Singam

Singam (transl. Lion) is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Hari, and produced by K. E. Gnanavel Raja under his Studio Green banner in association with Reliance Big Pictures, and distributed by Sun Pictures. It stars Suriya in the lead role, marking his 25th film,[3] with Anushka Shetty, Prakash Raj and Vivek in other lead roles. It is the first installment in the Singam franchise.[3] The film was released on 28 May 2010.

For other uses, see Singam (disambiguation).

Singam
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHari Gopalakrishnan
Produced byK. E. Gnanavel Raja
Written byHari Gopalakrishnan
Starring
Music byDevi Sri Prasad
CinematographyPriyan
Edited byV. T. Vijayan
Production
company
Distributed bySun Pictures
Release date
  • 28 May 2010 (2010-05-28)
Running time
159 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹15 crore[1]
Box officeest. ₹90 crore[2]

The film was a commercial success at the box office, and was remade in Kannada as Kempe Gowda,[4] in Hindi as Singham,[5] in Bengali as Shotru[6] and in Punjabi as Singham.[7] It was followed by the sequels Singam II (2013)[8] and Si3 (2017).[9]

Plot

Durai Singam is an honest sub-inspector of Nallur, a small village in Thoothukudi district in southern Tamil Nadu, assisted by his bumbling colleague Yettu Erimalai. He belongs to Nallur with his father Soundarapandi, having a respectable status in the village. His family business is provision stores and Singam wants to join it, but he joined police due to Soundarapandi's wishes. He resolves most of the problems in his village with nonviolence and mutual counselling. He uses force only when the situation demands it, thereby gaining much reputation and love from the villagers. Mahalingam, an industrialist in Chennai and friend of Soundarapandi, comes to the village with his daughters Kavya and Divya (Krishna Priya). Singam initially thinks Kavya as a thief when she is about to prank her cousin by wearing a tiger costume. As Singam is roaming around the village, he accidentally slaps her. As Kavya is about to take revenge on Singam, he apologizes to her. Kavya got moved by this and slowly fell in love with him. After some hilarious incidents, Kavya proposes to Singam. Initially taken aback, Singam soon reciprocated Kavya's love.

Chennai-based Mayil Vaaganam, a big-time extortionist with shady mafia dealings who blackmails people by complaining to the Income Tax Department, is required to travel to Nallur to sign a conditional bail. He instead, sends one of his allies to do the formalities, much to the anger and rage of Singam, who demands that Mayil sign the bail in person. Humiliated, Mayil reaches Nallur but is unable to take any revenge on Singam, fearing the immense love and devotion of the entire village towards Singam. Using his political contacts, he gets Singam transferred to Chennai to teach him a lesson.

Singam, unaware of Mayil's hand behind his transfer, joins Thiruvanmiyur police station. His coworker Sub-Inspector Ravi hates Mayil for his crimes but is unable to take any action because of Mayil's political powers. The ACP Rajendran, Singam's senior, is on Mayil's payroll and takes care in concealing and eliminating the evidence of Mayil's crimes from the eyes of the law. The Police Commissioner also does not help Singam as there is no evidence against Mayil, and Rajendran warns Singam to stay away from Mayil's case. Unable to take on Mayil in his stronghold, Singam wants to return to his village but is stopped by Kavya, who encourages him to fight against evil and not run like a coward.

Being mentally tortured by Mayil, Singam arrests Mayil's brother Vaikuntam in a fake case of illegally smuggling alcohol. He thwarts off Rajendran in full view of the public when Rajendran, bounded by his duties to Mayil, tries to protect the henchmen. Meanwhile, Mayil kidnaps Divya for ransom. Singam rescues her with unexpected help from Home Minister Ramanathan. Singam successfully traces the origins of the kidnapping racket to Mayil and also gets promoted to Assistant Commissioner of the specially-formed Anti-Kidnapping Task Force. Mahalingam, who was hostile to Singam following an altercation with Soundarapandi back at Nallur, softens up and agrees to give him Kavya's hand in marriage.

The entire police force, including the Police Commissioner and Rajendran, are now on Singam's side. They decide to help him fight Mayil. They manage to kill Mayil's henchmen in an encounter at a hospital and begin to target everyone and everything related to Mayil. In retribution, Mayil starts targeting everyone close to Singam, including Kavya, whom he shoots but is saved by Singam, and Ravi, who is hacked to death by Mayil's henchmen. To escape the arrest warrant issued out to him, Mayil kidnaps Karnataka Home minister's daughter. He falsely tells Singam that he is going to Pondicherry with her, when actually he is going to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh to put the police off the track. However, Singam manages to pursue them till Gudur near Nellore, where he rescues her and kills Mayil in an encounter. After that, he resigns his job publicly in a felicitation function organised for him.

