Venghai

Venghai (transl. Cheetah) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Hari and produced by B. Venkatarama Reddy. The film stars Dhanush and Tamannaah in the lead roles, while Rajkiran, Prakash Raj, Srithika, and Ganja Karuppu play supporting roles.[1] The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad with cinematography by Vetri and editing by V. T. Vijayan.

Venghai
Release poster
Directed byHari
Produced byB. Venkatarama Reddy
Written byHari
Starring
Music byDevi Sri Prasad
CinematographyVetri
Edited byV. T. Vijayan
Production
company
Vijaya Productions
Distributed byVijaya Productions
Release date
  • 8 July 2011 (2011-07-08)
Running time
155 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

The story is based in Sivagangai district. The filming started in November 2010 in Trichy,[2] and the film was released on 8 July 2011.

Plot

Veerapandi (Rajkiran) is a rich and powerful man in Pandiapuram Village in the Sivagangai district. He is a highly respected person in his caste, and he controls around 50% votes in his constituency. He is married to Thangam (Urvashi) and has two children: a son Selvam (Dhanush) and a daughter Selvi (Srithika). Rajalingam (Prakash Raj) is the incumbent local MLA from the ruling party, who was elected with backing from Veerapandi. When Rajalingam asked for support, Veerapandi assumed that the already rich Rajalingam would have no reason to be corrupt but nevertheless warned Rajalingam and supported him. However, Rajalingam is in reality a corrupt politician who despises being made to answer about even minor works to Veerapandi.

One day, the collector organises 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 location for the station. Rajalingam's men bomb a railway track to derail a train, but Selvam stops the train using a red flag signal. He also catches the bombers. Angered that Selvam screwed up the chance to catch the real perpetrator, Veerapandi sends Selvam to Trichy to stay with his maternal uncle, real estate agent Mariyappan (J. Livingston), ostensibly to tame rowdy behavior but in truth to protect him. Selvam also meets his childhood love interest Radhika (Tamannaah) who goes to college there. He proposes to her, but she tells him that she needs time to think about it. Selvam says that he will not bother her for six months and will leave her alone if she refuses him after that time. Selvam also makes Mariyappan return money to Radhika's uncle, who had bought land from Mariyappan, which then went to a civil struggle with the airforce. Selvam also gets beaten up by Peter, a local thug, as he took Radhika's place as the one who created an SMS joke on Peter. Peter 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 Tiruchy. Selvam saves a college professor (Y. G. Mahendra) from being assaulted by Peter's gang and a fight ensures. Peter is beaten blue and black and goes to bring his elder brother Anburaj's (Ponnambalam) gang. Veerapandi learns of Selvam's issues and comes to the college at the same time, when Anbu comes with his gang. Anbu is terrified at seeing Veerapandi, and begs for forgiveness.

Meanwhile, Veerapandi gets to know 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 slaps him. Selvam comes 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 else he will be killed, both causing by-election. Rajalingam gets enraged and sends rowdies from Madurai and Dindigul to kill Selvam again. When he is cornered, Selvam is forced to take a sickle and is filmed attacking the rowdies by many. Veerapandi arrives to save Selvam, but Selvam is arrested and imprisoned for 15 days. Veerapandi swears to kill Rajalingam once he returns from the legislature meeting. Radhika, after seeing his violence, decides not to disclose her love.

Selvam is released and plans to kill off Rajalingam. But Rajalingam becomes the 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 apologise to him.

Radhika gets to know that it was Selvam who helped her uncle by recovering the money invested in the disputed land. When Selvam and Selvi go to an engagement ceremony that Radhika is attending, Selvam implies that he is waiting for her to propose. Radhika tells Selvam about her love but also requests him to leave his family. However, Selvam ditches Radhika, saying that his family is more important to him than anything else in the world. Later, Radhika realizes her mistake and apologizes to Selvam, and they reunite. Radhika then introduces herself to Selvam's parents. Meanwhile, Rajalingam plans to kill Veerapandi, knowing about his train journey based on information from Radhika. However, Selvam comes to the rescue and attacks the goons. Meanwhile, the truck sent to hit Veerapandi's car kills an innocent family, whose deaths Veerapandi says will not go 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 Veerapandi's coffee and informed Rajalingam about Veerapandi's travel plans. Selvam rushes to Radhika's home, where her mother Padmavathi (Sudha Chandran) and grandfather state that Veerapandi killed Radhika's father (Nizhalgal Ravi) years ago, and they were waiting for an opportunity to exact revenge. Veerapandi comes to Radhika's home and tells how it was the ruling party rowdies who killed Radhika's dad and it was not him who killed her father. Radhika's family feels guilty about their acts. Selvam feels bad that Radhika cheated him, so he leaves her.

