Chekka Chivantha Vaanam

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mani Ratnam
Written by	Mani Ratnam Siva Ananth
Produced by	Mani Ratnam A. Subaskaran
Starring	Arvind Swami Silambarasan Arun Vijay Vijay Sethupathi
Cinematography	Santosh Sivan
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Music by	Score: A. R. Rahman Qutub-E-Kripa Songs: A. R. Rahman
Production companies	Madras Talkies Lyca Productions
Distributed by	Lyca Productions[1]
Release date	27 September 2018 (2018-09-27)
Running time	143 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (transl. Crimson Red Sky) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language crime drama film^[2] written and directed by Mani Ratnam and co-written with Siva Ananth. Produced by Ratnam under Madras Talkies, along with A. Subaskaran of Lyca Productions, the film stars Arvind Swamy, Silambarasan, Arun Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi, with Prakash Raj, Jyothika, Aishwarya Rajesh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Dayana Erappa, Jayasudha, Thiagarajan and Mansoor Ali Khan. It follows three brothers who engage in a power struggle for control over their father's criminal empire.

The project began pre-production by July 2017. Principal photography commenced in February 2018 and filming continuously took place in locations including Chennai, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Serbia until June. The soundtrack and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman, while Santhosh Sivan handled the cinematography and A. Sreekar Prasad edited the film.

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam was released on 27 September 2018 to positive reception from critics and audiences, praising the direction and performances of the cast, but criticising it for lacking strong women characters.^[3] Chekka Chivantha Vaanam won two awards at the Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, one Tamil Nadu State Film Award (Best Actress for Jyothika) and received seven nominations at the 66th Filmfare Awards South, winning Critics Best Actor – Tamil (Swamy).

In Chennai, although being escorted by heavily armed bodyguards, two assassins disguised as police ambush Senapathi, a sixty-year-old crime boss, and his wife, Lakshmi, but they manage to sustain themselves with wounds. Their daughter and three sons are acquainted with the news. Varadharajan or Varadhan, the impulsive eldest son, oversees a significant part of his father's empire in Chennai; married to his maternal uncle Chezhiyan's daughter, Chitra, he is the father of three but indulges in an extra-marital affair with Parvathi, a reporter. Thyagarajan, or Thyagu, the second son, operates his hawala business in Dubai with Arab people and launders his father's income. Thyagu is married to Renuka "Renu" and has two children, while Ethiraj or Ethi, Senapathi's youngest son who administers an independent arms business in Serbia, is committed to Chaaya. Senapathi's daughter Priya, married to a Coimbatore-based industrialist, is expectant. Thyagu, his family, Ethi and Priya return home to check on their parents. Varadhan insists his friend Inspector Rasool Ibrahim, suspended for violating human rights, on tracking the assassins. He strongly suspects Senapathi's longtime rival, Chinnappadasan, is the potential mastermind behind the hit.

In a meeting with Senapathi's sons, Chinnappadasan denies involvement in the attack, but Varadhan proceeds to murder his son-in-law. Outraged, Chinnappadasan dispatches men to execute Varadhan, Thyagu and Ethi. A gunman attempts to shoot Thyagu in the lawn; a mob tries to bring Ethi down while he is involved in a football match while some gangsters ambush Varadhan's car. The three of them manage to survive the strike. Recently discharged from the hospital, Senapathi finds peace with Chinnappadasan at the naming ceremony hosted for Priya's child and tells him he knows the real mastermind. He later lets Lakshmi know that one of their sons is behind the attack; Thyagu and his family return to Dubai while Ethi returns to Serbia. Senapathi soon dies of a stroke. Varadhan takes over the reins and ceases the transaction of money to fund Thyagu's deals, and the police imprison Renu on false charges. Chaaya is assassinated shortly after her wedding with Ethi.

