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Ghilli

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This article is about the 2004 Tamil film. For the 2009 Kannada film, see Gilli (film).

Ghilli
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDharani
Written byDialogues:
Bharathan
Screenplay byDharani
Story byGunasekhar
Based onOkkadu (Telugu)
Produced byA. M. Rathnam
Starring
CinematographyS. Gopinath
K. V. Anand
(1 Song)
Edited byB. Lenin
V. T. Vijayan
Music byVidyasagar
Production
company
Sri Surya Movies
Release date
  • 17 April 2004 (2004-04-17)
Running time
166 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹8 crore[1]
Box office₹50 crore[2]

Ghilli (transl. Gutsy)[3] is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film directed by Dharani and produced by A. M. Rathnam. It is a remake of the Telugu-language film Okkadu (2003). The film stars Vijay, Trisha and Prakash Raj with Ashish Vidyarthi, Dhamu, Mayilsamy and Janaki Sabesh playing supporting roles.

The soundtrack album and score were composed by Vidyasagar. Cinematography was handled by Gopinath and editing was done by V. T. Vijayan and B. Lenin. Dialogues for the film were written by Bharathan. The film was released on 17 April 2004 to generally positive reviews and became a commercial success.[4] The film ran for more than 200 days at the box office, breaking the box office records of the 1999 film Padayappa in the process.[2] It emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2004 and became the first Tamil film to gross ₹50 crore.[5] Ghilli is considered to be one of the best films in Vijay's career.[6]

Plot

Velu is a state-level Kabaddi player living in Chennai. His father, Assistant Commissioner of Police Sivasubramaniam, constantly chides him for neglecting his studies and favouring Kabaddi. In contrast, his mother dotes on him, and his younger sister Bhuvana, a sharp and inquisitive schoolgirl, constantly gets Velu into trouble with their father, but nevertheless adores him. One day, Velu gets sent to his relatives' wedding in Trichy, but skips the wedding to go and play in a kabaddi match in Madurai, unknown to his parents.

In Madurai, Muthupandi, a ruthless gang leader, lusts for a girl named Dhanalakshmi and would do anything to marry her. Muthupandi kills Dhanalakshmi's oldest brother as he rejects his offer to marry her. Dhanalakshmi's second oldest brother is also killed by Muthupandi when attempting to avenge his brother's murder. Dhanalakshmi's father is a meek man who 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 her university certificates. Muthupandi catches her when she runs but Velu, who happens to pass by, clashes with Muthupandi and rescues Dhanalakshmi and then takes her to Chennai. Muthupandi swears revenge.

Velu takes Dhanalakshmi to his house and hides her in his room, unknown to his family. With the help of his friends, he arranges a passport, visa, and plane tickets for Dhanalakshmi so that she can go to the United States. Meanwhile, Muthupandi and his father, who is the Home Minister, ask Sivasubramaniam to search for Dhanalakshmi and the apparent kidnapper. When Sivasubramaniam discovers that it is his own son who did the "crime", Velu and Dhanalakshmi run away and hide in the lighthouse.

Dhanalakshmi has by now fallen in love with Velu, and has been accepted by his mother and sister. So she is reluctant to go to the US. Velu however, is adamant on sending her to the US, and he, along with his friends, get her to the Chennai International Airport in time for her flight before their kabaddi match against Punjab in the final match of the National League.

Sivasubramaniam, enraged that his son is a wanted criminal and yet plays in a kabaddi match, goes to the stadium to arrest Velu. By now, Velu too 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 replaced by his best performance on seeing Dhanalakshmi, winning his team the championship. Soon after, Velu is arrested by his father, but is then stopped by Muthupandi, who wants to fight Velu, having been incited by Dhanalakshmi to do so to prove his worth. Velu defeats Muthupandi and embraces Dhanalakshmi, but when Muthupandi regains consciousness and tries to kill Velu, a floodlight broken during the fight accidentally hits Muthupandi, who gets electrocuted to death.

Cast

Production

Development

Vikram was the first choice for the film, however due to outstanding film commitments, he was replaced by Vijay.[12] Dharani was finalized as the director, whose previous film Dhool under A.M. Rathnam's production had been a financial success. Dharani's regular crew members including cinematographer Gopinath and music director Vidyasagar joined the film, while Rocky Rajesh and Raju Sundaram were chosen to choreograph the stunts and dances, respectively, for which Sundaram was awarded Filmfare Award for Best Dance Choreographer – South later.[13] Jyothika was supposed to do the female lead role which was later replaced by actress Trisha, while Prakash Raj was signed on to reprise the villain's character from the original. Dhamu and Prabhu Deva's brother, Nagendra Prasad were recruited to essay supporting roles. Actor Thiagarajan's refusal meant that Ashish Vidyarthi was cast as Vijay's father in the film, while Janaki Sabesh and Baby Jennifer were selected to portray Vijay's mother and sister, respectively. Playback singer T. K. Kala made her acting debut with this film.[14][15] Vimal who went on to act in films like Pasanga (2009) and Kalavani (2010) appeared in a small role as one of Vijay's teammates and also worked as "unofficial" assistant director.[16]

