# Kanaa (film)

Kanaa (transl. To dream) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language sports drama film starring Sathyaraj, Aishwarya Rajesh, Sivakarthikeyan, and Darshan. The film is written and directed by Arunraja Kamaraj, in his directorial debut. It was released theatrically on 21 December 2018. The film has music composed by Dhibu Ninan Thomas, cinematography by Dinesh B. Krishnan, editing by Ruben and production by Sivakarthikeyan under his newly established Sivakarthikeyan Productions banner. It was remade in Telugu as Kousalya Krishnamurthy, with Aishwarya and Sivakarthikeyan reprising their roles.

## Plot

Kousalya Murugesan aka Kowsi is the daughter of Murugesan, a farmer in Kulithalai, Karur. She aspires to become an international cricketer which puts a smile on her cricket-loving father's face by helping the country win. The reason for this is portrayed in the initial scenes where Murugesan is very eager to see India's matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. However, he gets heartbroken seeing India's crashing defeat to Sri Lanka in the group stages, which sees India getting subsequently knocked out. Murugesan controls his feelings before his daughter, but she witnesses him crying and heartbroken throughout the night. Hence, this inspires an 11-year-old Kowsi, to take up cricket seriously, represent her country, and win the World Cup one day for her father's sake.
Kowsi joined the local cricket team in the village when she was 14, which is mostly made up of her school seniors. Kowsi's off-spin bowling technique gets her wickets, and everyone starts appreciating her talent. At the same time, she also earns the wrath of many villagers as she plays cricket with boys wearing t-shirts and trousers, which is portrayed to be non-traditional. However, Murugesan does not care for this and he supports his daughter. Kowsi decides to appear for the Tamil Nadu team selection test, but she gets rejected in her first attempt. She does not give up and tries again where she succeeds and starts playing for the Tamil Nadu women's team. Her hard work pays off, and she is selected for the Indian women's cricket team. Kowsi goes to Bangalore to get trained in a national cricket academy.
Meanwhile, Murugesan faces a tough time with agriculture, as he could not repay the debt of Rs. 4 lakhs from a bank, resulting in a rift created between Murugesan and the bank manager. Kowsi faces a hard time in the cricket academy due to internal politics with senior players ill-treating her as she cannot speak Hindi. The team's coach also hates Kowsi and demotivates her to a large extent. However, the coach retires, and there comes a new coach named Nelson Dilipkumar. Nelson, who was an ex-Indian cricketer, had to retire after his very first International Match as he sustained a terrible eye injury, leaving him partially blind in the left eye. Nelson develops the team's spirit and gets the players ready for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Nelson spots Kowsi's spin bowling capabilities and trains her on the right path. Nelson also locks horns with the team selection committee and ensures that Kowsi is present in the World Cup squad. However, Nelson decides to rest Kowsi for the league matches, which makes her feel sad. However, Nelson reveals his strategy, that the intention was to hide Kowsi's talent from the opponents, and her bowling would be a surprise element in the semifinals.
Kowsi is selected in the playing eleven during the semifinal match against the strongest team, Australia. On that day, Murugesan's house is taken away from the bank manager for not repaying the debt. Kowsi hears this and feels bad that she is not with her father. However, Nelson motivates Kowsi to make her father proud by playing well in the semifinals. During the match, Kowsi bowls a hat trick and also hits a six while batting, resulting in a tie. During the super over, Kowsi again bowls well, leading to India's win. Kowsi is appreciated for her bowling efforts and is awarded Rs. 5 lakhs for the "Woman of the Match" award. Upon receiving the award, Kowsi gives an emotional speech describing the situation of her father and other farmers in the country. Murugesan feels very proud of seeing Kowsi. In the closing credits, it is shown that Indian women won the T20 final against West Indies women and Kowsi was appreciated by the Tamil Nadu government for her superb bowling tactics.

## Cast

* Sivakarthikeyan as Nelson Dhilip Kumar (The Coach)
* Sathyaraj as Murugesan
* Aishwarya Rajesh as Kousalya Murugesan
** Keerthika as Young Kousalya
** Baby Monika as Young Kousalya
* Darshan as Murali Krishna
* Rama as Savithri, Kousalya's mother
* Ilavarasu as Thangarasu
* Ramdoss as Inspector Patchamuthu
* Kali Prasad Mukherjee as Patel
* Namo Narayana as Politician
* Balaji Venugopal as Bank Manager
* Blade Shankar as School P. T. Master
* Hello Kandasamy as Kandasamy
* Seenu Vasan as Old Bank Manager
* Sethupathy as Loan Officer
* Savari Muthu as Sachin
* Antony Bhagyaraj as Tendulkar
* Ashok Kumar as Anand
* Guna as Peter
* Sathya NJ as Sathya
* Aruvi Balaji as Nambi
* Pradeep Durairaj as Sekar
* Sivamaaran as Prakash

