Billa II is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language action film directed and co-written by Chakri Toleti. A prequel to Billa (2007), it focuses on how David Billa, an ordinary man from the coastal region of Sri Lanka, becomes a dreaded underworld don. The film stars Ajith Kumar reprising the role of the titular character, leading an ensemble cast including Vidyut Jammwal, Parvathy Omanakuttan, Bruna Abdullah, Sudhanshu Pandey, Manoj K. Jayan, Yog Japee, Rohit Khurana, Dinesh Lamba, Krishna Kumar, Sricharan, Janaki Sabesh, Madhusudhan Rao and Rahman. The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, while R. D. Rajasekhar handled the cinematography and Suresh Urs worked as the editor.
The film, produced by Wide Angle Creations in association with the Hinduja Group company IN Entertainment, was officially announced in November 2010, with Vishnuvardhan as the director. Due to schedule clashes, Vishnuvardhan was replaced by Chakri Toleti, with a new script having been penned by a team involving Toleti, Sarath Mandava and Eric Felberg. Principal photography happened between July 2011 and December 2011. The filming primarily took place at Tamil Nadu, Goa, Hyderabad and in Georgia.
Followed by multiple delays and an extensive marketing campaign, Billa II was released worldwide on 13 July 2012. The film received mixed reviews from critics praising Ajith's performance and technical aspects while criticism was directed towards the script and screenplay.
Plot David Billa, a Sri Lankan refugee, along with several others, arrives at a camp in Rameswaram, where he befriends Ranjith. Corrupt police inspector Raghubir Sinha constantly terrorizes the camp. Billa attacks Raghubir when he tries to forcefully detain one of his friends and, in return, gets tortured in a police cell. Billa vows to make Raghubir suffer. He goes to meet his widowed sister in Chennai as she is his sole living relative, but is shunned by her due to his criminal past in Lanka. A few days later, Billa and Ranjith are hired to transport fish from Rameswaram to Chennai, which is Raghubir's plan to trap them as the truck they are driving contains diamonds. Police intercept them to arrest them, but Billa realises the ploy and kills all the cops. Despite Ranjith advising them to flee with the diamonds, Billa drives the truck to its destination, where they meet hotel owner Selvaraj. Raghubir's ally Mustafa Bai arrives minutes later and tells him that Billa has escaped with the Diamonds. Selvaraj realises the ploy and kills Bhai. Selvaraj is pleased with Billa's loyalty and employs him and Ranjith in his illegal business. Days later, Billa murders Raghubir in a brothel and also kills an egoistic immigration officer who had insulted him earlier.
Months later, Selvaraj's relative, Goan drug dealer Kotiswara Rao, visits Selvaraj and asks for help in selling off the heroin he had brought along with him. Selvaraj refuses, but Billa volunteers to sell it off and tries to deal the heroin with a local thug who refuses to pay for it in return. In a brutal scuffle that ensues where one of Billa's friends is slaughtered, Billa kills them all and goes directly to Koti's boss, Abbasi, in Panaji with both the money and the heroin, who is very impressed and recruits him. Abbasi is a drug cartel leader and the boss of the biggest drug cartel in Goa. He is in business with a powerful and dreaded Russian arms dealer, Dimitri.
When Billa and Ranjith retrieve Dimitri's arms consignment held by the Indian coastal guard, they enter his good books. Billa quickly climbs the ladder of Abbasi's gang. He learns of his elder sister's death and brings his niece Jasmine with him. He provides her with a big house and servants and enrolls her in a medical college. Billa and Koti travel to Russia to meet Dimitri, who owns a large arms and ammunition manufacturing unit. Billa meets a corrupt Interpol officer, Jagdish, at Dimitri's mansion and is astonished by the functioning of the mafia and its international network. Billa signs a larger deal with Dimitri without Abbasi's knowledge. At the same time, Dimitri kills Bobby, Abbasi's henchman who comes with Koti and Billa as a translator. Dimitri and Jagdish then reveal that Bobby is actually an Interpol spy who was really betraying Abbasi's gang. After returning to Panaji, Koti misleads Abbasi as Billa kills Bobby and directly starts business with Dimitri, creating rivalry between Billa and Abbasi. Tensions further increase when Billa beats up Satish Kumar, son of influential minister Praveen Kumar, when he tries to misbehave with Jasmine at a party. Abbasi expresses his discontent and vents at him. Billa, surprised and enraged at his ingratitude, walks away with Ranjith and two others. Billa, Ranjith, and ally Ram plot to venture into the drug business on their own during the carnival. At the carnival, Billa is betrayed by Ram and is brutally attacked. However, he survives and kills the assailants, Abbasi and Ram, eventually becoming Goa's most powerful gangster. He begins a relationship with Abbasi's girlfriend, Sameera.
Dimitri arrives in Goa and finds himself in a fallout with Billa when they try to re-negotiate a deal. Dimitri thereafter seeks to oust him, with the help of Koti, Satish, and Praveen. They proceed to assassinate Chief Minister Mohan Kanth, and the blame falls on Billa. However, Billa is freed by Ranjith, who threatens the judge and his family. Billa rescues Jasmine from Koti's men and informs Sameera to take Jasmine to safety. However, Sameera betrays Billa and informs the minister's son, who holds Billa and Jasmine captive. Billa is held to the ground and mocked by Satish, who slits Jasmine's throat. Enraged at her death, Billa overpowers and kills everyone.
