Kaakha Kaakha
Kaakha Kaakha (transl. To Protect), titled The Police in the UK,[1] is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. It stars Suriya and Jyothika, with Jeevan playing the antagonist. The film featured music composed by Harris Jayaraj and cinematography by R. D. Rajasekhar. The film released on 1 August 2003 to highly positive reviews and was considered a comeback film for producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu.[2] It became Suriya's first biggest blockbuster. Owing to its commercial success, the film has been remade in several languages.
| Kaakha Kaakha | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Gautham Vasudev Menon |
| Written by | Gautham Vasudev Menon |
| Produced by | Kalaipuli S. Thanu |
| Starring | Suriya Jyothika Jeevan |
| Cinematography | R. D. Rajasekhar |
| Edited by | Anthony |
| Music by | Harris Jayaraj |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 153 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Plot
Anbuselvan is an honest, daring IPS officer with the Chennai City Police as the ACP in the Crime Branch. As he has no family or relatives, he lives with no fear. Anbuselvan and his IPS friends Srikanth, Arul, and Ilamaran are recruited for part of a special unit of police officers who are battling organised crime in Chennai. Violent and laconic, Anbuselvan 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 after 5 encounters in 3 months, by Human rights authorities, where Anbuselvan is posted to Control Room Duties. One day, a school teacher named Maya rebuffs Anbuselvan's routine questions regarding safety, not knowing that he is a police officer.
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, a mutual respect grows between them, and they begin seeing one another. When Maya gets into a road accident, Anbuselvan helps her recover, and they fall in love. Srikanth and his wife Swathi become good friends with Maya. Sethu is a gangster, who escaped the encounter operations, meets his estranged brother Pandiya, who returns to Chennai after 14 years of crime life in Maharashtra. Pandiya has a peculiar tactic: he kills a family member of his opponent, but leaves the opponent alive to rot in failure and depression on the loss of his family member.
Sethu's gang, aided by Pandiya's planning, commit major kidnappings in the city and become very powerful in 6 months. The 10-year-old son of an influential movie producer is kidnapped and killed, and later his daughter is also kidnapped for ransom. 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, as others escape. Pandiya takes over the gang, promising grave revenge over his brother's death. Pandiya and his gang members target the families of the men in the special unit, but the police close in, and a badly injured Pandiya barely escapes Anbuselvan. Pandiya and his men brutally kill Ilamaran the same night, and escape. 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 for Pondicherry.
However, Pandiya and his thugs enter the cottage the next day where the couple are honeymooning and attack Anbuselvan, leaving him for dead, and kidnapping Maya. Anbuselvan is battling for life but thinking only about rescuing Maya. Srikanth and Arul arrive at the cottage, discover Anbuselvan, and take him to the Pondicherry Government Hospital. Srikanth reveals that Swathi was kidnapped earlier at the airport and confesses that it was he who gave away Anbuselvan's location to Pandiya, for Swathi's safe return. Srikanth feels extreme remorse over what has happened. Whilst in the hospital, they receive a message from Pandiya to meet him at a particular location in Andhra Pradesh. When they go there, they find two packages, one containing Swathi's severed head and the other one containing Maya's arm flesh.
Srikanth and Anbuselvan are distraught, with the former being hysterical upon seeing his wife's head, and in an agony of grief and guilt at being responsible, he shoots himself dead. Anbuselvan and Arul track down Pandiya before he can escape from Tamil Nadu and fight with the gang. Anbuselvan aims to shoot Pandiya, but Pandiya shoots Maya while using her as a shield, and she dies in Anbuselvan's arms. An enraged Anbuselvan tracks down Pandiya and brutally finishes him off, avenging Maya and his friends' deaths. An epilogue shows that Anbuselvan, after the death of Maya, continues his job as an IPS officer some months later, while still reminiscing his moments with Maya.
