With Bollywood getting caught in drug storm following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and shocking claims being made on a daily basis about drug usage in Hindi film industry, Kollywood is free from any such serious allegations till now.
However, some recent Tamil movies had illegal drug trade and things that revolve around it as their core themes. This week, as part of its Friday special article series, Mykollywood.com takes a look at those flicks.
SAITHAN
‘Saithan’ is a 2016 film written and directed by Pradeep Krishnamoorthy. The film stars Vijay Antony and Arundhati Nair, with Charuhasan, Y G Mahendra, Siddhartha Shankar and Kitty amongst others forming the secondary cast.
Based on the novel ‘Aaah!’ by Sujatha, the film revolves around a software engineer who gets into trouble after he starts hearing strange voices asking him to kill a woman named Jayalakshmi.
Along with a Telugu dubbed version titled ‘Bethaludu’, the film released theatrically on 1 December 2016. When a newly married Dinesh (Vijay Antony) starts hearing voices in his head, he visits a psychiatrist, who leads him to investigate his past life and an unsolved murder. At the end, it is revealed that he is drugged by some who is very close to him.
KOLAMAVU KOKILA
‘Kolamavu Kokila’ is a 2018 film written and directed by debutant Nelson Dilipkumar and produced by Lyca Productions. The film stars Nayanthara in the lead role alongside a supporting cast including Yogi Babu, Saranya Ponvannan, R S Shivaji, Charles Vinoth, and Hareesh Peradi.
Anirudh Ravichander composed the film’s music. The film was released on 17 August 2018 to positive response and become a commercial success.
Kokila (Nayanthara), who has financial issues, gets involved in a drug racket to earn quick money. Eventually, her family also gets dragged in the internal drug war which, in turn, puts their lives at risk.
SIMBA
‘Simba’ is a 2019 film, written and directed by Arvind Sridhar. The film features Bharath, Premgi, Swathi Deekshith and Bhanu Sri Mehra in the lead roles, while Ramana plays a supporting role.
The film features music composed by Vishal Chandrasekhar with cinematography by Sinu Siddharth and editing by Achu Vijayan. ‘Simba’ is an experimental movie with a unique plot.
‘Simba’, which is billed as Tamil cinema’s first stoner comedy, revolves around Mahesh (Bharath), a stoner who leads a lonely life. It is this reason, the film tells us, that has turned him towards cannabis – for instant dopamine hit. One Sunday, after Mahesh has taken a “hit”, his neighbour Madhu (Bhanu Sri Mehra) asks him to look after her pet Great Dane, Simba.
To Mahesh, who is under the influence of the marijuana, Simmba (Premgi) appears to be a person. The rest of the film is all about how Mahesh bonds with Simba and how they try to make Madhu fall in love with him.
KAITHI
‘Kaith’ is a 2019 film written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The film stars Karthi in the lead with Narain, Arjun Das, George Maryan and Dheena in pivotal roles. It is produced by S R Prakashbabu and S. R. Prabhu under the banner Dream Warrior Pictures.
The film score and soundtrack was composed by Sam C S The cinematography was handled by Sathyan Sooryan, and edited by Philomin Raj.
The film follows Dilli (Karthi), a recently freed prisoner who is arrested due to suspicion while en route to meet his daughter for the first time in life.
When a number of police officers are poisoned at a party following a drug bust, Inspector Bejoy enlists Dilli’s help to drive the officers to hospital in a lorry, in exchange for seeing his daughter. Dilli, Bejoy and the lorry’s owner find themselves in a chase with the criminals and must race against time to reach hospital and also save a police station about to come under siege.
DARBAR
‘Darbar’ is a 2020 film written and directed by A R Murugadoss, and produced by Allirajah Subaskaran under the banner of Lyca Productions. The film stars Superstar Rajinikanth, Nayanthara, Nivetha Thomas, and Sunil Shetty.
The music for the film composed by Anirudh Ravichander while cinematography and editing are performed by Santhosh Sivan and Sreekar Prasad, respectively. The film was released in India on 9 January 2020, coinciding with Thai Pongal.
Commissioner of Police Adithya Arunachalam (Rajinikanth) cleans up drugs and trafficking to make the Mumbai city clean. But it leads to a fight with an international drug lord, who killed many police officers certain years ago.
By Naveen
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