Sarkar () is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language political action film written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, and produced by Kalanithi Maran of Sun Pictures. The dialogues were co-written by Murugadoss and B. Jeyamohan. The film stars Vijay, Keerthy Suresh and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar in the lead roles, while Yogi Babu, Tulasi, Radha Ravi and Pala. Karuppiah play supporting roles. It follows Sundar Ramaswamy, a corporate raider, who arrives in Tamil Nadu from the United States to cast his vote in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, only to find that his vote has already been recorded as cast, which leads him to raises awareness against electoral fraud and contest as a non-partisan politician in the elections amidst several attempts made on his life and reputation.
Principal photography for the film began in January 2018. Murugadoss collaborated with Vijay for the third time with Sarkar, which was the latter's 62nd film and given the tentative title of Thalapathy 62. In early December 2017, Sun Pictures agreed to produce the film. While Girish Gangadharan handled the cinematography, A. Sreekar Prasad served as the editor. In August, a few scenes were shot at Las Vegas. Filming was completed by September 2018. The film's soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics written by Vivek.
After various complications, including protests and allegations of plagiarism, Sarkar was released on 6 November 2018 on the week of Diwali, where it received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Post-release, the film involved in controversies with reference to J. Jayalalithaa in the audio track and other sequences from the film led to protests by members of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. After lawsuits were registered against the makers, the said allusions were muted. Sarkar has grossed worldwide in its entire run and emerged as a commercial success.
Sarkar became Vijay's third film to collect $1 million at the US box office, following Theri and Mersal. As a result of the film's success, the Election Commission of India created awareness regarding Section 49P of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 that allows a voter to have the right to get back his/her ballot back and vote if someone else voted in that individual's name. Sarkar was screened at Grand Rex, France and was also screened in Japan.
Plot
Sundar Ramaswamy is a wealthy and ruthless NRI corporate raider in the US, referred to as a corporate monster due to his ruthless business dealings. He arrives in Chennai to cast his vote in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election. However, he finds that someone else had already voted in his place.
Sundar approaches the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission and demands a stay on the election result for his constituency, an annulment of the fraud elector's vote, and the ability to legitimately cast his vote, to which they agree. He raises awareness among the public regarding fraud voting and finds that many people too faced a similar problem to his when trying to vote. M. Masilamani, the previous C.M of Tamil Nadu, is re-elected, his daughter Komalavalli, and fellow politician and brother Malarvannan "Rendu" celebrate.
Sundar visits his family, whilst rekindling with Nila, who is his brother's estranged sister-in-law. Meanwhile, Masilamani receives suitcases full of black money, as he discovers a journalist, Muthukumar, hiding inside the suitcase, to record evidence of his corruption, and Masilamani kills him and buries the case. Sundar's actions bring him into conflict Masilamani and Rendu. Although Masilamani's party wins the elections, the Election Commission annuls the result based on Sundar's plea to recount the votes, and fresh elections are scheduled to take place within the next 15 days.
After many assassination attempts on him by Rendu's henchmen, Sundar decides to contest the election against Masilamani as an Independent candidate and resigns from his company to avoid any conflict-of-interest. Initially unpopular among the masses due to his corporate background, Sundar delivers a speech detailing his rise from a humble fisherman background to a businessman and his struggle from poverty to riches, gaining massive support. Sundar and his supporters gatecrash an event involving the merger of Masilamani's party with the opposition. After Sundar confronts Masilamani regarding his silence on district-related issues, the police brutally beats up Sundar and his supporters.