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''Yuddham Sei'' () is a 2011 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
neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...
mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...
thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
written and directed by
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 ...
. It stars Cheran and debutant
Dipa Shah Ananya Shah, better known as Dipa Shah, is an Indian actress who works mainly in South Indian films, television productions, and commercials. Career Shah started her film career in 2009, her debut film ''Ninnu Kalisaka''. In 2010, she acted in ...
alongside an ensemble cast including
Y. G. Mahendra Yecha Gunja Mahendran (born 9 January 1950), also known as Y. G. Mahendran or Y. G. Mahendra, is an Indian actor, dramatist, singer, playwright and comedian from the state of Tamil Nadu. He has acted in a number of plays and films. He is the s ...
,
Lakshmi Ramakrishnan Lakshmy Ramakrishnan is an Indian actress and director. She made her debut in the Malayalam film '' Chakkara Muthu'' (2006), and has since appeared primarily in supporting roles in Tamil films. Personal life Lakshmy was born and raised in a ...
, Jayaprakash, and
Selva Selva may refer to: People *Selva (surname) *Selva (name) *Selva (actor), Indian actor *Selva (director), Indian director Places *Selva (comarca), a coastal comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain *Selva, Mallorca (pop. 3,055), a municipality on Mal ...
in supporting roles. The film was released on 4 February 2011 and was remade in
Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
as ''
Gharshane ''Gharshane'' is a 2014 Indian Kannada language action thriller film directed by Dayal Padmanabhan, and is a remake of the 2011 Tamil film ''Yuddham Sei''. It stars Malashri, Ashish Vidyarthi and Ayyappa P. Sharma in the lead roles. The suppo ...
'' in 2014.


