Venghai (transl. Tiger) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by Hari and produced by B. Venkatarama Reddy. The film stars Dhanush and Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead roles, while Rajkiran, Prakash Raj and Ganja Karuppu play supporting roles.[1] The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad with cinematography by Vetri Palanisamy and editing by V. T. Vijayan.
| Venghai | |
|---|---|
 Release poster | |
| Directed by | Hari |
| Written by | Hari |
| Produced by | B. Venkatarama Reddy |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Priyan |
| Edited by | V. T. Vijayan |
| Music by | Devi Sri Prasad |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Vijaya Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 155 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Venghai was released on 8 July 2011 to mixed reviews from critics and became an average grosser at the box office.
Plot edit
Veerapandi is a respected man in Pandiapuram, Sivagangai district who controls around 50% votes in his constituency. He is married to Thangam and has two children, Selvam and Selvi. Rajalingam is the corrupt incumbent local MLA from the ruling party, who was elected with backing from Veerapandi. Rajalingam pretends to be loyal only for Veerapandi's support. One day, the DC organizes a meeting to decide the location of a new railway station, where Rajalingam has already pre-fixed a town for bribe purpose, but Veerapandi thwarts Rajalingam's plan and convinces the meeting to set another small town as the location for the station. Rajalingam's men bomb a railway track to derail a train, but Selvam stops the train and catches the bombers.
Frustrated that Selvam screwed up the chance to catch the real perpetrator, Veerapandi sends Selvam to Trichy to stay with his uncle Mariyappan, a real estate agent, in order to protect him. In Trichy, Selvam meets his childhood friend Radhika and also makes Mariyappan return money to Radhika's uncle, who had bought land from Mariyappan, which then went to a civil struggle with the air force. Selvam also gets beaten up by a local thug Peter, due to an SMS joke by Radhika on Peter, who is filmed attacking Selvam by a professor, and he is imprisoned. Rajalingam tries to kill Selvam to weaken Veerapandi and uses Peter's local gang in Tirchy. Selvam saves a college professor from being assaulted by Peter's gang, and a fight ensures. Peter is beaten up and goes to bring Anburaj and his men.
Veerapandi learns of Selvam's issues and arrives at the college at the same time. Anbu understands that Selvam is Veerapandi's son, and begs for forgiveness. Veerapandi learns that Rajalingam is about to buy a huge plot of land with black money, and catches him red-handed after the registration in Trichy and thrashes him. Selvam arrives there accidentally, and the father-son duo makes Rajalingam donate the land to Sivagangai Corporation. Veerapandi also commands Rajalingam to resign within a week or he will be killed, with both events causing a by-election. Rajalingam gets enraged and sends goons to kill Selvam again. When he is cornered, Selvam is forced to take an aruval and defend himself, which gets filmed by the crowd. Veerapandi arrives to save Selvam, but Selvam gets arrested and remanded for 15 days as his action has reached the press.
Veerapandi swears to kill Rajalingam once he returns from the legislature meeting. After seeing Selvam's violence, Radhika decides not to disclose her love. Selvam is released and plans to kill off Rajalingam, who has become a PWD minister by using a political crisis and openly challenges to kill off Veerapandi in 30 days, as he does not need his support anymore. Selvam challenges Rajalingam that either Rajalingam will die within 30 days or Selvam will publicly apologize to him. Radhika learns that Selvam helped her uncle by recovering the money invested in the disputed land. After much hesitation, Radhika propose to Selvam, who accepts. Radhika introduces herself to Selvam's parents. Meanwhile, Rajalingam plans to kill Veerapandi, knowing about his train journey based on information from an anonymous caller.
However, Selvam arrives to the rescue and attacks the goons. Meanwhile, the truck sent to hit Veerapandi's car kills an innocent family, whose deaths causes Veerapandi to tell Rajalingam that the family's death will never leave unpunished. Later, Veerapandi realizes that he drank poisoned coffee and is rushed to the hospital, where his life is saved. Selvam is shocked to know that Radhika poisoned the coffee and was the one who informed Rajalingam about Veerapandi's travel plans. Selvam rushes to Radhika's home, where her mother Padmavathi and grandfather tells that Veerapandi killed Radhika's father Manickavel years ago, and they were waiting for an opportunity to exact vengeance. Veerapandi arrives at Radhika's home, overhearing their conversation and reveals the truth that it was the ruling party's goons, who killed Manickavel and not him.
Radhika's family feels guilty about their actions. Selvam feels betrayed that Radhika cheated him, but Radhika's family apologizes to Veerapandi, where he and Thangam forgive Radhika's mistake and urge Selvam to accept Radhika, which he does. Rajalingam hires 50 men from Rameshwaram to kill both Veerapandi and Selvam. Selvam hatches a plan with other villagers to burn hayfields and make it look like the job is already done, and leaves to kill Rajalingam. Selvam gets men to distract Rajalingam's goons and kills them one by one. The burnt haystacks cause the Rameshwaram goons to think that the job is done, and they leave. Selvam then lures Rajalingam to a place where he kills him, and escapes to Kuala Lumpur. After 6 months, Selvam returns to Pandiapuram, where he happily reunites with Radhika and his family.
