Kaavalan

Kaavalan (English: Bodyguard) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Siddique, starring Vijay and Asin in the lead roles. The film is a remake of Siddique's previous Malayalam film Bodyguard. It features Rajkiran, Mithra Kurian, Roja and Vadivelu in supporting roles with musical score composed by Vidyasagar. The film's principal shoot commenced in April 2010^[1][2][3] and it was completed by November 2010. The film was selected to be screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival out of many projects submitted by India.^[4] The film ran for 100 days in theatres.^[5]

Bhoominathan (Vijay) idolises Muthuramalingam (Rajkiran), a rich powerful landlord, and at the request of his parents, he accepts to work for Muthuramalingam as his bodyguard. There enters Muthuramalingam's rival, who has lost his daughter since she committed suicide, the reason being rejection by Muthuramalingam's son. While Bhoomi protects Muthuramalingam, his rival threatens the life of his daughter Meera (Asin).

Bhoomi is sent to college along with Meera and her friend Madhu (Mithra Kurian) to protect them from the threat. Bhoomi joins the same class where Meera studies, as he has previously discontinued his education. Meera does not like Bhoomi following her as a bodyguard, and therefore plans to divert him. Meera calls Bhoomi over his mobile phone from a private number and introduces herself as "Ammukutty". Initially, Bhoomi hates the mobile call as it will disturb him but later on develops a liking towards Ammukutty and slowly love blossoms for Bhoomi without knowing that it is Meera herself.

At one point, Meera too feels herself becoming attracted to Bhoomi and expresses her desire to meet him in person without revealing her identity. However, due to circumstances they are not able to accomplish this, and she decides to elope with Bhoomi for which he agrees, unaware it is Meera. However through certain means, Muthuramalingam gets to know that Bhoomi and Meera are going to run away and sends his men to stop Bhoomi. Meera overhears her father's plans and decides to save Bhoomi by lying that he is in love with some other girl and has planned to elope with her. Muthuramalingam spares Bhoomi, believing that Meera is not his lover, but sends his men to the railway station to find out Bhoomi's lover. He also instructs that Bhoomi should be killed if there is no one in the railway station.

Meera, in a desperate attempt to save Bhoomi, comes up with a plan. She requests Madhu to go to the railway station and pretend to be Ammukutty, so that Muthuramalingam's men will spare Bhoomi believing Madhu to be his lover. Meera also gives a mobile phone to Madhu and informs to give it to Bhoomi when she meets him (as Bhoomi's phone is broken) so that she can reveal the truth to Bhoomi. Madhu agrees and leaves to the station. Over there, Bhoomi gets surprised seeing Madhu in the station and believes that it is Madhu who was pretending as Ammukutty so far and hugs her. Muthuramalingam's men see this and leave the place, believing that Meera is not Bhoomi's lover.

Suddenly, Madhu gets a call in the mobile given by Meera. Madhu understands that the call is from Meera and she wants to speak to Bhoomi. To everyone's surprise, Madhu throws away the phone from train, following which it is revealed that Madhu also likes Bhoomi, and she decides to marry him by betraying Meera. Meera understands that Madhu has played a trick.

Several years later, Bhoomi, now a top-ranking government official, now returns to Muthuramalingam's village to visit him along with his son Sidharth. Muthuramalingam's condition is ill. It is revealed that Madhu has died a few years back due to some medical ailments, but she has written all the truth in a diary and gives it to Sidharth to read it after her death. Sidharth has learnt all the truth. Madhu has also mentioned in the diary that this truth should never be disclosed to Bhoomi.

Meera stays with her father, and Bhoomi gets shocked to know that Meera still remains unmarried. When Bhoomi and Sidharth are about to return home, Sidharth asks Meera to come with them and expresses his wish to call her as mother. Bhoomi berates Sidharth for his suggestion and apologises to Meera and Muthuramalingam, but Muthuramalingam also insists Meera to go with Bhoomi.

Now Bhoomi, Meera and Sidharth leave together from the village. Just the before the train starts, Sidharth runs out to throw the diary containing the truth in a dust bin and comes back, but Bhoomi takes back the diary from the dust bin without Sidharth's knowledge and reads it. Upon reading the diary, Bhoomi is shocked knowing that it was Meera who loved him in the name of Ammukutty. In the end, Bhoomi also whole heartedly accepts Meera.

