# Kurangu Bommai

Kurangu Bommai (transl. Monkey Doll) is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film, written and directed by Nithilan Saminathan in his directoral debut. The film stars Vidharth, Delna Davis, and Bharathiraja, while Elango Kumaravel and P. L. Thenappan play supporting roles. The music was composed by B. Ajaneesh Loknath with cinematography by Udhayakumar and editing by Abhinav Sunder Nayak. The film released on 1 September 2017 to positive reviews from critics. The film was remade in Kannada as Ombattane Dikku.

## Plot

Ekambaram is a don in Thanjavur who smuggles expensive idols and artifacts. Sundaram is a coworker and friend of Ekambaram. Sundaram's son Kathir is a cab driver in Chennai. One day, Kathir and his parents go to Viji's house with a marriage proposal. On learning about Sundaram's association with Ekambaram, Viji's father rejects the proposal and insults him. Enraged, Kathir slaps Viji's father and leaves; however, he still proposes to Viji.
Sindhanai is a pickpocket who suffers from insomnia. An astrologer tells him that he can only be cured when he makes a bed out of 1 Crore rupees and sleeps on top of it. Sindhanai then makes it his life's goal to steal 1 Crore.
Meanwhile, Kathir, who has returned to Chennai, is waiting at a bus stop and sees a middle-aged man carrying a bag with a picture of a monkey on it. Sindhanai, believing the bag to be full of money, steals it and runs away. Kathir chases him and manages to get it back. When he returns to give it back to the man, he is not there. Kathir then posts a picture of the bag on Facebook in hopes of the owner contacting him. Later, Kathir bumps into Viji and follows her to the hospital where her father is admitted. Kathir shows his remorse and apologizes to him but is insulted in return. Kathir leaves but forgets the bag.
Later that day, Kathir comes across a woman who has his father's phone, but with no SIM card inside. The woman informs him that her husband found the phone while clearing trash at a Chennai neighborhood. Kathir's mother phones him telling that Sundaram came to Chennai two days ago and has not returned home. Kathir informs Viji about the bag that he forgot in the hospital and asks her to keep it safe. However, her father angrily throws the bag from the top of the hospital balcony and into a trash bin below.
The film then flashes back to a few days ago in Thanjavur. One of Ekambaram's henchmen is seen buying the bag, for smuggling a golden idol worth 5 Crore from Thanjavur to Chennai. Ekambaram asks Sundaram to take the bag to Chennai and hand it over to a man named Sekar. On arrival he is met by Sadhasivam (the man from whom Sindhanai stole the bag at the bus stop), one of Sekar's aides. Sundaram goes to Sekar's house and stays there so that Sekar will complete the transaction, exchange the idol with a pawn shop owner, and hand over the money to Sundaram.
However, Sekar plans to steal the money for himself, so he contacts Ekambaram and tells him that Sundaram never arrived and he is yet to get the idol, implying that Sundaram ran away with it. Worried, Ekambaram travels to Chennai. Sekar, who still has Sundaram in his house, steals the latter's phone and dumps it in a nearby trash bin. He makes his own deal with the pawn shop owner and gets 2 crores in advance for the idol. The remaining 3 crores will be given upon handing over the idol in person. Sekar then finds out that Ekambaram is on his way to Chennai. Knowing that he will be killed if Ekambaram finds out his plans, he decides to get rid of Sundaram.
After asking his wife and children to leave the city for a few days, he talks to Sundaram and asks him if he can take care of the money or he needs someone to be sent with him. By now, Sundaram realizes that Sekar wants to kill him and steal the money for himself. He tells Sekar that Sundaram was an orphan and he was brought up by Ekambaram and they have been the closest of friends for so long. Sekar asks Sundaram for his forgiveness as he desperately wants the money to give his wife and children a wealthy life. He then knocks Sundaram unconscious and locks him up in a room in his house.
Kathir gets a call from one of Ekambaram's henchmen, who saw the Facebook post about the bag and assumed that both father and son have been scheming all along to steal the idol. Nevertheless, the henchman orders Kathir to get the bag back to him within an hour's time and meet them at Sekar's house. Ekambaram, now at Sekar's place, questions him. Sekar pretends to be innocent and claims that Sundaram might have run away with the idol. Ekambaram replies that he has not come for the money but for his friend. Then, the pawn shop labour arrives and gives the remaining 3 crores to Sekar. Realising that he had been double-crossed, an enraged Ekambaram attacks Sekar. In the fight, Sekar manages to kill both Ekambaram and the latter's aide and escapes with the money.
Meanwhile, on his way to the hospital to get the bag back, Kathir comes across Sadhasivam. Deducing that Sadhasivam must have some connection with his father's missing, Kathir beats him up. Sadhasivam reveals everything that happened: Sekar had killed Sundaram and had been roaming around with Sundaram's remains in the bag all along. Kathir is shocked and finds the bag in the nearby trash bin. Sindhanai also sees the bag and comes to take it, still believing there is money in it, but he is moved seeing Kathir crying over his father's remains.
A few months later, Sekar is living a lavish lifestyle when he hears a knock on the door of his new apartment. He sees Kathir and lets him, in assuming him to be the cab driver he had asked for. Sekar soon gets suspicious of Kathir and recognizes him as Sundaram's son. Kathir attacks Sekar and ties him to a chair, demanding to know why he killed his father. Sekar replies that he would have killed his own father to become a billionaire. Showing no sign of remorse, Sekar tells Kathir that the maximum revenge he can do is to kill him, nothing more.
Kathir and Sindhanai are then seen disposing of a suitcase, which has blood stains on it, into a river. The scene then shifts to Sekar, who is lying down on a mat. His wife is heard getting into an extramarital affair on the phone. As the camera pans out, Sekar is shown to be a quadruple amputee who now lives a life filled with regret for all the wrongs he committed.

