8 Thottakkal
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''8 Thottakkal'' () is a 2017 Indian
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
-language
crime thriller film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...
written and directed by Sri Ganesh in his directoral debut. Produced by Vellapandian, the film stars his son Vetri, alongside an ensemble cast including
Aparna Balamurali Aparna Balamurali (born 11 September 1995) is an Indian actress and playback singer, who primarily works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. She is recipient of a National Film Award and a Filmfare Awards South, Filmf ...
, Nassar and M. S. Bhaskar and Meera Mithun.
Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
of the film commenced in August 2016 at
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
and was completed in November 2016. The film released on 7 April 2017. The film, which was loosely inspired by the 1949 Japanese movie ''
Stray Dog A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of wh ...
'', was remade in: Kannada as ''
8MM Bullet ''8MM Bullet'' is a 2018 Kannada language crime thriller film directed by Harikrishna. It stars Vasishta N. Simha and Mayuri Kyatari. The film was a remake of Tamil film '' 8 Thottakkal'' (2017) which itself was loosely inspired by the 1949 Jap ...
'' (2018), Telugu as '' Senapathi'' (2021), and Malayalam as '' Corona Papers'' (2023).


Plot

The film starts with an orphaned boy, Sathya, getting framed by the employer for the murder of his wife and is sent to juvenile. He befriends the warden, who helps him secure the sub inspector job. Sathya remembers what his warden taught him and stays honest in his profession. Unlike the other policemen at his station, he refuses to be involved in bribes and is made an outcast. One day, Sathya helps a writer who is beaten by his corrupt inspector, Gunasekaran. Thinking that Sathya is trying to become a hero by making him look bad, Guna plans to shame Sathya. Guna then arranges for Sathya to shadow a dangerous gangster. While shadowing the gangster, he loses his gun, fully loaded with 8 bullets. Guna gives Sathya one day to find his lost gun or face disciplinary action. With the help of a reporter friend, Meera, Sathya nabs the boy who pickpocketed his gun, but the boy has sold the gun. The guy who bought the gun attempts a bank robbery along with two other men, and in the process, he accidentally shoots and kills a little girl. Meera, in danger of losing her job, tells her superiors about the case, it goes viral, and Sathya is suspended from duty. Sathya hides from the police as he will be arrested, and is tracked down by Pandian, the new handler of the case. Pandian says that if Sathya was a real policeman, he should never stop searching, which causes Sathya to join him. Meanwhile, one of the robbers tries to buy his girlfriend a necklace for her birthday and takes all the fresh notes available, despite the boss's opposition. In the jewelry shop, he is exposed as the police kept track of the serial number of the fresh notes. He escapes the arrest and goes to get his share. After a confrontation with the boss, he tries to steal all the money and the leader shoots and kills him. The remaining two dispose of the body. The second robber, fearing he also will be shot dead by the boss, contacts the police. When the police attempt to arrest the boss with a ploy, the boss shoots and kills the second robber and made sure there is no one left to connect him with the robber. Sathya meets an old policeman, Krishnamurthy, who got suspended for letting a terrorist slip away as a constable. It turns out that Guna accepted a bribe from the terrorist and let him go, but this has already ruined Murthy's profession. Sathya talks to Murthy about life and how things have changed. After this, Murthy sees the man who sold him the gun and leaves. Murthy kills him with the same gun when he follows Murthy to a restroom. However, we learn that Murthy is actually the leader of the robbery, and he kills the officer who did not sanction his Provident Fund. Sathya, now looking for clues in the murder, finds Murthy's application sanctioned and goes to his house to give it to him. However, Murthy's son tells him that the application got sanctioned earlier, and Murthy gave the money to the family, by connecting the murder of the guy who sold the gun and Murthy's son's statement, he figures out that Murthy is the robber and the boss. Meanwhile, Murthy follows Guna to a bank and attempts another robbery and kills him, after which he throws the money on the street. When Murthy returns home, he finds out that the police have surrounded him. Pandian takes Murthy's grandson hostage, and there is a confrontation in which Sathya walks out with his gun . He later tells the investigation board that Murthy shot Pandian dead and Sathya had killed Murthy in self-defense. Sathya is given his job back. As Sathya drives with Meera, she tells him that he should not feel bad for Murthy as he was a bad person. We are shown what actually happens in that room. Pandian, with his gun on Murthy's grandson's head, slips, and a shot is fired. Murthy, in shock, shoots and kills Pandian, but it turns out that Pandian missed and did not hit Murthy's grandson. Sathya grabs Murthy and fights him but cannot hurt him as he feels sorry for him. Murthy stands up, grabs the gun, and tells Sathya to shoot him. He then explains that he did not tell his family about his cancer because he heard the family speaking about why God did not take him instead of his wife. He then says he robbed the bank for them and that he wanted to live his last days like a king. Murthy also says he did not mean to shoot the child and breaks down. Murthy grabs Sathya's hands, puts the gun to his forehead and says he does not want to put the family in shame by going to prison. He then shoots himself dead with the last bullet when Sathya hesitates. After this flashback, at a stoplight, Sathya sees the employer that framed him, on the side of the street, and the movie ends.


