Ghilli

<p>Saravanavelu “Velu” is a state-level player living in with his family. He is constantly rebuked by his father, Sivasubramaniam for neglecting his studies and favouring Kabaddi, while his mother Janaki dotes on him. Velu’s younger sister Bhuvana “Bhuvi”, a sharp and inquisitive schoolgirl, constantly gets Velu into trouble with their father, but she adores him. One day, Velu is sent to his relative’s wedding in , but he secretly skips the wedding to play a Kabaddi match in for his Kabbadi team. Muthupandi, a charismatic gang leader in Madurai, desires to marry a girl named Dhanalakshmi and kills Dhanalakshmi’s older brother as he rejects Muthupandi’s offer to marry her. Dhanalakshmi’s second brother is also killed by Muthupandi when attempting to avenge his brother’s murder. Dhanalakshmi’s father gets terrified by Muthupandi’s acts and asks Dhanalakshmi to leave Madurai and lead a peaceful life with her uncle in the United States, giving her money and her . While attempting to escape, Muthupandi catches Dhanalakshmi. However, while preparing for a Kabaddi match in Madurai, Velu sees Dhanalakshmi and rescues her by thrashing Muthupandi and taking her to Chennai. Velu takes Dhanalakshmi to his house and hides her in his room without his family’s knowledge. Meanwhile, Muthupandi and his father Rajapandi asks Sivasubramaniam to search for Dhanalakshmi and the apparent kidnapper. Velu soon arranges a passport and flight tickets for Dhanalakshmi, who begins to fall for Velu. When Sivasubramaniam discovers that his son is the apparent kidnapper, Velu and Dhanalakshmi escape from Sivasubramaniam and hide in . Velu, along with his friends, reaches in time for Dhanalakshmi’s flight before their Kabaddi match against in the final match of the National League. Sivasubramaniam is enraged that Velu is playing in the Kabaddi match despite being a wanted criminal, and goes to the stadium to arrest him, but at Bhuvana’s request, decides to arrest him after the Kabaddi match ends. Velu realises that he has fallen in love with Dhanalakshmi and begins to miss her, only to spot her in the stadium during the match. Velu’s lack of focus in the game is quickly replaced by his best upon seeing Dhanalakshmi, which ultimately helps his team win the championship. Later, Velu is arrested by his father, but is then stopped by Muthupandi, who wants to fight Velu after having been incited by Dhanalakshmi to prove his worth. At first, Muthupandi subdues Velu but he regains his strength, defeats Muthupandi and embraces Dhanalakshmi. Muthupandi regains consciousness and tries to kill Velu with an , but a floodlight, broken during the fight, touches the aruval, electrocuting Muthupandi to death. After completing (2003), Dharani watched and felt it had elements of a story idea “based on a kabaddi player, another storyline on a romance between a guy who hid his girl in a lighthouse, and another road film idea” which he thought of, he requested A.M. Rathnam to procure the remake rights. Dharani made changes to the screenplay adding elements different from the original. A major change was changing the father of the kabaddi player to disapprove of his son playing kabaddi. Dharani’s regular crew members including cinematographer Gopinath and music director Vidyasagar joined the film, while and were chosen to choreograph the stunts and dances, respectively, for which Sundaram was awarded later. and were the first choice to play the lead roles. Due to other commitments, they were replaced by and , while reprised his role as the antagonist from the original. was also considered for the lead role but he was hesitant to do a Telugu remake. ‘s refusal to play Vijay’s father meant that was cast as in that role. Playback singer made her acting debut with this film. who went on to act in films like (2009) and (2010) appeared in a small role as one of Vijay’s teammates and also worked as “unofficial” assistant director. Filming began in August 2003, after Vijay finished shooting for his previous action masala film (2003), and was completed by February 2004. Shooting took place mainly in and around , surrounding the areas like and and also at the cities of in and and in . The scene, in which Vijay, his coach and his friends arrive to from Chennai, was shot actually in to avoid crowd and confusion, with some Tamil signboards replacing the native Telugu