Etharkkum Thunindhavan (), also known by the initialism ET, is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film, written and directed by Pandiraj, and produced by Sun Pictures. The film stars Suriya, Vinay Rai and Priyanka Mohan. D. Imman composed the film's music, R. Rathnavelu handled the cinematography and Ruben edited it. The film revolves around a lawyer, who becomes a ruthless executioner, who opposes a pornography racket that is run by a prominent minister's son.
The project was officially announced in October 2020 under the title Suriya 40. It is the production company's first venture with Suriya; they had distributed Suriya's films Ayan (2009) and Singam (2010). Filming began on 15 February 2021 and was completed by mid-November, despite filming being delayed for a three-month period due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. It was primarily filmed in Chennai, Madurai, Karaikudi and Courtallam, and a song sequence was filmed in Goa.
Etharkkum Thunindhavan was released in theatres worldwide on 10 March 2022. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed 71.4–200 crore worldwide.
Plot Kannabiran is a lawyer at Madras High Court who lives in Thennaadu with his father, Aadhirayar, and mother, Kosalai. The neighbouring village is Vadanaadu. Residents of both villages believe the god Shiva and the goddess Shakti originated in these villages, and they hold a grand festival celebrating their togetherness. Women in Thennaadu are married to men in Vadanaadu, and vice versa. Following the suicide of a woman from Thennaadu who has married a man from Vadanaadu, both villages engage in rivalry.
Kannabiran falls in love with and marries Aadhini from Vadanaadu. Aadhini's friend, Yazhnila, is in love with Nithin, who is Inba's henchman. Nithin asks Yazhnila to sleep with Inba's business associate. Yazhnila tries to escape from Nithin, but Inba's men chase and severely beat her. Kannabiran rescues Yazhnila and warns Inba and his men. Inba had earlier killed his pregnant wife and a girl named Monika. After Kannabiran and Aadhini's marriage, Kannabiran shelters Yazhnila and supports her in the fight against a pornography racket run by Inba.
When Kannabiran and Aadhini have sex, Inba secretly records a video of them and one of Aadhini bathing. The couple receives the video and is shocked. Despite this, Kannabiran is resolute and asks Aadhini to stay strong and fight with him. Kannabiran gathers evidence from the victims of Inba's racket and files a petition against him and his men. Inba's advocate produces false evidence showing him as a philanthropist and educationalist. Also, Inba discovers where Kannabiran kidnapped Nithin, kills him and puts his dead body in the trunk of Kannabiran's car. As a result, the judge dismisses the case and orders Kannabiran and Aadhirayar's imprisonment. After serving two months in jail, Aadhirayar inspires Kannabiran to become an executioner and to abandon his early faith in the rule of law to carry out justice.
Kannabiran accepts Aadhirayar's suggestion. He kidnaps all of Inba's henchmen and locks them inside a factory. After a deadly and intense chase between Kannabiran and Inba, Kannabiran gains access to and destroys the computer systems Inba and his men use for creating pornographic content. Kannabiran beats Inba's men and lectures their parents on men respecting women and their privacy. Kannabiran proves that Inba and his men have intimate recordings of 500 women belonging to their village and are committed to spoiling the lives of those women by not allowing them to be married and ruining their dignity in society. Kannabiran recollects his past; when he was nine, two men kidnapped, assaulted and killed his younger sister.
The relatives of Inba's henchmen are now ashamed of them and kill them for their actions. Inba's father-in-law kills Inba because the latter killed the former's daughter and circulated rumours about her murder. Kannabiran surrenders himself to the police and falsely confesses to the murders. Kosalai chastises him for becoming a ruthless murderer even after witnessing his family's struggles while the police take Kannabiran away. Kannabiran reminds Kosalai that he did not commit the murders but simply removed weeds that were harmful to society.
Cast
Production Development
In May 2019, Suriya was reported to be working on a project backed by Sun Pictures; it would be his third collaboration with the company after Ayan (2009) and Singam (2010). Hari, who had previously worked with Suriya in Aaru (2005), Vel (2007) and the Singam franchise, was speculated to be the project's director but he exited the project without revealing the reasons. Suriya and Hari later collaborated on a film titled Aruvaa, which was produced by Studio Green, but this project was also shelved and Suriya worked on a film with Pandiraj instead of a project with either Adanga Maru director Karthik Thangavel or a Telugu director. Pandiraj had earlier worked with Suriya, whose production company 2D Entertainment had backed his projects Pasanga 2, in which Suriya played a supporting character, and Karthi's Kadaikutty Singam.
Pre-production On 25 October 2020, the festival Dusshera, Sun Pictures confirmed the project under the title Suriya 40, which would be Suriya's 40th film as a lead actor; it also marked Pandiraj's second film with the production house after their collaboration with Namma Veettu Pillai. Unlike Pandiraj's earlier films, which are based on family emotions and sentiments, such as Kadaikutty Singam and Namma Veettu Pillai, this new project would be an action film with space for commercial elements. This would be Pandiraj's second action-based film after Kathakali. Pandiraj wrote the story, which is based on the 2019 Pollachi sexual assault case. The film's title Etharkkum Thunindhavan was officially announced on 22 July 2021; the title references an identically titled 1976 film in which Suriya's father Sivakumar played the lead role.
