''Red'' is a 2002 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

-language action film directed by

Singampuli Singampuli is an Indian actor and director. After making '' Red'' (2002) and '' Maayavi'' (2005), he has made a career appearing in supporting roles in films. Career Singampuli was born and brought up in Theni, Periyakulam and after studying e ...

(under the name Ram Sathya) and produced by S S Chakravarthy. The film stars

Ajith Kumar Ajith Kumar (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil films. To date, he has starred in over 60 films. His awards include four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Tami ...

and

Priya Gill Priya Gill is a former Indian actress. She appeared mainly in Hindi films, along with a film each in Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, Bhojpuri and movies in Telugu. She was the second runner-up in Miss India 1995. Film career Gill began her Bollywoo ...

, while

Manivannan S. Manivannan Rajagopal (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013), better known by his mononym Manivannan, was an Indian film director, actor and activist who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and also worked in a few Telugu & Malayalam films. In a car ...

Salim Ghouse Salim Ahmad Ghouse (10 January 1952 – 28 April 2022) was an Indian film, television and theatre actor, theatre director, and martial artist. He has acted in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and English films. Early life Salim Ghouse was born ...

and

Raghuvaran Raghuvaran Velayutham (11 December 1958 – 19 March 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly acted in films made in South India. He has acted in more than 200 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. According to the ''Hindustan T ...

played pivotal roles. The film's background score and soundtrack are composed by

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

. The film released on 14 January 2002. It received mixed reviews from critics and had an average

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...

performance.

Synopsis

Adhi is an orphan-

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

who is well known with his

alias Alias may refer to: * Pseudonym * Pen name * Nickname Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film * ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006 * ''Alias the J ...

name RED, (

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

, and

Development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

) at the Madurai

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

of Tamil Nadu who possesses a heart of gold, and when not bashing up

mercenaries A mercenary, sometimes Pseudonym, also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a memb ...

, he spends his time forcing schools to accept students without donations and taking care of orphans. Srini is his biggest enemy. RED falls for Gayathri, the daughter of his friend and confidante Narayanan, and helps her without her knowledge. She likes him but wants him to give up his life of violence. Meanwhile, reporter Manimegalai for

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

begins to serialize red's life story under the name Aadhi, and it becomes quite the rage among readers and rest forms the plot.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features six songs composed by

. The film's soundtrack became a success prior to release, with critics praising the songs particularly "Thai Madiyae".www.ajithkumar.fr.fm
www.ajithkumar.fr.fm. Retrieved on 2017-11-19. All lyrics written by Vairamuthu.

Production

NIC Arts, the producers of Ajith Kumar's previous films '' Vaali'', ''

Mugavaree ''Mugavaree'' () is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language musical romantic drama film written and directed by V. Z. Durai and produced by S. S. Chakravarthy. The film stars Ajith Kumar and Jyothika, with Raghuvaran, Vivek, Manivannan, and K. Viswana ...

'' and ''

Citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

'' signed him to appear in a film titled ''Right'' directed by debutant Singampulia, an associate of

Sundar C Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1966), known professionally as Sundar C., is an Indian film director, actor and producer. He has directed over 34 films in Tamil language, Tamil and acted in 17 movies as the protagonist. His notable fil ...

. The original plot point of Ajith's 1999 film ''

Unnai Thedi ''Unnai Thedi'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Sundar C. The film stars Ajith Kumar and Malavika, while an ensemble supporting cast includes Karan, Vivek, Sivakumar, and Srividya. Some of the scenes are sim ...

'' was recommended by Singampuli, and Ajith had mentioned that if the film became a success he would feature in a future film to be directed by

was signed as heroine while the film has music by

and cinematography by Rajasekar. The shoot of the film started at Annapoorna Studios where art director

Sabu Cyril Sabu Cyril is an Indian film production designer. Having worked in 116 feature films and 2500 add films. He has won four National Film Award for Best Production Design, four state awards, six Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction (including so ...

erected a part of

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration i ...

town for the film. Other members announced to a part of the cast included

Rajan P Dev Rajan P. Dev (20 May 1951 – 29 July 2009) was an Indian film and stage actor. He was born in Cherthala in the Alappuzha district of the former state Thiru-Kochi (present day Kerala). He had acted in over 500 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telug ...

and

Srividya Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...

. Filming took place in and around

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Vishakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

and also around some outskirts of

while songs were filmed overseas.

Release

The film was initially supposed to release in the Deepavali season of 2001 but was postponed to January 2002 to avoid competition with

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali f ...

's ''

Aalavandhan ''Aalavandhan'' () is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Suresh Krissna and produced by S. Thanu. An adaptation of the novel ''Dhayam'' that was written by Kamal Haasan in 1984, The film stars Haasan in dual roles, w ...

''. The film did not succeed well at the box office.

Reception

Malathi Rangarajan of ''The Hindu'' opined that "When the film begins stating that the title is an earth-shattering acronym (Revolution Education and Development), you wait for something radical and path-breaking. But no ... there is compassion, some mindless violence, a docile retreat, an impulsive retaliation ... and that's about all". A critic from ''Sify'' wrote that "Like it or not, in Red didacticism prevails over a clarity of vision, logic and reason. The films leaves you exhausted and stressed and is as avoidable as a migraine". Malini Mannath of ''Chennai Online'' said that "But the script is insipid, the scenes are repeated, and it gets all too monotonous towards the end".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Red (2002 Film) 2002 films 2000s Tamil-language films Indian action films Films scored by Deva (composer) Films shot in Madurai Films about social issues in India 2002 directorial debut films 2002 action films