# Doctor (2021 film)

Doctor is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. It was produced by Sivakarthikeyan under his Sivakarthikeyan Productions company along with KJR Studios. The film stars Sivakarthikeyan, Vinay Rai and Priyanka Mohan (in her Tamil debut), with Archana Chandhoke, Yogi Babu, Milind Soman, Redin Kingsley, Deepa Shankar, Sunil Reddy and Shiva Aravind. It follows a military doctor, who seeks to rescue his ex-fiancée's niece from a child trafficker.
The film was officially announced in December 2019. Principal photography commenced the same month and wrapped by early-January 2021. It was shot in Chennai and Goa. The film has music composed by Anirudh Ravichander, cinematography handled by Vijay Kartik Kannan and editing by R. Nirmal.
Doctor was released in theatres on 9 October 2021, following multiple delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It received positive reviews from critics and grossed over ₹100 crore at the box office. A sequel was announced in 2023.

## Plot

Varun, a military doctor working in the Indian Army Medical Corps, is a strict and practical person. He receives a voicemail from his fiancée, Padmini, while he is returning from a mission. She urges him to cancel their upcoming wedding. While inquiring about her sudden change of heart with her family, Padmini belittles him for being emotionally distant and apathetic. While leaving, Varun and Padmini's family learn that Chinnu, Padmini's niece, has gone missing. The family complains to the police– who in turn appoint Bhagat, a low-ranking police officer, to monitor the family's communications.
Disillusioned with the police's progress, Varun plots to kidnap the ACP's daughter, believing that the resulting investigation will be more competent. His plan works, and the police nab almost every major criminal related to child kidnapping. Varun singles out three criminals who he noticed were around Chinnu's school at the time of her disappearance. Varun sedates them and interrogates them by blackmailing them with the kidneys that he had apparently removed. Kamala Kannan confesses to kidnapping Chinnu and handing her over to a child trafficking network. Varun recruits Pratap and two gangsters, Mahaali and Killi, to assist in his investigation.
Varun's search leads him to twins Alvin and Melvin, both of whom are responsible for child trafficking and prostitution. Varun and Padmini's family confront the duo inside a Chennai Metro train and succeed in separating the duo and abducting Alvin. Desperate to save Alvin, Melvin concedes to releasing only one girl from his group of kidnapped girls. Although Chinnu is among them, Varun demands Melvin release all the girls despite Padmini's objections. Melvin refuses but hints that the girls are being taken to Goa. Varun, Pratap, Mahaali, Killi, and Padmini's family follow Melvin to Goa, where they discover that the true mastermind behind the recent kidnappings is Terry, the owner of a high-end resort.
Varun orchestrates a drama in which he has Mahaali, Killi, and Padmini act as if the duo were kidnapping her and simultaneously has Padmini's family urge Terry to find her. As per his plan, Terry traces Padmini's kidnapping down to Varun, who poses as a child trafficker masquerading as the owner of an ice cream parlour. Varun demands Terry to give him a girl as compensation for saving Padmini. Unknown to Terry, Varun had arranged for his friend, Colonel James Anderson and his commandos to apprehend Terry. Terry escorts Varun to his base of operations, located on a remote island. Varun discovers that Terry's victims are primarily underage girls. Realising that any action would endanger the kidnapped victims' and Chinnu's lives, Varun calls off the operation despite James' protests.
Determined to save the girls' lives, Varun initiates his backup plan. He negotiates a deal with Terry and Terry's father to ship a consignment of 40 girls to Don Pablo El-Fino, a Brazilian child-trafficking boss (actually Varun's father in disguise). Concurrently, Terry organises a meeting with his associates to discuss the upcoming deal; Melvin is among those in attendance. Varun discreetly orders Melvin to kill Terry; the latter's attempt to do so is surprisingly thwarted by Varun himself (to gain Terry's trust). Terry interrogates Melvin, learning about Alvin's abduction and that Melvin's actions were purely out of desperation. Unwilling to reveal the identity of Alvin's abductor, Terry kills Melvin. Later, while going through the family profiles of the twins's latest kidnaps, Terry discovers Padmini's family is among them and deduces Varun's plan.
Terry later has Varun and the family apprehended and takes them to his island, intending to kill them. However, Alvin appears, seeking revenge for Melvin's death. Alvin reveals he had abducted Terry's father and agrees to spare him in return for letting Varun and the family, along with all the other girls, leave. After they leave, Alvin kills Terry's father to avenge Melvin's death, and Terry kills him in retribution. Elsewhere, Varun realises he has left a girl behind and returns to the island alone. Terry apprehends Varun and plans to murder the lone girl in front of him but is thwarted by James's team and Bhagat, who had infiltrated his base. Varun escorts the girl to safety while James's team kills Terry and his henchmen. Three months later, Padmini reconciles with Varun, and they marry with their family and friends present.

