Thaandavam () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language neo-noir action thriller film written and directed by A. L. Vijay. The film stars an ensemble cast with Vikram, Jagapati Babu, Anushka Shetty, Amy Jackson, Lakshmi Rai, Nassar, Santhanam, Raj Arjun and Saranya in pivotal roles It is produced by UTV Motion Pictures and features music composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. Thaandavam was released worldwide on 28 September 2012.
Plot
31 December 2010: At 11:59 pm, a sudden bomb blast occurs in London, killing several people.
After a year, A blind man named Kenny Thomas lays flowers on the memorial and mourns someone's death during the bomb blast. He is provided with secret details by a mysterious woman. Kenny takes a taxi driven by Sathyan, a comical Tamilian. Kenny kills someone and throws the body down. Sathyan flees. Kenny produces a sound from his mouth to find his way, which is later explained as echolocation. Kenny plays the piano in a church. He is blind and has so many people who care for him. Soon he carries out two more murders, taking the same taxi driven by the innocent Sathyan and following instructions from the mysterious woman. Inspector Veerakathi, a British Tamil officer is in charge of investigating the murders.
Sara Vinayagam, a British-born Anglo-Indian woman, wins the Miss London title, and to build her social profile, goes to Kenny's church. Initially, Kenny is aloof but eventually, they become friends. Sara's father is the doctor performing autopsies of the dead bodies. Veerakathi starts to suspect Kenny. As Sathyan is found on all the murder spots, the police arrest him, suspecting he has a connection with the murders. Sathyan finds a picture of Kenny in a local newspaper and informs Veerakathi of Kenny's connection.
Sathyan is released and meets Sara. Kenny who is about to kill the steel company owner named Victor, flees the scene after sensing their presence. He takes Sathyan's taxi to escape. Sara and Sathyan join him in pursuit. As he is blind, Kenny runs the taxi into a river. Taking refuge on a riverbank, Kenny's identity is revealed by the mysterious woman.
Kenny is a RAW officer from India, whose real name is Shivakumar and he marries Meenakshi, an eye doctor in Delhi. While handling a case where an Indian Army secret (a flowchart) about a WMD goes missing, Shiva has come to London. Things go radically wrong and he ends up becoming Kenny after the London bomb blast. The mysterious woman is the real Kenny's wife Geetha, who is taking revenge on those responsible for bomb blast in which Kenny is killed.
What happens thereafter forms the movie's climax.
Cast
Vikram as Shivakumar/Kenny Thomas/Arjun Rathore/Imran
Jagapathi Babu as Sharath Kumar
Anushka Shetty as Meenakshi Shivakumar
Amy Jackson as Miss London Sara Vinayagam Pillai
Lakshmi Rai as Geetha Kenny
Santhanam as Sathyan, the Tamil-speaking taxi driver
Nassar as Veerakathi Pillai
Saranya as Shivakumar's mother
Sathish as Modelling Agent
Kota Srinivasa Rao as the Union Home Minister
Sayaji Shinde as Ravi Chandran
M. S. Bhaskar as Thambi Mama
Thambi Ramaiah as Thappache Mama
Delhi Ganesh as Meenakshi's father
Rajie Vijay Sarathy as Meenakshi's mother
Balaji Venugopal as Meenakshi's cousin
Sujitha as Abi
Daniel Kish as himself
Alexx O'Nell as The Agent
Raj Arjun as Kenny Thomas (Original) Subiksha Raman as Meera, Meenakshi's sister Daniel Jordan as Richard
Production
UTV Motion Pictures commenced an innovative title contest in Twitter, and it received massive response from Vikram fans. Vikram was revealed to play the role of a blind man, who practices the technique of human echolocation, the ability to detect objects, their position and size by sensing echoes. Vikram underwent special sessions with Daniel Kish, an internationally renowned expert of human echolocation. The team had planned to bring Kish to Chennai for the audio launch ceremony. Anushka was chosen to portray Vikram's wife in the film. Amy Jackson plays a British-born-Tamil girl in the film and was said to dub for herself as well. Telugu actor Jagapati Babu was selected to play villain.