Beast is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. It is produced by Kalanithi Maran under Sun Pictures. The film stars Vijay and Pooja Hegde in the lead roles, alongside Selvaraghavan, Shaji Chen, VTV Ganesh, Ankur Vikal, Aparna Das, Sathish Krishnan, Shine Tom Chacko, Yogi Babu and Redin Kingsley. It is about an ex-RAW agent who seeks to rescue hostages in a shopping mall which has been hijacked by terrorists.
Sun Pictures acquired the production rights for Vijay's 65th film in January 2020. A. R. Murugadoss was initially signed to direct it; however, he was ousted from the film, after he refused to cut his remuneration. Nelson was subsequently brought on board, with announcement in December 2020 under the tentative title Thalapathy 65, and the official title was announced in June 2021. Principal photography commenced in April 2021. It was shot in several locations including Chennai, Delhi and Georgia, and wrapped by mid-December 2021. The film has music composed by Anirudh Ravichander, cinematography was handled by Manoj Paramahamsa and editing by R. Nirmal.
Beast was released on 13 April 2022 in theatres and received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Despite this, the film was a commercial success, grossing crore worldwide. It set several box office records for a Tamil film, emerging as the third highest-grossing Tamil film of 2022, tenth highest-grossing Indian film of 2022 and was one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of all time.
Plot Veera Raghavan, a RAW field agent, is stationed in Pakistan for three months to capture Umar Farooq, a notorious terrorist. During his time undercover, he blends into local life with ease. He is shown getting along warmly with the locals, especially a small child who adores him. He often pretends to lose to her little tricks, lets her outsmart him for fun, and buys her balloons. He also grows close to the child's mother, who often brings him food and treats him with kindness. In a place where he is meant to remain detached, he slowly becomes part of the neighborhood. One day, Veera receives an urgent call from the tactical team: Farooq has already arrived and plans to leave soon because they found out an Indian spy is nearby and traced to meet him. If they wait any longer, the entire mission could collapse. To stop Farooq from escaping, Veera moves into action. He infiltrates the hideout and takes down many of Farooq's men in brutal close combat. Since intelligence wants Farooq captured alive, killing him is not an option. As Farooq attempts to flee in a vehicle, Veera prepares to fire a missile to disable the escape route. Unable to fully see the outer perimeter from his position, Veera asks command if the area is clear of civilians. At that same moment, the little child from earlier is outside, running after the balloon he had bought her. The team sees this but chooses to hide it. They tell Veera the perimeter is clear and instruct him to focus only on the mission, not the possible collateral damage. Trusting their word, Veera fires. The missile strikes Farooq's vehicle, halting the escape and allowing the team to capture Farooq. But in the aftermath, as smoke clears and chaos settles, Veera notices a familiar balloon drifting through the air. Then it hits him.The child he had laughed with, cared for, and unknowingly placed in danger was caught in the blast. She is badly injured and dies because of the strike he launched. A traumatised Veera quits the agency and returns to Chennai.
11 months later, Veera has PTSD and traumatic memories of the child. At the insistence of his psychiatrist, Veera attends a wedding and meets Preethi, and they fall for each other. Preethi convinces him to join "Domnic & Soldiers", a failing security agency led by Domnic Irudhayaraj. Meanwhile, the Government of Tamil Nadu receives intel that terrorists are planning a massive terror attack at East Coast Mall in Chennai. Along with Preethi and Domnic, Veera visits the mall, the last client of the agency, where he observes several suspicious activities and deduces that someone else has taken over the mall. Later, Umar Saif, Farooq's brother, and his sleeper cells—all disguised as Santa Claus—open fire and hijack the mall, thus proving Veera's suspicions. Veera, Preethi, Domnic and a couple of other people hide inside an unopened restaurant. Led by Deputy NSA Althaf Hussain, the government tries to negotiate with the terrorists, who demand the release of Farooq.
Althaf learns that Veeraraghavan is inside the mall. He manages to establish contact with him and tries to convince him to help them. Though initially hesitant, Veera realises that the terrorists are there to initiate Farooq's release. He kills one of the terrorists, captures another alive, and brings him to their hideout. Veera manages to infiltrate the terrorists under disguise and eliminates some of them. The Home Minister, who is in cahoots with Saif and his gang of terrorists, gets them to stage the execution of his wife and daughter, Aparna, inside the mall on live television. Enraged about the government's decision to release Farooq, Veera retaliates and kidnaps the Home Minister's wife and daughter, pretends to be a Bangladeshi militant to confuse the terrorists, and threatens to kill them if Farooq is released.
