# Kaappaan

Kaappaan (transl. Protector) is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by K. V. Anand and written by Pattukkottai Prabakar. It was produced by Lyca Productions and stars Suriya, Mohanlal and Arya in lead roles along with Sayyeshaa, Samuthirakani, Poorna, Boman Irani and Chirag Jani in supporting roles.
The narrative revolves around Kathiravan, a Special Protection Group (SPG) officer who struggles to protect the Prime Minister from a mysterious man who threatens to assassinate him.
The film was released theatrically on 20 September 2019 and received mixed reviews from critics. Despite this, it was a commercial success, grossing ₹100 crore at the box office. It was the final directorial work of K. V. Anand, before his death on 30 April 2021.

## Plot

Terrorists tried to kill the Prime Minister, Chandrakanth Varma, in New Delhi, but security services were able to stop the attack, save the PM, and send him to his office. The government used NSG operations to prevent the assassination. However, the Minister for Communications, Vasudev, was killed as collateral damage, and his daughter Anjali is the PM's junior office secretary.
Kathiravan "Kathir" is an organic farmer in Thanjavur who secretly works for the country's military intelligence. The SPG asks him to help protect the PM during his visit to London after a captured terrorist reveals a plot to assassinate him. Kathir identifies and shoots the suspect. Anjali, who mistakes Kathir for the assassin, tries to follow him, but he tricks her into getting drunk and loses her. Varma goes to India and discovers that the Pakistan army killed the Indian soldiers in Kashmir. Rajan Mahadev, a business tycoon and a public figure, meets Varma to discuss ways of retaliation.
Joseph, Kathir's co-worker and friend, gets a death threat during Joseph and Priya's wedding anniversary celebration. Suddenly, a sniper kills his pet cat. Kathir and Joseph try to track the killer, but he diverts them by murdering the sniper with a small bomb blast and escapes. Varma goes to Kashmir to speak to the public, but a mysterious caller interferes with the communication system of the SPG and alerts them to a bomb on the stage where Varma is speaking. Kathir discovers the bomb and throws it away. However, the caller uses the distraction to detonate another bomb in Varma's car, killing him. After Varma's death, there is a struggle for the position of the next PM, but Varma's advisor chooses his son, Abhi, to prevent a political divide.
Kathir gets suspended for failing to protect the Prime Minister. He discovers evidence that links their friend Ranjith, a disgraced double agent, to the killer. Ranjith seeks revenge on Varma and the SPG for his arrest, which led to his family's suicide. In addition, farmers are protesting against the construction of mines in Thanjavur, which are destroying their crops. Abhishek plans to close the mines, but Mahadev, the owner, opposes his decision, resulting in a political conflict. Despite security warnings, Abhishek takes Anjali out for her birthday, and there is an assassination attempt on him that injures Anjali. Joseph dies while trying to save Abhishek. Kathir gets angry at Abhishek for going outside with no security.
During the post-mortem, Kathir finds that one of his officers, Prem, has tried to tamper with the evidence. Prem reveals himself as a double agent who is in cahoots with Ranjith and was the one who killed Joseph while he was rescuing Abhishek. Meanwhile, male caelifera locusts suddenly infest the fields in Thanjavur. Mahadev orchestrated the outbreak since the farmers didn't give up their land for his mining company. Mahadev is also the brain behind Varma's assassination, and Ranjith and Prem are simply his puppets. Abhishek and Mahadev discuss this ongoing feud and agree that in the immediate press conference, Mahadev agrees to shut down his mines in Thanjavur. Mahadev seemingly agrees but secretly plans to release both male and female caelifera, which will ensure the destruction of the crops without any chances of revival and allow him to establish his mining company without further problems.
Kathir figures this out and destroys the train transporting the locusts, killing all the locusts. Ranjith enters the control room at the press conference and plans to kill Abhishek on Mahadev's orders. Kathir beats up Ranjith, who reveals that the bomb is with Anjali. Kathir calls Anjali to the control room, and they find that the cast on her broken arm contains the bomb. Kathir removes Anjali's plaster cast and disposes of the bomb. In addition, Ranjith also says that Kathir's jacket has a bomb, and removing it will cause it to detonate. With Kathir frozen on the spot, Ranjith and Mahadev escape, enter the latter's car and detonate the bomb, but the bomb explodes in the car, thus killing Mahadev and Ranjith on the spot. In a flashback, Kathir had found the bomb in the jacket earlier and left the bulletproof vest in Mahadev's car. Kathir says when the person died it won't affect them. In the end, Kathir and Anjali having romantic moments in his hometown.