Cast edit
- Dhanush as Selvam
- Tamannaah Bhatia as Radhika, Selvam's love interest
- Rajkiran as Veerapandi, Selvam's father
- Prakash Raj as MLA turned PWD Rajalingam
- Srithika as Selvi, Selvam's sister
- Kalabhavan Mani as Sundaramoorthy Selvam's friend
- Ganja Karuppu as Ganesan, Selvam's friend
- Urvashi as Thangam, Selvam's mother
- Nizhalgal Ravi as Manickavel, Radhika's father
- Sudha Chandran as Padmavathi, Radhika's mother
- Livingston as Mariyappan, Selvam's uncle
- Paravai Muniyamma as Veerapandi's house cook
- Charle as Murugesan
- Y. G. Mahendra as Tamil Professor
- Ramesh Khanna as Thangavelu
- O. A. K. Sundar as DSP Rajmohan
- Uma as Rajalingam's wife
- Ponnambalam as Anburaj
- A. C. Murali Mohan as DC
- Benjamin as Selvam's friend
- Cool Suresh as Selvam's friend
- Sampath Ram as Rajalingam's henchman
- Bayilvan Ranganathan as Veerapandi's associate
- Shivani as Jayanthi
- Azhagu as Gurusaamy as Veerapandi's advisor
- Rajadurai as Rajalingam's driver
- Nandha Saravanan
- Rajendranath
- Sree Raam as Young Selvam
Production edit
Following the release of Singam, it was announced in 2010 that Hari and Dhanush would collaborate. The title was said to be Aruva, but Hari denied and instead the title was announced as Venghai. Telugu cinematographer Vetri was appointed for cinematographer. The film started its shooting in November 2010 at Trichy and lasted until May 2011. The shooting took place in Karaikudi, Kutralam, and Munnar. The song sequences have been shot in Phuket Islands and Malaysia.[2][3][4][1][5][6]
Venghai was Hari's first collaboration with Dhanush and his second film with Vijaya Productions after Thamirabharani. This was Dhanush's second collaboration with Vijaya Productions and Tamannaah after Padikkathavan.
Music edit
| Venghai | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 10 June 2011 | |||
| Recorded | 2011 | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 24:40 | |||
| Language | Tamil | |||
| Label | Sony Music | |||
| Producer | Devi Sri Prasad | |||
| Devi Sri Prasad chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Behindwoods |   [7] |
The film's music was scored by Devi Sri Prasad.
All lyrics are written by Viveka, except where noted
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dhenam Dhenam" (Rap: Baba Sehgal) | Benny Dayal, Baba Sehgal | 4:47 |
| 2. | "Kaalangathale" | Karthik | 5:12 |
| 3. | "Yenna Solla Pore" (Hari) | Devi Sri Prasad, M. L. R. Karthikeyan | 4:26 |
| 4. | "Orey Oru" | Tippu, Harini | 3:58 |
| 5. | "Pudikale Pudikudhu" (Hari) | Mukesh Mohamed, Suchitra | 4:17 |
| Total length: | 22:40 | ||
Release edit
Venghai released theatrically on 8 July 2011.
Reception edit
Box office edit
The film collected ₹8.9 million (US$110,000) worldwide on its opening weekend.[9]
Critical response edit
Venghai received generally mixed reviews from critics, who particularly criticized the predictability of the plot.
Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff gave the film 2.5 out of 5, labelling it as "tedious" and "an overdose of rural action", further claiming that it was "so overlaid with unnecessary bloodshed, repetitive action and predictable plot twists, that after a point you lose interest".[10] Behindwoods gave 2.5 out of 5 and deemed that Venghai was "another Hari film with his usual ingredients but sans his usual spirit and this film might work for people who seek action entertainers set in villages."[11] Rohit Ramachandran of nowrunning.com rated it 1/5, calling it "cheap entertainment."[12]
IBN Live gave 2.5 of 5 citing that the film was "typical Hari style formula movie [...] Despite the predictable story, Hari has managed to make the script interesting to some extent [...] The major flaw is that the story and screenplay have nothing new. Everything happens in a predictable manner."[13] KollyInsider gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, claimed it as a 'Masala Entertainer'.[14] Another portal, Indiaglitz said "Venghai is an entertainer that is racy and pacy. At the same time, there is no denial that a section of the audience would grouse, alleging that the film has nothing new to offer. But they are not Hari's target..."[15]
References edit
- ^ a b "Dhanush and Hari take 'Aruva' – Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. 23 February 2010. Archived from the original on 25 February 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "Hari to work with Dhanush ???". Kollywood Today. 16 March 2009. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "Dhanush's next with Hari titled 'Aruva'". Kollywood Today. 2 March 2010. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "Title change for Hari's 'Aruva'". Kollywood Today. 26 April 2010. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "'Venghai' on floors – Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. 20 November 2010. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "Song sequences for Vengai has been shot in Phuket Islands". Kollywood Today. 28 May 2011. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "Venghai Music Review – Venghai Music Review". Behindwoods.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "TV Serial & New Episodes on – Latest News, Photos & Videos". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ "Venghai – Behindwoods.com – Tamil Top Ten Movies – Venghai Theneer Viduthi 180 Pillaiyar Nootrenbadu Theru Kadaisi Veedu Udhayan Avan Ivan Aaranya Kaandam Azhagarsaamiyin Kudhirai Aanmai Thavarel Kanden Engeyum Kadhal Ko Vaanam". Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
- ^ "Review: Venghai is tedious". Rediff. 8 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 May 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
- ^ "VENGHAI REVIEW – VENGHAI MOVIE REVIEW". Archived from the original on 15 May 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
- ^ "Venghai Review – Tamil Movie Review by Rohit Ramachandran". Nowrunning.com. 8 July 2011. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
- ^ "Venghai film review". IBN Live.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011.
- ^ "Venghai Movie Review, Rating". KollyInsider.com. 8 July 2011. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
- ^ "Venghai – A Dejavu ride". IndiaGlitz. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