During the credits, Singam is seen with Kavya heading back to Nallur. He is stopped briefly by Ramanathan, who offers an undercover mission, to which he willingly agrees.

Cast
  • Suriya as ACP S. Duraisingam, Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (formerly Inspector and Sub-Inspector)
  • Anushka Shetty as Kavya Mahalingam, Singam's love interest
  • Prakash Raj as Mayil Vaaganam, a big-time extortionist
  • Vivek as Head Constable Yettu Erimalai, Singam's colleague in Nallur and later Chennai
  • Adithya as Vaikuntam, Mayil's brother whom Singam arrests
  • Vijayakumar as Home Minister Ramanathan, who helps Singam rescue Divya and offers Singam another mission
  • Nizhalgal Ravi as ACP Rajendran, Durai Singam's senior who was formerly on Mayil's payroll but then supports Singam
  • Radha Ravi as Soundarapandi, Singam's father who wants his son to join the police force despite the family business being provision stores
  • Nassar as Mahalingam, Kavya's father who is a Chennai industrialist and Soundarapandi's friend
  • Sumithra as Kalyani, Singam's mother
  • Janaki Sabesh as Bharathi, Kavya's mother
  • Priya Atlee as Divya Mahalingam, Kavya's younger sister
  • Yuvarani as Dhanalakshmi, Singam's sister
  • Delhi Kumar as Kavya's grandfather
  • Manorama as Kavya's grandmother
  • Ajay Ratnam as DGP, who at first does not support Singam but later does
  • Bose Venkat as Sub-Inspector Ravi, Singam's coworker who gets hacked to death by Mayil's henchmen
  • Manobala as Mayil's lawyer
  • Kaajal Pasupathi as Police Officer
  • Pandu as Maarichaamy
  • Thyagu as Harbour Shanmugam
  • Crane Manohar as Palani
  • Besant Ravi as goon in theater
  • Bharathi Kannan
  • Subash Chander as Vengai Swami
  • Vanaja as Sumathi
  • Cell Murugan
  • Soundhar
  • Suryakanth
  • Jayamani
  • Jayakanthan
  • Karnaa Radha
  • Vengaiya Balan
  • Sakthivel
  • Bobby

Production

Development

After Suriya had finished K. S. Ravikumar's Aadhavan, discussions regarding his subsequent project, notably his 25th film, were held. Initially, reports emerged that it was going to be directed by Prabhu Deva.[10] At the launch of his film Seval in May 2009, however, director Hari announced officially that he would direct Suriya's 25th film titled Singam and that he had finished penning the script.[10] Becoming Suriya's third film with Hari following Aaru and Vel, it was announced that the project would release in July 2010.[11] Suriya's cousin, K. E. Gnanavel Raja was announced as the producer.[12]

Casting

Though initial reports suggested that Yuvan Shankar Raja would score the music, Devi Sri Prasad was chosen as the music director, thus becoming his third venture with Suriya. Suriya was revealed to play a police officer in the film, the second time in his career after Kaakha Kaakha.[13] Anushka was chosen to play the female lead after her second Tamil film Vettaikaaran.[11] Priyan was chosen as the lead camera man and V.T. Vijayan as the editor.[14]

Filming

After completing Seval, Hari joined the cast and crew to start the filming in 2009. The shooting began in Thirunelveli district and was carried on in southern parts of Tamil Nadu. A scene from the song "Stole my Heart" was shot in Muscat Park that was choreographed by Brindha and produced by Renny Johnson who was also a co line producer of the movie.[15] Afterwards, some scenes where shot in Karnataka. The main scenes were shot in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai. During December, Hari announced that the film wouldn't have a formal audio launch as per his previous films and that the shooting would get over quickly.[16] The trailers were released on 24 February. Sun Pictures acquired the distribution rights,[17] and Sony Music bought the music for a hefty price.[18]

Soundtrack
Singam
Soundtrack album by
Devi Sri Prasad
Released9 May 2010
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LabelSony Music
ProducerDevi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad chronology
Sye Aata
(2010)		 Singam
(2010)		 Manmadan Ambu
(2010)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Behindwoods*[19]

The film's soundtrack, released on 9 May 2010, was scored by Devi Sri Prasad, marking his third collaboration with Suriya after Maayavi and Aaru.

