Kaithi is a 2019 Indian Tamil language action thriller film written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. It is produced by S. R. Prakashbabu and S. R. Prabhu under the banner Dream Warrior Pictures and co produced by Tiruppur Vivek under the banner Vivekananda Pictures. It stars Karthi in the lead role, along with Narain, Arjun Das, Harish Uthaman, George Maryan and Dheena in pivotal roles. In the film, a recently released prisoner races against time to drive poisoned cops to a hospital in exchange for meeting his daughter, while evading criminals chasing him. Lokesh initially worked on two scripts after the success of Maanagaram (2017), which he had scrapped working on it, due to the issues regarding the extensive research and casting process, until he came up with a news article about an ex-prisoner's life. He initially wanted Mansoor Ali Khan to play the lead role, but during the writing process, Karthi was demanded to play the lead, with the scale of the budget being increased further. The film was launched officially on 12 December 2018, with principal photography being held the following day, and was completed within August 2019. The film was entirely shot at night, without any day sequences taking place during the shoot. It is a song-less film, with the background score being composed by Sam C. S. The cinematography and editing were handled by Sathyan Sooryan and Philomin Raj respectively. Kaithi was released on 25 October 2019, ahead of the Diwali festival. It opened to positive reviews praising the cast performances, direction, writing, realistic action sequences and exclusion of songs and other factors present in mainstream Tamil cinema. Following the positive reception, the film became a box-office success, grossing over ₹105 crore. The film was further selected for official screening at the International Indian Film Festival Toronto in August 2020, and had won two Ananda Vikatan, three Norway Tamil Film Festival, SIIMA and four Zee Cine Awards respectively. The story is followed up in Vikram (2022) also directed by Lokesh, with both the films forming a part of the planned Lokesh Cinematic Universe, along with a sequel titled Kaithi 2 is under development. Kaithi is being remade in Hindi as Bholaa.
Tags
Tamil