Casting In November 2020, Rashmika Mandanna was reported to be playing the female lead but Pandiraj refuted rumours about the casting process. In January 2021, the production house announced D. Imman would compose the film's music following collaborations with Pandiraj in Kadaikkutty Singam and Namma Veettu Pillai. Etharkkum Thunindhavan is Imman's first collaboration with Suriya. The same month, Priyanka Mohan was announced as the female lead; it is her second Tamil film following Doctor (2021). Her character was announced as Aadhini, Suriya's love interest in the film. Sathyaraj too joined the film in a supporting role. Rajkiran, who had worked with Suriya in Nandhaa (2001), was announced as part of the film but he eventually did not feature. In February 2021, Soori was announced as a part of the cast; he plays Aadhini's uncle. In March 2021, Vinay Rai was announced as the film's antagonist. Saran Shakthi played a character with negative shades in the film. It was reported the film has 40 significant characters, including Jayaprakash, Saranya Ponvannan and Devadarshini. Director-actor K. P. Jagan announced he had been cast in Etharkkum Thunindhavan and joined the second schedule in early September 2021.
Filming
Etharkkum Thunindhavan was launched on 15 February 2021, with the principal cast and crew members—excluding Suriya, who had been diagnosed with COVID-19—in attendance. The makers filmed few scenes with the ensemble cast without Suriya. After recovering from COVID-19, Suriya joined filming on 18 March 2021. He shared an image from the film at Binny Mills, Chennai, on social media, confirming his presence. Following a 21-day schedule, the production went to Madurai to film major sequences in April that year. An action sequence with a huge crowd was planned to be filmed but due to restrictions imposed by the Government of Tamil Nadu during the second wave of COVID-19, the plan was abandoned in consideration for the safety of the crew members. By late April 2021, 35% of the filming had been completed before a COVID-19 lockdown was imposed.
Filming resumed on 12 July following the relaxations of the lockdown. The team filmed few scenes in Chennai instead of Karaikudi. During the filming schedule in Koyambedu, police detained Victor, an assistant to Pandiraj, and seized rifles and pistols used in the film, which were later found to be non-functional. Victor was detained because he did not have proper documents for licensing. In mid-July, the production moved to Karaikkudi for a 51-day schedule to film crucial sequences that was completed in September. The production then moved to Courtallam for the final, brief filming schedule in mid-September 2021.
At the end of September, it was reported two of the songs would be filmed in Chennai and Goa the following month, and upon completion, the team may conclude filming. Filming of one song which was directed by Jani Master, was delayed because it required a huge, star cast and included extensive dance steps, and the cast needed more time to prepare. With the completion of patchwork scenes, filming ended on 10 November 2021 and Pandiraj shared the news through social-media platform Twitter. After filming concluded, Suriya gifted gold coins worth to the actors and technicians who worked on the film.
Post-production
Post-production work on Etharkkum Thunindhavan began in mid-November 2021. Suriya began dubbing for the film on 17 November. Vinay Rai completed dubbing for his role on 24 December that year. Post-production was completed by late December 2021, and the final copy was ready by January 2022. The film was submitted to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which gave it a U/A certificate. Several scenes featuring excessive violence were removed from the film. In February 2022, Sun Pictures released an image of Suriya, who provided a voiceover for the film's dubbed-Telugu version.
Music
D. Imman composed the music for Etharkkum Thunindhavan; it is his third collaboration with Pandiraj following Kadaikutty Singam (2018) and Namma Veettu Pillai (2019). Imman was initially chosen for the film with Suriya, which Siva directed, and also for Aruvaa, which Hari directed. Those projects werenot produced so Etharkkum Thunindhavan is Immam's his first collaboration with Suriya. Yugabharathi and Vignesh Shivan were initially hired to write lyrics. In November 2021, actor Sivakarthikeyan was also announced as a lyricist for one of the film's songs.
Immam worked with a team of 100 musicians for film's soundtrack and background music. In early-December, reports G. V. Prakash Kumar would record the film's introductory track surfaced. Anirudh Ravichander was also chosen in to sing for a song of a different genre. Later, the producers announced both composers had recorded vocals for the track "Vaada Thambi", which Vignesh Shivan wrote. Carnatic musician Brinda Manickavasakan made her feature-film debut as a playback singer on the track "Ullam Urugudhaiya".
On 30 January 2022, a month before the film's release, the producers released Etharkkum Thunindhavan theme music and original background score through YouTube. The tracks were released as the film's soundtrack album and the following day were separately released on music platforms. The soundtracks for the dubbed versions were released on 4 March 2022.
Marketing On 22 July 2021, the producers of Etharkkum Thunindhavan unveiled a first-look poster for the film, coinciding with the eve of Suriya's 46th birthday. The teaser of the film was released on 18 February 2022. Both the first look as well as the teaser received a positive feedback from the audience. The teaser garnered over four million views and over seven lakh likes on YouTube within a day of its release.