Imaikkaa Nodigal

Imaikkaa Nodigal
File:Imaikkaa Nodigal poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	R. Ajay Gnanamuthu
Produced by	C. J. Jayakumar
Written by	R. Ajay Gnanamuthu Pattukkottai Prabakar (dialogue)
Starring	Nayanthara Atharvaa Anurag Kashyap Raashi Khanna Vijay Sethupathi Manasvi Kottachi
Music by	Hiphop Tamizha
Cinematography	R. D. Rajasekhar
Edited by	Bhuvan Srinivasan
Production company	Cameo Films Drumsticks Productions
Release date	30 August 2018 (2018-08-30)
Running time	170 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Imaikkaa Nodigal (transl. Unblinking Seconds) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language psychological action thriller film which has Nayanthara, Atharvaa, Anurag Kashyap, Raashi Khanna marking the debut in Tamil cinema, Vijay Sethupathi and Manasvi Kottachi in leading roles. The film is written and directed by R. Ajay Gnanamuthu with music composed by Hiphop Tamizha, cinematography by R. D. Rajasekhar, editing by Bhuvan Srinivasan, and produced by C. J. Jayakumar. The film is a situational story focalizing on how a serial killer is apprehended by an intelligent CBI officer. The film was released on 30 August 2018.

Plot

A serial killer (Anurag Kashyap) disrupts peace in Bengaluru by kidnapping. He goes by the name of the highly notorious serial killer Rudra, who was announced dead five years ago. After another such case, in which the CBI are involved headed by Anjali Vikramadithyan IPS (Nayanthara), he goes live and declares himself as the deceased Rudra. He insists that Rudra is still alive and announces that he is now back in action. Anjali, who dealt with the earlier case of Rudra, is appointed to deal with him.

In a parallel storyline in Chennai, Anjali's brother, Dr. Arjun Prabakar (Atharvaa), is facing a rough time in his relationship with Krithika Rao (Raashi Khanna) and eventually break up. To make it up to her, he and his friend Vinoth (Ramesh Thilak) travel to Bengaluru to meet her, but Arjun horribly enters the deadly scene between Rudra and Anjali. The cat-and-mouse game gets too intense when Rudra brings Arjun into the game by kidnapping Krithika and demanding a ransom from her father. In an effort to save Krithika, Arjun follows Rudra's orders and gets framed as "Rudra", making things much more complicated for him. Anjali is suspended, her family gets under house arrest, and Officer Narayan (Devan) takes over the case.

After a series of clues, Arjun deduces that ACP Martin Roy is the new Rudra and is trying to kill Krithika. He fights with Martin, only to get beaten badly. At the end of the fight, Martin reveals that he is not the actual Rudra and was very close to finding out who Rudra was. That is when he got suspended and Anjali had taken over the case. Martin then reveals that Rudra was Anjali. Feeling betrayed, Martin went rogue, murdered his wife, and staged three murders similar to the ones that "Rudra" had done.

When Arjun confronts Anjali, she reveals her motive, and in the process, the real cause of the death of her husband Vikramadithyan (Vijay Sethupathi), who died in an accident caused by four men who hit his head badly and made him suffer major blood loss. Though Anjali requests them for help, they consider their safety purpose and kill Vikram and beat Anjali. To avenge her husband's death, Anjali creates a serial killer called Rudra and kills the men responsible for Vikram's death under the name. When she kills the last one, she declares him as Rudra and closes the case. Together, Arjun and Anjali manipulate Martin using Narayan, and Martin is killed. The film closes with Arjun and Krithika reconciling and Anjali's daughter Shalini (Manasvi Kottachi) listening to a recording of Vikram's last words for her.

Cast

• Nayanthara as CBI Officer Anjali Vikramadithyan IPS (Voiceover by Deepa Venkat)
• Atharvaa as Dr. Arjun Prabakar
• Anurag Kashyap as Rudra (Ex-ACP Martin Roy). (Voiceover by Magizh Thirumeni)
• Raashi Khanna as Krithika "Krithi" Rao, Arjun's love interest. (Voiceover by Raveena Ravi)
• Vijay Sethupathi as Vikramadithyan (Vikram), Anjali's husband (in past)
• Manasvi Kottachi as Shalini Vikramadithyan (Shalu), Anjali's daughter
• Ramesh Thilak as Vinoth
• Devan as CBI Officer Narayan Gowda
• Uday Mahesh as Mr. Gowda
• Vinoth Kishan as Dr. Vineeth
• Sai Krishna as Ram
• Vivek Raju as Prathap
• Abishek Raaja as Surya
• Jeeva Ravi as a victim's father (uncredited)
• Vertrivel Raja as Nagesh

Production

Development

In May 2016, Ajay Gnanamuthu, who had previously made the successful horror film Demonte Colony agreed to work on a new film starring Atharvaa in the lead role. Initially reported to be a "romantic-thriller", it was revealed that the film was initially supposed to be made as the director's debut was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. Thereafter, Jayakumar of Cameo Films agreed to finance the venture and revealed that the shoot would begin during September 2016. For the technical crew, R. D. Rajasekhar was selected as the cameraman, Selvakumar as the art director, Pattukottai Prabhakar as the dialogue writer and Poorthi Pravin as the costume designer. Only Bhuvan Srinivasan was retained as the film editor, continuing his association with the director. Meanwhile, Hiphop Tamizha was selected to be the music composer, while the film was titled as Imaikka Nodigal during September 2016.

