Maari (film)

Maari

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Balaji Mohan
Produced by Listin Stephen
R. Sarathkumar
Raadhika Sarathkumar
Dhanush
Written by Balaji Mohan
Starring Dhanush
Kajal Aggarwal
Vijay Yesudas
Robo Shankar
Music by Anirudh Ravichander
Cinematography Om Prakash
Edited by Prasanna GK
Production
company
Wunderbar Films
Magic Frames
Distributed by Magic Frames
Release dates
  • 17 July 2015 (2015-07-17)
Running time
 138 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil

Maari is a 2015 Tamil gangster comedy film written and directed by Balaji Mohan starring Dhanush and Kajal Aggarwal. The film was jointly produced by Listin Stephen and Raadhika Sarathkumar's Magic Frames and Dhanush's Wunderbar Films. Anirudh Ravichander composed the film's soundtrack and score while Om Prakash undertook the film's cinematography. After being in pre-production phase since March 2014, principal photography began on 4 November 2014 and lasted till 15 March 2015. The film was shot in and around Chennai and Tuticorin. Maari was released on 17 July 2015.

Plot

The movie starts off with a Constable talking to the new subinspector Arjun about Maari, a local rowdy, who apparently rose to fame after killing a rival rowdy. Maari (Dhanush) happens to be an irritating guy, who along with his henchmen Sanikilamai (Robo Shankar) and Adithangi (Kalloori Vinoth), constantly pester the people in the locality and extort them. His main line of work is in training pigeons to perform in races and performance events. His boss is Velu, a bigger don who also is involved in the pigeon races as well as smuggling of sandalwood. Maari constantly has fights with "Bird" Ravi (Mime Gopi), another local rowdy who is also working under Velu. That is when Sridevi (Kajal Aggarwal) enters, trying to open a boutique in Maari's locality. Maari forcefully becomes her partner in the business, which angers her after she loses some customers. So she helps Arjun in catching Maari by getting close to him, pretending to fall in love with him and incriminating him with an evidence of his confession of trying to kill the rival gang leader, but failing after which he was killed by someone else and the fame comes to Maari. Maari gets arrested and after he is released, he finds out that Velu also has been arrested, Arjun and Ravi are working together and has arrested some people in the area under the pretext of smuggling. Maari decides to take revenge on the duo. He first frees the local people from the extortion by Ravi's gang, when Sridevi also falls in love with him. Later he captures one of Arjun's smuggling vehicles and the driver and forces him to release Velu. When he takes revenge by burning the pigeon coop of Maari, he gets angry and beats up Ravi and Arjun, with the former agreeing to confess to everything. Angered, Arjun stabs Ravi but eventually gets arrested by the Revenue Department after his constable reveals all the secrets. Finally Sridevi approaches Maari to confess her love, which he rejects, returning to pester the local people and extort them for cash.

Cast

  • Dhanush as Maari, a local gangster who pesters the citizens in the Chennai vicinity and extorts money from them.
  • Kajal Aggarwal as Sridevi, an entrepreneur who starts a business in Maari's land.
  • Vijay Yesudas as Inspector Arjun Kumar, a police officer who wants to get rid of Maari to take charge of his land.
  • Robo Shankar as Sanikilamai, one of Maari's henchmen.
  • Kaali Venkat as Aarumugam, a constable who works for Inspector Arjun, but in the end supports Maari.
  • Kalloori Vinoth as Robert (Adithangi)
  • Mime Gopi as 'Bird' Ravi
  • Shanmugarajan as Velu Anna
  • Sriranjini as Sridevi's mother
  • Azhagu as Anbu
  • Kamalesh Kumar
  • Prem as Prem
  • Chelladurai
  • Sampath Ram as Pandi
  • George Vijay
  • Sharmila
  • Sharath
  • Supergood Subramani as TV shop owner
  • Raja Rani Pandian
  • Anirudh Ravichander as himself (Guest appearance)
  • Baba Bhaskar (special appearance in the song "Maari Thara Local")[1]
  • Balaji Mohan in a cameo appearance

Production

Pre-production

The collaboration between Listin Stephen and Raadhika Sarathkumar's production house and director Balaji Mohan was first revealed in early January 2014, with Dhanush and Kajal Aggarwal being signed on to be a part of the "romantic entertainer".[2] The first look poster released later indicated Dhanush was a co-producer of the film.[3] Mohan wanted the film not to be a bilingual like his previous ventures as he found the process difficult to shoot the same shot twice and to retain the same energy in both of them. He said in an interview in March 2014 that he narrated a one-liner to Dhanush, on whose consent, he would develop the complete script after releasing Vaayai Moodi Pesavum (2014), adding that this film would "definitely not be a love story".[4] Dhanush said in early August 2014 that the project was in its pre-production stages.[5] Anirudh Ravichander, who was supposed to work with Mohan for Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, was selected as the film's music director marking his fifth collaboration with Wunderbar Films. Prasanna, an assistant of A. Sreekar Prasad, was signed in on as the film's editor while Om Prakash undertook the cinematography. Vijai Murugan was signed in on as the film's art director.[6] On 7 November 2014, Mohan announced that the film was titled Maari.