The original Malayalam film Bodyguard was remade in Hindi and Telugu as well. The Telugu versionwas directed by Gopichand Malineli while all the other three versions are directed by Siddique himself. Below is a character map of the lead characters in the story of Bodyguard and its remakes. The Tamil version was also dubbed in Hindi as Main Hoon Bodyguard by Goldmines Telefilms in 2013.^[6][7] Template:Bodyguard character map

Siddique first narrated the script of Bodyguard to Vijay. As Vijay had prior commitments then, he suggested making this movie first in Malayalam as Bodyguard. It became an average grosser in Malayalam. He later announced his decision to remake the film with enhancements in the script to better suit the Tamil audience.^{[citation needed]} The film was initially referred to as Kaavalkaaran, which literally means "bodyguard" in Tamil. After rumours of the title being changed to Kaaval Kaadhal, the film was officially confirmed to be titled Kaavalan in August 2010.^[8] The reason for the name confusion and its eventual permanent change was due to complications in obtaining the rights to the title of Kavalkaran from M. G. Ramachandran's producers. They refused to sell the title to Vijay, leading to the rechristening of the title to Kaavalan.^[9]

With the announcement of the remake, Siddique had finalised Vija] to play the lead role, reminiscent of their previous venture Friends (2001), which was also a remake of Siddique's own Malayalam film. Asin Thottumkal was signed up to pair with Vijay for the third time after their previous pairings in Sivakasi (2005) and Pokkiri (2007), also giving Asin a comeback in Tamil cinema after her last appearance in Dasavathaaram (2008). Vadivelu, Rajkiran, and Roja Selvamani were also signed up as supporting characters.

The film's principal shoot began in April at Kumbakonam.^[10]

An incident occurred on set in April, where Asin, her father, and her makeup assistants fainted in their caravan after being exposed to a gas leak. They were treated in hospital the same day and were eventually discharged.^[11][12]

The second shoot schedule occurred in Vellore. Vijay and Asin, along with director Siddique and the rest of crew filmed at the Vellore Institute of Technology. A song was shot at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The film was selected at the 14th Shanghai International Film Festival in the panorama section. SIFF issued an invitation to Vijay as guest of honour.^[4]

The film was later dubbed in Hindi as Main Hoon Bodyguard.^[13]

Sify.com described the film as "super fun" and a "perfect Pongal family entertainer" and rated it 4.5/5. The reviewer particularly praised Vijay's performance, observing that the film works "purely on his star charisma and larger-than-life image" and that "he carries the film on his shoulders and is one good reason to watch the film".^[14] A critic from Rediff.com, while giving the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, credited Vijay for "shedding his action/political persona" and "choosing a script that focuses on comedy and emotions".^[15] Behindwoods.com rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and called it "a relatable love story shot in a cute and simple manner, rich with emotions, and a smooth narration". The reporter noted good chemistry between Vijay and Asin. Asin's performance was described as convincing.^[16] Oneindia commented, "Vijay's performance as extraordinary and describing Kaavalan is a family entertainer with an extraordinary script".^[17]

Kaavalan released in 350 screens.^[18] Kaavalan released to generally positive reviews from critics.^[19][20] The film collected 8.8 million in Chennai at its opening weekend.^[21] By the end of seven weeks it grossed around ₹43.6 million (US$520,000) at the Chennai box office.^[22] The movie collected a record sum of ₹450 million (US$5.4 million) worldwide and completed a 100-day theatrical run.^[5]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Behindwoods	[23]

Kaavalan's audio launch was held on 8 December 2010.^[24] The soundtrack consists of five tracks composed by Vidyasagar.^[25][26]

Behindwoods gave the album a rating of 3/5 and stated that it is fresh and youthful.^[27] Sify gave the album rating 4 out of 5 and stated the album is youthful. Music aloud.com rated the album 4 out of 5.^[28]

The trailer was released worldwide on 16 December in Northern California, marking the first time a Vijay film trailer was launched outside India.^[29][30][31]

• Official website
• Kaavalan at IMDb