Villu (film)

Villu is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by Prabhu Deva and produced by Ayngaran International. The film stars Vijay in dual roles, alongside Nayanthara, Prakash Raj, Vadivelu, Manoj K. Jayan, Devaraj, Anandaraj, Sriman, whilst Deva, Mumaith Khan, Zabyn Khan, and Khushbu appear in item numbers. It is partly based on the Hindi-language 1998 film Soldier, directed by Abbas–Mustan. The film follows Pugazh, a police officer, who avenges the death of his father who was an honest army officer falsely accused and killed by corrupt army officers.

The film was officially announced in December 2007 under the initial title Pugazh, which was later changed to Singam, which was later changed to Vill after Deva received a copyright notice from Hari, which was soon after changed and finalised to be Villu after a negotiation with S. J. Suryah. Principal photography commenced in June 2008. It was sporadically in several legs, with filming locations including Palani, Karaikudi and Bangkok. The film has music composed by Devi Sri Prasad, cinematography handled by Ravi Varman and editing by Kola Bhaskar.

Villu was released worldwide on 12 January 2009 in the theatres to negative reviews from critics and became an average at the domestic box office. The film acquired #221 spot in 2009 at the United Kingdom box office and collected well overseas. Villu settled to a overall domestic profit of ₹50 lakhs.

Rediff pointed out that, Vadivelu and Vijay were applauded for their style of slap-stick humor in the film. Media outlets reported that, the film Villu became an average domestic venture as Vijay and Vadivelu comic-timing was the only saving grace of the film, since the screenplay, dialogues and dubbing were extremely ordinary.

A re-edited comical 4K version of Villu with very less serious scenes was scheduled to re-release worldwide in theatres on June 21 2024. Vadivelu's version of My name is Billa song will be included in the re-release.

Plot
Pugazh "Villu" is an IITian and Oxford alumnus with a master's degree in chemical engineering. With the help of his relative Inspector Joseph, he succeeds in tracking down a wanted criminal named Raaka and trapping him to Joseph. The scene then shifts to a village, where Pugazh is attending the wedding of a Tahsildar's daughter. He meets Janavi, a friend of the bride, and instantly falls in love with her. After persistent wooing, he succeeds in winning her heart.

Janavi takes Pugazh to Munich (Germany) to introduce him to her father J. D., a wealthy businessman and covert arms smuggler. During his stay in Bern, he encounters J. D.'s gang, consisting of Shaan, a hotel pimp named Max, and another henchman. After initial confrontations with the three of them, he starts eliminating them one after another, and then J. D. becomes his remaining target. Janavi soon finds out that Pugazh is plotting to kill her father and warns Pugazh's mother about her son. On the contrary, Pugazh's mother not only knows and supports what Pugazh is doing, but she also reveals that she is not his real "mother" and tells her why Pugazh is after her father.

Pugazh's father Major Saravanan was a patriotic Indian Army officer. During a peacekeeping mission, he noticed J. D., Shaan, Raaka, and their two henchmen, who were then army officers working in his team, accepting money from terrorists in exchange for allowing them to carry out their activities. When he confronted them, they killed him and fabricated a story claiming that he accepted money from terrorists to help them, they killed him considering the safety of the other soldiers and themselves. He was stripped posthumously of his titles honours, and badges. During his funeral, his family, consisting of his wife and a young Pugazh, were humiliated as the military withdrew his honours and the villagers banished them from their village. The villagers also barred Pugazh from performing his father's last rites and threw the dead body into a sand pit, where it got lost in a sand storm. The villagers, mainly through J.D. also brandish the forehead of Pugazh's mother with the title "wife of a traitor". She sends her son away with Shaan's estranged wife as she does not want him to grow up carrying the stigma of being the son of a disgraced army officer.

In the present day, J. D. takes Pugazh to India to retrieve a Blu-ray containing J. D.'s secret information, which Pugazh had earlier received from Shaan and given to Joseph. Pugazh soon finds out that Raaka has escaped. Pugazh manages to flee from J. D.'s and Raaka's clutches, and after a thrilling chase, he reaches an abandoned temple outside his village where he reunites with his mother, who had been living there since being banished from the village. J. D., Raaka and their henchmen arrive there. They kill Joseph and injure Pugazh. Pugazh kills Raaka and fights with J. D., weakening him. With all of the villagers assembled around the abandoned temple, Pugazh forces J. D. to reveal the truth about his father to them. After his confession, Pugazh kills J. D. in revenge for his father's death. With the truth about Saravanan finally revealed, the army reinstates his titles, honours, and badges and also returns his army badge and uniform to his widowed wife.

