# Thupparivaalan

Thupparivaalan (transl. Detective) is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Mysskin, and produced by Vishal, who also enacts in the lead role with Prasanna. The film also features Vinay Rai, Anu Emmanuel (in her Tamil debut), Andrea Jeremiah and K. Bhagyaraj. It is loosely inspired by Sherlock Holmes, British writer Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character. The film follows a private detective and his associate who investigates the death of a child's pet dog, which leads to them uncovering a bigger conspiracy. The film was launched in March 2016, and released on 14 September 2017.

## Plot

The film starts with IT company owner, Dhivakar, and his family celebrating his birthday, when a sudden lightning strike hits him and his son and burns them to death. At a cinema, a man gropes a woman, and a small commotion ensues, which was stopped by ACP Paul Dhanarajan, who dies in the middle of a police conference three days later. The plot shifts to detective Kaniyan Poongundran, who lives with his associate Manohar. They both come across Mallika through a pickpocketing incident. Later, she comes to work as a housekeeper at Kaniyan's house.
One day, a schoolboy named Naveen visits Kaniyan and Manohar with the case that his pet German Spitz (inaccurately identified as a Pomeranian) Nemo was shot dead and asked them to find the killer. Naveen gives them the bullet from Nemo's body. Kaniyan finds that it is a 9 mm bullet which had been ricocheted from Nemo. At the crime scene, he finds a tooth, whose owner is traced to be Swarnavel, a former university physics professor who lives alone and is now a stockbroker. Meanwhile, a shady man named Kamalesh visits a travel agency to deliver a sofa stashed with money to five people who run the agency and who are believed to be assassins: Devil, Muthu, Pritha, a stout man, and a bald man.
Kaniyan recollects a news article about an incident that involves the deaths of Dhivakar and his son and goes to Mrs. Dhivakar's house. Kaniyan also finds that Swarnavel was present at a nearby construction site on the day of the incident. He then concludes that it was artificial lightning devised by Swarnavel to kill Dhivakar. When the assassins learn that Kaniyan is on their tail, Devil disposes of the body of Swarnavel, who was killed earlier.
Kaniyan and Manohar visit Dhivakar's office and learn that a tender which was to be awarded to Dhivakar is now with Ram Prasad, the head of the company that Dhivakar competed with. Before they could reach Ram Prasad, he is assassinated. Kamalesh hires Chinese mercenaries to kill Kaniyan. Kaniyan defeats them and finds out about Kamalesh's involvement, but Kamalesh is killed by Pritha. A police chase occurs as Pritha and the bald man try to escape but are later cornered. Soon after, the bald man kills himself, allowing Pritha to escape. The next day in a shopping mall, Pritha makes a failed attempt to kill Kaniyan, who is saved by Mallika.
Kaniyan and Manohar meet Police Inspector Madhivanan and ACP Vijayakumar in a hotel, where yet another failed assassin attempt is made. Muthu plans to inject Kaniyan with a poison dart, but Manohar was caught in the crossfire and is rushed to the hospital. They learn that Manohar was hit by the same dart as Paul. They raid the travel agency, and Devil kills Muthu to cover his tracks. They find some physics books related to lightning.
Kaniyan receives a threat via SMS, saying that his beloved ones are in danger. He ensures that Manohar is safe in the hospital but could not save Mallika in time as she was stabbed by Devil. It is later revealed that Madhivanan was an informer for Devil. Kaniyan, Manohar, and a police team go in search of Devil to a mangrove forest. All of them die except Kaniyan, Manohar, and Vijayakumar. Later, Kaniyan and Vijayakumar are both caught by Devil, as he blackmails them using Naveen.
Tied by a rope, Kaniyan reveals how he managed to uncover Devil's backstory and tells him that the police have been informed of the same. Infuriated by this, Devil tries to stab Kaniyan, but Manohar manages to untie him. Eventually, Kaniyan kills Devil. In his dying moments, Devil tells Naveen that he is sorry for killing Nemo. Later, as Naveen returns home from school one afternoon, he finds a Pomeranian puppy along with a note bearing Kaniyan's name in a basket at his doorstep.