## Cast

* Suriya as Kathiravan (Kathir), a Special Protection Group officer
* Mohanlal as Chandrakanth Varma, Prime Minister of India
* Arya as Abhishek (Abhi) Varma, Chandrakanth's son
* Sayyeshaa as Anjali Vasudev, PM's Press Secretary and Kathir's love interest
* Samuthirakani as Joseph Selvaraj, SPG Director
* Poorna as Priya Joseph Selvaraj, Joseph's wife
* Boman Irani as Rajan Mahadev, an industrialist; (voice dubbed by Nizhalgal Ravi)
* Chirag Jani as Ranjith Kumar, a former intelligence agent
* Prem as Prem, SPG Commando
* Kiran as Vivek, SPG Commando
* Uma as Mrs. Varma, Chandrakanth's wife and Abhishek's mother
* Thalaivasal Vijay as Santhosh, Cabinet Secretary
* Paruthiveeran Sujatha as Kathiravan's mother
* Shankar Krishnamurthy as Sundhar
* Nagineedu as Sikander, Defense Minister
* Swaminathan as Ramanujam
* Ravi Prakash as Shiva, Mahadev's assistant
* Manoj Lulla as Manoj
* R. N. R. Manohar as Member of Parliament
* Anitha Sampath as Kavitha
* Pattukkottai Prabakar in a special appearance as a journalist
* M. S. Prabhu in a special appearance
* Anthony in a special appearance as Irfan, interrogation officer
* Karen Nikitha Harris in a special appearance in the song "Vinnil Vinmeen"
* Danielle Haden as a dancer in the item number "Machan Inga Vandhira"

## Production

Principal photography of the film commenced on 25 June 2018, in London. Arya replaced Allu Sirish who opted out of the film due to scheduling conflicts, making his first collaboration with Suriya. The film was shot on multiple locations at various places across the world including New York, Brazil, New Delhi and Hyderabad. It was referred to, colloquially, by the media as Suriya 37 as it is the thirty-seventh film to star Suriya. The film also marks Boman Irani's Tamil debut. Amitabh Bachchan was approached for an extended cameo as the Prime Minister of India, but later Mohanlal agreed to do it.
Initially, Gavemic U. Ary of Jigarthanda fame was announced as the cinematographer of the film, but in a turn of events Abhinandan Ramanujam replaces him. Later, cinematographer Ramanujam left the project after the first schedule, apparently due to scheduling conflicts with cinematography commitments for Malayalam film 9. Subsequently, M. S. Prabhu who previously collaborate with Suriya and director Anand for the film Ayan was assigned as cinematographer.
Also, it was revealed that Harris Jayaraj, Anthony, D. R. K. Kiran, Peter Hein and Dhilp Subbaryan was assigned as music director, film editor art director and stunt choreography, respectively, continuing their association with the director from his previous films.
The makers had registered three titles: Kaappaan, Meetpaan and Uyirkaa, and asked fans to choose what title to name the film through a poll. Although the majority of fans voted for Uyirkaa, on 31 December 2018, Lyca Productions announced the film's title as Kaappaan.
The movie shot a song sequence on Indonesia's Java island. Director K.V Anand shared the news via Twitter. It was also reported that Mohanlal would play the Indian Prime Minister, and Suriya is said to play a high-ranking security officer.

