Renigunta (film)

Renigunta
Directed by	R. Panneerselvam
Produced by	S. Mahendra Kumar Jain
Written by	R. Panneerselvam, Singampuli (dialogues)
Starring	Johnny Sanusha Nishanth
Music by	Ganesh Raghavendra
Cinematography	Shakthi
Edited by	Anthony
Production company	Film Fabricators
Release dates	4 December 2009 (2009-12-04)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Renigunta is a 2009 Indian Tamil action film written and directed by R. Panneerselvam and starring the actor known as Johnny.^[1][2] Renigunta speaks about young criminals and explores the reasons that instigate them to commit crime.

The movie takes its name from the city of Renigunta, Andhra Pradesh where part of the action takes place. It was dubbed into Telugu and released in Andhra Pradesh in 2012.^[3]

Plot

The movie begins in Madurai where a young boy, Sakthi (Johnny), leads a happy life with his parents. A shocking incident changes his life: his parents are murdered by an anti-social. As Sakthi seeks revenge, he is arrested and sent to prison, where he is severely beaten by the guards. While in jail, he is befriended by four young criminals: Pandurangan aka Pandu (Nishanth), Prem Kumar aka Dabba (Theepetti Ganeshan), Mari (Thamizh) and Michael (Sandeep). When these hardcore criminals break loose from the prison, Sakthi follows them, and they help him take revenge on his parent's killers. They take a train to Mumbai, where they plan to become big gangsters. But fate has other plans: they land at Renigunta, where they come across Bunker (Bunker), who acts as mediator between contract killers and clients.^[4]

Through Bunker, the boys get the acquaintance of Sardar, an influential don, who takes them seriously after a successful murder in the town. Meanwhile, Sakthi comes across a mute girl (Sanusha) in the neighbourhood. After a few encounters, romance blossoms between them. But the girl's uncle plans to push her into flesh trade. Taking pity on Sakthi and the girl, his friends decide to help them elope, but only after they complete a final murder for Sardar.^[5]

But all plans go haywire when they execute their murder plans. Pandu is killed at the scene, and later Sakthi and Mari blame Sardar and Bunker for abandoning their friend. A fight breaks, and Mari is killed before Sakthi kills both Sardar and Bunker. Sakthi reunites with Dabba and Michael, but they are now chased by the police. He sends a message to his girlfriend, telling her to meet him at a train station so they can elope together. But while she is waiting for him there, the police finally finds the three boys. Michael and Dabba are killed, while Sakthi escapes. He runs and hides in a train, and as the train starts moving, believing no one can get hold of him, he leans out of the train door dreaming of his girlfriend. But as the train reaches a station, he is shot dead by a police officer. The film ends with the mute girl waiting for Sakthi at a railway station down the line.

Cast

• Johnny as Sakthi
• Sanusha as the unnamed mute girl
• Nishanth as Pandurangan
• Sandeep as Michael
• Theepetti Ganesan as Dabba
• Tamizh as Mari
• Sanjana Singh as the elder sister
• Nandha Saravanan as police inspector Radha Krishnan^[6]
• S Elango as Sakthi's father^[6]
• Sujatha Sivakumar as Sakthi's mother^[6]
• Risha as the item girl^[6]

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by Ganesh Raghavendra and lyrics by Piraisoodan, Yugabharathi and Na. Muthukumar.^[7]

• Tallakulam — Silambarasan
• Mazhai Peiyum — Harish Raghavendra
• Vizhigalile — Bombay Jayasree
• Vazhkai — Vijay Yesudas
• Kanne — Shreya Ghoshal
• Gandharvanin — Ranjitha

Reception

Renigunta did fairly well at the box office,^[8] ending up as the 18th most profitable Tamil movie of the year, with a profit of 0.65 crores.^[9]

Rediff wrote "It's clear that Panneerselvam has been heavily influenced by new-age gangster flicks and rural movies [..] If only he'd actually made way for a cast iron plot, this one would have fared better."^[10] Sify wrote "On the whole the film drags big time post interval and is too long at 2 hours, 35 minutes. The songs act as speed breakers and some scenes are repeated, especially the gory killings. The film is dark and disturbing."^[11] Behindwoods wrote "Renigunta is not a movie made with commercial intentions in mind. Though violence and brutality are constants throughout the movie, it is neither superficial nor forced."^[12]

References