In tandem, Ethi and Thyagu oath vengeance on terms that Thyagu will take over the empire after accomplishing their task. They try to return home through Nepal, but Varadhan's henchmen detain them at the airport; Ethi and Thyagu defeat them, notify Varadhan of their impending arrival, escape and reach Chennai. They subjugate Varadhan by manipulating his men, promising better wages and facilities; they kill Chezhiyan, and Ethi seizes Parvathi. Ethi bribes Rasool to work for him. Dreading harm to his kids, Varadhan sends them off to live with Priya and her husband in Coimbatore, and he flees with Chitra and a group of trusted accomplices from Chennai. While hiding in Andhra Pradesh, a shootout ensues, in which a bullet hits Chitra. In the hospital, Varadhan confesses to a dying Chitra that he hired assassins to kill Senapathi to assume control of his empire. With Rasool's assistance, Ethi and Thyagu capture Varadhan.

Amidst the confrontation, Thyagu murders Varadhan for incarcerating Renu and subsequently, Ethi aims the gun at Thyagu for Chaaya's assassination. As soon as Thyagu discloses that he did it to create a rift between Ethi and Varadhan, the former kills him. Later, Ethi asks Rasool to either bite the dust or join him; stalling him, Rasool reveals how his father, a gangster, was gunned down at the Chennai international airport in his and his mother's presence and how his mother, fearing for his safety, sent him to his aunt and uncle before killing herself. He has developed a hatred against the criminals stemming from his childhood trauma; he divulges that he is an undercover cop tasked with eliminating Senapathi's empire, and the split between the brothers eased his attempts to abolish Senapathi's criminal empire. Rasool then guns down Ethi and reports to his superiors that Operation Red Sky has been accomplished.

Following a brief break after the release of his directorial project Kaatru Veliyidai (2017), Mani Ratnam chose to begin pre-production on his next film by July 2017 and brought in composer A. R. Rahman and cinematographer Santosh Sivan for the project.^[4] Siva Ananth was credited as the co-writer, while Bejoy Nambiar worked as one of the creative producers. Dhilip Subbarayan was signed to choreograph the stunt sequences, while Sharmishta Roy and Eka Lakhani were signed as the production designer and costume designer, respectively.^[5] In a 2022 interview with journalist Sudhir Srinivasan, Ratnam revealed that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's battle for the throne was the inspiration for the film.^[6]

In July 2017, reports suggested that the film would feature four male characters, and actors Vijay Sethupathi, Arvind Swamy, Fahadh Faasil and Dulquer Salmaan were in negotiations to play various roles. While the first three actors eventually accepted to work on the film, discussions with Dulquer fell through.^[7][8][9] Silambarasan later signed on in early September 2017, and an official announcement from the production studio confirmed the four lead actors were attached to the project.^[10][11] Nani had also held discussions with Ratnam for a role in the film, but was later not included in the final cast.^[12] Prior to the beginning of the shoot, Silambarasan undertook a weight loss regimen to get into shape for his character.^[13]

In the months leading up to the start of the shoot, there was speculation in the media that Silambarasan would be banned from the project after allegations were made by producer S. Michael Rayappan about the actor's non co-operation during the making of Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan (2017). Despite protests from other film producers, Ratnam chose to retain Silambarasan.^[14] In a media interaction during January 2018, Sethupathi confirmed that he would portray a full-length role, denying reports that it was a cameo.^[15] Fahadh later opted out due to scheduling conflicts, and was later replaced by Arun Vijay.^[16][17]

Jyothika agreed to portray a leading female role in early September 2017, and confirmed her participation to the media while promoting Magalir Mattum (2017). She had earlier appeared in Ratnam's production venture Dumm Dumm Dumm (2001), but stated her excitement at being selected in a film to be directed by him.^[18][19] Likewise, Aishwarya Rajesh also revealed her presence in the project in early September 2017, and expressed her delight working with Ratnam.^[20][21] In late January 2018, Aditi Rao Hydari, who had starred in Kaatru Veliyidai (2017), was also confirmed to be a part of the cast.^[22][23] Model Dayana Erappa also later joined the cast to play the fourth leading actress, marking her first acting assignment. She was cast after two rounds of auditions and then prepared for her role by attending workshops led by theatre actors in Mumbai.^[24][25]

For a supporting role, actress Jayasudha agreed to work on the film in November 2017, while Prakash Raj joined the cast during the following month to portray her husband.^[26][27][28] The production house revealed that actors Thiagarajan and Mansoor Ali Khan were also added to the cast before filming started. Furthermore, other supporting actors including Cheenu Mohan and Malayalam actor Antony Varghese were reported to have signed to play characters in the film, though Varghese was later replaced by Appani Sarath.^[29][30][31]

