Singam

Singam
Tamil சிங்கம்
Directed by Hari
Produced by Munnur Srikanth And Kota jithender
Written by Hari
Starring
Music by Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography Priyan
Edited by V. T. Vijayan
Production
company
Distributed by Sun Pictures
Release date
  • 28 May 2010 (2010-05-28)
Running time
 159 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
Budget ₹15 crore[1]
Box office est. ₹65 crore[2]

Singam (English: Lion) is a 2010 Indian Tamil action masala film directed by Hari, starring Suriya and Anushka Shetty in the lead.[3] The film, produced by K. E. Gnanavel Raja in association with Reliance Big Pictures, and distributed by Sun Pictures, was released on 28 May 2010. Upon release, the film was dubbed into Telugu and released as Yamudu in the same year and into Hindi as The Fighterman Singam by Goldmines Telefilms in 2012.[4][5]

The film's success led to remakes in Kannada as Kempe Gowda,[6] in Hindi as Singham,[7] and in Bengali as Shotru.[8] The sequel, Singam II, which released in July 2013, was a commercial success as well.[9] The third in the series, Si3 was released on 9 February 2017.[10] Singam and its sequel are the Leading highest-grossing film franchise in Tamil cinema. It was 25th film of Suriya. This film became a career milestone for Suriya when he entered an era of commercial movies.

Plot

Durai Singam (Suriya) is an honest sub-inspector of Nallur, a small village in Thoothukudi district in southern Tamil Nadu, assisted by his bumbling colleague Erimalai (Vivek). He belongs to Nallur with his father Soundarapandi (Radha Ravi), having a respectable status in the village. His family business is provision stores and Durai Singam wants to join it, but he joined police due to his father'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 (Nassar), an industrialist in Chennai and a friend of Soundarapandi, comes to the village with his daughters Kavya Kumaran(Anushka Shetty) and Divya . Durai Singam initially thinks Kavya as a thief when she is about to prank her cousin by wearing a tiger costume. As Durai Singam is roaming around the village, he accidentally slaps her. As Kavya is about to take revenge on Durai Singam, he apologizes to her, Kavya got moved by this and slowly fell in love with him. After some hilarious incidents, Kavya proposes to Durai Singam. Initially taken aback, soon Durai Singam reciprocates Kavya's love.

Chennai-based Mayil Vaaganam (Prakash Raj), 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 Durai Singam, who demands Mayil Vaaganam sign the bail in person. Humiliated, Mayil Vaaganam reaches Nallur but is unable to take any revenge on Durai Singam, fearing the immense love and devotion of the entire village towards Durai Singam. Using his political contacts, he gets Durai Singam transferred to Chennai to teach him a lesson.

Durai Singam, unaware of Mayil Vaaganam's hand behind his transfer, joins Thiruvanmiyur police station. His coworker Sub-Inspector Ravi (Bose Venkat) hates Mayil Vaaganam for his crimes but is unable to take any action because of Mayil Vaaganam's political powers. The Assistant Commissioner of Police Rajendran (Nizhalgal Ravi), who is Durai Singam's senior is on Mayil's payroll and takes care in concealing and eliminating the evidence of Mayil Vaaganam's crimes from the eyes of the law. The Police Commissioner (Ajay Rathnam) also does not help Durai Singam as there is no evidence against Mayil Vaaganam, and Rajendran warns Durai Singam to stay away from Mayil Vaaganam's case. Unable to take on Mayil Vaaganam in his stronghold, Durai 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 Vaaganam, Durai Singam arrests Mayil Vaaganam's brother Vaikundam (Adithya Menon) 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 Vaaganam, tries to protect the henchman. Meanwhile, Mayil Vaaganam kidnaps Kavya's younger sister for ransom. Durai Singam rescues her with unexpected help from the Home Minister Ramanathan (Vijayakumar). Durai Singam successfully traces the origins of the kidnapping racket to Mayil Vaaganam. Durai Singam also gets promoted to Assistant Commissioner of the specially-formed Anti-Kidnapping Task Force. Mahalingam, who was hostile to Durai 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 Duraisingam's side. They decide to help him fight Mayil Vaaganam. They manage to kill Mayil Vaaganam's henchman in an encounter at a hospital and begin to target everyone and everything related to Mayil Vaaganam. In retribution, Mayil Vaaganam starts targeting everyone close to Durai Singam, including Kavya, whom he shoots but is saved by Durai Singam, and Ravi, who is hacked to death by Mayil Vaaganam's henchmen. To escape the arrest warrant issued out to him, Mayil Vaaganam kidnaps the Home Minister's daughter of Karnataka State. He falsely tells Durai 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 Durai Singam manages to pursue them till Gudur near Nellore, where he rescues the Home Minister's daughter and kills Mayil Vaaganam in an encounter. After that, he resigns his job publicly in a felicitation function organised for him.

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

Cast

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.[11] 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.[11] Becoming Suriya's third film with Hari following Aaru and Vel, it was announced that the project would release in July 2010.[5] 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.[5] 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
Released 11 May 2010
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Label Sony Music
Producer Devi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad chronology
Sye Aata
(2010)Sye Aata2010		 Singam
(2010)		 Manmadan Ambu
(2010)Manmadan Ambu2010
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Behindwoods*[19]

The film's soundtrack, released on 11 May 2010, was scored by Devi Sri Prasad, marking his third collaboration with Suriya after Maayavi and Aaru.

Track list

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 satellite rights of the film were secured by Sun TV. The film was given a "U/A" certificate by the Indian Censor Board and released worldwide on 28 May 2010 released in 850 screens worldwide. Telugu dubbed version titled Yamudu released on 2 July 2010.

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 with collecting more than Rs. 5.38 crores in Chennai.[25] In Malaysia, the film collected $1,471,508 and $12,956 in United Kingdom.[26] it has collected more than 100cr

Remakes

Singam was remade in three different languages.[27]

Singam
(Tamil)		Singham (2011)
(Hindi)		Kempe Gowda (2011)
(Kannada)		Shotru (2011)
(Bengali)		Saqlain
TBA
(Urdu)
Durai Singam Surya SivakumarBajirao Singham Ajay DevgnKempegowda SudeepDibakar Singha JeetSaqlain Shah Muhammad Zain
Kavya Anushka ShettyKavya
Kajal Agarwal		Kavya
Ragini Dwivedi		Puja Nusrat JahanMaahi
Fatima Ajmal
Mayil Vaaganam Prakash RajJaikanth Shikre Prakash RajArmugam Ravi ShankarSupriyo DuttaBabban Baig aka BB
Prakash Raj

Awards

Filmfare Awards South

Sequels

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Romancing the remake". Indian Express. 30 December 2010.
  2. ↑ T. N. Ashok (16 February 2013). "Tamil films: alive and kicking". Madras Musings. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "Singam- Suriya`s 25th film!". Sify. 30 April 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  4. ↑ "Suriya's Singam starts roaring!". Sify. 26 August 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 "Singam gets underway". Behindwoods. 18 July 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  6. ↑ "Shankare Gowda To Remake Singam in Kannada As Kempe Gowda". Realbollywood.com. 23 August 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  7. ↑ "Rohit Shetty to remake Tamil film Singam with Ajay Devgn". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 5 November 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Tollywood Hero JEET in Raj Chakraborty's SHATRU Bengali Movie Remake of SINGAM Tamil Hit". Dhoperchop.com. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ "TamilRockers back in a different domain; Singam makers' efforts to shut torrent site goes in vain". IB Times. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  11. 1 2 "Suriya in Singam".
  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". Movies.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". Times of India. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
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