They say it’s the dream of every actor to play a cop. Reason- Police stories are popular among the audience and they would play a big role in elevating the image and star power of actors.
With superstar Rajinikanth’s ‘Darbar’, in which he has played a police officer after decades, hitting the screens on Friday, Mykollywood.com takes a look at cop movies that featured top heroes of Tamil cinema.
RAGASIYA POLICE 115
‘Ragasiya Police 115′ is a 1968 film, directed by B R Panthulu, starring MGR in the lead role, with Jayalalithaa, M N Nambiar, S A Ashokan and Nagesh among others, enacting supporting roles.
There was grand opening and record collection within 10 days and the film ran more than 100 days. Upon return from a particularly dangerous but successful mission abroad, Ramu (MGR), the secret agent 115 of Research and Analysis Wing receives the results of his investigations.
The suspects’ list is handed to him. A very rich family is in the line of fire. It is suspected that someone there resells classified information of National Security. What he does is rest of the story.
THANGA PATHAKKAM
‘Thanga Pathakkam’ is a 1974 film, directed by P Madhavan and written by J Mahendran. Based on Mahendran’s play of the same name, the film stars Sivaji Ganesan, K R Vijaya, Sreekanth and Prameela.
It focuses on a disciplined Superintendent of Police who is dedicated to his job, while his son, on the contrary, is rebellious by nature and grows to resent his father. Sivaji Ganesan reprised his role from the play.
‘Thanga Pathakkam’ was released on 1 June 1974. The film was a commercial success, running for over 175 days in theatres, and thereby becoming a silver jubilee film.
MOONDRU MUGAM
‘Moondru Mugam’ is a 1982 film directed by A Jagannathan. The film stars Rajinikanth in three distinct roles as rough and tough police officer Alex Pandian, Arun and John.
The film was a blockbuster and ran for 175 days in theaters. It received the Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize in 1982.
The film was remade in Hindi as ‘John Jani Janardhan’ with Rajinikanth again reprising his roles, in Telugu as ‘Mugguru Monagallu’ with Sobhan Babu, and in Kannada as ‘Gedda Maga’ with Shankar Nag.
VETTAIYAADU VILAIYAADU
‘Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu’ is a 2006 film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. Starring Kamal Haasan and Jyothika in prominent roles, while Kamalinee Mukherjee, Prakash Raj, Daniel Balaji, and Salim Baig played supporting roles.
The film features music composed by Harris Jayaraj. Kamal Haasan, who played a police officer called Raghavan, won Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor. Jyothika was nominated for the Best Actress category at the Filmfare Awards for her character Aradhana.
The film was released on 25 August 2006 to positive reviews and became a blockbuster at box office. It was also released in Telugu as ‘Raghavan’ and in Hindi as ‘The Smart Hunt’.
YENNAI ARINDHAAL
‘Yennai Arindhaal’ is a 2015 film co-written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, and produced by A M Rathnam under the banner Shri Sai Ram Creations which was presented by S Aishwarya.
The film stars Ajith Kumar, Arun Vijay, Anushka Shetty, Trisha, and Parvathy Nair in the lead roles with Vivek, Anikha, Ashish Vidyarthi, Suman, and Avinash playing pivotal roles.
The story revolves around Sathyadev (Ajith), a police officer. A sincere police officer, he tries to stop an organ trafficking racket. But he is unaware that the man performing the illegal trade is the same person who killed his beloved.
KAAKKA KAAKKA
‘Kaakka Kaakka’ is a 2003 film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. It stars Suriya and Jyothika in the lead roles, with Jeevan playing the main negative role.
The film featured music composed by Harris Jayaraj and cinematography by R D Rajasekhar. The film released on 1 August 2003 to highly positive reviews and went on to become the first biggest blockbuster in Suriya’s career, and was considered a comeback film for producer Kalaipuli S Thanu.
Owing to the success, the film has been remade in several languages. It features Suriya as Anbuselvan, an upright police officer who is an encounter specialist.
THEERAN ADHIGAARAM ONDRU
‘Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru’ is a 2017 film written and directed by H Vinoth and produced by S R Prakashbabu and S R Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures.
The story is based on true events from the Operation Bawaria case, which involved the nefarious activity of dacoits and its eventual containment by Tamil Nadu police.
Karthi and Rakul Preet Singh play the lead roles in this movie, while Abhimanyu Singh played the prime antagonist. The film was released on 17 November 2017. Karthi received Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor – South and nominated Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.
By Naveen
******************
