Claim: Mankatha is a motion picture.

Mankatha is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language black comedy action-heist film , written and directed by Venkat Prabhu . It features Ajith Kumar in the lead role , starring in his 50th film , along with an ensemble cast including Arjun Sarja , Trisha Krishnan , Vaibhav Reddy , Lakshmi Rai , Andrea Jeremiah , Premji Amaren , Mahat Raghavendra and Anjali . It was produced by Dhayanidhi Alagiri 's Cloud Nine Movies while Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the musical score and soundtrack , with Sakthi Saravanan working as the cinematographer and the duo Praveen K. L. and N. B. Srikanth as editors . The story , set in Mumbai , revolves around a heist of cricket betting money , executed by a gang of four thieves , who are joined by a fifth unknown man , and its aftermath.The film became a blockbuster very soon and became the first salt and pepper hit for Ajith after which he continued the same style in all his upcoming films .   The film was formally launched in August 2010 , with its principal photography beginning on 25 October 2010 . Filming was held for more than eight months and took place primarily across Chennai , the Dharavi slum in Mumbai and Bangkok , Thailand . Following speculations regarding the film 's release , Sun Pictures acquired the theatrical rights and distributed the film via Raadhika Sarathkumar 's Radaan Mediaworks . Mankatha released on 31 August 2011 worldwide to generally positive reviews and grossed the second biggest opening of all time after Endhiran at the time of release . The film was also dubbed into Telugu as Gambler and released in Andhra Pradesh ten days later while it was a box-office hit in Kerala as well .