Cast
- Suriya as ACP Anbuselvan IPS
- Jyothika as Maya
- Jeevan as Pandiya (Voice-Over by Gautham Vasudev Menon)
- Daniel Balaji as Shrikanth IPS
- Devadarshini as Swathi
- Manobala as Ramana
- Yog Japee as Agaram Sethu, underworld don
- Vivek Anand as Arul IPS
- Sethu Rajan as Ilamaran IPS
- Rajeevan as Maya's brother-in-law
- Gautham Vasudev Menon as Vasudevan Nair
- Birla Bose as ACP Kumaravel
- Cool Suresh as Rogue
- Sathyaraj as Ending narration
- Pondy Ravi as a police constable and Anbuselvan's driver[3]
- Ramya Krishnan in a special appearance for "Thoodhu Varumaa" song
- R. D. Rajasekhar in a special appearance for "Oru Ooril" song
Production
The film was initially titled as Paathi (Half) and then as Kalam, before the team opted to change the title to Kaakha Kaakha.[4] Menon revealed that he was inspired to make the film after reading of articles on how encounter specialists shoot gangsters and how their families get threatening calls in return, and initially approached Madhavan, Ajith Kumar and Vikram for the role without success.[5][6] The lead actress Jyothika asked Menon to consider Suriya for the role, and he was subsequently selected after Menon saw his portrayal in Nandha.[7] He 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".[7] The film had an alternate ending which showed Jyothika's character surviving; it was released only on DVD.[8][9]
Release
Guru Subramaniam of Rediff.com labelled Kaakha Kaakha a "career high film".[10] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu described it as for "action lovers who believe in logical storylines and deft treatment" and praised Menon for his linear narrative screenplay.[11] The film was a major breakthrough for both Menon and Suriya.[12][13][14]
Remakes
Menon remade the film in Telugu as Gharshana (2004) for producer Venkata Raj and it went on to be highly successful as well as being a hit in Telugu theatres. In July 2004, he agreed terms to direct and produce another version of Kaakha Kaakha in Hindi with Sunny 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.[15] Producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah approached him to direct the Hindi version of the film in 2010 as Force, and Menon initially agreed before pulling out again.[16] The film was also made in Kannada in 2011 as Dandam Dashagunam. Menon and the original producer, Dhanu, also floated an idea of an English version with a Chechnyan backdrop, though talks with a potential collaboration with Ashok Amritraj collapsed.[7]
Accolades
In addition to the following list of awards and nominations, prominent Indian film websites named Kaakha Kaakha one of the 10 best Tamil films of 2003, with Rediff, Sify and Behindwoods all doing so. The film was, before release, in "most awaited" lists from film websites.
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 Filmfare Awards South | Best Actor | Suriya | Nominated |
| Best Actress | Jyothika | Nominated | |
| Best Villain | Jeevan | Won | |
| Best Director | Gautham Vasudev Menon | Nominated | |
| Best Film | Kalaipuli S. Dhanu | Nominated | |
| Best Choreography | Brindha (Thoodu Varuma & Uyirin Uyire) | Won | |
| Best Music Director | Harris Jayaraj | Won | |
| Best Cinematographer | R. D. Rajasekhar | Won | |
| Best Editor Award | Anthony | Won | |
| 2003 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards | Best Music Director | Harris Jayaraj | Won |
| Best Editor | Anthony | Won | |
| ITFA Awards | Best Actor | Suriya | Won |
| Best Actress – Special Jury | Jyothika | Won | |
| Best Music Director | Harris Jayaraj | Won |
Soundtrack
The film's music was composed by Harris Jayaraj, who reunited with Menon after the soundtrack of Minnale. The song "Ondra Renda" is based on "Dil Ko Tumse Pyar Hua" from the 2001 Hindi film Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein in which Harris himself was the music director.[17]
All tracks are written by Thamarai.
| 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 | ||
References
- ^ "The Police". British Board of Film Classification. from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
- ^ Jeshi, K. (3 September 2005). . The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 May 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
- ^ Ramakrishnan, Deepa (14 March 2013). "Cop in!". The Hindu. from the original on 18 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
- ^ . Nilacharal. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
- ^ Mahesh, Chitra (18 July 2003). . The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 January 2004. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
- ^ Kalaignar TV (31 December 2016). Exclusive Interview with Gautham Menon | Kalaignar TV (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
- ^ a b c Rangan, Baradwaj (17 December 2006). "Interview: Gautham Menon". Baradwaj Rangan. from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ^ Wareham, Karl (23 August 2003). . The Digital Fix. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
- ^ "Revisiting Kaakha Kaakha: 20 lesser-known facts about Suriya's breakthrough movie". Cinema Express. 20 August 2019. from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
- ^ Subramaniam, Guru (11 August 2003). "A career high film for Surya'". Rediff.com. from the original on 29 May 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (8 August 2003). . The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 October 2003. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Ramnath, Nandini (2 October 2009). . Mint. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ "Gautham Menon excited over National Award". The Hindu. 24 January 2010. from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Suriya: Best performances of the actor". The Times of India. 23 July 2018. from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ Adarsh, Taran (21 July 2004). . Sify. Archived from the original on 26 November 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ^ Daithota, Madhu (2010). "John Abraham loved 'Kaakha Kaakha'". The Times of India. from the original on 13 October 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ^ "6 times Gautham Menon redefined romance in movies". Suryan FM. 22 March 2018. from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
External links
- Kaakha Kaakha at IMDb