In late January 2018, before the start of the shoot, Lyca Productions reportedly agreed to purchase the rights of the film on a "first copy" basis and release it worldwide.^[32] Three days before the start of the shoot in February 2018, the film's title was announced as Chekka Chivantha Vaanam in Tamil, and as Nawab for the dubbed Telugu version.^[33] Principal photography began on 12 February 2018 on the outskirts of Chennai, with scenes shot on the East Coast Road and at the Apollo Hospital in Vanagaram during the first schedule.^[34][35]

A second schedule began on 26 February 2018, with all members of the cast intermittently featuring in the shoot. As the second schedule progressed, cinematographer Santosh Sivan released images of the various actors on the sets of the film.^[36] The shoot continued in Chennai until mid-March, with a wedding scene, also shot, before being halted as a result of a film industry-wide production strike announced by the Tamil Film Producers Council, who were campaigning against extortionate rates employed by digital service providers.^[37]

Following the strike, production resumed in Chennai on 25 April 2018, with scenes involving Sethupathi being shot near Kovalam Beach in Chennai.^[38] Media reports emerged suggesting that the production team had carelessly littered areas of the beach during the making of the film, making it dangerous for public use, but executive producer Siva Ananth refuted the allegations.^[39][40] In May 2018, the team travelled to Abu Dhabi and Dubai to shoot scenes involving Arun and Aishwarya, as a part of three week schedule.^{[41][42][43][44]} The final schedule featuring Silambarasan was completed over a week in Serbia and principal photography subsequently wrapped on 2 June 2018.^[45] A. Sreekar Prasad edited the film.^[46]

A. R. Rahman composed the film's soundtrack. The album was released on 5 September 2018 by Sony Music, and Rahman gave a live performance of the songs.^[47]

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, along with its dubbed Telugu version, was release on 27 September 2018.^[48] It was advanced by one day from 28 September.^[49] The film's television premiere took place on STAR Vijay on 13 January 2019.^[50]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 6 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10.^[51]

M Suganth of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and summarised that "The single-mindedness of the script, which doesn't stray away from its two major concerns is the film’s strength."^[52] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in called it a subtle yet clever tribute to Akira Kurosawa's Ran.^[53] Kirubhakar Purushothaman from India Today rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, summarising that "Throughout, the film pretends to be a hunt for that one bad guy among the heroes. But in the end, you realise how wrong you were."^[54] Anupama Subramanian of Deccan Chronicle rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and noted, "CCV is a revenge drama that would leave you captivated and spellbound."^[55]

Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express rated 3 out of 5 stars for the film and summarised that "Chekka Chivantha Vaanam feels like the work of a fresh director with an impressive understanding about the craft of filmmaking. It could be because auteur Mani Ratnam has made a violent film after a very long time. It could also be because it is a straightforward movie, in which he has highly favored words to images."^[56] Sreedhar Pillai, writing for Firstpost rated 3.5 out of 5, and commented that "Mani Ratnam's direction triumphs in a story-driven crime thriller".^[57] IANS rated the film with 4 out 5 stars, and summarised that "Ratnam's Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, which is undeniably his best work of this decade, is a slow-burning, highly rewarding story of a crime-ridden family that gets torn apart by power, greed and deceit."^[58] S. Shivakumar of The Hindu noted the similarities with the 2013 South Korean film New World and called it "the closest Mani Ratnam has come to plagiarism".^[59]

During the first four days of the film's release, it grossed ₹300 million (US$4 million) gross in Tamil Nadu alone, taking one of the largest openings recorded in the region.^[60][61] The film did well in international markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and the New Zealand. Within two days of release, the film had made A$170,682 (US$121,512) in Australia, £63,895 (US$82,690) in the UK, NZ$54,411 (US$35.530) in New Zealand and $592,319 in the US.^[62]

• Chekka Chivantha Vaanam at IMDb 
• Chekka Chivantha Vaanam at Rotten Tomatoes