No.TitleLyricssinger(s)Length
1."Naane Indhiran"VivekaBenny Dayal & Manicka Vinayagam5:33
2."En Idhayam"Na. MuthukumarSuchitra & Tippu4:34
3."Stole My Heart (Unplugged)"HariShaan2:19
4."Stole My Heart"VivekaShaan, Megha3:37
5."Singam"Na. Muthukumar, MeghaDevi Sri Prasad4:21
6."Kadhal Vandhale"VivekaBaba Sehgal & Priyadarshini4:22

Release

The film was released worldwide on 28 May 2010 released in 850 screens worldwide.

Reception

Critical reception

Behindwoods gave 2.5 out of 5 and stated that Hari has "concocted and packaged his masala contents in the right proportion and has served a tasty dish", while praising Suriya for having "diligently worked towards balancing the niche and the mass" and proving "once again that he can deliver a commercial masala flick with as finesse as he can deliver a performance-oriented film".[20] Sify described the film as a "predictable entertainer that follows the age old formula", citing that it was Suriya who "carries the film to the winning post. His passion and the way he brings an ordinary regular larger-than-life hero character alive on screen is lesson for other commercial heroes".[21] Rediff also gave 2.5 out of 5 stating that the film was an "unapologetic, entertainer and has Suriya in every frame. Lovers of commercial potpourri will definitely get their money's worth."[22] Indiaglitz wrote that Singam was the "king of the masses, who love action and commercial films".[23] A Times of India critic gave 3.5 out of 5, claiming that "even with a sleepy narration in the first 30 minutes or so, Singam is worth a watch."[24]

Box office

Singam was the third highest grossing Tamil film of the year in Chennai, collecting more than ₹5.38 crore there.[25] In Malaysia and the United Kingdom, the film collected $1,471,508 and $12,956 respectively.[26]

Remakes

Singam was remade in multiple different languages; in Hindi as Singham (2011),[27] in Kannada as Kempe Gowda (2011), in Bengali as Shotru (2011),[28] and in Punjabi as Singham (2019).[29]

Awards

Filmfare Awards South

Sequels

See also

References
  1. "Romancing the remake". The Indian Express. 30 December 2010.
  2. "#DecadeOfRoaringSINGAM: Here are some interesting facts about Suriya's action-packed cop drama". The Times of India. 28 May 2020.
  3. "Singa- Suriya's 25th film!". Sify. 30 April 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  4. "Shankare Gowda To Remake Singam in Kannada As Kempe Gowda". Realbollywood.com. 23 August 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  5. "Rohit Shetty to remake Tamil film Singam with Ajay Devgn". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 5 November 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  6. "Tollywood Hero JEET in Raj Chakraborty's SHATRU Bengali Movie Remake of SINGAM Tamil Hit". Dhoperchop.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  7. "Punjabi remake of 'Singham' has a release date".
  8. 12.48 pm IST 26 April 2012 (26 April 2012). "Suriya will romance two leading ladies in 'Singam 2'". Bollywoodlife.com. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  9. "TamilRockers back in a different domain; Singam makers' efforts to shut torrent site goes in vain". IB Times. 16 February 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  10. "Suriya in Singam".
  11. "Singam gets underway". Behindwoods. 18 July 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  12. "What impressed Suriya". Behindwoods. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  13. "Singam:25th film for Suriya has more reason to be special". talkkolly. 7 December 2005. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  14. "Suriya's Kakka Kakka sequel?". Behindwoods. 30 April 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  15. "Singam team at Muscat for a duet song". talkkolly. 7 December 2005. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  16. "No audio release for 'Singam'". IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  17. "Sun Pictures acquires marketing rights of Singam". talkkolly. 7 December 2005. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  18. "Sony Pictures Acquires Singam Music Rights from SUN Pictures". talkkolly. 7 December 2005. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  19. "Singam Music Review". Behindwoods. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  20. "Singam Review". Behindwoods. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  21. "Movie Review:Singam". Sify. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  22. "Singam, the mother of all masala films". Rediff.com. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  23. "Singam Tamil Movie Review". IndiaGlitz. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  24. "Singam movie review". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  25. "2010 – TOP 20 MOVIES IN CHENNAI BOX OFFICE". Behinwoods. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  26. "Singam Box Office Mojo". Box office Mojo. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  27. "It's Ajay Devgn v/s Sudeep for Singam remake". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  28. "Kempegowda, Singam, Shotru, Yamudu: The many faces of 'Singham'". 21 July 2011.
  29. "Parmish Verma excited to play Punjabi 'Singham'". 6 August 2019.
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