Raangi
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''Raangi'' () is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language
action thriller 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 M. Saravanan and produced by
Allirajah Subaskaran Subaskaran Allirajah (born 2 March 1972) is a British-Sri Lankan entrepreneur. He was born in Sri Lanka and he later migrated to England and became a British citizen. He is the founder and chairman of Lyca Mobile, a telecommunications company ...
under the banner of
Lyca Productions Lyca Productions () is an Indian entertainment company founded by Subaskaran Allirajah in 2014. Subaskaran Allirajah is a British citizen of Sri Lanka Tamil ethnicity. A subsidiary of Lycamobile (part of the Lyca Group), the studio has been i ...
. The film stars
Trisha Krishnan Trisha Krishnan (born 4 May 1983) is an Indian actress known for her work primarily in Tamil language, Tamil and Telugu language, Telugu cinema. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she has sustained a successful career as a leading ...
, Bekzod Abdumalikov and
Anaswara Rajan Anaswara Rajan (born 8 September 2002) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Malayalam films. She made her acting debut as a child artist in '' Udaharanam Sujatha'' (2017). She received praises for playing a college student in '' Super ...
(in her
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 ...
debut) in the lead roles. The film's music was composed by C Sathya, while cinematography and editing were handled by K. A. Sakthivel and M Subarak respectively. The film was released theatrically on 30 December 2022.


Plot

Thaiyal Nayagi is a fearless investigative journalist who works for an online news portal committed to promoting equality, democracy, and justice. She is arrested by a special police task force for the murder of Police Inspector Krishnamurthy, but is rescued by a team of
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
and CBI agents. The story starts a few weeks earlier, when Thaiyal encounters Inspector Krishnamurthy during a routine police check and records him making inappropriate comments, which she later posts online. The inspector retaliates by sending goons after her, but Thaiyal stands her ground. Thaiyal's niece, Sushmitha, is supportive of her aunt and aspires to be like her. However, she is unaware that she is being blackmailed by a college boy who threatens to release private videos of her. Thaiyal discovers the situation and confronts the boy, discovering that a fake
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
account was created in Sushmitha's name to talk to boys. Thaiyal gains access to the fake account and finds that the girl behind it was being messaged by middle-aged men. Thaiyal lures these men to a hotel room under the guise of Sushmitha and beats them up, warning them against continuing this behavior. Thaiyal discovers that one of the men who messaged Sushmitha, Aalim, did not attend their meeting. Aalim is revealed to be a terrorist in
Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
, and his organization is wanted by the US authorities. Thaiyal discovers this after connecting a photo Aalim sent with news footage. To find Aalim's location, Thaiyal asks for a photo and receives one of Minister Kumaravel Rajan's illegal deals with terrorists. Thaiyal uploads the photo online, leading to the minister's assassination by Indian authorities. Aalim's superior, Abu Farooq, finds out about the photo and forces Aalim to reveal Sushmitha's location. Thaiyal responds that she is from India, causing Abu to send attackers after Sushmitha, but they are arrested by FBI agents. Abu prepares to execute Aalim but is caught in a military ambush. Aalim saves Abu's life, and the latter spares him temporarily. Aalim requests Sushmitha (Thaiyal) to create another ID to text him, and later, he admits his romantic feelings to her. One day, Thaiyal is arrested by the hate-filled Krishnamurthy, and texts Aalim about it. Aalim, without Thaiyal's knowledge, sends assassins to kill Krishnamurthy. Thaiyal continues to chat with Aalim and learns about his past as a Libyan terrorist. Thaiyal begins to sympathize with Aalim and sends him pictures of her daily life. Aalim travels to
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 ...
to meet Sushmitha, but Thaiyal rushes to prevent the meeting and is arrested by the special task force. The FBI forces Thaiyal to convince Aalim to agree to a meeting in Libya. Thaiyal and Sushmitha embark on a journey to Libya with the agents. A local taxi driver relays the news of Sushmitha's arrival in Libya to Aalim, filling him with exhilaration. Unbeknownst to Aalim, Abu and his associates have devised a plan for revenge and a plan to eliminate Sushmitha, Thaiyal, and the accompanying agents. However, Thaiyal fiercely fights back. Aalim arrives and kills Abu's men to protect Sushmitha, who is unaware of his identity. Thaiyal tries to help Aalim escape, but he cannot understand her language. Abu finds Thaiyal, but is shot dead by the FBI agents. The head of the agents orders his men to kill Sushmitha to draw out Aalim, who sacrifices himself to protect her. As Aalim draws his last breaths, he professes his love for Sushmitha and presents her with a talisman she had previously gifted to a taxi driver. Thaiyal is devastated by Aalim's passing and mourns deeply. Afterwards, she and Sushmitha return safely home to India, where she writes a book that details the story of Aalim's life.


