Gorilla (film)

Gorilla is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language heist comedy film written and directed by Don Sandy. The film stars Jiiva and Shalini Pandey, while Yogi Babu, Radha Ravi, Sathish, Rajendran, Vivek Prasanna and Madhankumar appear in pivotal roles. It also features a chimpanzee named Kong in a prominent role. The music was composed by Sam C. S. with lyrics penned by Yugabharathi, while cinematography was handled by R. B. Gurudev and editing by Ruben. The film was released on 12 July 2019.

Plot
Jeeva is a petty criminal, but has fallen in love with Jhansi, who is being pressured to get married. Sathish, who is his family's sole breadwinner, is fired from his place of employment, and Venkat is an aspiring actor who hopes he can become a hero if he has money. Into their life walks Sadhik, a farmer who is on the verge of committing suicide after being turned down by the banks. All four hatch a plan to rob a bank, in an inebriated state, and circumstances force them to follow through with a chimpanzee as an accomplice.

Production
The production of the film commenced in February 2018 by director Don Sandy who rose to prominence in Tamil cinema with his directorial debut Mahabalipuram in 2015. This film also brought the thought of having a gorilla in a key role which was the first ever instance in Indian film history. It was also revealed that the chimpanzee named Kong was hired from the Samut training station of Thailand, which is a world renowned destination for training animals like chimpanzees, gorillas for mainly American films. The production team also initially cast RJ Balaji for the film but he was later replaced by Sathish. The first look poster of the film was released on 21 June 2018. The teaser of the film was unveiled by actor Suriya on 16 September 2018 through his Twitter account. Most of the sequences related to the chimpanzee were shot in Thailand and the remaining portions were shot in Chennai. Though the film prominently features a chimpanzee despite its title, Jiiva said the title is a reference to guerrilla warfare.

Soundtrack
The music of the film was composed by Sam C. S. and lyrics were penned by Yugabharathi, Logan, Aishwarya and Sam C.S. Sony Music India hold the rights of music.

Release
Gorilla was initially scheduled to release on 21 June 2019, then 5 July, but finally released on 12 July.

Critical reception
Vishal Menon of Film Companion wrote, "There's something seriously amiss with a film when you look back at M. Rajesh's comedies and think that those were the good old days". Janani K of India Today wrote, "Gorilla is a lazily made film that takes the audience for granted. Do not expect any logic or quality comedy from Jiiva in his latest release". M Suganth of The Times of India wrote, "It would be easy to dismiss Gorilla as a silly, far-fetched film, but the fact is that the film works. The chief reason for this is that the director, Don Sandy, understands the silliness and gets the the [sic] cast and crew to tag along for this fun ride".