The next day, Radhika's family apologizes to Veerapandi and informs that they are leaving. Veerapandi 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 makes plan with other villagers to burn hayfields to make it look like the job is already done, and goes to kill Rajalingam and the goons himself. He gets men to distract Rajalingam's goons and kills them one by one. The burnt haystacks cause the Rameshwaram goons to think the job is done, and they leave. Selvam then lures Rajalingam to a place where, after a fight, he stabs Rajalingam in the throat. He then flies to Kuala Lumpur and lives there for six months. Afterwards, he returns to great happiness from all and reunites with Radhika.

Cast

Production

It was announced in 2010 that Hari and Dhanush would collaborate.[3] Title was said to be "Aruva"[4] but Hari denied that he would never keep such title[5] instead title is announced as "Venghai". Telugu cinematographer Vetri as appointed for cinematographer.[1] The film started its shooting in November 2010 at Trichy,[2] took place in Karaikudi, Kutralam, and Munnar. The song sequences have been shot in Phuket Islands and Malaysia.[6]

Venghai was Hari's first collaboration with Dhanush, his second film with Vijaya Productions after Thamirabharani. This was Dhanush's second collaboration with Vijaya Productions and Tamanna after Padikkathavan.

Soundtrack
Venghai
Soundtrack album by
Devi Sri Prasad
Released10 June 2011
Recorded2011
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length24:40
LanguageTamil
LabelSony Music
ProducerDevi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad chronology
Dhada
(2011)		 Venghai
(2011)		 Oosaravelli
(2011)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Behindwoods[7]

The film's music was scored by Devi Sri Prasad.

All lyrics are written by Viveka, except where noted.

Track list
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Dhenam Dhenam" (Rap: Baba Sehgal)Benny Dayal, Baba Sehgal4:47
2."Kaalangathale"Karthik5:12
3."Yenna Solla Pore" (Hari)Devi Sri Prasad, M. L. R. Karthikeyan4:26
4."Orey Oru"Tippu, Harini3:58
5."Pudikale Pudikudhu" (Hari)Mukesh, Suchitra4:17
Total length:22:40

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV.[8] It was dubbed and released in Telugu as Simha Putrudu and in Hindi as Meri Taqat Mera Faisla in 2012. [9]. And it was dubbed in bhojpuri as Hamar Taqat Hamar Faisla

Critical reception

Venghai received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics, who particularly noticed the predictability of the plot. But commercially success. Rediff's Pavithra Srinivasan 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]

Box office

The film collected ₹8.9 million (US$120,000) worldwide on its opening weekend.[16]

References
  1. "Dhanush and Hari take 'Aruva' – Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. 23 February 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  2. "'Venghai' on floors – Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. 20 November 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  3. "Hari to work with Dhanush ???". Kollywood Today. 16 March 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  4. "Dhanush's next with Hari titled 'Aruva'". Kollywood Today. 2 March 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  5. "Title change for Hari's 'Aruva'". Kollywood Today. 26 April 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  6. "Song sequences for Vengai has been shot in Phuket Islands". Kollywood Today. 28 May 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  7. "Venghai Music Review – Venghai Music Review". Behindwoods.com. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  8. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/programmes/venghai/params/tvprogramme/programmeid-30000000549747684/channelid-10000000000570000/starttime-201804011500
  9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYR0AjmCagc
  10. "Review: Venghai is tedious". Rediff. 8 July 2011.
  11. "VENGHAI REVIEW – VENGHAI MOVIE REVIEW".
  12. "Venghai Review – Tamil Movie Review by Rohit Ramachandran". Nowrunning.com. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  13. "Venghai film review". IBN Live.com.
  14. "Venghai Movie Review, Rating". KollyInsider.com.
  15. "Venghai – A Dejavu ride". Indiaglitz. Retrieved August 2011. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  16. "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".
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