Dhanush was initially rumoured to be seen as a tailor living in north-Madras in the film. Sources close to the film's unit later said that he would be seen as a local slum chieftain for which he had to speak in Madras accent.[7] His character was later revealed to be a person who is in into pigeon racing, similar to the one he played in Aadukalam (2011) where he was seen as a person dealing with rooster fights.[8] Kajal Aggarwal, who was supposed to work with Dhanush in Polladhavan (2007),[9] was cast on Dhanush's insistence, who wanted to gain a foothold in Telugu cinema by cashing in on Aggarwal's stardom there.[10] She said in an interview that she overcame her fear of birds due to her experiences with pigeons during the film's shoot.[11] Although Kajal Aggarwal was signed during the film's initial stages of production, she joined the sets in November 2014.[12] Robo Shankar, one of the cast of Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, was signed in on for an important role.[6] Playback singer Vijay Yesudas joined the team in December 2014 making his debut as an actor in Tamil cinema.[13] He stated in late February 2015 that he would play the role of a police officer.[14] Anirudh made a cameo appearance in the film and joined its sets in mid March 2015.[15]

Filming

Principal photography began on 4 November 2014 at T. Nagar in Chennai.[6] The film's second schedule began on 25 November 2014.[16] By 11 December 20 days of the film's shoot was done including a montage song.[17] A special set was erected at Valasaravakkam, Chennai where portions of the film including a song and a fight sequence were shot for 20 days continuously from 23 December 2014.[18]

By 8 January 2015, half of the film shoot was completed which included two songs. The team planned two short schedules, one before Pongal and one around 20 January 2015 for 5 days.[19] Filming continued at a market area in Triplicane during early February 2015 and a similar set was erected in Chennai to shoot major portions of the film.[7] The film's shoot was wrapped up by 21 February 2015 in four months.[20] It was later known that 20% of the filming is remaining for which the film's team left for Tuticorin port to shoot the film's last schedule.[21] The song "Thara Local Boys" featuring Dhanush and Anirudh was shot in mid March 2015.[22] Dhanush confirmed the completion of principal photography on 15 March 2015 through his Twitter page.[23]

Soundtrack

Maari
Soundtrack album by Anirudh Ravichander
Recorded 2014–2015
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Length 15:15
Language Tamil
Label Sony Music
Producer Anirudh Ravichander
Anirudh Ravichander chronology
Kaaki Sattai
(2014)		 Maari
(2015)		 Naanum Rowdydhaan
(2015)

Anirudh Ravichander composed the film's soundtrack. Sony Music India released the soundtrack on 7 June.[24] Behindwoods.com gave the album 3 stars out of 5.[25]

No. TitleLyricsSinger(s) Length
1. "Maari Thara Local"  DhanushDhanush, Anirudh Ravichander 3:50
2. "Oru Vidha Aasai"  DhanushVineeth Sreenivasan 3:11
3. "Don'u Donu'u Don'u"  DhanushAnirudh Ravichander, Alisha Thomas, Durga 3:15
4. "Bagulu Odayam Dagulu Mari"  G. RokeshDhanush 1:06
5. "The Maari Swag"     0:30
6. "Thappa Dhaan Theriyum"  Vignesh ShivanDhanush, Chinna Ponnu, Maghizhini 3:20
Total length:
 15:15

Release

The film was released on 17 July 2015.[26] The satellite rights of the film were sold to STAR Vijay.[27] The film was dubbed in Telugu and released as Mass.

Critical response

Baradwaj Rangan wrote, "Save for the bits with Robo Shankar, the writing is shockingly ordinary — lots of tell, very little show...Does making a mass movie mean that you forget to make an interesting one?"[28] The Times of India gave 2.5 out of 5 and wrote, "If you, like many others, had been excited about Maari after watching its trailer, be prepared for disappointment. Almost all the best bits from the film are already in the trailer and the film clearly lacks the crackling energy that we see in the trailer. Maari largely feels like one huge build-up without any proper pay-off".[29] NDTV wrote, "A couple of mass moments and some quirky humor apart, there’s nothing in Maari to justify the much-anticipated Balaji Mohan- Dhanush collaboration".[30] Indo-Asian News Service wrote, "the director isn't capable of delivering a wholesome commercial entertainer with some story, some heroism and some cliches a la Dhanush's recent blockbuster Vella Illa Pattathari. Except the story, we get everything else from Maari, and that's the biggest concern of the movie", with the critic adding that "Dhanush saves a very ordinary film".[31] Rediff gave 2 out of 5 and wrote, "Uninspiring and predictable, director Balaji Mohan's Maari is just another mass masala movie created to idolise its hero".[32] The New Indian Express wrote, "The director's attempt to go ‘commercial’ this time, concentrating more on his hero than the script, backfires. The film gives a sense of Deja vu throughout, the real interesting moments very few and far between", calling the film "a painful tedious experience, meant for hardcore Dhanush fans".[33]

