Kaaka Muttai

Kaaka Muttai
Theatrical release poster
Directed byM. Manikandan
Written byM. Manikandan
Dialogue by
  • Anand Annamalai
  • Anand Kumaresan
Produced byDhanush
Vetrimaaran
StarringVignesh
Ramesh
Aishwarya Rajesh
CinematographyM. Manikandan
Edited byKishore Te
Music byG. V. Prakash Kumar
Production
companies
Distributed byFox Star Studios
Release dates
  • 5 September 2014 (2014-09-05) (Toronto International Film Festival)[1]
  • 5 June 2015 (2015-06-05) (Worldwide)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Box officeest. ₹12 crore[2]

Kaaka Muttai (released internationally as The Crow's Egg)[1] is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film written, directed and filmed by M. Manikandan, in his directorial debut. Jointly produced by Dhanush's Wunderbar Films, Vetrimaaran's Grass Root Film Company and distributed by Fox Star Studios, it stars newcomers Vignesh and Ramesh, alongside Aishwarya Rajesh, Ramesh Thilak, Yogi Babu in supporting roles and Silambarasan in a cameo appearance. The film's storyline revolves around two slum children of Chennai, whose desire is to taste a pizza.

Vetrimaaran approached Manikandan in a film festival, after he saw one of his short films being screened. When asked by Vetrimaaran to develop a script, Manikandan wrote a storyline based on slum children and also inspired incidents from his life. Then the team cast real children living in the slum, in order to have a realistic approach. Following an official announcement in mid-January 2013, the film began production in that May. It was shot in real slums and streets across Chennai within 61 working days. The film explores the themes of class-based discrimination, consumerism and media sensationalism. The film's soundtrack and score is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar and editing was done by Kishore Te.

The film had its world premiere on 5 September 2014 at the 39th Toronto International Film Festival, and was further screened at many other film festival circuits before its worldwide theatrical release on 5 June 2015. It opened to widespread critical acclaim praising the performances of the cast members, storyline, screenplay, direction and other major technical aspects. In addition to the critical and audience response, the film further achieved commercial success at the box-office.[3] Kaaka Muttai was occasionally listed at the "Best Tamil Films of 2015". It was further considered one of the "25 Greatest Tamil Films of the Decade" by Film Companion;[4] the same website ranked the actors Vignesh and Ramesh's and Aishwarya Rajesh's performance as two of the "100 Greatest Performances of the Decade".[5] The film is remade in Marathi as Half Ticket (2016).

Kaaka Muttai won the National Award for Best Children's Film and Best Child Artist, for the actors Ramesh and Vignesh, at the 62nd National Film Awards.[a] It was the strong contender to be shortlisted for the Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film but lost to the Marathi-language film Court (2015).[7][8] At the 63rd Filmfare Awards South, the film won the Filmfare Award for Best Film, out of its four nominations in the Tamil branch. M. Manikandan received an award for Best Debut Director at the 5th South Indian International Movie Awards, where it was nominated in other four categories. The film also won six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, six Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, two Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards and an Edison Awards. In July 2017, the Tamil Nadu government announced State Film Awards for films released during the 2009–2014 period in which Kaaka Muttai won three awards: Best Actress (Aishwarya Rajesh), Best Child Artist (Vignesh and Ramesh) and a Special Prize for Best Film.[9][10]

  1. ^ a b Bailey, Cameron. "The Crow's Egg". TIFF. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  2. ^ V.P, Nicy (23 June 2015). "'Kaaka Muttai' Third Weekend Box Office Collection: M Manikandan Directorial Continues Impressive Run". ibtimes.co.in. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "100 Greatest Performances of the Decade". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  6. ^ "62nd National Film Awards: Dhanush's Kakka Muttai wins the Best Children's film and Best Child Actors award!". Bollywood Life. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Why 'Kaaka Muttai' deserved a chance at the Oscars this year". News18. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  8. ^ Bhatia, Uday (23 September 2015). "India picks Chaitanya Tamhane's Court as Oscar entry". mint. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Tamil Nadu announces state film awards for six years all at once". Scroll.in. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Tamil Nadu government announces state film awards for 2009–2014". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2021.


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