Ghilli () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic sports action film directed by Dharani and produced by A. M. Rathnam. It is a remake of the Telugu-language film Okkadu (2003). The film stars Vijay, Trisha and Prakash Raj with Ashish Vidyarthi, Dhamu, Mayilsamy and Janaki Sabesh playing supporting roles.
The soundtrack album and score were composed by Vidyasagar. Cinematography was handled by Gopinath and editing was done by V. T. Vijayan and B. Lenin. Dialogues for the film were written by Bharathan. The film was released on 16 April 2004 to positive reviews. The film ran for more than 200 days at the box office and became a blockbuster. It emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2004. Ghilli is considered to be one of the best films in Vijay's career.
Plot
Saravanavelu "Velu" is a state-level Kabaddi player who lives in Chennai with his father. Velu's father DCP Sivasubramaniam constantly chides him for neglecting his studies and favouring Kabaddi, while his mother Janaki dotes on him and his younger sister Bhuvana, a sharp and inquisitive schoolgirl, constantly gets Velu into trouble with their father, but nevertheless adores him. One day, Velu is sent to his relative's wedding in Trichy, but skips the wedding to play a kabaddi match in Madurai without his parents' knowledge. Muthupandi is a ruthless gang leader in Madurai who desires to marry a girl named Dhanalakshmi.
Muthupandi kills Dhanalakshmi's older brother as they rejects his offer to marry her. Dhanalakshmi's second brother is also killed by Muthupandi when attempting to avenge his brother's murder. Dhanalakshmi's father is a meek man who gets terrified by Muthupandi's acts and asks Dhanalakshmi to leave Madurai and lead a peaceful life with her uncle in the US, giving her money and her university certificates. While attempting to escape, Muthupandi catches Dhanalakshmi. However, Velu rescues Dhanalakshmi by thrashing Muthupandi and takes her to Chennai. Velu takes Dhanalakshmi to his house and hides her in his room without his families' knowledge.
Meanwhile, Muthupandi and his father Home Minister Rajapandi asks Sivasubramaniam to search for Dhanalakshmi and the apparent kidnapper. Velu soon arranges passport and flight tickets for Dhanalakshmi, who begins to fall for Velu. When Sivasubramaniam discovers that Velu is behind the "crime", Velu and Dhanalakshmi escapes from Sivasubramaniam and hides in the lighthouse. Velu, along with his friends, reaches the Chennai International Airport in time for Dhanalakshmi's flight before their kabaddi match against Punjab in the final match of the National League. Sivasubramaniam is enraged that Velu is playing in the kabaddi match despite being a wanted criminal, where he goes to the stadium to arrest Velu, but decides to arrest him after the kabaddi match upon Bhuvana's request.
Velu too has fallen in love with Dhanalakshmi and begins to miss her only to spot her in the stadium during the match. Velu's lack of focus in the game is replaced by his best performance on seeing Dhanalakshmi, win his team the championship. Later, Velu is arrested by his father, but is then stopped by Muthupandi, who wants to fight Velu after having been incited by Dhanalakshmi to prove his worth. Velu defeats Muthupandi and embraces Dhanalakshmi, When Muthupandi regains consciousness and tries to kill Velu, a floodlight broken during the fight accidentally hits Muthupandi, who gets electrocuted to death.
Cast
Production
Development
Vikram was the first choice for the film; due to other commitments, he was replaced by Vijay. Dharani was finalised as the director, whose previous film Dhool under A.M. Rathnam's production had been a financial success. Dharani's regular crew members including cinematographer Gopinath and music director Vidyasagar joined the film, while Rocky Rajesh and Raju Sundaram were chosen to choreograph the stunts and dances, respectively, for which Sundaram was awarded Filmfare Award for Best Dance Choreographer – South later. Jyothika was supposed to do the female lead role which was later replaced by actress Trisha, while Prakash Raj was signed on to reprise the villain's character from the original. Dhamu and Prabhu Deva's brother, Nagendra Prasad were recruited to essay supporting roles. Actor Thiagarajan's refusal meant that Ashish Vidyarthi was cast as Vijay's father in the film, while Janaki Sabesh and Baby Jennifer were selected to portray Vijay's mother and sister, respectively. Playback singer T. K. Kala made her acting debut with this film. Vimal who went on to act in films like Pasanga (2009) and Kalavani (2010) appeared in a small role as one of Vijay's teammates and also worked as "unofficial" assistant director.