Villain (2002 film)
| Villain | |
|---|---|
| File:Villain.JPG | |
| Directed by | K. S. Ravikumar |
| Screenplay by | K. S. Ravikumar |
| Story by | Yugi Sethu |
| Produced by | Ajith Kumar |
| Starring | Ajith Kumar Meena Kiran |
| Cinematography | Ashok S. Moorthy |
| Edited by | K. Thanigachalam |
| Music by | Vidyasagar |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | NIC Arts |
Release date | 4 November 2002 |
Running time | 164 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ₹8 crore (equivalent to ₹31 crore or US$3.7 million in 2023) |
| Box office | ₹20 crore (equivalent to ₹76 crore or US$9.1 million in 2023) [1] |
Villain is a 2002 Tamil heist film written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar and produced by S. S. Chakravarthy. The film stars Ajith Kumar in a dual role while Meena and Kiran play female leads. Sujatha, FEFSI Vijayan, Karunaas and Ramesh Khanna appear in other significant roles, while Vidyasagar composed the score and soundtrack for the film. This film was dubbed into Hindi as Jeet: The Mission of Success.
It opened to positive reviews and became box office success, with Ajith's performance leading to his second Filmfare Award for Best Actor.
Plot
They are identical twins in the movie: Shiva and Vishnu (both played by Ajith Kumar). Shiva, the elder one, is a bus conductor, while Vishnu, the mindly retarded one, is handicapped. Shiva overhears his parents' plot to kill Vishnu. He runs away to another city with Vishnu, and strives hard to look after him.
As a result of an incident when 'dada' Sundaramoorthy (FEFSI Vijayan), who runs a beggar trade, beats Vishnu brutally, so Vishnu becomes handicapped for life. Shiva leaves Vishnu in a home run by a social worker (Sujatha). During the day, Shiva works as a bus conductor, and at the same time, poses as the handicapped Vishnu: to play Robin Hood and steal from the rich and corrupt. A gang including Thangam (Meena), Ramesh Khanna, and others assist him in these operations. He is never suspected, and so, with the stolen money, he takes care of not only Vishnu, but also 800 people in other institutions for the physically handicapped.
A college student Lavanya (Kiran Rathod) falls in love with Shiva, but Shiva later comes to know that she is the sister-in-law of Sundaramoorthy, the 'dada' who handicapped Vishnu. Matters worsen when Sundaramoorthy becomes the chairman of the institute for the physically handicapped. How Shiva deals with the situation forms the rest of the story. Meanwhile, Thangam is in love with Shiva, though he does not know this. Later she gives up her love and lets Lavanya marry Shiva. At last, Shiva marries Lavanya and Thangam marries Vishnu.
Cast
- Ajith Kumar as Shiva and Vishnu
- Meena as Thangam
- Kiran as Lavanya
- Sujatha as a social worker
- FEFSI Vijayan as Sundaramoorthy
- Ramesh Khanna
- Karunas as Kodukan
- Vijayakumar
- Rekha
- R. Sundarrajan
- Nizhalgal Ravi
- Manobala
- Santhana Bharathi
- Pyramid Natarajan
- Bayilwan Ranganathan
- Vinu Chakravarthy
- Pandu
- Kanal Kannan
- Besant Ravi
Production
The film saw the first collaboration of Ajith Kumar and K. S. Ravikumar, with the former revealing that he was initially reluctant to work with the director in fear of a misunderstanding. Jyothika was announced as leading lady but she rejected the offer as she was not willing to act in the role which was offered to her, because she felt that her role is just for glamour, than her contemperory Meena's character. Kiran was signed the film after the success of Gemini.[2][3] The shoot of the film was completed in 39 days.[4]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features 7 songs composed by Vidyasagar and lyrics by Vairamuthu.
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Pathinettu Vayathil " | Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam | 5:22 |
| 2. | "Orae Manam" | Hariharan, Nithyasree Mahadevan | 4:45 |
| 3. | "Adicha Nethi Adi" | Karthik, Swarnalatha | 5:25 |
| 4. | "Aadiyil Kaathadicha" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | 1:32 |
| 5. | "Hello Hello" | Tippu, Sadhana Sargam | 5:04 |
| 6. | "Thappu Thanda" | Shankar Mahadevan, Sujatha Mohan | 4:44 |
| 7. | "Aadiyil Kaathadicha (Sad Version)" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | 1:41 |
Release
The film released alongside with Vijay starrer Bagavathi The Hindu reviewer claimed that "if you don't rack your brains about the feasibility of the hero's game plans, you could enjoy watching "Villain"" and that "Ajit scores on both fronts".[5] Another critic cited that it was "great slag-less screenplay and some stunning performances from Ajith make this film a treat for the senses".[6] Ajith's performance earned him second Filmfare Award for Best Actor.[7][8] The film was later remade in Telugu with the same title by Rajasekhar, while the original was also dubbed into Hindi.The film became highest grossing Tamil film of the year
References
- ^ Image – TinyPic – Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting. TinyPic. Retrieved on 26 July 2015.
- ^ Movies: No big Tamil film release this Diwali. rediff.com (2 November 2002). Retrieved on 2015-07-26.
- ^ Adding glamour to Deepavali. The Hindu (1 November 2002). Retrieved on 2015-07-26.
- ^ "The Hindu : Giving hits, his speciality". www.thehindu.com. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
- ^ Villain. The Hindu (15 November 2002). Retrieved on 2015-07-26.
- ^ BizHat.com – Villain Review. Ajith, Meena, Kiran, Nasser, Ramesh Khanna, Vijay Kuma. Movies.bizhat.com. Retrieved on 26 July 2015.
- ^ Ajit, Simran bag Filmfare awards – Times Of India. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com (17 May 2003). Retrieved on 2015-07-26.
- ^ 10 years ago. Cinematoday3.itgo.com. Retrieved on 26 July 2015.