Behindwoods gave 3 out of 5 and stated "Maari is a very honest masala flick made to satisfy the mass audience".[34] Sify gave 3 out of 5 by saying Director Balaji Mohan has made film with punch dialogues, slow-motion shots and an adrenaline pumping background score by Anirudh. It is a film that makes no bones, no pretenses about the fact that it is packaged for B & C audiences.[35]

References

  1. ↑ "Maari - Maari Thara Local Video Dhanush, Kajal Agarwal, Anirudh, Balaji Mohan". Youtube. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Dhanush and Kajal Aggarwal team up". Sify. 9 January 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Dhanush's 27th film titled 'Maari'". The Times of India. 8 November 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "No love left for Dhanush". Behindwoods. 13 March 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Dhanush firms up Balaji Mohan film". Sify. 5 August 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 "Breaking: The DNA 'soup boys' are back". Behindwoods. 6 November 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  7. 1 2 Karthik, Janani (3 February 2015). "Dhanush is a local slum chieftain in 'Maari'". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "What is Dhanush going to race with, in Maari?". Behindwoods. 12 February 2015. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Pudipeddi, Haricharan (26 January 2015). "Spoilt for choice". Bangalore Mirror. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "Dhanush’s eyes now on Tollywood". Deccan Chronicle. 21 July 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  11. ↑ Kumar, Hemanth (29 January 2015). "Kajal Aggarwal has fear of birds!". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Kajal Aggarwal to team up with Dhanush soon". The Times of India. 7 November 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Vijay Yesudas to make his Tamil debut". The Times of India. 11 December 2014. Archived from the original on 12 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "Vijay Yesudas plays a cop in debut film". The Times of India. 27 February 2015. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "Anirudh's special cameo in Dhanush's 'Maari'". Sify. 9 March 2015. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  16. ↑ "Dhanush trashes 'Maari' rumours". The Times of India. 25 November 2014. Archived from the original on 25 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "A handsome singer to make his Kollywood acting debut in Dhanush’s Maari". Behindwoods. 11 December 2014. Archived from the original on 12 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  18. ↑ "The busiest is Dhanush!". Behindwoods. 20 December 2014. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  19. ↑ "That furious pace of Dhanush, Balaji Mohan and co.". Behindwoods. 9 January 2015. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "Dhanush and team have phinished!!!". Behindwoods. 21 February 2015. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  21. ↑ "Dhanush shifts his base from Chennai to Tuticorin". IndiaGlitz. 5 March 2015. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  22. ↑ Harikumar, Subramanian (11 March 2015). "Dhanush, Anirudh team up for Thara Local Boys song for Maari". Bollywood Life. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  23. ↑ "Dhanush to get into VIP mode now". Behindwoods. 15 March 2015. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  24. ↑ "Dhanush's Maari is going to be 'pakka mass'". Behindwoods. 17 April 2015. Archived from the original on 17 April 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "Maari (aka) Maarri songs review". Behindwoods. 7 June 2015. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  26. ↑ "Dhanush starts shooting for Balaji Mohan". Sify. 5 November 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  27. ↑ "Diwali will have lots of premieres". News Hunt. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  28. ↑ Maari movie review. The Hindu (17 July 2015). Retrieved on 2015-08-14.
  29. ↑ Suganth, M. (18 July 2015). "Maari Movie Review". Times of india. Open Publishing.
  30. ↑ Maari Movie Review – NDTV Movies. Movies.ndtv.com (17 July 2015). Retrieved on 2015-08-14.
  31. ↑ 'Maari' Review: Dhanush saves a very ordinary film – The Economic Times. Economictimes.indiatimes.com (19 July 2015). Retrieved on 2015-08-14.
  32. ↑ Review: Maari is uninspiring – Rediff.com Movies. Rediff.com (20 July 2015). Retrieved on 2015-08-14.
  33. ↑ Mannath, Malini. (19 July 2015) Maari Meant Only for Hardcore Dhanush Junkies. The New Indian Express. Retrieved on 2015-08-14.
  34. ↑ Maari (aka) Mari review. Behindwoods.com (17 July 2015). Retrieved on 26 July 2015.
  35. ↑ Maari Review. Sify

External links

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