Vikram (2022 film)
Vikram is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. Produced by Raaj Kamal Films International, and distributed by Red Giant Movies, it is the second instalment in Lokesh Cinematic Universe. A spiritual successor to the 1986 film of the same name, the film stars Kamal Haasan in the titular role, alongside Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil with Narain, Kalidas Jayaram, Gayathrie, Chemban Vinod Jose, Santhana Bharathi and Elango Kumaravel in supporting roles. It revolves around the former commander of a black-ops squad's pilot batch, and his efforts to take down the runner of a drug syndicate Vetti Vagaiyara.
The film was officially announced in September 2020 under the tentative title Kamal Haasan 232, marking the actor's 232nd film as a lead actor; the official title was announced in November 2020. Principal photography commenced in July 2021. It was shot across Karaikudi, Chennai, Pondicherry, Coimbatore, and wrapped by late-February 2022. The film's soundtrack was composed by Anirudh Ravichander, with the cinematography and editing handled by Girish Gangadharan and Philomin Raj, respectively.
Vikram was released worldwide on 3 June 2022 to positive reviews from critics and audience, praising the cast performances, music, action sequences, visuals, narrative style, writing, and production values. It set several box-office records, emerging as the fourth highest-grossing Indian film of 2022 and the fifth highest-grossing Tamil film of all time.
Plot
Amar, the leader of a black ops squad, is called upon by Police Commissioner Jose to bring to justice a group of masked vigilantes responsible for the murder of Stephen Raj, ACP Prabhanjan and his foster father, Karnan. The gang killed Stephen after being arrested and subsequently released following his imprisonment for assisting criminals Adaikalam and Anbu. Amar leads the investigation by digging into Karnan's life, as he finds the murder out of place since Karnan was an ordinary man while the other two victims were high-ranking NCB officials.Amar discovers Karnan's addiction to alcohol and prostitutes while overprotecting his foster grandson. He found two drug containers missing that Sandhanam, who runs a larger syndicate than Adaikalam, called Vettai Vagaiyara, is hunting. The other two containers were part of a shipment to Rolex, Sandhanam's boss, who promised to help form his government if he received the drugs. If not, Rolex would kill Sandhanam and his family. Amar discovers Karnan's addictions are cover for a covert operation he was running.
Meanwhile, Veerapandian, a Public Works Department officer, and a contractor named Rudra Prathap plot to take the drug containers to Sandhanam, but the masked vigilantes arrive and kill Veerapandian at a theatre. Amar and his team capture Bejoy, one of the vigilantes. Bejoy reveals the syndicate killed his family for his role in leading a drug bust at Trichy, leading him to join the vigilantes. Amar and his team realise Rudra Prathap is the vigilantes' next target, and they sneak into Rudra Prathap's daughter's wedding ceremony. Rudra Prathap invites Sandhanam for protection. The masked men and his gang arrive at the wedding and threaten him. The leader drags Rudra Prathap and escapes on a bike.
Amar chases and catches the vigilantes' leader and reveals himself as Karnan, who had faked his death. Karnan kills Rudra Prathap by slitting his throat and escapes the police. Amar tells Jose that Karnan is Vikram, the former commander of the black ops squad's 1986 pilot batch. Only Vikram and three other team members survived after the government tried to kill them because of a botched mission in 1991. Amar also theorises Jose is Sandhanam's mole in the department and was involved in Prabhanjan's death. Amar organises a bomb blast at Sandhanam's bungalow that destroys it and a drug lab. Jose hears of the bombing and informs Sandhanam. Jose tells Sandhanam about Vikram's and Amar's identities.
Vikram frees Bejoy and his team from prison, stating that his vengeance for Prabhanjan's death did not drive his actions; he wanted to bust a drug syndicate in the city. He claims Prabhanjan is his biological son and knows Vikram's true identity. Sandhanam kills Amar's wife, Gayathri, by beheading her, and sends his men to kill Vikram's daughter-in-law and grandson at Prabhanjan's house. Agent Tina, disguised as Vikram's housekeeper, Valiammal, kills the gang and dies in the process. Amar kills Jose, avenging Gayathri's death. Vikram and his grandson reach Chennai Port, where the hidden containers are stored. Sandhanam learns about the containers' location and attacks Vikram. Vikram kills Sandhanam's men with a cannon and an M2 Browning, but the remaining members of his black ops squad, Agents Uppiliappan and Lawrence die in the scuffle. After a fistfight with Sandhanam, Vikram ties him up and indirectly has Bejoy kill Sandhanam through manipulating Sandhanam into telling Bejoy through a walkie talkie Code Red at the port and Bejoy triggers the blast and it kills Sandhanam and destroys the drug containers.