Cast

*
Trisha Krishnan Trisha Krishnan (born 4 May 1983) is an Indian actress known for her work primarily in Tamil language, Tamil and Telugu language, Telugu cinema. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she has sustained a successful career as a leading ...
as Thaiyal Nayagi ( Voice dubbed by
Raveena Ravi Raveena Ravi (born 11 December 1993) is an Indian dubbing artist and actress. She has dubbed several television advertisements directed by Rajiv Menon in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu. She debuted as a voice artist with ''Saattai'' (2012) and an ...
) *
Anaswara Rajan Anaswara Rajan (born 8 September 2002) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Malayalam films. She made her acting debut as a child artist in '' Udaharanam Sujatha'' (2017). She received praises for playing a college student in '' Super ...
as Sushmitha * Bekzod Abdumalikov as Aalim *
Lizzie Antony Lizzie Antony is an Indian actress working in the Tamil film industry, mostly as a supporting actress. She is best known for her roles in Thanga Meenkal (2013) and Taramani (2017). Apart from films, Antony has performed in advertisements, short ...
as Priya, Sushmitha's mother *
John Mahendran John Mahendran, credited as John, is an Indian film director and screenwriter who has worked on Tamil and Telugu and language films. John is the son of noted Tamil film maker Mahendran. Career John debut film in Tamil was '' Sachein'' (200 ...
as Police Inspector Krishnamurthy *Gopi Kannadasan *Waqar Khan


Production

The film was tentatively titled as ''Trisha61''. On 20 April 2019, the title was announced to be ''Raangi''. The shooting of the film was wrapped up on 12 February 2020.


Music

The music of the film is composed by
C. Sathya C. Sathya is an Indian music composer and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He made his debut with the sleeper hit ''Engaeyum Eppothum'' (2011). Early life Sathya's background in Carnatic music had greatly influenced hi ...
, which marks his third collaboration with M. Saravanan after ''
Engaeyum Eppothum ''Engaeyum Eppothum'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy drama road film written and directed by M. Saravanan in his Tamil debut, he had earlier directed the Telugu film ''Ganesh'' (2009). It stars Jai, Sharvanand(in his tami ...
'' and ''
Ivan Veramathiri ''Ivan Veramathiri'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by M. Saravanan. The film has been presented by director N. Linguswamy and produced by his brother N. Subash Chandrabose under Thirupathi Brothe ...
''. The first single titled "Panithuli" was released on 15 December 2020.


Release


Theatrical

The film was released theatrically on 30 December 2022 alongside
Kovai Sarala Kovai Sarala is an Indian actress and comedian, who plays supporting roles in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She has won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian three times, for her performances in '' Sathi Leelavathi ...
’s '' Sembi''. Initially planned for a theatrical release, this was later cancelled in favour of a digital release due to the COVID-19 pandemic although the plans for the digital release was later dropped.


Home media

The post-theatrical streaming rights of the film were sold to
Sun NXT Sun NXT (read as "Sun Next") is an Indian subscription video on demand over-the-top streaming service run by Sun TV Network. It was launched in June 2017 and has content in six languages - Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi a ...
and
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
, while the satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV. The film had its digital premiere on the streaming platform from 29 January 2023.


Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. A critic for ''India Herald'' wrote "Unexpectedly fantastic, Raangi is the ideal weekend action thriller". Logesh Balachandran of ''
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 the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Raangi is unexpectedly great and it's a perfect action thriller for the weekend". Janani K of ''
India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...
'' gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Trisha has given a decent performance as Thaiyal Nayagi, but it is baffling to see how she agreed to go by so many problematic ideas". Yuva Nandini of ''
ABP Live ABP News is an Indian Hindi-language free-to-air television news channel owned by ABP Group. Initially launched as Star News in 1998, it was later acquired by the ABP Group (ABP). It won the Best Hindi News Channel award in the 21st edition ...
'' 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Overall, Rangi is not only entertaining but also thought provoking". A critic for ''
Cinema Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...
'' wrote "C. Satya's music is unimpressive; The background music is also average". P. Sangeetha of ''
OTT Play HT Media is an Indian mass media company based in Delhi. It has holdings in print, electronic and digital media. HT Media's flagship newspaper is the ''Hindustan Times'', the second most widely read English newspaper in India after ''The Times of ...
'' gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Watch it only for Trisha's performance". Stalin Navaneethakrishnan of ''
Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' wrote "If you want to watch a sensational film, then you can go for watching Raangi". Khalillulah of ''
Hindu Tamil Thisai ''Hindu Tamil Thisai'' (colloquially known as ''The Hindu Tamil'') is a Tamil daily newspaper headquartered at Chennai. It is published by The Hindu Group The Hindu Group is an Indian publishing company based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Its fi ...
'' wrote "Apart from that, the inadequacy of the scenes to do justice to the soul of the story is felt towards the end". ''
Sakshi Post Sakshi () is an Indian Telugu-language media group. The group owns the daily newspaper '' Sakshi'', 24-hour news channel Sakshi TV, and associated digital ventures. Its first asset, ''Sakshi'' newspaper, was launched on 23 March 2008 by Jagati P ...
'' gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Put this action thriller on your watchlist." Kirubhakar Purushothaman of ''
The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
'' gave the film 1 out of 5 stars and wrote "It’s unfortunate that after a great comeback as Kundhavai in ''
Ponniyin Selvan ''Ponniyin Selvan'' () is a Tamil language historical fiction novel by Indian author Kalki Krishnamurthy. It was first serialised in the weekly editions of ''Kalki'', a Tamil magazine, from 29 October 1950 to 16 May 1954 and later integrated ...
'' this year, Trisha ends 2022 on such a low note". Avinash Ramachandran of ''Cinema Express'' rated the film 1.5 out of 5, and wrote, "Constant oscillation between insensitivity and wokeness simply magnifies the problematic parts of the narrative".


References


External links

*
Lyca Productions official website page
{{Lyca Productions 2022 films Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020s Tamil-language films Indian action thriller films Films scored by C. Sathya Lyca Productions Tamil-language Indian films