Filming

Filming began in July 2003, after Vijay had completed shooting for his previous film Thirumalai and the entire film was completed by February 2004. Shooting took place mainly in and around Chennai ,surrounding the areas like Mylapore and Besant Nagar and also at the cities of Rayagada in Odisha and Araku Valley, Simhachalam and Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The film's introduction fight scene and a song were shot at a costly set in Prasad studios.[17] While cinematography was primarily handled by Gopinath, one song was filmed by K. V. Anand.[18] A lighthouse set was also erected. The interval chasing sequences were canned near the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai and at Manapparai in Trichy district. The climax scene was shot in a crowd of one hundred thousand people in the 2003 Vinayagar Chaturthi occasion.[19]

Music

Vidyasagar was signed to compose the soundtrack album and background score for Ghilli; it marks the fourth collaboration of both Dharani and Vijay, with the former on Ethirum Puthirum, Dhill and Dhool, and working with the latter after Coimbatore Mappillai (1995), Nilaave Vaa (1998) and Thirumalai (2002). The soundtrack features six songs. The lyrics were penned by Yugabharathi, Pa. Vijay, Na. Muthukumar, Kabilan and Maran. The song Appadi Podu was later reused by Chakri as "Adaragottu" in the Telugu movie Krishna (2008).[20] The song was also adapted by P. A. Deepak, a music producer, as Hum Na Tode in the 2013 Hindi movie Boss.[21] The song is sung by Vishal Dadlani. Following the internet phenomenon of "Why This Kolaveri Di" in 2011, "Appadi Podu" was featured alongside "Oh Podu", "Nakka Mukka" and "Ringa Ringa" in a small collection of south Indian songs that are considered a "national rage" in India.[22][23] The "Kabaddi" theme music from the soundtrack album was remixed by Anirudh, for Master (2021).[24][25]

Track list
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Kabaddi"MaranMaran, Jayamoorty01:44
2."Arjunaru Villu"KabilanSukhwinder Singh, Manikka Vinayagam04:27
3."Sha La La"P. VijaySunidhi Chauhan04:30
4."Appadi Podu"P. VijayKK, Anuradha Sriram05:53
5."Soora Thenga"Na. MuthukumarTippu04:03
6."Kokkarakko"YugabharathiUdit Narayan, Sujatha Mohan05:00
7."Kadhala Kadhala"P. VijaySujatha Mohan03:21

Release

Ghilli was released on 17 April 2004,[5] 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.[26]

Reception

Critical reception

Ghilli opened to favourable reviews.[27] Sify rated the movie 5 out of 5 stars and said, "the good old formula is back with Gilli. 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.[28] IANS stated that "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 and gave an overall rating of 3/5 stars.[29] The Hindu stated that "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".[30] IndiaGlitz described the film as "an out and out entertainer".[31] Rediff.com stated that, "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.[32] Ananda Vikatan rated the film 45 out of 100.[33]

Box Office

Ghilli become first tamil film to earn ₹50 crore from box office and in Kerala also, it become highest grossing non-malayalam film at that time. It became commercially successful, breaking box office records of Rajinikanth’s 1999 film Padayappa.[5][34] The film collected ₹2.05 crore in the Coimbatore territory, which was at the time only behind Padayappa.[35]

Accolades

Legacy

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.[36] The scene in which Velu briefly uses Dhanalakshmi as a hostage when surrounded by Muthupandi and his men to manipulate them into surrendering their weapons was included in the list "Top 20 Mass Scenes" by Behindwoods.[37] That scene was parodied by Shah Rukh Khan in the Hindi film Chennai Express (2013) and by Vijay himself in Master (2021). The success of the film led the cast and crew to again collaborate with another similar action film titled Kuruvi (2008).[38] In Vijay's 2021 film Master, a kabaddi scene uses music montage invoking Ghilli,[39] while the other song from the film, "Arjunaru Villu" was used in Naai Sekar (2022).[40]

