Rummy (2014 film)

Sakthi (Inigo Prabhakaran) joins a college in Sivagangai, where he meets his classmates Joseph (Vijay Sethupathi) and Meenakshi (Gayathrie). Sakthi and Joseph are hostel roommates and are very close. Meanwhile, Sakthi falls in love with Meenakshi, who happens to be the daughter of Periyavar (Joe Malloori), the headman of a nearby village. Periyavar and his family show at most casteism and go to the extent of killing anyone involved in an inter-caste marriage. Meenakshi fears for her father as he might kill Sakthi if he gets to know about her love. Sakthi and Joseph get expelled from the college hostel following a fight with another classmate, and come to Meenakshi’s village to stay. Joseph meets Swarna (Aishwarya Rajesh) in the village and develops a liking towards her, for which Swarna too reciprocates. It is revealed that Swarna is actually Meenakshi's elder sister. Periyavar finds about Swarna’s love affair and sets the stage to kill Joseph. However, Joseph and Swarna elope from the village and get married with the help of Sakthi and Meenakshi. Periyavar’s henchmen trace their location and beat up Joseph. In the process, Joseph is killed, and Swarna is taken back to her village and locked up in a room. In the meantime, Periyavar finds about Meenakshi's love affair and sets a plan to kill Sakthi. An angered Swarna kills Periyavar with a sickle before he could kill Sakthi. Thus, Swarna sets a full stop to Periyavar’s honor killing practice. Sakthi and Meenakshi get united at the end.

In December 2012, Vijay Sethupathi signed up a project for debutant K. Balakrishnan, former assistant of N. Linguswamy who impressed him with his script.[4] The film is said to be set in the 1980s.[5] According to sources, Rummy is a dark romantic thriller. The first look was released on 4 October 2013.[6] While it was reported that actress Remya Nambeesan, a trained classical singer, would be making her Tamil singing debut with this film, the song apparently doesn't appear in the soundtrack.[7][8] Rummy has completed the mandatory Censor formality and it has been cleared with U certificate.[9] Contrary to popular thought, Inigo Prabhakar plays the male lead role although the film was marketed as a Vijay Sethupathi film.[10]

The soundtrack album was composed by D. Imman[12] to the lyrics penned by Yugabharathi.[13] The audio rights were bought by Sony Music.[14][15] The album was released by Kamal Haasan.[16]

The satellite rights of the film were secured by Zee Thamizh. The film was supposed to release on 31 December 2013, but due to the presence of many big films it was postponed and released on 31 January 2014.

The film received mixed to positive reviews.[18] Baradwaj Rangan wrote, "We keep waiting for something to happen and throw these aimless scenes into sharp relief. We await a twist in the tale. But there’s nothing...It’s a testament to the power of melodrama that the story turns mildly interesting in its final section, but the ending isn’t earned. It appears tacked on simply so that we leave the theatre on an emotional high — and that’s the worst kind of cheating".[19] The Times of India gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "While it is, on the whole, a decent film, especially in the set-in-the-sickle-toting-south genre, Rummy is also wearisome, mainly because it is so predictable. There is a strong been-there-done-that whiff in the proceedings that you are hardly surprised and never really root for the characters".[20] Sify wrote, "K. Balakrishnan makes a decent debut with Rummy, but it is predictable and at times the pace sags. As usual first half is decent, while the story loses its steam post-interval".[21]

Rediff gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and called Rummy "an engaging film, let down by an average screenplay and the extremely slow pace".[22] The Hindustan Times gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Rummy is often violent...There is more bloodshed and gore to come, more revenge and brutality -- sometimes treated with arrogant casualness. However, the high point of Balakrishnan's script is the shock it presents at the end".[23] Behindwoods gave 2 stars out of 5 and called it "A familiar tale of oppositions to love which takes its own sweet time to move".[24]

• Rummy at IMDb