Plot

The film opens on a rainy night. A woman, while trying to hire an auto standing by the curb, notices an unconscious girl at the backseat. She calls the police upon realizing that something was wrong, but she is chased by a man sitting in the driver's seat. The scene then shifts to a New Year's celebration by the beach, where a cardboard box atop a parked car attracts the attention of revellers. The police are called. An identical box is also found in a park.
Amputated Amputation is the removal of a limb or other body part by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is ...
male arms are found in the boxes, and the case is put onto Senior Inspector J. Krishnan, known as J.K. ( Cheran), of the CB-CID. He is a brooding ex-cop who shifted to the CB-CID from law and enforcement and at present is searching for his sister Charu (
Ineya Shruti Sawant, known by her stage name Ineya, is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. She won the Edison Award for Best Debut Actress and Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the Tam ...
), who disappeared six months prior. Prakash (Shankar) and Tamilselvi (
Dipa Shah Ananya Shah, better known as Dipa Shah, is an Indian actress who works mainly in South Indian films, television productions, and commercials. Career Shah started her film career in 2009, her debut film ''Ninnu Kalisaka''. In 2010, she acted in ...
) are two junior officers who are put onto the case to assist J.K.. At the
morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...
, they meet Judas Iscariot ( Jayaprakash), a medical examiner, to investigate the hands. Judas, mildly
esoteric Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...
, often draws parallels between J.K. and Jiddu Krishnamurthi. J.K. is able to identify one pair of hands as belonging to auto driver Moorthy and follows the lead. Through a local goon named Surendra, they single out a middleman named Rajamanickam. J.K. then gets a cop to give him sensitive information stored in files at the ACP's office while still trying to trace his sister. He often goes and visits the place where his sister was last seen in the hope of getting clues. Meanwhile, Rajamanickam is tortured, his hands amputated using an electric saw by a black-clad man with a shaven head, and displayed in a subway crossing. A constable gives a tip that Rajamanickam's bike is at a lodge in Triplicane. J.K. goes to investigate but finds a man, Raghu (whom Rajamanickam stayed with at the lodge) killed in his room. He chases a man who crossed him on his way up into the streets, but loses him. The focus then shifts to John Britto, a missing man who stayed with Raghu. Interviewing Britto's brother, he finds that Britto was the cause of disgrace to Dr. Purushothaman (
Y. G. Mahendra Yecha Gunja Mahendran (born 9 January 1950), also known as Y. G. Mahendran or Y. G. Mahendra, is an Indian actor, dramatist, singer, playwright and comedian from the state of Tamil Nadu. He has acted in a number of plays and films. He is the s ...
) and his family, who all committed suicide the previous September. J.K. gets permission to reopen the Purushothaman case. Purushothaman had been accused of bribery, and his wife Annapoorni (
Lakshmy Ramakrishnan Lakshmy Ramakrishnan is an Indian actress and director. She made her debut in the Malayalam film '' Chakkara Muthu'' (2006), and has since appeared primarily in supporting roles in Tamil films. Personal life Lakshmy was born and raised in a ...
), a professor at a women's college, of instigating a 19-year-old lab attendant named Manikandan to have sex with her. However, everyone questioned has only nice things to say about the family, while Manikandan is said to be a petty thief and a scoundrel. It is discovered that Manikandan has been missing since November, having disappeared around the same time as John Britto himself. Now we are introduced to a mysterious green
Qualis Qualis is a Brazilian official system with the purpose of classifying scientific production. It is maintained by the Coordenadoria de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), a government agency linked to the Brazilian Ministry ...
, which prevents an autorickshaw driver from kidnapping a drugged woman and abducts him instead. Tamilselvi, while looking at old case records of the Purushothaman case, finds that Purushothaman had a daughter named Suja (
Srushti Dange Srushti Dange is an Indian actress, who has mostly appeared in Tamil films and appears in a few Telugu and Malayalam films. She is also the runner up of the reality cooking show '' Cooku with Comali (season 4)''. In 2023, she appeared as a ...
) who disappeared on the same day as Charu – September 6. J.K. investigates the Purushothaman family's house, and later goes to a dodgy inspector who handled the Purushothaman case, Isakki Muthu ( G. Marimuthu), for details. J.K. prods Isakki to give him details about Duraipandi (
Manikka Vinayagam Manikka Vinayagam (10 December 1943 – 26 December 2021) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He sang for South Indian language films and acted in several Tamil films as a character artist. He was the son of the dancer Vazhuvoor B. Ramiah ...
), a textile shop owner and influential businessman who was accused of peeping at girls in the change room of his shop through a hole in his office (one of whom was Suja). J.K. interviews Duraipandi, who was able to get off after his manager Nadhamani took the blame. J.K. is unfazed and undeterred by what Duraipandi has to say and concludes the case is showing resemblances of having the
Rashomon effect The Rashomon effect is the phenomenon of the unreliability of eyewitnesses. The effect is named after Akira Kurosawa's 1950 Japanese film '' Rashomon'', in which a murder is described in four contradictory ways by four witnesses. It has been use ...
. He then reconfirms again with Judas on the findings of the Purushothaman family's autopsy. He is able to get a major lead when he finds that there were two people in the auto rickshaw that took Suja from her dance class. The same is established for his sister's disappearance. We then find that ACP Thirisangu (
Selva Selva may refer to: People *Selva (surname) *Selva (name) *Selva (actor), Indian actor *Selva (director), Indian director Places *Selva (comarca), a coastal comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain *Selva, Mallorca (pop. 3,055), a municipality on Mal ...
), Isakki Muthu, Duraipandi, Sharif, Inba (
Yugendran Yugendran (born Yugendran Vasudevan on 20 December 1976) is an Indian actor and playback singer who has sung several songs in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. He is also an occasional music director and television host. Personal life Yugendran i ...