Development
Prabhu Deva along with announcing his venture in Bollywood titled Wanted Dead and Alive, which was the remake of Pokkiri, he launched his next Tamil venture in December 2007. Ayngaran International was to produce the film as well. The film was initially titled as Pugazh. Prabhu Deva later announced the titled to be Singam. However, a copyright issue was brought up concerning the title Singam, which was already announced as the title for a film by director Hari. Prabhu Deva then changed the titled to Vill, meaning "bow" in Tamil, a more formal spelling of Villu. The team later found out that S. J. Suryah was to use the title Vill for a Telugu film. Suryah, with the negotiation of Vijay, later changed his film's title. The title Villu subsequently became the film's official name.

Casting and filming
Actress Ranjitha was selected to play Vijay's mother. Director Prabhu Deva started shooting for Villu with the team's first location being Palani, Tamil Nadu. The team's second location was set to be in Karaikudi. Prabhu Deva had reportedly planned two song sequences to be shot in European countries. Another song sequence was shot in Bangkok, Thailand. Later, reports claimed that the film's script and story would deal with a majority of the film taking place in Italy. Prabhu Deva had reportedly planned two song sequences to be shot in European countries. In an interview with Prabhu Deva, a month prior to the film's release, Prabhu Deva stated the film will be a "Tamil version of a James Bond film." It was reported that Prakash Raj was missing from shooting when the crew was shooting the climax.

The story was already made as a movie in Tamil during 1989 titled Thaai Naadu starring Sathyaraj in dual roles. Then this film was remade in Dhallywood as Jamin Nai by Syed Harun starring Shabnur, Shakti Kapoor & Miju Ahmed in lead roles in 2000 and Tamil as Villu By Prabhu Deva starring Vijay & Nayanthara in lead roles in 2009. Bobby Deol Starrer Soldier in 1998 has a similar story line.

Devi Sri Prasad, Kola Bhaskar and Ravi Varman were confirmed the film's composer, editor, and cinematographer respectively while FEFSI Vijayan was chosen as the stunt coordinator.

Vijay was Prabhu Deva's initial choice for the lead role. Prabhu Deva trusted the actor, due to their widely known friendship, after their success with Pokkiri the previous year. However, several critics and media had dubious thoughts on the choice of Vijay as the lead role actor for the film. Some websites wondered if Villu would promote his career, or give him another average response, like his previous films Azhagiya Tamil Magan and Kuruvi, which proved to be average grossers at the box-office due to their weak storyline and screenplay. Nayantara was confirmed the film's lead actress upon the film's launch. Vadivelu was also confirmed for a supporting role. Earlier reports claimed that Biju Menon or Napoleon were to be given a supporting role, but later the role went to Manoj K. Jayan. Vaiyapuri, Khushbu, and Kovai Sarala were also said to be given roles in the film. However, Khushbu was later confirmed an item number appearance while Sarala was to sing a song in the film.

Music
The soundtrack for this film was composed by Devi Sri Prasad. Three of the songs, "Jalsa Jalsa", "Dheemthanakka Thillana", and "Daddy Mummy" had their beats reused from three Telugu songs DSP had previously composed: the eponymous song from Jalsa ,"Om Namaste Bolo" from Ready, and "Akalesthey" from Shankar Dada Zindabad respectively.

Release
The satellite rights of the film were sold to Kalaignar TV. Villu had a limited Blu-ray DVD release in United Kingdom and Japan.

Reception
This film was released on 12 January 2009, on the same day as Prabhu Deva and Vijay's 2007 film Pokkiri. It received negative reviews from fans and critics. Behindwoods.com gave 1.5 on 5 and said "With tacky production values, shabby cinematography and amateurish direction Villu comes across as a more than two-hour long." while another website stated "On the whole, Vijay's Villu is an action-packed mass masala film for his ardent fans but with loose ends." Rediff reviewed the film "Leave your brains behind and prepare to enjoy the adventures of a Tamil James Bond." and rated 2.5/5. Ananda Vikatan rated the film 37 out of 100.