Sensing his impending defeat, Saif seemingly gives up and slips into the crowd, pretending to be a hostage. He soon figures out Veera's real identity from Domnic, which allows him and his sleeper cells to capture him. With Aparna's help, Veera manages to escape and eliminate Saif and his gang of terrorists while ensuring that the hostages flee to safety. The police arrest the Home Minister for working with the terrorists and his involvement in the mall hijacking. Despite all the negotiations, the government releases Farooq from prison and drops him at the India–Pakistan border. A few months later, Veera recaptures Farooq in Pakistan and brings him back to India after surviving a long air chase. Following the successful operation, Veera, Preethi, Domnic, and the rest of his crew celebrate their escapades in Goa.
Cast
Additionally, director Nelson Dilipkumar, music composer Anirudh, cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa, choreographer Jani, and Bjorn Surrao appear in cameo appearances as themselves in the song "Jolly O Gymkhana".
Production Development In November 2019, it was revealed that Vijay had signed his 65th film following Master (2021), which he was currently filming. The following January, Kalanithi Maran's Sun Pictures was reported to fund the project, collaborating with the actor after Vettaikaaran (2009), Sura (2010) and Sarkar (2018). Multiple directors, including Magizh Thirumeni, S. Shankar, Sudha Kongara, Pandiraj, R. Ajay Gnanamuthu and Vetrimaaran were reported to direct it. However, that March, it was reported that AR Murugadoss would direct the project, tentatively titled Thalapathy 65. Production was reportedly set to begin the following month; however, it did not happen. Thaman S was brought on board to score the music, in his maiden collaboration with Vijay, whilst Tamannaah Bhatia was approached as the female lead in her second collaboration with the actor after Sura.
Murugadoss narrated the final script to Vijay in early August 2020. Following his approval, the team reported in mid-August 2020 that Thalapathy 65 will enter production soon, with an official announcement on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi (22 August 2020), which did not happen. In an interview, Murugadoss stated that the script was not a sequel to any of his previous films, but an original one. The team further brought the stunt choreographer duo Anbariv on board, which marked their first collaboration with Vijay, and cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa, who confirmed his presence in February 2021.
Vijay was initially said to receive crore as a remuneration for the project, but due to the financial constraints owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to waive off 30% from his salary, thus getting crore as remuneration. Maran insisted Murugadoss to reduce his salary post the failure of his previous directorial, Darbar (2020). But as Murugadoss refused his demands, Sun Pictures ousted him from the project in October 2020. The producers later planned to bring either S. J. Suryah, Nelson Dilipkumar, or Magizh Thirumeni on board to direct the project, with Nelson being insisted by composer Anirudh, who worked with Vijay in Master, to direct the film.
Pre-production
On 10 December 2020, Sun Pictures announced that Thalapathy 65 will be directed by Nelson, and Anirudh was also brought on board to score music; this project marks his third collaboration with Vijay and Nelson after their respective films, Kaththi (2014), Master, Kolamaavu Kokila (2018) and Doctor (2021). Manoj and Anbariv who were part of Murugadoss' proposed project with Vijay were retained for this film. R. Nirmal, who worked with Nelson in Kolamaavu Kokila and Doctor was announced as the film editor, while D. R. K. Kiran handled the production design for this film. Anbariv said that the film would have "extraordinary" stunt sequences similar to those in KGF: Chapter 1 (2018).
Nelson had parallelly worked on the film's script along with the post-production works of Doctor as the final script was to be drafted. During that period, he simultaneously began location scouting for the film and shared a few pictures from Russia through his Instagram page. Vijay was reported to play a "sharp and humorous" character. While the film was launched under the tentative title Thalapathy 65, the film's title Beast was announced on 21 June 2021, on the eve of Vijay's birthday.
In November 2021, a Diwali edition published in November by the magazine Ananda Vikatan revealed the main plot: an invasion taking place in a shopping mall, where terrorists hold a bunch of shoppers hostage, and how the protagonist saves them. Most of the events take place in the mall. While primarily in the action genre, the film also features elements of black comedy and synchronised comical characters, usually seen in the director's films. Nelson described Beast as "60 percent action and 40 percent humour", while acknowledging Pokkiri (2007) as an influence on the film.
Casting
Vijay portrays Veera Raghavan, a RAW agent. Nelson compared him to the characters James Bond and John Wick. In January 2021, Pooja Hegde was reported to be the lead actress, and hinted her inclusion in an interview in February 2021. Her inclusion was confirmed by Sun Pictures on 24 March 2021. The film marks her return to Tamil cinema after a decade, following her debut in the film industry with Mugamoodi (2012). Hegde allotted 50 days for Beast, and a remuneration of crore was offered to her. After reports emerged that the team was planning to cast a second female lead, they denied this, stating there was no room for more leading actors in the film and the script did not demand for it. Hegde said the film properly combines the filmmaking style of Nelson, and the acting style of Vijay. Nelson said he wanted an actress who could match Vijay's height and decided on Hedge, then fresh off from the success of the Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020).