Vada Chennai

For the eponymous place, see North Chennai.

Vada Chennai
Theatrical release poster
Directed byVetrimaaran
Written byVetrimaaran
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyVelraj
Edited by
  • G. B. Venkatesh
  • R. Ramar
Music bySanthosh Narayanan
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Lyca Productions
  • Wunderbar Films
Release date
  • 17 October 2018 (2018-10-17)
Running time
164 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹60 crore[2][3][4]

Vada Chennai (transl. North Chennai) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language crime drama film[5] written and directed by Vetrimaaran. It is produced by Lyca Productions, Wunderbar Films and Grass Root Film Company. The film stars Dhanush as Anbu, a skilled carrom player who becomes a reluctant participant in a gang war between two rival gangsters, alongside Kishore, Samuthirakani, Daniel Balaji, Pawan, Andrea Jeremiah, Aishwarya Rajesh and Ameer. It is the first instalment in a planned trilogy.

The film had been in the news since late 2009, with an official announcement only made in November 2011 that the filming would commence by March 2012.[6] After being temporarily shelved, the film re-materialized in May 2015 with a new cast; featuring Dhanush as the lead, making his third collaboration with the director after Polladhavan (2007) and Aadukalam (2011). Principal photography for the film, which commenced in June 2016, was wrapped up in February 2018. The cinematography for the film was done by Velraj, editing was handled by G. B. Venkatesh and R. Ramar, and the musical score was composed by Santhosh Narayanan.

Vada Chennai was initially slated to release on 13 September 2018, during the Ganesh Chathurthi festival, but was postponed to 17 October 2018, because of the post-production work.[7] The film received critical acclaim, praising its direction, plot, music, action sequences and cast performances, while criticising its dialogues. Post-release, the film drew controversies, about the fishermen community, in which a few scenes from the film were found offensive, after the director decided to remove the scenes from the movie, and added further new scenes.

The film received several awards at the 2018 Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, including Best Actor for Dhanush, Best Supporting Actor for Ameer and Best Music Director for Santhosh Narayanan. At the 8th South Indian International Movie Awards, the film received several nominations, including Best Actor for Dhanush, which was the only win at the ceremony. The film was nominated in three categories at the 66th Filmfare Awards South, in which Dhanush won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. A sequel and a prequel for the film were planned by Vetrimaaran, which will be made into a web series.

  1. ^ "Vada Chennai's Official CBFC Certificate – Runtime Revealed". Behindwoods. 13 October 2018. Archived from the original on 8 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Vada Chennai first look: Vetrimaaran and Dhanush are all set to take us to North Chennai". India Today. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  3. ^ Kaushik, L. M. (8 March 2018). "What To Expect From Vetri Maaran And Dhanush's Vada Chennai". www.filmcompanion.in. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  4. ^ "'Vada Chennai': Interesting facts about Dhanush and Vetri Maaran's film". The Times of India. 29 August 2018. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Vada Chennai". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Vetrimaran's Vada Chennai announced". Sify. 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on 29 January 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  7. ^ "Dhanush on Vada Chennai: Film's journey started 10 years ago; seeing it release feels like a dream". Firstpost. 14 October 2018. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.