### Cricket team

* Fathima Samreen
* Natasha Parashar as Natasha Parashar
* Nirali Oza as Gayathri Dixit
* Shyla Alam as Anjali Sharma
* Sushree Pradhan as Deepika Patel
* Ramya Suresh as Ramya
* Sajana Sajeevan as Sajana

## Production

   One day Sivakarthikeyan asked me if I knew how to play cricket. I told him that I didn’t know anything about cricket. I came to know that he is making a film with Arunraja Kamaraj on women’s cricket. I was honest as my concern was that they were doing it on a budget. In fact, I was asking my friends in the industry if they knew cricket. And the real cricket players were not ready to come on board. I thought why not I gave it a try and asked Arunraj if I could hear the story. He felt it would be a waste of time narrating the script to someone who does not know anything about cricket. Somehow, I persuaded him and made him narrate the full story. I loved hearing about a sports-based subject for the first time. I asked him for seven days and soon our journey of Kanaa started. He was convinced.
This project was officially launched in February 2018, and actor Sivakarthikeyan is making his debut as the producer of the venture, under his newly established SK Productions banner, with actors Aishwarya Rajesh and Sathyaraj joining the cast, and debut actor Darshan was signed to play the male lead role. Dhibu Ninan Thomas, who earlier composed for Maragadha Naanayam was selected as the music director. Meanwhile, Dinesh Krishnan, Ruben, and Lalgudi N Ilayaraja were signed as a cinematographer, editor and art director for this film.This film is shot in Tiruchirapalli(Trichy, Lalgudi, Kulithalai), etc.
It was announced that the film would be released on December 21. Sivakarthikeyan's character was named Nelson Dilipkumar because Nelson Dilipkumar helped Arunraja Kamaraj during the initial stages of his career.

## Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is composed by Dhibu Ninan Thomas, who happens to be classmates with Sivakarthikeyan and Arunraja Kamaraj on their college days. The album features five songs, of which the song "Vaayadi Petha Pulla" is sung by Sivakarthikeyan and his daughter Aaradhana, alongside Vaikom Vijayalakshmi as well. The audio rights of the film are secured by Sony Music India.
The song "Othaiyadi Pathayila" went viral on the TikTok platform and has garnered 130 million views on YouTube.

## Release and reception

The movie was finally released on December 21, 2018, to highly positive reviews. M Suganth from Times of India calls the movie a "crowd-pleasing sports movie that also doubles up as a message movie on farmers and their issues", giving the film a 3.5/5 rating. The film was also dubbed and released in Hindi as Not Out on YouTube by Goldmines Telefilms in 2021.

## Remake

This film was remade in Telugu as Kousalya Krishnamurthy with Aishwarya Rajesh and Sivakarthikeyan reprising their roles from the original and Rajendra Prasad playing Sathyaraj's role.

## Awards and Nominations

| Date of ceremony | Award | Category | Recipient(s) and nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
| 25-28 April 2019 | Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards | Best Production | Sivakarthikeyan Productions | Won | |
| 25-28 April 2019 | Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards | Best Social Awareness Award | Arunraja Kamaraj | Won | |
| 2019 | JFW Movie Awards | Special Recognition for Young Talent | Aaradhana Sivakarthikeyan | Won | |
| 2019 | JFW Movie Awards | Best Actress - Critic | Aishwarya Rajesh | Won | |
| 2019 | JFW Movie Awards | Best Child Artist | Keerthika | Nominated | |
| 2019 | JFW Movie Awards | Best Director of Women-Centric Film | Arunraja Kamaraj | Won | |
| 2019 | JFW Movie Awards | Best Women-Centric Film | Sivakarthikeyan Productions | Won | |
| 2019 | JFW Movie Awards | Best Actress in a Lead Role | Aishwarya Rajesh | Nominated | |
| 15-16 August 2019 | 8th South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actress – Tamil | Aishwarya Rajesh | Nominated | [12] [13] |
| 15-16 August 2019 | 8th South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Tamil | Sathyaraj | Nominated | [12] [13] |
| 15-16 August 2019 | 8th South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Debut Actor - Tamil | Darshan | Nominated | [12] [13] |
| 15-16 August 2019 | 8th South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Debut Director - Tamil | Arunraja Kamaraj | Nominated | [12] [13] |
| 15-16 August 2019 | 8th South Indian International Movie Awards | Critics Best Actress – Tamil | Aishwarya Rajesh | Won | [12] [13] |
| 21 December 2019 | 66th Filmfare Awards South | Best Supporting Actor | Sathyaraj | Won | |
| 21 December 2019 | 66th Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress | Aishwarya Rajesh | Nominated | |
| 21 December 2019 | 66th Filmfare Awards South | Critics Best Actress – Tamil | Aishwarya Rajesh | Won | |
| 21 December 2019 | 66th Filmfare Awards South | Best Lyricist | GKB | Nominated | |
| 4 January 2020 | Zee Cine Awards Tamil | Best Debut Director | Arunraja Kamaraj | Won | |
| 4 January 2020 | Zee Cine Awards Tamil | Best Actress | Aishwarya Rajesh | Won | |