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack album is scored by Harris Jayaraj in his fifth and final collaboration with director K. V. Anand. On July 21, the audio launch event of Kaappaan was held in Chennai in a grand manner. It was a star-studded affair that saw the likes of Rajinikanth, director Shankar, and lyricist Vairamuthu attend the event. Harris' daughter Karen Nikita Harris has made her debut as a singer with this film, lending her voice to the song 'Vinnil Vinmeen'.
Upon release, the album received a positive review from Firstpost, commenting that "Harris Jayraj composes yet another album loaded with chartbusters for Suriya's film. Dipped in quintessential Harris signature, the album offers different styles of music, ending up with different results." Suriya and Harris Jayaraj have collaborated for the 9th time through this film and 1st collaboration with Mohanlal.

## Release

On 31 December 2018, Lyca Productions announced the film's title as Kaappaan, following by two first look posters released on the New Year's Day, 1 January 2019. The teaser for the film was released, coinciding with the Tamil New Year on 14 April 2019. Initially, the makers announced that the film is scheduled to release on 30 August 2019, but considering the release of Saaho, which is scheduled on the same date, the release was pushed to 20 September 2019. The first trailer of the film was released on the YouTube channel of the production company on 4 September 2019, followed by the second trailer, which was released on 14 September 2019. A Telugu dubbed version titled Bandobast was released simultaneously with the Tamil version. Kaappaan earned ₹88.75 crore as pre-release business.

## Reception
### Critical reception

The film received positive reviews from audience, and mixed reviews from critics. Behindwoods rated 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated, "Kaappaan is a watchable commercial drama and action treat to Suriya fans but very disappointment for Mohanlal fans. So this movie that has some good engaging moments". The Times of India rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "KV Anand's Kaappaan feels like one of those patriotic films that Vijayakanth and Arjun frequently made in the 90s, but is not as entertaining as those". Sify rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "Ambitious but exhausting!". News18 rated 1 out of 5 stars and stated "Despite Stellar Star Cast, Mohanlal-Suriya Starrer Loses Focus". Firstpost rated 2.25 out of 5 stars stating "Suriya, Mohanlal are charismatic in this formulaic action drama". The Hindu stated, "KV Anand's latest collaboration with his favourite leading man is a painstakingly long thriller, that neither has soul nor brain". IndiaGlitz rated 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Interesting premise, let down by a predictable, dull screenplay." The New Indian Express rated 1.5 out of 5 stars stating "Never do you truly believe that this film has a real understanding of the world and its politics." The Indian Express rated 1 out of 5 stars stating "KV Anand fills Kaappaaan with props, in his never-ending endeavour to create that elusive surreal ambience. But the film has artificiality written all over." Deccan Chronicle rated 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Kaappaan plays a big game and is very commercial in nature." Nettv4u rated 3 out of 5 stars stating "The racy thriller with power-packed performances and the high-octane action sequences is sure to win the hearts. Suriya is definitely back on his track, after a few average films. Kaappaan... is really a Kaappaan for LYCA, Suriya and KV Anand." The News Minute rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "Other than Suriya, nobody in the SPG looks like they've even slow jogged on the treadmill, let alone performed miraculous high security ops." The Week rated 2 out of 5 stars stating "The predictable screenplay, which reminds you of some old Vijayakanth or Arjun films, is disappointing as it comes from Anand who has had some decent outings with Suriya earlier, like Maattraan and Ayan." MovieCrow rated 3.25 stars out of 5 stating "Suriya delivers his charismatic Best as SPG agent."

## Box office

In its opening weekend, the film collected ₹23 crore (US$3.27 million) in Tamil Nadu, which at the time made it one of the highest-grossing opening weekends in Tamil film history. The film collected approximately ₹50 crore (US$7.1 million) worldwide in its first weekend. According to the film's producers, Kaappaan earned around ₹100 crore (US$12 million) worldwide. The film was a commercial success and emerged profitable for its makers.

## Legacy

An internet meme began trending on social media platforms in late May 2020, in which Suriya's films were coincided with real life incidents, that happened around the world. Here, locust attack, was predicted in the film.