Kuruvi

<p>Vetrivel Singamuthu, a lives with his large family in . Velu’s father Singamuthu had gone to in to work at a and he never returned to , prompting Velu and his family to think that Singamuthu is dead. Velu learns that a -based crime boss named Koccha owed his father a huge sum of money. Velu and his friend Aaps travel to Malaysia as Kuruvi, the trade jargon for low-level contraband carriers. Velu and Aaps come to Malaysia at a time when internal rivalry and problems are surfacing in Koccha’s family. Koccha’s younger sister Radhadevi has refused to marry Soori, the brother of Konda Reddy, Koccha’s Kadapa-based business associate. Irritated and preoccupied, Koccha doesn’t devote any time or attention to resolve Velu’s problem. Velu is ill-treated and thrown out of Koccha’s place without any help. Determined to return to India only after his father’s issue is solved to his satisfaction, Velu conceals himself in Koccha’s residence and steals a large diamond owned by Koccha, feeling that it would pay off his father’s debt, and returns to India with Aaps. Devi also follows Velu to India, having fallen in love with him, when Velu saves Devi from falling from a tall building during New Year’s Eve. Knowing that Velu has stolen his diamond, Koccha and his gang visit Velu’s house and threaten his family with dire consequences unless Velu returns the diamond. After confronting Koccha, Velu learns that his father is alive and is being held as along with many innocent people at Kadapa. Singamuthu had discovered diamonds at the colliery, but refused to allow Koccha and Konda Reddy to illegally mine the diamonds for their own benefit. He had been held prisoner in Kadapa ever since. Velu immediately leaves for Kadapa, where he encounters Koccha again. He throws him onto a moving train thereby paralysing him. Velu soon discovers a slave camp run by Koccha and Konda Reddy at the colliery, where a womanising goon named Kadapa Raja is torturing the inmates. With the help of his uncle Elango ( ), Velu sneaks into Koccha’s mansion on the eve of Devi’s wedding with Soori to find out his father’s whereabouts. With the help of Devi who reveals that Koccha’s own fingerprint is his laptop’s password, he unlocks Koccha’s laptop. On unlocking & seeing Koccha’s laptop, Velu and Devi learn that Koccha and his associates have been cheating the government by against the law and also have secret government documents in their possession. Velu also paralyses Soori by getting him stung by bees on the wedding day thereby stopping the wedding. He single-handedly takes on Konda Reddy, Kadapa Raja and their henchmen, killing them all. He drags Konda Reddy’s dead body to Koccha’s mansion. Koccha, who now uses a wheelchair, recovers on seeing the dead body of his associate and attempts to shoot Velu. He is arrested at that moment by a officer Raj, who reveals that Velu had forwarded all the information to them from Koccha’s laptop. Singamuthu and the others are reunited with their families, and Velu reunites with Devi. It was announced in June 2007 that , son of and grandson of the then-Tamil Nadu Chief minister , would produce films under his production banner . The film marked the comeback of Dharani and announced the project titled featuring most of the cast and crew of his previous film . Filming began in July 2007, after Vijay completed the shooting for his previous psychological thriller movie (2007), and ended in March 2008. Kuruvi or Pura is a term used by people in Southeast Asia towards illegal immigrants. was first approached to be heroine of the film, but was later selected to be paired with Vijay for the fourth time after (2004), (2005) and (2006). was initially approached for the film but he was replaced by . A stunt scene was filmed with Vijay taking on few men, who belong to the Malaysian mafia in a huge bar-cum-disco set erected for this purpose. In , the director used a chopper to shoot an entire song sequence to give it a feel of grandeur which was shot in . Another song was shot in New Zealand. A huge set was erected at the MGR film city for major portion of the film. The team had even erected another set nearby in Sriperumbudur for shooting a song sequence, which featured some models from Bangalore and Mumbai. Sadly, rains held up the shooting for two days – by the time the call sheet of the models ended. Another fight scene was filmed at AVM Studios with a grand set resembling a bar. The second half, which takes place in , , was not actually shot there due to restrictions, and was shot in a quarry near that actually looked like the forest of Kadapa region, with some Telugu signboards used to make it look like actual Kadapa region. The soundtrack is composed by Vidyasagar. The film’s audio launch was held at the Little Flower Convent on 16 April 2008 in Chennai. wrote: “Vidyasagar’s music has only sheen, no soul”. of wrote, “Kuruvi is no Gilli, but does have its own quirky charm”. The song “Mozha Mozhannu” generated controversy because the name of freedom fighter was mentioned in the song. received mixed reviews from critics. wrote “Kuruvi’s got everything to appeal to Vijay fans – but Dharani the director is lost in this melee of fist-fights and elementary comedy”. wrote, “To give Dharani his due, Kuruvi is watchable in parts, for die-hard fans of Vijay. For ordinary viewers, the film lacks a basic story and stretches ones patience for nearly three hours”. rated the film 39 out of 100. wrote that the film “tries its best to fly high, only that the effort isn’t enough because earlier his eagle ( ) had soared much higher. Of course, Dharani keeps up the momentum and things move fast to the midway point”.</p>