Singam Puli (transl. Lion, Tiger)[2] is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Sai Ramani. It stars Jiiva in dual roles as the hero and villain,[3] co-starring Ramya, Honey Rose and Santhanam.[4][5] With its release delayed multiple times, the film saw a theatrical release on 4 March 2011.[6] The film was dubbed in Telugu as Simham Puli.[7] It opened to a mixed critical reception,[8] and was moderately successful at the box office.[9]
| Singam Puli | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Sai Ramani |
| Written by | Sai Ramani |
| Produced by | S. Parthiban S. Srinivasan |
| Starring | Jiiva Ramya Honey Rose |
| Cinematography | Balasubramaniem |
| Edited by | V. Jaishankar |
| Music by | Mani Sharma |
Production company | Silverline Film Factory |
Release date |
|
Running time | 163 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Plot
editThe film has a deceptively casual beginning: a middle-class family consisting of parents, a daughter and identical twin sons: Shiva and Ashok Kumar. Shiva works in a fish market, and Ashok is a lawyer. Shiva is a typical hero who attacks baddies with his bare fists; a rugged man who will brook no injustice. Devout Ashok's goodness is a facade that hides his evil womanizing nature. Both have romantic interests. Shweta is Shiva's long-time sweetheart, while Ashok's life is one long, lustful journey as he charms every woman he meets into his bed. However, Shiva can do nothing right as far as his parents are concerned; they trust Ashok and always misunderstand Shiva's righteous anger, and Shiva's every attempt to show up his Machiavellian twin fails. Ashok, on the other hand, is pally with the local goons and uses his brains to assist them in their nefarious activities. Matters come to a head when Ashok lures a girl called Gayatri with false pretenses, pretending to be falling in love with her at first, ending up in having sex with her, and eventually killing her by pushing off the terrace when he learns that she becomes pregnant.
Shiva lodges a complaint on Ashok, but this fails as he could not prove that whether it was him or Ashok who did the crime due to their faces. Shiva learns that a security guard saw Ashok pushing Gayatri from the roof. He tells the guard to meet him in the evening, but the guard is killed by Ashok as the guard saw him in the evening and thought he was Shiva. Shiva learns this, and a cat-and-mouse game begins between the siblings. This angers Ashok, who he tries to kill Shiva and employs a gang to do so. Eventually, Shiva learns of this plot and confronts Ashok. During the fight, Ashok is killed by his own man. Shiva walks with his father, who for the first time accepts him.
Cast
edit- Jiiva in a dual role as:
- Shiva (Protagonist)
- Ashok Kumar (Antagonist)
- Ramya as Shwetha
- Honey Rose as Gayatri
- Santhanam as Bujji Babu
- Ponvannan as Vedachalam, Shiva's and Ashok's father
- Kuyili as Mutthulakshmi, Shiva's and Ashok's mother
- Pandu as Raghavan, Shwetha's father
- Meera Krishnan as Kamala, Shwetha's mother
- Manikka Vinayagam as Judge
- Cool Suresh as Ashok's friend
- Alex as Bujji Babu's uncle
- Neelu Nasreen as Ramya's mother / Aunty
- Robert in a special appearance in the song "Figaru"
Soundtrack
editAll songs scored by Mani Sharma. The song "Figaru" is based on "Hare Rama" from Okkadu. The song "Kangalal" is based on "Endhuko" from Chirutha. The song "Varrale" is based on "Parare" from Stalin.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Figaru" | Viveka | Naveen | |
| 2. | "Poove Poove" | Viveka | Rahul Nambiar | |
| 3. | "Varrale" | Annamalai | Ranjith, Saindhavi | |
| 4. | "Kangalal" | Na. Muthukumar | Karthik, Rita | |
| 5. | "Ullasame" | Sai Ramani | Ranjith, Janani Madhan | |
| 6. | "Naadilla" | Viveka | Mukesh |
Behindwoods.com gave the album 2 stars out of 5, noting it had "all the ingredients for a mass entertainer", and felt it "has the ability to make people dance to his (Sharma's) tunes."[10]
Release
editThe film was initially set to release on Diwali 2010,[11] but got delayed due to CG works on scenes involving Jiiva's dual roles.[12] It got rescheduled to release on 11 February 2011.[13] It received a U/A (parental guidance) certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification, and the release was postponed to 25 February 2011.[14] The film was finally released on 4 March 2011.[15] This Film was sold by Sun TV.
Critical reception
editRohit Ramachandran in nowrunning.com gave the film 3.25/5 stars stating that "Singam Puli is a passable entertaining film that is worth checking out if you're looking for popcorn escapism".[16] Rediff wrote "This cat-and-mouse game does work, most of the time. Fewer songs and a taut climax would have made for a more exciting watch."[17] Behindwoods wrote "For his debut project, Sai Ramani has chosen a mainstream commercial subject taking in sibling rivalry with clearly etched out characters which could have worked wonders but fortunately he had capitalized this aspect in weaving an engaging tale. The inconsistent narration meanders through the course of the film with its lumpy episodic nature that fails to have an engrossing effect on the audience."[18] Sify wrote "Sai Ramani directed Singam Puli, is an uninspiring 2 hours 45 minutes masala film that takes the viewers for granted. The film is loaded with action, drama, fights, comedy and double meaning dialogues and crass comedy."[19] Mid-Day wrote "Debutant Sai has chosen an advanced theme of fight between twins who represent good and bad. This could have been forgiven if he had worked up a good script to tell this tug-of-war between the brothers".[20]
References
edit- ^ "Singam Puli". British Board of Film Classification.
- ^ Srinivasan, Sudhir (17 January 2015). "Going wild over titles". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
More recently, 2011 saw two variants, Jiiva's Singam Puli (Lion, Tiger) that fared moderately, and Aadhi's Aadu Puli (Goat, Tiger), another average grosser.
- ^ "WHO IS THE ULTIMATE HERO-VILLAIN?". Behindwoods.
- ^ "Singam Puli- The New Indian Express".
- ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (5 March 2011). "Where was the pruner?". The Hindu.
- ^ "Jiiva's next release Singam Puli will release on February 25". The Times of India. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
- ^ "Simham Puli". Eros Now.
- ^ "Singam Puli tamil Movie - Overview". Moviecrow.com.
- ^ "Ranking based on Chennai Box Office Collections from Apr 01th 2011 to Apr 03th 2011". Behindwoods.
- ^ "SINGAM PULI MUSIC REVIEW". Behindwoods.
- ^ "Diwali Release... Confirmed Movies". Behindwoods. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- ^ "Reason for Singam Puli's delay". Behindwoods. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
- ^ "Singam Puli release date confirmed!". Behindwoods. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
- ^ "Singam Puli release postponed". Behindwoods. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ "Singam Puli release postponed yet again". Behindwoods. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
- ^ ${FullName} (5 March 2011). "Singam Puli Review — Tamil Movie Review by Rohit Ramachandran". Nowrunning.com. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "Review: Singam Puli works, most of the time". Rediff.
- ^ "SINGAM PULI REVIEW – SINGAM PULI MOVIE REVIEW". behindwoods.com.
- ^ "Singam Puli". Sify. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016.
- ^ "Movie review: Singam Puli – A mind blowing experience". mid-day. 7 March 2011.
External links
edit- Singam Puli at IMDb