Meanwhile, in Russia, Dimitri meets with the African warlords, and Koti is present with him. He shows his factory on his computer via a series of webcams, and much to everyone's shock, Billa is seen destroying the factory. He also sees his consignment train go off course. He becomes angry, kills Koti for not killing Billa, and sets out to finish the task. The arms factory is destroyed by Billa, Ranjith, and their men. Dimitri arrives and follows his delivery train; to his shock, the train is blown by Billa, who is waiting for him on his own helicopter. After an intense battle, Billa throws Dimitri off the flying helicopter. In the epilogue, Billa and Ranjith board a plane out of the country. Sameera, Police Officer R. K. De Silva, Billa's lawyer, and Praveen are killed by Billa's assassins.
Cast
Production
Development In 2010, it was confirmed that Vishnuvardhan, the director of Billa (2007), had finished penning the script for a prequel, which would star Ajith Kumar as the title character again, and would commence in 2011. The project was officially announced in late 2010, after Ajith Kumar signed up to the prequel and first production poster were published to the media. Further details were disclosed, with Suresh Balaje, son of producer and actor K. Balaji, who produced the original Billa with Rajinikanth, and George Pius from Wide Angle Creations banner, being confirmed as the producer, who would associate with Mumbai-based IN Entertainment Limited, a Hinduja group company. The entire production team of the Billa remake, including cinematographer Nirav Shah, editor A. Sreekar Prasad and music director Yuvan Shankar Raja, were announced to be retained for the prequel.
In a turn of events, Vishnuvardhan opted out of the project since his dates clashed with the making of his Telugu film, Panjaa (earlier titled as The Shadow). Chakri Toleti, who previously directed the 2009 film Unnaipol Oruvan, was subsequently signed on by the producers to direct the venture. In May 2011, Toleti held his first press conference stating that production would begin in late June 2011 and revealing that "Billa 2 would focus on how David, an ordinary man from the coastal Thoothukudi in South Tamil Nadu, becomes Billa, a dreaded underworld don". David's character was afterwards widely reported to be either a refugee from Tamil Eelam or a Tamilian from Sri Lanka. Both the director and the producer refused to confirm the statements, disclosing only that the film would depict David's journey over a period of five years.
With Vishnuvardhan's exit from the project, his script was also scrapped, and Toleti, along with Ajith Kumar, began penning a new script for the prequel. Yuvan Shankar Raja only was retained from the original production team, with the rest of the technical crew being finalised in the following weeks. Hemant Chaturvedi, who hitherto had worked in Bollywood productions only, was signed on to replace Nirav Shah as the cinematographer after the latter's schedules clashed with the making of his other film, Vettai. However, in July 2011, Hemant Chaturvedi too moved out of the project, fearing that the delay in commencement of Billa 2 may hurt his chances in Bollywood, and R. D. Rajasekhar was appointed as the new cinematographer. V. Selvakumar who had notably worked in Madrasapattinam was selected as the art director. The crew also announced that the film would become the first Indian production to be filmed with a RED EPIC Camera, being shot at 5K resolution. Writer Ee. Raa. Murugan, who had previously collaborated with Chakri Toleti in Unnaipol Oruvan, was appointed to write the dialogues.
Casting From the previous film, the producers made it clear that apart from Ajith Kumar, and Rahman, most of the other characters would not be retained. The female lead role was expected to be handed to Anushka Shetty, but despite media speculation she was not signed on. The female lead role was handed to debutant Huma Qureshi, a Mumbai-based theatre actor who had previously been featured in commercials, with Toleti finalising Qureshi after a nationwide search for an actress. However, she was removed from the project by September 2011, due to date clashes, and became replaced by Miss India World 2008 Parvathy Omanakuttan later that month, who the director had spotted and offered the role of Jasmine at a fashion show. Parvathy described her character as a "simple girl who transforms into a modern person" and that Billa looks up to, adding that she had more scenes in the "emotional part" of the film. Bollywood actress and model Bruna Abdullah was selected to portray another significant character, which she went on term as "super powerful, very strong and sexy". Besides models Abdullah, and Parvathy Omanakuttan, Meenakshi Dixit was recruited for the item number "Madurai Ponnu". Another three models including, Gabriela Bertante, Nicole Amy Madell, and an unknown artist, was recruited to perform a dance number "Yedho Mayakkam".
Television actor Krishna Kumar, was signed on to play a "dirty cop". In June 2011, Sudhanshu Pandey, a former model who had appeared in several Hindi films, was given the role of a "greying ganglord", who becomes the mentor to the young David, while Malayalam character actor Manoj K. Jayan was roped in for a "key role". Actress Vimala Raman was signed on to make a special appearance in the film, however she opted out in July 2011 citing schedulig conflicts. Meenakshi Dixit was later finalised for that role and shot her scenes in July 2011 during the first schedule. Vidyut Jamwal, who played negative roles in the Hindi film Force (2011) and the Telugu film Oosaravelli (2011), was selected to play the villain, also making his debut in Tamil cinema. In December 2011 sources revealed that Sricharan, who starred in Payanam, was shooting for a supporting role in the film. Reports in February 2012 suggested that the team was trying to sign Nayantara, who played the female lead in Billa, for a cameo role; the actress refuted the rumours. Furthermore, composer Yuvan Shankar Raja on Toleti's insistence agreed to make a brief appearance in one of the songs.
Filming