References

  1. ^ "Chennai box-office report (July 23 – 25, 2004)". Sify. 29 July 2004. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  2. ^ a b Saraswathi, S (23 June 2014). "The Top 7 Vijay Movies". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  3. ^ Damodaran, K; Gorringe. "Madurai Formula Films: Caste Pride and Politics in Tamil Cinema" (PDF). South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  4. ^ Pillai, Sreedhar (31 December 2004). "Year 2004 — a flashback". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Maithutty, Fahir (20 April 2019). "15 years of 'Ghilli': Why Vijay's action thriller still remains 'chellam' for fans". The News Minute. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Ghilli - Birthday special: Five best commercial films of 'Thalapathy' Vijay". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ghilli (motion picture) (in Tamil). Sri Surya Movies. 2004. Opening credits, from 1:05 to 1:25.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ghilli (motion picture) (in Tamil). Sri Surya Movies. 2004. Closing credits, from 157:25 to 157:30.
  9. ^ "கார் கவிழ்ந்தது பாண்டி ரவி படுகாயம்". Dinakaran (in Tamil). 14 December 2013. Archived from the original on 17 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  10. ^ Varshinie (8 May 2020). "Cameo roles of Kollywood actors that might take you by surprise!". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  11. ^ Ayngaran International (4 April 2017). Gilli – Gilli Movie Comedy Scenes – Vijay & Brahmanandam Comedy scenes – Appukutty Rare appearance. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  12. ^ Team, Web (4 April 2020). "விஜய் இல்லையாம்..! கில்லி படத்தில் முதலில் நடிக்கவிருந்தது இந்த பிரபல நடிகர் தான்! யார் தெரியுமா.?". Tamil Spark. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  13. ^ a b c "Filmfare Awards 2005". Idlebrain.com. 23 July 2005. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  14. ^ "Gossip". Dinakaran. 15 April 2005. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  15. ^ Ashok Kumar, S. R. (21 November 2010). "grill mill". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  16. ^ Vandhana (10 February 2015). "Rustic Art: The Actor Vimal Interview". Silverscreen.in. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  17. ^ Ashok Kumar, S. R. (19 March 2004). "Action-packed family drama". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 November 2004. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  18. ^ Touring Talkies (23 March 2021). ஒரே வாரத்தில் மொத்த படமும் விற்க காரணமாக இருந்த போஸ்டர் - PRODUCER Thenappan CHAI WITH CHITHRA - 4. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ ""I am choosy about scripts": Gopichand". Sify. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  20. ^ "CG.com Copy Cat Crown (Part 8)". CineGoer.com. 31 January 2008. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  21. ^ Tuteja, Joginder (14 September 2013). "Music Review: Boss soundtrack is a winner". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  22. ^ Suganth, M (24 November 2011). "Why south songs are a national rage..." The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  23. ^ Suganth, M (25 November 2011). "Very, Very Kolaveri!". The Times of India. p. 23. Archived from the original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  24. ^ Anumaggie (12 January 2021). "Verithanamana Master Promo: Thalapathy Vijay's power-packed Kabaddi has a Ghilli touch! Watch now!". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  25. ^ "Master Promo: 'Thalapathy' Vijay goes back to playing Kabaddi". DT Next. 12 January 2021. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  26. ^ "'Gilli' postponed by a week!". Sify. 6 April 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  27. ^ S, Srivatsan (8 June 2020). "When Janaki Sabesh and Ashish Vidyarthi had a 'Ghilli' reunion". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  28. ^ "Gilli". Sify. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  29. ^ IANS (15 April 2004). "Gilli Tamil Movie". Nowrunning. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  30. ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (23 April 2004). "Ghilli". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 July 2004. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  31. ^ "Gilli Review". IndiaGlitz. 25 April 2004. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  32. ^ Subramaniam, Guru (23 April 2004). "Don't miss 'Gilli'. You will enjoy it!". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  33. ^ சார்லஸ், தேவன் (22 June 2021). "பீஸ்ட் : 'நாளைய தீர்ப்பு' டு 'மாஸ்டர்'... விஜய்க்கு விகடனின் மார்க்கும், விமர்சனமும் என்ன? #Beast". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  34. ^ Chauhan, Gaurang (17 April 2020). "Thalapathy Vijay's 2004 blockbuster Ghilli completes 16 years of its release - here's how fans are celebrating". Zoom Entertainment. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  35. ^ "'Chandramukhi' —First sale!". Sify. 20 November 2004. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  36. ^ "I am elated". The Hindu. 10 September 2009. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  37. ^ "Top 20 Mass Scenes | 7. Ghilli". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  38. ^ "Ghilli's magic triumvrate returns". Rediff.com. 18 April 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  39. ^ S, Srivatsan (13 January 2021). "'Master' movie review: An in-form Vijay takes a backseat to have fun. But is that enough?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  40. ^ Chandar, Bhuvanesh (13 January 2022). "Naai Sekar Review: This painfully unfunny film leaves you dog-tired". Cinema Express. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
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