Cast


Production

After working under director
Mysskin Shanmugha Raja, known professionally as Mysskin (), is an Indian film director, screenwriter, lyricist, playback singer, actor, film producer and composer. He made his directorial debut in 2006 with '' Chithiram Pesuthadi''. His subsequent fil ...
as an assistant director in ''
Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum ''Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language neo-noir thriller film written, directed, and produced by Mysskin. Sri Natarajan of '' Vazhakku Enn 18/9'' fame, Mysskin, and Shaji Chen play the lead roles in the film. The film sco ...
'' (2013), Sri Ganesh started working on his script, which he revealed to be a cop thriller. Talking about the film, Sri Ganesh said that since it is a film about criminals trying to take advantage of a specific situation, it allowed him to understand the mindset of police officers. Ganesh attributed parts of the film to real-life incidents and literature, citing he was interested by the mystery series of Inspector
Martin Beck Martin Beck is a fictional Swedish police detective and the main character in a series of ten novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, collectively titled ''The Story of a Crime''. Frequently referred to as the Martin Beck stories, all were ada ...
. For the film, he also spent time speaking to the cop who was part of the 2012 Velachery encounters, where five men suspected of robbing banks in the city were shot dead, with Nassar's character in his story being partly based on this policeman. The production began in August 2016 and ended in November 2016, with the film shot almost entirely in Chennai, over a period of 47 days. Newcomer Vetri was selected to play the lead role of a sub-inspector in the film, with his family producing the film. Actress
Aparna Balamurali Aparna Balamurali (born 11 September 1995) is an Indian actress and playback singer, who primarily works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. She is recipient of a National Film Award and a Filmfare Awards South, Filmf ...
was signed on as the lead actress soon after the release of her debut Malayalam film ''
Maheshinte Prathikaaram ''Maheshinte Prathikaaram'' () is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film directed by Dileesh Pothan, in his directorial debut and produced by Aashiq Abu. The film stars Fahadh Faasil in the title role alongside a supporting cast ...
'' (2016), and revealed that she would play the character of a scribe. Actress Meera Mithun also worked on the film, which became the first film release. Other members of the cast included Nassar and M. S. Bhaskar, while Ranjith, the brother of ''
Kaaka Muttai ''Kaaka Muttai'' is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film written, directed and filmed by M. Manikandan, in his directorial debut. Jointly produced by Dhanush's Wunderbar Films, Vetrimaaran's Grass Root Film Company and distributed by ...
'' actor Ramesh, also made his debut as a petty thief.


Soundtrack

KS Sundaramurthy composed the songs and background score for the film.
Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja (born 31 August 1979), is an Indian composer and playback singer. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use o ...
bought the audio rights of ''8 Thottakkal'' under his banner,
U1 Records U1 Records is an Indian music company, founded by music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. History Yuvan Shankar Raja launched his own music label, U1 Records, and public YouTube page in 2015. The label has associated itself with film soundtrack a ...
.


Release

The film had a theatrical release on 7 April 2017, alongside
Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...
's ''
Kaatru Veliyidai ''Kaatru Veliyidai'' () is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language romantic war film, produced, written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Made under the Madras Talkies banner, it features music composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by Ravi Varman and editin ...
'' (2017). In their review of the film, Sify.com wrote, "To conclude, ''8 Thottakkal'' definitely has minor flaws including the impassive hero and lengthy second half, but still, the film is a satisfying watch". The reviewer added that "''8 Thottakkal'' has plenty of positive aspects to discuss but two things have certainly reduced the quality of the film, one is the wooden hero who just can't act and the other one is unnecessary song sequences, which comes as speed-breakers", while stating "another issue is the length of the film is a bit of a downer as the long drawn out scene composition tests your patience — but despite these flaws, the film is worth a look and hits the target with the heart touching performance of MS Baskar, who has given his career best". A reviewer from The Times of India noted "Taking the set-up of
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...
's ''
Stray Dog A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of wh ...
'', Sri Ganesh gives us a slow-burning cop thriller which changes track halfway and becomes a contemplation on life. It is a risky move because the film starts to empathise more with its antagonist and wants us to do the same as well, but surprisingly, Sri Ganesh manages this feat". The critic added "the director gives us songs that break the mood and momentum of the film" and that "you really are baffled that a director who displays such confidence in letting his film unfurl at a meditative pace would settle for such compromises". A vapid film with a sleepwalking hero cannot recreate the magic of Stray Dog- Kollywood Kapsa.


See also

*
Remakes of films by Akira Kurosawa A number of Akira Kurosawa's films have been remade. Note: This list includes full remakes only; it does ''not'' include films whose narratives have been loosely inspired by the basic plot of one or more of the director's films – as ''A Bug's ...


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, id=6747242 2010s Tamil-language films 2010s Indian films 2017 films Indian crime thriller films Films set in Chennai Films shot in Chennai 2010s police procedural films Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Tamil films remade in other languages Indian remakes of Japanese films 2017 directorial debut films 2017 crime thriller films Tamil-language Indian films Indian neo-noir films Police detective films Indian detective films Films based on works by Akira Kurosawa Films about arms trafficking