A week later, Adaikalam and Anbu arrive with their men at Sassoon Docks, Mumbai, and meet with the gangsters affiliated with Sandhanam for a meeting with Rolex. Adaikalam and Anbu explain Dilli's involvement in the Trichy drug ambush, and Sandhanam's men reveal Vikram's and Amar's involvement in destroying their drug syndicate. After Gayathri's funeral in Ernakulam, Amar joins Vikram's gang to continue building a drug-free society. Anbu informs Rolex that Dilli is hiding somewhere in Uttar Pradesh, while Sandhanam's men tell him Vikram's family are abroad. Rolex announces a massive bounty for the execution of Vikram, Amar, Dilli, and Vikram's team. Unknown to everyone else, Vikram is at the meeting and walks away after learning about the bounty placed on all of them.
Cast
Production
Development
's production house Raaj Kamal Films International signed Lokesh Kanagaraj to direct a film for the studio during November 2019. Lokesh had previously mentioned his admiration of Haasan's work, noting the actor's films Sathyaa and Virumaandi had influenced him to become a film director. Despite agreeing terms, Lokesh and the studio opted to prioritise other films before beginning production work. Lokesh narrated the script of the proposed film to Rajinikanth in December 2019. The project, which was tentatively titled Thalaivar 169, was scheduled to be launched in March 2020. Despite the progress of discussions, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the film's launch.In September 2020, Lokesh announced a different project that would feature Haasan in the lead role. The film's official poster was released on 16 September 2020, which had the working titles Kamal Haasan 232 and Evanendru Ninaithaai, a line from the title song from Haasan's Vishwaroopam. In October 2020, the team made a promotional teaser of the film in Chennai, adhering to the Indian government's COVID-19 safety regulations. Coinciding with the actor's 66th birthday on 7 November 2020, the makers released a title teaser of the film, featuring Kamal Haasan, in which the film's title was revealed to be Vikram, the same title as a 1986 film that also stars Haasan.
On 7 April, after Haasan's commitments during the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Lokesh shared a post through his social media accounts announcing pre-production work for the film had begun. Because Haasan had decided to shoot for the film only after the election results, in which he contested the Coimbatore South constituency, he demanded Lokesh alter the script; but the pandemic delayed this. Initially, the project was planned with a single 60-day filming schedule with a new, undisclosed technology that would shorten film production but this did not happen as planned. Haasan was reported to be playing a retired police officer and media reports stated he would wear a khaki uniform for this film after 15 years since Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. He was reported to sport a thick beard in the film. For the flashback portions, Lokesh would use de-aging technology. In April 2022, Lokesh submitted the film's script to the Copyright Office, New Delhi, for legal copyrights. Ahead of the film's release that June, he revealed that it was set in the same universe as his own directorial Kaithi, known as the Lokesh Cinematic Universe.
Casting
Lokesh chose to work with his norm technicians, cinematographer Sathyan Sooryan and editor Philomin Raj, with whom he worked on Kaithi and Master. Due to scheduling conflicts, Sooryan left the production and was replaced by Girish Gangadharan, who had made his debut in Tamil cinema with Sarkar. Twin stunt choreographers Anbariv were announced as part of the film's technical crew, marking their second collaboration with Lokesh after Kaithi.In April 2021, Fahadh Faasil confirmed his presence, making it his third project in Tamil after Velaikkaran and Super Deluxe. Raghava Lawrence stated he was the original choice for the antagonist, which he declined because he felt the character's violent nature would alienate family audiences so the role went to Vijay Sethupathi. Lokesh noted that he felt one character in Vikram was similar to Narain's character in Kaithi, and that is when he decided to reintroduce the character and other Kaithi characters, thus establishing the cinematic universe. When Narain called Lokesh to congratulate him after the release of the first teaser, the director asked him to join the film. Kalidas Jayaram instantly accepted to act in the film, citing his desire to work under Lokesh's direction after being unable to in Master. Arjun Das, in his third-consecutive association with Lokesh after Kaithi and Master, has a cameo appearance, reprising his role from Kaithi.
In August 2021, Shivani Narayanan was chosen to play one of the three female leads opposite Sethupathi's character. In September, Mynaa Nandhini and Maheshwari Chanakyan were confirmed as the other two female actors. Swathishta Krishnan and Malayalam actor Chemban Vinod Jose were cast in pivotal roles, the latter in his Tamil film debut. In October, popular Tamil-language YouTube channel Village Cooking Channel team—M. Periyathambi, the grandson V. Subramanian, and his cousins—were cast in the film during the third schedule for a wedding sequence. Hareesh Peradi, who appeared in Kaithi, also reprises his role in Vikram.
Suriya confirmed his appearance in a cameo role in May 2022. Haasan talked about Suriya's role at the Film Companion at Cannes Film Festival, stating: "It's no more a rumour. We had to put up our hand and admit that Suriya is playing an incredible last minute appearance. That should take the story a little further, probably into part 3." Suriya charged no fee for acting in the film, and only received a Rolex watch for playing a character named Rolex. Karthi was offered to reprise his role from Kaithi but was then filming the two-part production Ponniyin Selvan and could not change looks; he only had a vocal cameo in Vikram.