections.

Vishal revealed that the film was a whodunit thriller which happens over the course of one night, and that it was based on a real-life incident which had happened to Pandiraj's friend. In regard to the film's production, Pandiraj expressed his gratitude at working with Vishal and noted that the actor was willing to experiment away from his usual on-screen image. Pandiraj also revealed that he decided to edit out the film's comedy portions in order to ensure the film had a tight script.

Soundtrack

Kathakali
Soundtrack album by Hiphop Tamizha
Released	24 December 2015
Recorded	2015
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Language	Tamil
Label	V Music
Producer	Hiphop Tamizha
Hiphop Tamizha chronology
Aranmanai 2 (2016)Aranmanai 22016 Kathakali (2016) Thamizhan Endru Sol (2016)Thamizhan Endru Sol2016

The film's soundtrack album and background score were composed by Hiphop Tamizha, who also penned the lyrics for the songs. The soundtrack album consists of four tracks and was released on 24 December 2015. Behindwoods rated the album 2.5 out of 5.

Tracklist
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Azhage"	Hiphop Tamizha	3:38
2.	"Kathakali Theme"	Instrumental	2:37
3.	"Erangi Vandhu"	Hiphop Tamizha, Anthony Daasan	3:35
4.	"Kathakali Whistle"	Instrumental	1:41
Total length:			11:31

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV. Kathakali was released on 14 January 2016, coinciding with Pongal.

Critical Reception

Baradwaj Rangan of The Hindu called it a "fairly watchable thriller" where "Two things help. One, the two-hour running time. Two, the focus." M Suganth of The Times of India rated the film 3 out of 5 and stated, "What is refreshing about Kathakali is that it is less an action film and more a mystery", adding, "It is in the final portions that the film slips a bit. Given that Amudhavel is played by Vishal, the character has to be an action hero and so, we see him beating up professional gangsters with hardly any effort, and the film starts to resemble conventional action films." Indiaglitz gave it a 2.8/5 saying that "[It] is a good entertainer that slowly builds into an action packed thriller."

External links

• Kathakali at IMDb