## Cast

* Sivakarthikeyan as Major / Dr. N. Varun
* Vinay Rai as Terry
* Priyanka Mohan as Padmini "Mini"
* Archana Chandhoke as Sumathi
* Deepa Shankar as Preethi
* Milind Soman as Colonel James Anderson
* Yogi Babu as Prathap
* Arun Alexander as Navneeth
* Ilavarasu as Padmini and Navneeth's father
* Redin Kingsley as Bhagat
* Raghu Ram as Melvin
* Rajiv Lakshman as Alvin
* Bikramjeet Kanwarpal as Terry's father
* Zaara Vineet as Priyanka alias Chinnu
* Karate Karthi as Gabbar, a gangster and Terry's henchman
* Sreeja Ravi as Varun's mother
* Sunil Reddy as Mahaali
* Shiva Arvind as Killi
* Bjorn Surrao as Prathap's competitor
* Harshad as Gabbar's henchman
* Pillayar Ruthru as a kidnapper and Pratap's friend.
* Aathma Patrick as Prathap's friend
* Priyadarshini Rajkumar as School Principal
* Gouri Sankar Krishna Moorthy as a Terrorist

### Cameo appearances

* G. Marimuthu as a Police officer
* Shaji Chen as Daniel D'Souza

## Production
### Development

In July 2019, Sivakarthikeyan contacted Nelson Dilipkumar about starring in the director's second movie after Kolamaavu Kokila (2018) when he released a casting call. After a series of tweets, both agreed to finalise the dates soon. Though it was reported that the potential film would be produced by the Indian branch of Sony Pictures in their maiden production in Tamil, this proved untrue. On 1 December, Sivakarthikeyan announced he would be producing the film, titled Doctor, under his own banner Sivakarthikeyan Productions, whilst KJR Studios were announced as the co-producers. Vijay Kartik Kannan serves as cinematographer, R. Nirmal as editor, D. R. K. Kiran as art director and the duo Anbariv as stunt choreographers.

### Casting and filming

Priyanka Mohan plays the leading actress, marking her debut in Tamil cinema. Vinay Rai and Yogi Babu joined the cast in December, with the former playing the antagonist. Archana Chandhoke's daughter Zaara Vineet made her feature film debut. Sivakarthikeyan was reported to have shed some kilos for his role in the film. Bollywood actors and brothers Raghu Ram and Rajiv Lakshman were also signed on for antagonistic roles, making their Tamil debut.
Principal photography began in Chennai on 6 December 2019. On 6 January 2020, the makers completed the first schedule, and kickstarted the second schedule. As reports stated, the makers planned to shoot one half of the film in Chennai, and the other half in Goa. In February 2020, Sivakarthikeyan and Nelson went to scout locations in Goa. Shooting in Goa was completed by the end of that month. Shortly thereafter, filming was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India and nationwide lockdown, with 80% of the film's shoot completed as of May 2020.
Filming resumed on 25 September, with minimal crew adhering to government rules and regulations. A special team was designated to observe that the film crew including the director and actors were abiding by the COVID-19 protocol. The final portions of the film, including one song were expected to be completed in November 2020. Principal photography wrapped on 3 January 2021.

### Post-production

The post-production process of the film officially began on 11 May 2020, after the government granted permission to resume post-production works of Tamil films. On 17 September, the makers started the dubbing with a traditional puja ceremony. Sivakarthikeyan completed his dubbing portions on 1 February 2021 completing the post-production work.

## Music

The film's soundtrack album was composed by Anirudh Ravichander, in his sixth collaboration with Sivakarthikeyan, and second collaboration with Nelson Dilipkumar. In February 2020, Sony Music India secured the film's audio rights. The film's first single "Chellamma" was composed during the lockdown. The song was penned by Sivakarthikeyan and had lines about TikTok being banned in India. It was sung by Anirudh and Jonita Gandhi. It was released on 16 July 2020, and the song went viral on its release reaching 130 million views as of November 2021.
The second single "Nenjame" was released on 28 August 2020. It features a promotional video, directed by Nelson, featuring Sivakarthikeyan and Priyanka Mohan, shot in monochrome by cinematographer Vijay Kartik Kannan. It was reported that the song will be featured as a montage in the film. The third single "So Baby" was released on 26 February 2021, and is a "classical-western" fusion song. The last single "Soul Of Doctor" was released on 28 September 2021 and is sung by Niranjana Ramanan.

## Release
### Theatrical

The film was released theatrically on 9 October 2021, worldwide. Apart from Tamil, the film was dubbed and released in Telugu under the title Varun Doctor. In February 2021, the makers announced that the film would be released on 26 March 2021, but this was postponed due to the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election taking place in April. Later the makers announced that the film was scheduled to release on Eid on 13 May 2021. The release date of the film was postponed indefinitely due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and a new lockdown in Tamil Nadu until it was released in October 2021.

### Home media

The film began streaming on Netflix and Sun NXT in early November 2021, and had its television premiere on Sun TV in the same timeframe.

## Reception
### Box office

Doctor became the third highest grossing Tamil film of 2021 behind Master and Annaatthe along with Maanaadu. It collected ₹100 crores in 25 days, becoming the first Sivakarthikeyan film to achieve the feat. The film had a phenomenal run in the United States, where it surpassed the collections of Master.

### Critical response

Doctor received positive reviews from critics.
M Suganth of The Times of India gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "All along, the writing remains solid, giving us situations that might have felt implausible in a serious film but work brilliantly because of the black comedy." Srinivas Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote "With his earlier film Kolamavu Kokila, the filmmaker proved that he could captivate audiences with the story of an ordinary family doing extraordinary things. He repeats the same trope in this outing, and the result: an intriguing tale of a family going to great lengths, to save a loved one." Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times wrote, "Sivakarthikeyan's new film is unlike any you've seen him in before. With dark humour, Nelson adds spice to a mundane script". J. Jagannath Business Standard wrote "Like Lokesh Kanagaraj, Nelson too promises a bright future for Tamil cinema. The Tarantino-esque absurdity that he brings to the table sans pareil in Indian cinema at the moment."

## Accolades

At the Osaka Tamil International Film Festival 2021, Redin Kingsley won the award for Best Comedian and Zaara Vineet won for Best Child Artist. At the 4th JFW Movie Awards, Priyanka Mohan won the award for Best Debutante, and Zaara won for Best Child Artist.

## Potential sequel

In August 2023, Nelson announced his plans to make a sequel.