Casting

The team signed actress Nayanthara to play the main lead role in this project, as Gnanamuthu was looking for a "strong female protagonist", and after hearing the script, the actress immediately agreed to be a part of the venture. She played the elder sister of Atharvaa. For a further role, the team were on the lookout for a "pan-Indian actor" considering Prabhu Deva, Gautham Menon, and Anurag Kashyap for the character, and the latter was signed to do antagonist's role. The voice for Anurag was dubbed by director Magizh Thirumeni. Raashi Khanna was also signed on to portray another character in the film, and its marking her latter debut in tamil cinema, appearing as Atharvaa's love interest, and it had been confirmed that Vijay Sethupathi would be seen playing 15-minute cameo role as Nayanthara's husband. Actor Kottachi's daughter, Manasvi, was cast as Nayanthara's daughter.

Filming

Filming took place in Bengaluru. In December 2016, Imaikkaa Nodigal became the first film to be shot inside the tunnel stretch of the Namma Metro. Filming took place after metro services ceased at 10 PM. According to Jayakumar, "The script of the film demanded shooting in various places of Bengaluru.

The crew has been shooting in the city for the last 25 days. In the metro tunnel stretch, and shot scenes for two nights." A cycle fight featuring Atharvaa. Lee Hon Yiu, a Cycle stunt specialist from Hong Kong, was brought down to work on this cycle stunt choreographed by 'Stun' Siva.

Lee Honiyu is working along with the films stunt choreographer Stun Siva. This bicycle stunt was shot in five days at Bengaluru.

Filming ended on 17 December 2017.

Music

Imaikkaa Nodigal
Soundtrack album by Hiphop Tamizha
Released	27 June 2018
Recorded	2016–2017
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	24:14
Label	Think Music
Producer	Hiphop Tamizha
Hiphop Tamizha chronology
Krishnarjuna Yudham (2018) Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018) Vantha Rajavathaan Varuven (2019)
External audio Official Audio Jukebox at YouTube Official Audio Jukebox at YouTube
Singles from Imaikkaa Nodigal
"Kadhalikathey" Released: 4 October 2017 "Vilambara Idaivelai" Released: 5 March 2018

The musical score and songs featured in the film are composed by Hiphop Tamizha, and the lyrics are by Kabilan Vairamuthu, Mohanrajan, and Hiphop Tamizha. The album was released on 27 June 2018 alongside the film's trailer.

The first single from the film has been released 4 October 2017, titled as Kadhalikathey, sung by Hiphop Tamizha and Kaushik Krish. Another single Vilambara Idaivelai sung by Christopher Stanley, Sudharshan Ashok, Srinisha Jayaseelan, and Hiphop Tamizha was released on 5 March 2018.

Tamil Track-List
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Kadhalikathey"	Hiphop Tamizha and Kaushik Krish	03:22
2.	"Vilambara Idaiveli"	Christopher Stanley, Sudarshan Ashok, Srinisha Jayaseelan and Hiphop Tamizha	04:33
3.	"Neeyum Naanum Anbe"	Raghu Dixit, Sathyaprakash, Jithin Raj	04:45
4.	"Kadhal Oru Aagayam"	Teejay and Al-Rufian	02:41
5.	"Lion vs Hyenas"	Magizh Thirumeni	02:58
6.	"Rudra’s Symphony"	Hiphop Tamizha	02:55
7.	"Imaikkaa Nodiyil (Title Track)"	Sanjith Hegde	02:55
Total length:			24:14

Telugu Track-List
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Nuvvu Nenu Cheri"	V. Prasanna, Jithin Raj	4:43
2.	"Preminchoddu Manasen"	Jithin Raj	3:22
3.	"Cheli Cheyyi"	Santosh Hariharan	1:29
4.	"Hyena Story"		1:32
Total length:			11:07

Release

Imaikkaa Nodigal was released on 30 August 2018. The satellite rights were sold to Colors Tamil. The Telugu dubbed version titled Anjali CBI was released on 22 February 2019.

Critical reception

The Times of India and Hindustan Times Rated the film 3.5/5 With Times of india stating "Apart from a few make-believe scenes, the director manages to keep the twists unpredictable and the thrill factor engaging till the end." and Hindustan Times Noting "Nayanthara has succeeded yet again by picking a character that we have never seen her portray. Anjali is not perfect at what she does but her agenda is to catch the killer, played by Anurag Kashyap."

Film critic Baradwaj Rangan described the film as "A generic, barely watchable serial-killer thriller that squanders a great premise."

External links

• Imaikkaa Nodigal on IMDb