## Cast

* Vishal as Kaniyan Poongundran, a detective who is called upon to find the killer of Naveen's dog Nemo
* Prasanna as Manohar, Kaniyan's associate
* Vinay Rai as John Richardson Holcha/Devil, the man responsible for killing Nemo
* Anu Emmanuel as Mallika, a pickpocket who befriends Kaniyan
* Andrea Jeremiah as Pritha, a woman who runs the travel agency
* K. Bhagyaraj as Muthu aka Uncle, a man who runs the travel agency
* John Vijay as Kamalesh, a shady man who tries to kill Kaniyan
* Master Nishesh as Naveen, a young schoolboy whose dog Nemo was killed by Devil
* Ashvatt as Swarnavel, a physics professor-turned-stockbroker
* Dheeraj Rathnam as a stout man who runs the travel agency
* Siddhanth Venkatesh as a bald man who runs the travel agency
* Shaji Chen as ACP Vijayakumar
* Abhishek Shankar as Inspector Madhivanan, an informer for Devil
* Jayaprakash as Ram Prasad, the head of Dhivakar's competitor company
* Ravi Mariya as Mallika's uncle
* Aadukalam Naren as ACP Paul Dhanarajan
* Ajay Rathnam as Police Chief
* Thalaivasal Vijay as Madhavan
* Vincent Asokan as Dhivakar, a man who dies due to a lightning strike (Cameo appearance)
* Simran as Dhivakar's wife (Cameo appearance)

## Production

In February 2016, Mysskin begun working on a film in thriller genre for Vishal Film Factory. Starring Vishal in the lead role as a detective, the film was titled Thupparivaalan and was formally launched at a ceremony in Chennai on 10 March 2016. To work on the film, Vishal delayed his commitments for Linguswamy's Sandakozhi 2, while Mysskin put back commitments he had for a new film starring debutants Maitreyan and Tanya Ravichandran. Prior to the start of shoot, Mysskin cast several other leading actors and the film was dubbed by the media to be a "multi-starrer". Actress Rakul Preet Singh was cast in a leading role, making her comeback to Tamil films after becoming popular in the Telugu film industry. Likewise actors Vinay and Prasanna were signed to portray supporting roles. K. Bhagyaraj was also selected to portray a key antagonistic role in the film.
The film began production in Chennai on 26 September 2016 with scenes featuring Vishal and Prasanna being filmed during the first schedule. Soon after the shoot began, Rakul Preet Singh opted out of the film citing scheduling clashes with her commitments for Spyder (2017), and was replaced by Malayalam actress Anu Emmanuel, who would make her debut in the Tamil film industry. Anu was signed following a test photo shoot in October 2016, where Mysskin asked her to sport a sari. Akshara Haasan was also signed on to portray another pivotal role in the film during the same month and was expected to shoot for the film alongside her commitments in the Ajith Kumar-starrer Vivegam (2017). Akshara later opted out of the project and was replaced in the role by Andrea Jeremiah. Mysskin signed Ashvatt for the pivotal role of Swarnavel, after he was impressed by the actor's earlier performance in his film Pisaasu and Savarakathi.
The film's shoot progressed throughout late 2016 and early 2017, and by May 2017, there were only ten days more of the shoot required. Mysskin revealed that he was inspired by the tales of Sherlock Holmes when writing the film and stated Vishal's character would resemble the detective. Likewise, that Prasanna's character would be along the lines of Dr. Watson from Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes novels. In August 2017, while filming an action scene, Vishal suffered a minor injury on his knee, while Vinay hurt his shoulders. The pair, however, chose to continue with the shoot to avoid delays.

## Music

Unlike most Indian films, the makers avoided including multiple songs; the only song in the film is "Ivan Thupparivaalan", written by Mysskin (who sings along with Hemambiga) and composed by Arrol Corelli, who also composed the background music.

## Release and reception

Thupparivaalan was released on 14 September 2017. M. Suganth of The Times of India wrote "[..] what sets Thupparivaalan apart from regular action thrillers is how it not only thrills us, but also makes us feel". Baradwaj Rangan wrote for Film Companion, "It was perhaps only a matter of time before Mysskin reached for Arthur Conan Doyle for what are his films, in essence, if not mysteries that involve a lot of detecting and end with big reveals?". The Hindu wrote "After the disastrous ‘Mugamoodi’, ‘Thupparivaalan’ was always going to be Mysskin’s trial-by-fire in the world of big budget commercial cinema. With ‘Thupparivaalan’, Myskkin has opened up his universe to the common man, reminding us that there’s nothing as pleasurable as seeing someone sneak a bit of art into entertainment cinema". Srivatsan of India Today wrote, "It's difficult not to think about Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes, in which he asks Watson to think. But in Thupparivaalan, Mysskin asks the audience to observe, with a fair bit of Mysskin-ness".

## Sequel

Directed by Vishal, a sequel titled Thupparivaalan 2 was announced in 2019, with Vishal and Prasanna reprising their roles. The rest of the cast included Rahman, Nassar, Jayaprakash, Gautami and Suresh Chakravarthi. The music of the film was to be composed by Ilaiyaraaja. Principal photography began in early November 2019 in Bristol, and the first schedule wrapped a month later. After Mysskin and Vishal drifted apart over budget issues, filming resumed in November 2020 with Vishal as the primary director of the film. The film was planned to resume shooting in 2023, but the shooting never took place. The same year, Vishal announced his plans to revive the project in 2024. Pre-production subsequently began in March 2024, and principal photography was expected to begin in May 2024, but was later pushed to that November.