signboards to suit nativity. The film’s introduction fight scene and a song were shot at a costly set in Prasad studios. While cinematography was primarily handled by Gopinath, one song “Appadi Podu” was filmed by as Gopinath got hurt during the shoot. As the original version had , makers decided to replace it with the . Since the location had to have a building and lighthouse to be opposite in the same area, a lighthouse set alongside quarters with terrace was erected at GV Gardens at Mahabalipuram. The interval chasing sequences were canned near the in and at in . The climax scene was shot in a crowd of one hundred thousand people in the 2003 Vinayagar Chaturthi occasion. was signed to compose the and for ; it marks his fourth collaboration with both and , with the former on , (2001) and , and working with the latter on (1995), (1998) and (2003). The soundtrack features six songs. The lyrics were penned by , , , and Maran. The audio was launched at Nungambakkam’s School for the Deaf and Blind in March 2004. The song “Appadi Podu” was later reused by as “Adaragottu” in the Telugu film (2008). The song was also adapted by , a music producer, as “Hum Na Tode” in the 2013 movie . The song is sung by . Following the of ” ” in 2011, “Appadi Podu” was featured alongside ” “, ” ” and ” ” in a small collection of songs that are considered a “national rage” in India. The “Kabaddi” theme music from the soundtrack album was remixed by , for (2021). was released on 17 April 2004, delayed from 9 April. Though the reason for the postponement was not given out, rumours were that Rathnam’s creditors put pressure on him to settle his accounts before release. The film was re-released worldwide on 20 April 2024, after 20 years of its original release. opened to favourable reviews from critics. gave 3/5 stars and wrote ” , story wise, is neither fresh popcorn nor spicy samosa found in theatres but the screenplay and overall treatment is as fresh and appetising as full meals after a long day.” gave 5/5 stars and wrote “the good old formula is back with . A one-man-army combats an eccentric villain against all odds as he tries to save a helpless girl from his clutches. Dharani has done it for the third time by churning out this hit-and-run yarn that keeps you engaged and entertained for 160 minutes. wrote “Vijay, the hero whom the masses today identify with, and Prakash Raj, the inimitable villain in tow, this remake of the Telugu flick, ” ,” comes a clear winner”. wrote ” portrays Vijay as a comic hero who battles his villains logically while his physical powers are exaggerated dramatically. Having said that, offers nothing less than sheer entertainment and an edgy thriller for the Tamil film industry, which is deprived of such films. rated the film 45 out of 100 and wrote “With a little bit of Kabaddi, with a little bit of love, its an perfect action masala [..] The film is full of speed like a raging Sivakasi rocket”. Visual Dasan of gave a negative review, saying as the entire film revolves around a chase and melee between the villain and the hero till the very last scene, is the epitome of back-scratching exaggeration for die-hard fans. Malini Mannath of wrote “Dharani’s ‘Dhil’ and ‘Dhool’ from his original screenplays were far better than this film. A film only for ardent Vijay fans”. G. Ulaganathan of wrote “Gilli’s plot is puerile — little emotion, many fights and a few songs which don’t gell with the story. Vijay is almost like a superman, jumping and flying like Spiderman!”. collected (equivalent to 177 crore or US$21 million in 2023) worldwide in its initial run and (equivalent to 12 crore or US$1.5 million in 2023) overseas, it was the highest grossing Tamil film of the year. The film collected 2.05 crore in the Coimbatore territory alone. The popularity of Prakash Raj’s role as Muthupandi led to several parodies incorporating the character and the endearing name “Chellam” (the way Muthupandi addresses Dhanalakshmi) became popular to sarcastically address an enemy. and Vidyarthi, by portraying Vijay’s parents, popularly became known as “Ghilli Amma” and “Ghilli Appa” respectively. The success of the film led the cast and crew to again collaborate with another similar action film titled (2008). In , a Kabaddi scene uses music montage invoking , while the other song from the film, “Arjunaru Villu” was used in (2022).</p>