# Thegidi

Thegidi (transl. Dice / Deception) is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language neo-noir mystery thriller film directed by P. Ramesh and produced by C. V. Kumar under his banner Thirukumaran Entertainment. The film features Ashok Selvan and Janani in the leading roles, while Jayaprakash, Kaali Venkat, Jayakumar, Pradeep K Vijayan, and Rajan Iyer play supporting roles. The music was composed by Nivas K. Prasanna with cinematography by Dinesh B. Krishnan and editing by Leo John Paul. The film released on 28 February 2014 and opened to generally positive reviews from critics. This film was remade in Malayalam as Chanakya Thanthram in 2018.

## Plot

Vetri, a criminology student turned detective, investigates a series of murders linked to a forged insurance scam, only to discover his mentor Govardhan's involvement in the crime, leading to Govardhan's confession and suicide, and the revelation that a mysterious figure, Vallabha, is behind it all, setting up a sequel.

## Cast

* Ashok Selvan as Vetri
* Janani as Madhusree
* Jayaprakash as Inspector Raghuram
* Kaali Venkat as Nambi
* Jayakumar as Sailesh
* Pradeep K Vijayan as Poornachandran (Sadagoppan)
* Rajan Iyer as Govardhan
* Shalu Shamu as Aparna
* Ashritha Sreedas as Vidhya
* Sai Prashanth as Kamalakannan
* Rekha Suresh as Rukkumani, Aparna's mother
* Soodhu Kavvum Sivakumar as Madhavan
* Kavithalaya Krishnan as Ranganathan
* Soundar Rajan as Head Constable Chakkarapanni
* Winner Ramachandran as S.I. Sukumar
* Puli Paandi as Dileepan
* Pattu Maami as Govardhan's mother

## Production

The film was announced in June 2013 as a joint venture between Thirukumaran Entertainment and Vel Media. Along with C. V. Kumar, the film reunited several of the crew from Soodhu Kavvum (2013) with cinematographer Dinesh, editor Leo John Paul, and actor Ashok Selvan all from that unit. The film's director was revealed to be P. Ramesh, and Nivas K. Prasanna would compose the music. Janani Iyer, seen before in Avan Ivan (2011) and Paagan (2012), was signed on to depict the role of a college girl.
The film, described as a "murder mystery", was wrapped up within 45 days and in November 2013, post-production works were ongoing. It was reported that all the songs were set to be montages and further filming was not required, even though the songs were incomplete during production.

## Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack and score were composed by newcomer Nivas K. Prasanna.
Prasanna received praise for both the songs and the score. IANS wrote, "If Thegidi turns out to be a hit, debutant music composer Nivas Prasanna deserves huge credit for the success. He carries the tension of the film right till the end with his background score and songs that are placed in the narrative at right junctures". Sify wrote, "[a] highlight of the film is Nivas Prasanna’s music and extraordinary BGM. The romantic melody Yaar Ezhuthiatho... is very soothing and BGM goes with the narration". Rediff wrote, "The music by Nivas is an absolute joy. All the songs, as well as the background score are perfect".

## Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to STAR Vijay. After the censor process, the team announced the release date as 28 February.

### Critical reception

Baradwaj Rangan of The Hindu wrote "there are plenty of tense moments, thanks to the deliberate pacing (that steers clear of cheap, amped-up thrills) and the fact that the film keeps zooming in on a small cast of characters. Thegidi is proof that if the small things are worked out well, the bigger ones will take care of themselves". Sify called the film "a well-made, edge-of- the-seat thriller with enough twists and turns. It keeps the deception game going till the last scene, with a taut script and outstanding BGM by Nivas Prasanna". Indiaglitz gave it a 3.5/5 rating and stated, "Thegidi is one such brilliant movie flaunted by beaming background score grips your adrenaline rush through the movie". Rediff gave it a 2.5 star rating and called it "a great effort by debutant director P Ramesh, who seems to have extracted the best from his team, be it the actors or the technicians".
The Times of India gave the film 3 stars out of 5 and said "What's refreshing about Thegidi is how director Ramesh manages to keep things understated even when the situations seem to turn overwhelming. Barring a couple of scenes, there is a matter-of-factness in the approach that keeps the movie from turning into a bombastic thriller in which everything is at stake. This is the film's plus and also its weakness". Oneindia in its review said "The film leaves an impact from the word go, the film attracts you. The first fifteen minutes should not be missed by audience and the opening credits is impressive". IANS gave it 3.5 stars and wrote, "With its share of ups and downs, Thegidi is a taut film executed in style.

### Box office

The film had a slow start at the box office, but improved later due to positive reviews from critics and word of mouth. According to Behindwoods.com, the film's shows increased in its 4th week. At the Chennai box office, the film had collected ₹96,62,193 after 8 weeks. In March 2014, Producers Council's President Keyaar said that Thegidi was one of the two Tamil films that turned out to be profitable ventures for all sections in 2014 till then. Sify later reported that the film was profitable if the collections from the theatrical run and the dubbing and satellite rights were added together. Producer C. V. Kumar in late March informed that the rights for music and overseas were sold for ₹7 lacs and ₹24 lacs respectively and that the film had collected a theatrical share of ₹2.2 crores till then.

## Sequel

In April 2014, director Ramesh stated that he would make a sequel to Thegidi in future. He said, "Thegidi 2 is definitely on the cards, but it won't happen immediately. I have started working on a new project which I intend to work on before the sequel". He had planned a sequel even before the release of Thegidi. "I didn't have a bound script ready for the sequel, but I had decided to continue the sequel with Vallabha's character that you see in Thegidi. I decided this while working on the [first film]".