Anjaan (2014 film)

Anjaan (transl. The fearless man) is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film[4] directed by N. Lingusamy and produced under his banner Thirupathi Brothers.[5] The film features Suriya and Vidyut Jammwal in the lead roles,[6] while Samantha Ruth Prabhu,[7] Manoj Bajpayee and Dalip Tahil appear in supporting characters.[8] The film follows a handicapped man who arrives in Mumbai looking for his gangster brother and learns of the events behind his disappearance.

Anjaan
Film poster
Directed byN. Lingusamy
Produced bySiddharth Roy Kapur
N. Subash Chandrabose
Written byBrinda Sarathy (Dialogues)
Screenplay byN. Linguswamy
Story byN. Linguswamy
StarringSuriya
Vidyut Jammwal
Samantha Ruth Prabhu
Music byYuvan Shankar Raja
CinematographySantosh Sivan
Edited byAnthony
Production
company
Distributed byUTV Motion Pictures[1]
Release date
  • 14 August 2014 (2014-08-14) (Kuala Lumpur premiere)
  • 15 August 2014 (2014-08-15) (Worldwide)[2]
Running time
170 minutes[3]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Principal photography began on 20 November 2013, in Mumbai and Goa, and was completed in June 2014. The film's cinematography and editing were handled by Santosh Sivan and Anthony, respectively, while Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the soundtrack album and background score.[9] The film was distributed by UTV Motion Pictures. Anjaan was released on 15 August 2014 to mixed from critics and did an average performance at the box office.[10] It was unofficially remade in Bangladesh as Captain Khan in 2018.

Plot

A handicapped man named Krishna arrives in Mumbai from Kanyakumari to find his brother Raju. A taxi driver named Raja drives him to a bar where he tries to inquire about Raju from the henchmen of Raju's former associate Amar, but is rebuffed. However, Raju's friend Rajiv tells him about Raju's life as a top gangster after learning he's his brother. Krishna then meets Raju's old enemy JK who reveals Raju spared his life when he could've killed him. JK tells Krishna about Karim Bhai, a close friend of Raju, upon meeting whom Krishna learns about Raju in a flashback. It is revealed that Raju and his brotherly friend Chandru are powerful gangsters to whom Karim himself is a personal friend while Johnny, Rajiv, Jackie, Manoj and Amar are the henchmen. A new commissioner tries to get rid of them, to counter which Raju kidnaps the commissioner's daughter Jeeva on the night of her marriage, in exchange for freeing his men. The commissioner is forced to agree, but Jeeva explains she didn't want to marry and her getting kidnapped was possible also because of her consent. Soon, the two fall for each other.

Raju and Chandru soon greet a powerful don named Imran, who insults and warns them instead. Chandru takes it to the heart and stays awake all night, but becomes delighted upon finding Raju kidnapped him at the party itself. The duo meet Imran at a spot where he is held captive by Rajiv, and have their verbal revenge. Delighted, Chandru gifts Raju a brand new car with Jeeva inside, and tells Raju to have fun for a week. During their vacation, Raju and Jeeva are attacked, but they manage to flee. Returning to his hood, Raju is shattered to find Chandru's mutilated corpse, and in a fit of rage orders Amar to accompany him in killing Imran. However, Raju is betrayed by Amar who shoots him, throwing him into the water. Amar then calls Imran and confirms the kill. Back to present, Krishna is told by Karim to stay hidden when Amar shows up at his taxi stand and thrashes a worker for not giving taxi he intends to use for illegal gains. However, Krishna is spotted during the return and revealing he killed Raju, Amar orders his henchmen to kill Krishna, who is revealed to be none other than Raju himself when he fights off everyone by himself and shoots Amar dead. He tells Karim he intends to stay Krishna unless his mission to hunt down the traitors is accomplished, and stays at Karim's home.

Karim later reveals Chandru was supposed to meet JK on the day he died, and Jackie didn't tag along. Raju finds Jackie at a horse race stadium and chases after him, making him reveal he first tried to contact Raju who was on vacation and then Chandru, but the call was answered by Johnny. Suspecting a mishap, Jackie ran away. Raju gets hold of Johnny using the latter's Prostitute girlfriend. Johnny reveals on the day of the meeting, Imran and his henchmen arrived instead of JK. Chandru fought them off, before being held by Johnny, Amar and Manoj and stabbed to death by Imran. Raju called on Chandru's phone to ask about his safety, but was answered by Amar who lied about him being in a meeting. Learning the truth, Raju shoots Johnny and proceeds to kill Manoj along with his henchmen in an ensuing fight. Raju tries to kill Imran at his birthday party, but ends up shooting only his virtual projection telecast from Dubai. Imran's henchmen arrive at Karim's house, vandalize it and kidnap Saira, who is revealed to be Jeeva; she wanted to stay away as well keep in touch with Raju by wearing a burqa. Raju goes to the spot and fights off all the henchmen and rescues Jeeva, only to be himself captured and brought to Imran by his top henchmen, who then betray him by helping Raju kill Imran; Raju had convinced them to switch sides. Raju shoots the henchmen, believing even enemies must not have traitors. Before leaving Mumbai, Raju and Jeeva meet Raja who is shocked to learn it was Raju all along.