), Raghu's murderer, and the missing men – Nagu, Moorthy, and Rajamanickam - are in cahoots. Thirisangu arranges for Sharif and a few men to deal with J.K. and keep his nose out of their business. In the midst of the ensuing fistfight, Sharif is kidnapped by the same Qualis. J.K. deals with the men, and Sharif is tortured and executed (but not before he names a few men). A new box with the autorickshaw driver's severed arms appears in a club used by two of the named men, and Sharif's head is found outside Isakki Muthu's police station, minus its eyelids. J.K. triangulates all misdeeds to ACP Thirisangu and Isakki Muthu, as all the severed body parts were found in areas under the ACP's jurisdiction (notwithstanding the fact that the Purushothaman family's cases were handled and closed by Isakki Muthu himself), but his boss Chandramouli (
Aadukalam Naren Aadukalam Naren (born Narayanan) is an Indian actor who has appears in Tamil and Telugu films, mainly playing supporting and antagonistic roles. He made his debut with the 1997 film '' Raman Abdullah'' but got noticed for his role in the 2011 ...
) refuses to have the officers questioned, fearing higher pressure. Unable to take any further action, J.K. requests a gun permit. It is also revealed that Charu is being held captive by Thirisangu. It is discovered she is the woman from the first scene. Although he regrets having kidnapped her, he plans to use her for later. Then, the Qualis appears again and tries to kidnap Isakki, but it is forced to flee when J.K. intervenes. Chasing the Qualis to a darkened underground car park, J.K. and Tamilselvi very nearly corner the Qualis, only for it to broadside their car and make good its escape. Tamilselvi is wounded in the accident; when she comes to at a hospital, she reveals to J.K. and Prakash that there were two black-clad people in the Qualis, both with shaven heads (one of whom was a woman). After rescuing Isakki Muthu, Thirisangu realizes that someone is looking for revenge for Purushothaman's death, and with the help of Purushothaman's ex-classmate, finds out whom. Both Thirisangu and J.K. then understand that the Purushothaman family may not actually be dead (J.K. concluding so when he finds the air-conditioning unit grill in the Purushothaman family bedroom to be tampered with from the outside, and when he learns that three corpses with age ranges and physical characteristics consistent with those of Purushothaman, Annapoorni and their son Nishanth went missing from the morgue where Judas worked at about the same time as the family's "suicide"). At a party, Judas comes in and tells Duraipandi & Co. (the men named by Sharif) that he is willing to sell information about their activities. He leads them to a van wherein they are gassed and knocked out, but as they are leaving, a shootout takes place between Thirisangu, J.K., and their comrades, in which Judas dies after confessing. Judas says that he is the only one who must confess, as the Purushothaman family will never speak again; the reason he helped the Purushothamans in their grisly deeds was one of pure friendship, love and gratitude, because the doctor (who was also his classmate at Vellore CMC) managed to keep Judas' daughter alive for four years before she finally succumbed to a heart condition. Judas' friendship with the Purushothaman family was so strong, that Suja was like a daughter to Judas. Thirisangu & Co. are revealed to be running a racket which involves kidnapping and drugging virgin girls, who are then stripped naked and raped before Duraipandi and his friends (all wealthy men in their late 50s and early 60s who are
impotent Erectile dysfunction (ED), also referred to as impotence, is a form of sexual dysfunction in males characterized by the persistent or recurring inability to achieve or maintain a penile erection with sufficient rigidity and duration for sati ...
), in return for a huge sum of money. Suja (
Srushti Dange Srushti Dange is an Indian actress, who has mostly appeared in Tamil films and appears in a few Telugu and Malayalam films. She is also the runner up of the reality cooking show '' Cooku with Comali (season 4)''. In 2023, she appeared as a ...
) is one such victim (the girl in the auto), apparently having been abducted as revenge for what Duraipandi perceived as public humiliation at the hands of her family. It is during her kidnapping that Charu is also apprehended. Somehow, Suja manages to return home three days after her disappearance. Unable to bear the trauma of the rape, she commits suicide the next morning. Her parents, brother Nishanth and Judas decide to take revenge on all those responsible. They fake their deaths after meticulous planning. Two months after they successfully fake their own suicides, kidnap Britto and the peon Manikandan, and make them confess. Later, auto rickshaw drivers Nagu and Moorthy (as well as Rajamanickam) were kidnapped, tortured, and then had their arms severed. The boy Nishanth (Sunil Choudhary) is caught in the fracas and taken into custody by the police. J.K. receives a call from Inba, who wants to trade Charu for Nishanth. Chandramouli blatantly refuses to do so. However, his subordinates - Prakash, Tamilselvi, and Constable Kittappa (
E. Ramdoss E. Ramdoss (died 23 January 2023) was an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who worked on Tamil films. Career Ramdoss moved to Mylapore, Chennai in late 1979, attempting to make a career in the Tamil film industry where he became a ...
) - bring Nishanth to J.K. at the cost of their jobs. Nishanth reveals the location of his parents to be the old Palaniappan Mills. Both parties head there; another shootout occurs. Nishanth is caught by Isakki Muthu but is distracted by the arrival of Duraipandi & Co. (all of whom have had their eyes gouged out), and also Britto and Manikandan, both with their tongues cut off. Isakki Muthu manages to wound Purushothaman with one bullet and tries to finish him off, but before he can do so, Annapoorni rushes out and stabs him in the head, killing him instantly. The couple continues their onslaught, killing Inba and the rest of the gang; although Thirisangu keeps pumping round after round into the duo, his bullets merely slow them down somewhat. Finally, Thirisangu arrives with Charu. Seeing her as their daughter Suja and this as a chance to save her life, they sacrifice themselves for her as J.K. kills Thirisangu. Duraipandi is sentenced to 13 years prison. The others are sentenced to seven years each, with the exception of Britto and Manikandan, who are given three years each. Nishanth is asked to be produced in court by the police, but J.K. covertly sends him abroad under the alias of Mahesh Muthuswamy, giving him
Viktor Frankl Viktor Emil Frankl (; 26 March 1905 – 2 September 1997) was an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and The Holocaust, Holocaust survivor, who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's mean ...
's ''
Man's Search for Meaning ''Man's Search for Meaning'' () is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose to eac ...
'', asking him to search for the meaning of his parents' sacrifice. Because of this, J.K.'s team is suspended for six months for letting a convict escape.


