''Chanakya'' is a 2005 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

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by A. Venkatesh and produced by Vishwas Sundar. It stars

R. Sarathkumar Ramanathan Sarathkumar (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, politician and former bodybuilder who works predominantly in Tamil cinema in addition to Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. He has acted in more than 150 films and won two ...

Namitha Namitha Vankawala (born 10 May 1981) is a state executive member of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu. She started her career initially as an actress and model who predominantly works in Tamil and Telugu cinema along with a few films ...

and Laya. The music was composed by

Srikanth Deva Srikanth Deva is an Indian music director of Tamil films. He made his debut as music director in the Tamil movie '' Doubles'' in 2000. He is the son of composer Deva, nephew of the famous music director duo Sabesh–Murali and the cousin of acto ...

with cinematography by

Madhu Ambat Madhu Ambat is an Indian cinematographer who predominately works in Malayalam and Tamil-language films apart from a few English, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Sanskrit films. With a career spanning over 40 years, he is one of the most pro ...

and editing by V. T. Vijayan. The film was released on 23 September 2005.

Plot

Ganesh is an auto driver and kind-hearted man who goes out of his way to earn money to help the poor and the needy. He likes to be in the limelight. Knowing well that the media would sensationalise anything that has to do with popular people in the city, he kidnaps a businessman, and in another instance, he implicates and submits himself to the police for a murder of an MLA that he does not commit. While he draws maximum publicity in the media, he creates a miserable life for the police. By his repeated pranks, Ganesh establishes himself as a person crazy only for publicity. People begin to call him "Publicity" Ganesh. Devanayaki owns a restaurant, and several autos run in her name in the local area. She is head over heels in love with Ganesh and goes about wooing him. Meanwhile, Anjali approaches Ganesh to act in her ad films in return for handsome money, but she is actually an undercover agent investigating Ganesh's past. Ganesh has a sorrow past. His past life and the reason for his current deeds are told in a flashback. Ganesh's father is an upright person who works as a clerk in a collectorate in a coastal village. A natural disaster strikes that area, and leaves many homeless in its wake. To ameliorate their problems, the government allocates Rs. 20 crore to help the affected people rehabilitate. Unfortunately, the local assistant collector, the local MLA, and the local SP together form a trio and forget the grant, even while pretending to protect the best interest of the people. Ganesh's father learns of the trio's involvement in the heist and vows to expose them to the public, but the "representatives of authority" frame false charges and deceitfully turn the public outrage against Ganesh's father. In a melee, Ganesh's family is burnt alive. Ganesh escapes to the city, and avenges the death of his family. Ganesh then orchestrates the killing of the shenanigans.

Cast

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by

Critical reception

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...

'' wrote, "For those seeking masala entertainment, ''Chanakya'' is worth the price of ticket money". Lajjavathi of ''

Kalki Kalki (), also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnavism, Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages i ...

'' praised Vadivelu's humour, Subha's dialogues but panned Srikanth Deva's background score and concluded saying Sarathkumar needs to have a

Chanakya Chanakya (ISO 15919, ISO: ', चाणक्य, ), according to legendary narratives preserved in various traditions dating from the 4th to 11th century CE, was a Brahmin who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragup ...

-like mind in choosing stories. S. R. Ashok Kumar of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' appreciated the cast performances (especially Sarathkumar), Vadivelu's comedy and Madhu Ambat's cinematography but criticised the music and felt the fight sequences were routine.

Controversy

Jananayaka Munnetra Kazhagam, a political party filed a case against the filmmakers for portraying their party flag in negative light in the film.

References

External links

* * {{A. Venkatesh (director) 2000s Indian films 2000s masala films 2000s Tamil-language films 2005 action films 2005 controversies 2005 films Films directed by A. Venkatesh (director) Films scored by Srikanth Deva Indian action films Indian films about revenge Political controversies in film Political controversies in India Tamil-language action films Tamil-language Indian films