Cast

Production

Development

In July 2012, it was reported first that Suriya had signed on Lingusamy's film to be produced under the director's banner and that he would work on it after Maattrraan (2012) and Hari's Singam 2 (2013).[11] After the completion of both movies, the actor was reported to work simultaneously with Lingusamy and director Gautham Menon for a film titled Dhruva Natchathiram.[12] Suriya waited for six months after Singam 2, but failed to receive a complete script from Gautham Menon and no progress took place in this period of time. Owing to this reason, he opted out of Gautham's film in October 2013 and announced that he would soon start work on Lingusamy's film.[13] The director confirmed the news and also stated the film would officially start filming from mid-November 2013. It was said that the script had been modified a few times.[14] The film was started without a title. In January 2014, the title was officially announced to be Anjaan.[15] Vijay Milton was initially signed by Lingusamy as the cinematographer for the film,[16] but in October 2013 he was replaced with Santosh Sivan, collaborating with Lingusamy for the first time.[17] The film's editing was reported to be handled by Anthony while Rajeevan was recruited as the art director. Brinda Sarathy was confirmed to be the dialogue writer for the film.[18]

Casting

In early November 2013, Manoj Bajpai was reported to be playing the film's antagonist while Vidyut Jamwal would also appear in a prominent role.[19] Dalip Tahil was signed on for the role of a small, but powerful don in the film.[20] In January 2014, actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu was added to the cast.[21] Comedian Vivek was approached to play a role in the film,[22] but could not take up the offer as a result of date clashes with Vai Raja Vai.[23] Instead in March 2014, another comedian Soori was signed.[24] Sana Khan was approached to do a special number in the film but she declined the offer as she wanted to promote her Bollywood film Jai Ho (2014).[25] Actress Maryam Zakaria was chosen to do an item number in the film.[26] Chitrangada Singh was chosen for another item number after discussions to have Sonakshi Sinha[27] and later, Kareena Kapoor, in the song were unsuccessful.[28]

Filming

In mid-October 2013, a test shoot occurred with Suriya and Malavika Rampradeep, a Bharatanatyam dancer, with the Red Dragon 6K Digital camera along with a high zoom lens.[29] It was reported that it was the first film in the world to be shot with the camera.[30] The technology had not even been used in Hollywood films, according to the makers.[31] Suriya was said to possess two different appearances for filming, starting with a raw and jagged look,[18] whereas, his other look was not yet revealed and that it was kept as a surprise for his fans in the movie.[32] Filming started on 20 November 2013 in Mumbai.[33] A few days before it began, Suriya completed a photo-shoot of the film which was done by still photographer Venkatram.[34] The lead actors were shooting in Mumbai, but came back to Chennai before the one-month schedule.[35] In December 2013 the intro song was filmed with Suriya, Vidyut Jamwal and Maryam Zakaria.[26] The song was shot in a set, worth ₹80 lakh (US$110,000), that had been erected in Borivali in Mumbai.[36] The first schedule was wrapped in early January 2014.[37] In early February 2014, the crew was shooting for a song sequence in Panchgani.[38][39] The third schedule started on 5 March 2014 in Mumbai.[40] An item number featuring Manoj Bajpai and Chitrangada Singh was shot in March 2014.[27] The song written by Na. Muthukumar was shot in June 2014 at the Morjim and Miramar beaches of Goa during the final schedule of 10 days.[41]

While shooting for the film in Goa, Suriya injured his knee during a stunt sequence. Lingusamy stated that the actor suffered a minor ligament tear when a fighter who weighed about 120 kg fell from a height on his leg. The entire unit panicked when the incident happened but the actor wasn't fluttered. The director clarified that Suriya would be fit and fine soon and that he took a short break from shooting.[42][43]

Music
Main article: Anjaan (soundtrack)

The soundtrack and the score for the film were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, making Anjaan the fourth collaboration between the composer and director Lingusamy. The soundtrack album, features features five tracks, written by Viveka, Na. Muthukumar, Kabilan and Madhan Karky. The album released on 23 July 2014 to positive reviews. The male portion of one of the songs, "Ek Do Theen", was sung by Suriya and became his first attempt at playback singing.[44]

