Imaikkaa Nodigal


Imaikkaa Nodigal is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language psychological thriller film which has Nayanthara, Atharvaa, Raashi Khanna and Anurag Kashyap in leading roles. The film is written and directed by R. Ajay Gnanamuthu with music composed by Hiphop Tamizha, cinematography by R. D. Rajasekhar, editing by Bhuvan Srinivasan, and produced by C. J. Jayakumar. The film is a situational story focalizing on how a serial killer is apprehended by an intelligent CBI officer. The film was released on 30 August 2018. It received generally positive reviews from critics with Anurag Kashyap's performance garnering critical acclaim.

Plot

A serial killer disrupts peace in Bangalore by kidnapping. He goes by the name of the highly notorious serial killer Rudra, who was announced dead five years ago. After another such case, in which the CBI are involved headed by Anjali Vikramadithyan IPS, he goes live and declares himself as the deceased Rudra. He insists that Rudra is still alive and announces that he is now back in action. Anjali, who dealt with the earlier case of Rudra, is appointed to deal with him.
In a parallel storyline in Chennai, Anjali's brother, Dr. Arjun Prabakar, is facing a rough time in his relationship with Krithika Rao as they have eventually break up. To make it up to her, he and his friend Vinoth travel to Bengaluru to meet her, but Arjun horribly enters the deadly scene between Rudra and Anjali. The cat-and-mouse game gets too intense when Rudra brings Arjun into the game by kidnapping Krithi and demanding a ransom from her father. In an effort to save Krithi, Arjun follows Rudra's orders and gets framed as "Rudra", making things much more complicated for him. Anjali is suspended, her family gets under house arrest, and Officer Narayan takes over the case.
After a series of clues, Arjun deduces that ACP Martin Roy is the new Rudra and is trying to kill Krithi. He fights with Martin, only to get beaten badly. At the end of the fight, Martin reveals that he is not the actual Rudra and was very close to finding out who Rudra was. That is when he got suspended and Anjali had taken over the case. Martin then reveals that Rudra was Anjali. Feeling betrayed, Martin went rogue, murdered his wife, and staged three murders similar to the ones that "Rudra" had done.
When Arjun confronts Anjali, she reveals her motive, and in the process, the real cause of the death of her husband Vikramadithyan, who died in an accident caused by four men who hit his head badly and made him suffer major blood loss. Though Anjali requests them for help, they consider their safety purpose and kill Vikram and beat Anjali. To avenge her husband's death, Anjali creates a serial killer called Rudra and kills the men responsible for Vikram's death under the name. When she kills the last one, she declares him as Rudra and closes the case. Together, Arjun and Anjali manipulate Martin using Narayan, and Martin is killed. The film closes with Arjun and Krithi reconciling and Anjali's daughter Shalini listening to a recording of Vikram's last words for her.

Cast

Development

In May 2016, Ajay Gnanamuthu, who had previously made the successful horror film Demonte Colony agreed to work on a new film starring Atharvaa in the lead role. Initially reported to be a "romantic-thriller", it was revealed that the film was initially supposed to be made as the director's debut was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. Thereafter, Jayakumar of Cameo Films agreed to finance the venture and revealed that the shoot would begin during September 2016. For the technical crew, R. D. Rajasekhar was selected as the cameraman, Selvakumar as the art director, Pattukottai Prabhakar as the dialogue writer and Poorthi Pravin as the costume designer. Only Bhuvan Srinivasan was retained as the film editor, continuing his association with the director. Meanwhile, Hiphop Tamizha was selected to be the music composer, while the film was titled as Imaikka Nodigal during September 2016.

Casting

The team signed actress Nayanthara to play the lead role in the project, as Gnanamuthu was looking for a "strong female protagonist", and after hearing the script, the actress immediately agreed to be a part of the venture. She played the elder sister of Atharvaa. For a further role, the team were on the lookout for a "pan-Indian actor" considering Prabhu Deva, Gautham Menon, and Anurag Kashyap for the character, and the latter was signed to do antagonist's role. The voice for Anurag was dubbed by director Magizh Thirumeni. Raashi Khanna was also signed on to portray another character in the film, appearing as Atharvaa's love interest, and it had been confirmed that Vijay Sethupathi would be seen playing 15-minute cameo role as Nayanthara's husband. Actor Kottachi's daughter, Manasvi, was cast as Nayanthara's daughter.

Filming

Filming took place in Bangalore. In December 2016, Imaikkaa Nodigal became the first film to be shot inside the tunnel stretch of the Namma Metro. Filming took place after metro services ceased at 10 PM. According to Jayakumar, "The script of the film demanded shooting in various places of Bengaluru.
The crew has been shooting in the city for the last 25 days. In the metro tunnel stretch, and shot scenes for two nights." A cycle fight featuring Atharvaa. Lee Hon Yiu, a Cycle stunt specialist from Hong Kong, was brought down to work on this cycle stunt choreographed by 'Stun' Siva.
Lee Honiyu is working along with the films stunt choreographer Stun Siva. This bicycle stunt was shot in five days at Bangalore.
Filming ended on 17 December 2017.

Music

The musical score and songs featured in the film are composed by Hiphop Tamizha, and the lyrics are by Kabilan Vairamuthu, Mohanrajan, and Hiphop Tamizha. The album was released on 27 June 2018 alongside the film's trailer.
The first single from the film has been released 4 October 2017, titled as Kadhalikathey, sung by Hiphop Tamizha and Kaushik Krish. Another single Vilambara Idaivelai sung by Christopher Stanley, Sudharshan Ashok, Srinisha Jayaseelan, and Hiphop Tamizha was released on 5 March 2018.

Release

Imaikkaa Nodigal was released on 30 August 2018.

Critical reception

The Movie received mostly positive reviews from critics.
The Times of India and Hindustan Times Rated the film 3.5/5 With Times of india stating "Apart from a few make-believe scenes, the director manages to keep the twists unpredictable and the thrill factor engaging till the end." and Hindustan Times Noting "Nayanthara has succeeded yet again by picking a character that we have never seen her portray. Anjali is not perfect at what she does but her agenda is to catch the killer, played by Anurag Kashyap."
The Eminent Film Critic Baradwaj Rangan described the film as"A generic, barely watchable serial-killer thriller that squanders a great premise"