## Cast

* Vidharth as Kathiresan "Kathir"
* Bharathiraja as Sundaram
* Delna Davis as Vijitha "Viji"
* P. L. Thenappan as Ekambaram
* Elango Kumaravel as Sekar
* Kalki as Sindhanai
* Krishnamoorthy as Sadhasivam
* Ganja Karuppu as Viji's cousin
* Bala Singh as Viji's father
* Rama as Kathir's mother
* Uma as Sekar's wife
* Semmalar Annam as Mother of kidnapped child
* Raja Rani Pandian as Inspector
* Rahul Thatha as Thief
* Karna Raja
* Madonne Ashwin as a bus passenger (cameo appearance)

## Production

Nithilan rose to fame after participating in the reality show, Naalaya Iyakkunar short film competition on Kalaignar TV. After being impressed by his work in the short film Punnagai Vaanginaal Kanner Ilavasam, actor Vidharth approached him to collaborate for a film in August 2015 and the pair subsequently decided to work on Kurangu Bommai. The director noted that he actively did not want regular actors to play typecast roles, so he selected veteran director Bharathiraja to play a pivotal role in the film, and production began during the following months. Film producer P. L. Thenappan was also signed on to play a pivotal role and shot for the film during May 2016. Actor Mammootty was brought in by the producers to release the first look poster of the film in mid-September 2016. Actor Arya and Director AR Murugadoss launched teaser and trailer respectively.

## Soundtrack

The film's music soundtrack was composed by B. Ajaneesh Loknath, while the audio rights of the film was acquired by Yuvan Shankar Raja's U1 Records. The original album was released on 4 June 2017 and featured five songs.

## Release

The film released on 1 September 2017 and received positive reviews from film critics. A critic from The Times of India wrote that the film was "a strong contender for the best Tamil film of the year", noting that "the tightly-woven plot keeps us hooked for the entire duration" and that "the fabulous performances from the entire cast draws us deep into the story". The Deccan Chronicle called the film "a breath of fresh air"m adding that "with a solid story and a very intriguing screenplay, Nithilan's perfect non-linear hyperlink narration of Kurangu Bommai has emerged as one of the best films of the year". Further positive reviews came from Sify.com, who called it "a well-made crime thriller" and The New Indian Express, who noted it was "another efficient film from Vidharth's stable", making a reference to his two previous critically acclaimed films, Kuttrame Thandanai (2016) and Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu (2017). The film performed well at the Chennai box office, with positive word-of-mouth reviews, making it have a better response than Vijay Sethupathi's Puriyatha Puthir (2017), which released on the same day. The film was later chosen to be show at the Chennai International Film Festival. Actor Arya and director AR Murugadoss released teaser and trailer respectively. Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote "Like Maanagaram earlier this year, Nithilan Swaminathan's Kurangu Bommai (Monkey Doll) comes with a caveat: you have to buy the coincidences. This film, too, is conceived as what has come to be known as "hyperlink cinema", but you could just as easily call it "leap-of-faith cinema". "