Release

Anjaan reportedly set a record for pre-release business of Tamil films as it made around ₹87 crore (US$12 million) from its distribution, satellite and music rights.[45] To counter unauthorized copying, the owners decided that the film would release only through digital screens and no physical print was allowed for screening it anywhere. Since the film was shot with 6K resolution physical prints offered no additional quality anyway. The makers wanted only digital projection of Anjaan enabling its makers to easily find the sources of leaks through identifying codes.[46][47] As a result of this initiative, Anjaan became the first Indian film which had a 100% digital release.[48] The film's premiere was held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 14 August 2014, a day before the actual release.[49]

Marketing

The first look posters of the film were released on 1 May 2014.[50] The teaser of the film was launched along with the teaser of Kamal Hassan's Uttama Villain during the 8th Vijay Awards held on 6 July 2014 and was simultaneously uploaded to YouTube.[51] The teaser received positive response[52] and crossed 3 million views.[53] Indiaglitz in its review of the teaser said, "One could see the monotony which features in all the gangster flicks, but that has been easily shadowed by the power packed cast and crew".[54] The official trailer of the film was released on 8 August 2014 and aired on Sun Music.[55][56][57] The trailer too received positive response[58] and also crossed 1 million views.[59] Behindwoods wrote in its trailer review, "Lingusamy is eyeing another blockbuster here."[60] Indiaglitz in its review, summarised, "Overall, the trailer lives up to the expectation and it is up to the movie now."[61] The video clip of the track "Ek Do Theen", featuring Suriya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu was released on YouTube on 11 August 2014.[62]

The official game titled Anjaan Race Wars was developed by Vroovy, a joint venture between Hungama Digital Media Entertainment and Gameshastra, who had previously developed and released the official movie games of Kochadaiiyaan (2014). It released on 28 July 2014.[63] The game play revolved around Suriya chasing the goons in a car. The features of the game included two types of AI – One of them shooting and the other ones try to run away, 5 different cars, including Hummer, featured in the game. Power ups included Nitro, Fuel, Ammo, Instant repair and Shield, while the weapons included Pistol and Shotgun. The game is available on Android and iOS operating systems.[64]

Lingusamy and Suriya went to promote the film in Kochi.[65] Two days before the film's release, Samantha and Lingusamy promoted the film at The Forum Vijaya Mall in Chennai.[66] The entire crew of the film including Suriya, Vidyut Jamwal, Lingusamy, Brinda Sarathy and Yuvan Shankar Raja attended the premiere of the film at Kuala Lumpur.[67][49]

Home media

The television rights were sold to Sun TV for ₹16 crore (US$2.2 million).[68]

Reception

Critical reception

Anjaan opened to mixed reviews, with some praise for Suriya's performance and the score, but criticism of its length, the placement of songs, the screenplay, and the plot.[69] Deccan Chronicle rated three and a half out of five and said "It's Suriya's show all the way."[70] Sify rated three out of five and wrote, "On the whole, Anjaan is for those who seek unabashed entertainment and relish masala films."[71] M. Suganth of The Times of India gave two out of five and wrote, "When a film announces loud and clear, all that it wants to do is be in service of its hero, and make him as larger than life as possible, we accept it and all that we expect from it is to entertain us. But when it takes almost three hours to narrate its story with predictable twists and underwritten characters in a non-engaging fashion."[72] IANS wrote, "It is high time Lingusamy, who is reluctant to change, accepts the fact that age-old formula doesn't work anymore.", and rated the film three out of five.[73] Indiaglitz wrote, "A commercial entertainer that might not go beyond Suriya's fan base!", and gave the movie two and a half out of five.[74] Behindwoods rated the film two out of five and concluded, "Suriya and Anjaan, [is] let down by the screenplay!".[75] Ramchander of OneIndia gave two and a half out of five and wrote, "Surya's Anjaan is lengthy and it is just an average movie in the end."[76] Baradwaj Rangan of the Hindu wrote " It runs a posterior-numbing 170 minutes, and there isn’t one surprising moment — not one line of dialogue worth recalling, not one tune worth humming, not one action sequence worth upping the pulse for (they borrowed the doves from the John Woo films, but none of the moves), not one juicy character worth caring about. ".[77]

Box office

Anjaan collected ₹15.3 crore (US$2.1 million) from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka regions on its first day, where the Telugu version Sikandar collected ₹4.1 crore (US$570,000) on its first day.[78] Anjaan also collected ₹45 crore (US$6.3 million) on its opening weekend worldwide, with its Telugu version contributing ₹9 crore (US$1.3 million) from Ap-Nizam centres, which provided a worldwide distribution share of ₹23 crore.[79] International Business Times described the film's financial performance as below average.[80]

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