Maari

Maari is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Balaji Mohan, jointly produced by Listin Stephen and Raadhika's Magic Frames and Dhanush's Wunderbar Films. The film stars Dhanush, singer Vijay Yesudas, and Kajal Aggarwal, while Robo Shankar, Kalloori Vinoth, Kaali Venkat, and Mime Gopi play supporting roles. Dhanush plays Maari, a local gangster. This film also marks Vijay Yesudas's Tamil debut. Anirudh Ravichander composed the film's soundtrack and score while Om Prakash and Prasanna G. K. undertook the film's cinematography and editing respectively. After being in pre-production phase since March 2014, principal photography began on 5 November 2014 and lasted till 15 March 2015. The film was shot in and around Chennai and Tuticorin. Maari was released on 17 July 2015. The film received polarized reviews upon its release, but had a decent collection at the box office. A sequel titled Maari 2 was released on 21 December 2018. Plot Police Constable Arumugam talks to the new Sub-Inspector, Arjun, about Maari, a local rowdy who rose to fame after killing a rival rowdy, Pandi. He wants to get evidence that Maari killed Pandi so that he can put Maari behind bars. Maari is an irritating guy who, along with his henchmen Sanikilamai and Adithangi, constantly pesters the people in the area and extorts money from them. His main line of work is training racing pigeons. His boss is Velu, a don who is also involved in the pigeon races and sandalwood smuggling. Maari constantly has fights with "Bird" Ravi, another local rowdy who is also working under Velu. One day, a lady named Sridevi enters the business, trying to open a boutique in Maari's area. Maari forcefully becomes her partner in the shop. He angers her after she loses a couple's order after Maari purposely increases their bill. She goes to the police station and decides to help Arjun catch Maari by getting close to him, pretending to fall in love with him, and incriminating him with evidence of his confession. He had tried to kill the rival rowdy but failed. She shoots the talk with Maari in a drunken state, who describes the murder, saying that somebody else had killed him, and Maari took the credit. Arjun soon arrests Maari. Seven months later, when he is released, he discovers that the police also arrested Velu for sandalwood smuggling.