Cast


Production

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 ...
originally cast
Udhayanidhi Stalin Udhayanidhi Stalin (born 27 November 1977) is an Indian politician, film producer and former actor who has been the 3rd and current deputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu since 2024, serving under Chief Ministe ...
as the lead actor of the film, which would have marked his acting debut. After participating in a
photoshoot A photo shoot is the process taken by creatives and models that results in a visual objective being obtained. An example is a model posing for a photographer at a studio or an outdoor location. A photo shoot is a series of images that are taken, ...
and a few early test shoots, Stalin opted out and cited he wanted his first film to be a comedy rather than a thriller. Based entirely in Chennai, ''Yuddham Sei'' shoot was completed within 50 days.


Soundtrack

The music was composed by K and released by
Sony Music India Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian music record label operated by Sony and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company began operations in 1997 and was the first record company in India to be fully foreign-owned, with ...
.


Release

Made on a budget of 4 crore, ''Yuddham Sei'' was a commercial success. 10 years later, it was dubbed into Hindi as ''Crime Case 99'' which had a TV premiere on Bflix Movies.


Critical reception

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
gave 4 stars out of 5 and wrote, "With its apt casting and superb performances and direction, ''Yuddham Sei'' carries all the weapons needed for it to win its battle at the box-office".
Rediff Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...
gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "''Yuddham Sei'' may have its flaws, but Mysskin's neat touches of situational humour, clever twists in the first half and convincing characters make this a neat film, if not a classic".
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 ...
called the film "average" and wrote, "the film has a few gripping moments but suffers on account of inconsistent writing which makes it drag in the second half".
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 ...
wrote, "Mysskin is a thinking director, who makes no bones about his yen for makers in the league of Kurosawa and Kitano. The influence is generally seen in his intelligent storylines. Yet the first half of YS hangs in strands and confounds the viewer — ambiguity rules the segment. Nevertheless, the latter half brings you to the edge of your seat, most of the time".
IANS Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is a private Indian news agency. It was founded in 1986 by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the "India Abroad News Service" and later renamed. In December 2023, Adani Group, Adani group, known for its clos ...
gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Despite slow second-half, the films does impress as a smart and realistic detective story". Behindwoods gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and called it "A slow paced well made thriller".
Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...
wrote, "Stylised camerawork, haunting score and decent performances keep one interested, though the film is pulled down by its own weighty expectations. Still, Yuddham... is worth its while and wallet". Indiaglitz wrote, "''Yudham Sei'' is absolutely watchable just for Mysskin and his way of story telling".


References


External links

* {{AGS Entertainment 2011 films Indian crime thriller films Films about rape in India Films directed by Mysskin 2010s Tamil-language films Tamil films remade in other languages 2011 crime thriller films Films scored by K (composer) 2010s police procedural films Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Films about kidnapping in India Films about organised crime in India AGS Entertainment films Tamil-language Indian films