Maari 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBalaji Mohan
Written byBalaji Mohan
Produced byDhanush
Starring
CinematographyOm Prakash
Edited byPrasanna GK
Music byYuvan Shankar Raja
Production
company
Distributed byGovindha Arts
Release date
  • 21 December 2018 (2018-12-21)
Running time
140 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Maari 2 is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Balaji Mohan. It is a sequel to his 2015 film Maari. Dhanush, besides producing the film under his company Wunderbar Films, also stars as the title character, continuing his role from the first film.[1] The film also stars Tovino Thomas,Sai Pallavi, Krishna and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar. The music was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematography was done by Om Prakash and editing by Prasanna GK. The film was released on 21 December 2018 and received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Maariyappan "Maari" is a fun-loving gangster whose sidekicks are Sanikkizhamai and Robert, alias Adithangi (punching bag). Maari is chased around by Araathu Aanandi, an auto rickshaw driver who is totally in love with him. However, despite her efforts, he does not give her a second glance and constantly shows his annoyance to her.

Meanwhile, gangster Gangadhar Beeja alias "Thanatos" escapes from prison after killing two officers. He is out for vengeance against Maari as his brother, a defence lawyer, promised to get Beeja released from prison. However, his brother is killed at the hands of Maari as the former tried to molest Aanandi's elder sister (unknown to Beeja). This is why Aanandi loves Maari. While returning from a party, Maari is attacked and Aanandi takes him to the hospital and takes care of him. Kalai's brother Vallavan is shown to be cooperating with Singayya, who has formed an alliance with Beeja to overthrow Maari.

Per Beeja's plan, Vallavan asks Sani to send Aanandi for a job, which turns out to be drug smuggling. She unknowingly goes to do the job and gets caught by Kalai. Upon being confronted, she tells him that Maari asked her to do it. This sparks doubt for Kalai. Vallavan is caught by Maari carrying drugs, and when Maari confronts Kalai, a fight erupts. Maari and his sidekicks set fire to all the drugs, and Beeja kills Vallavan, making it look as though Maari killed him. Kalai becomes enraged and orders his men to kill Maari, who is injured in the battle. Beeja reveals himself as the perpetrator and shoots Maari, but he is saved by Aanandi, who takes the bullet for him, which ends up in her spinal cord, paralysing her for life.

Vijaya Chamundeshwari is the newly appointed District Collector, who comes out to restore order and stop all gang violence. Maari goes into hiding with Aanandi, whose legs are paralysed. Eight years pass, and Beeja and Kalai have grown to become powerful gangsters, but when Kalai has a chance to become a legislative candidate of the ruling party, Beeja takes the opportunity to threaten Kalai and his family. Vijaya, now the Deputy Home Secretary, in an effort to find Maari, posts his picture along with Aanandi's in newspapers. Maari meets Vijaya and requests she remove the photos. He then reveals that he was living in Tenkasi with an elderly couple.

Maari and Aanandi get married, Aanandi gets pregnant, and a healthy baby boy is born. However, due to complications from paralysis, Aanandi dies minutes after childbirth. Maari then raises the boy, called Kaali, with help from the old couple, Sani and Robert. Kaali is shown to have inherited Maari's behaviour and keeps picking fights in school. Maari then requests Vijaya stop coming after him as he has changed his ways. When Kaali sees some students teasing a teacher, he complains about them to the principal. In retribution, the boys chase and attack him, only to get beaten by Kaali. The local council member, who is also father of one of the boys, summons Kaali in order to beat him up, but Maari goes and begs for forgiveness.

Meanwhile, the city police commissioner mentions to the media that there is an informer within Beeja's gang. Using his moles in the police department, Beeja tries to figure out who the mole is but fails. It is then revealed that there was no mole and that the whole story was fabricated to identify corrupt policemen in the department, including the commissioner. Further, it is revealed Beeja has had ties with the commissioner and was the mole himself. He had been leaking information about his men in order to clear his name to become a candidate.

It is also revealed that despite begging for forgiveness, the counsellor insists on his son beating up Kaali, and so Maari beats up the counsellor and his henchmen. In a final encounter, the police turn against Beeja. Maari fights Beeja and paralyses him for revenge for Aanandi and reveals to him that Maari killed his brother to prevent him from killing Beeja for his wealth. Soon Beeja gets sentenced to life in prison, and Maari is shown with his sidekicks, continuing his old life and reuniting with Kalai.

Cast

Production

Development

Following the release of Maari, director Balaji Mohan announced the sequel in November 2015, with Dhanush again in the lead, and also hinted that the film would begin shooting from January 2016.[2] In an interaction with the media, the director stated that the film will have more depth to Dhanush's character.[3] Shooting for the film was expected to take place in early 2017,[4] and the film's script was finalised in December 2016.[5] However, the film shooting was rescheduled to August 2017, because of Dhanush's commitments with other projects.[6] In September 2017, Mohan said via tweet that the film would be a bilingual film in Tamil and Telugu;[7] however, the Telugu version was later dropped.

Casting

On 24 September 2017, it was announced that Tovino Thomas had joined the cast, portraying the antagonist.[8] A few days later, Sai Pallavi was finalised as the heroine.[9] Later, actor Krishna joined the cast on 7 October 2017,[10] and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar joined the cast in December 2017.[11]

Anirudh Ravichander, who composed for the film's first installment, was expected to join its successor. However, Mohan announced in December 2017 that Yuvan Shankar Raja would be the composer of Maari 2.[12] Om Prakash and Prasanna GK were retained as the cinematographer and editor respectively, following their work on the original film. A. Amaran was signed as the art director, replacing R. K. Vijaimurugan, who had handled art direction for the original.

Filming

The film's puja ceremony took place on 14 December 2017,[13] and principal photography began on 22 January 2018.[14] The first filming schedule took place in Tenkasi.[15] Varalaxmi began shooting for her portions in mid-February.[16] The makers completed 40% of the filming before a strike by the Tamil Film Producers Council occurred on 16 March 2018,[17] with shooting resuming in April after the strike was called off.[18] The music sequence for "Rowdy Baby" was filmed on 2 August, under the supervision of dance choreographer Prabhu Deva.[19] After the sequence was filmed, the makers wrapped principal photography on 24 August 2018.[20]

Music

Maari 2
Soundtrack album by
Yuvan Shankar Raja
Released5 November 2018
Recorded2018
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length12:45
LanguageTamil
LabelWunderbar Studios
Divo
ProducerYuvan Shankar Raja
Dhanush
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Sandakozhi 2
(2018)		 Maari 2
(2018)		 Kanne Kalaimaane
(2019)
Singles from Maari 2
  1. "Rowdy Baby"
    Released: 25 October 2018 (2018-10-25)

Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the soundtrack album and background score for Maari 2, collaborating with Dhanush again after a 10-year hiatus, since their last film Yaaradi Nee Mohini (2008). The album also marks the composer's first collaboration with Balaji Mohan. The audio rights to the film are secured by the production house's subsidiary audio label Wunderbar Studios, with Divo as their digital partner. The album features three tracks written by Dhanush and Raja himself and was released on 5 November 2018, except for "Rowdy Baby", sung by Dhanush and Dhee, which was released as a single on 25 October 2018.

The music video for the single was released on YouTube in January 2019 and received positive reviews for the choreography as well as its cinematography. On September 24, 2023, the song became the first South Indian film song to clock over 1.5 billion views on YouTube.[21] The other two songs written by Dhanush or Raja, "Maari Gethu" sung by Dhanush, Chinnaponnu, V.M. Mahalingam and Yuvan Shankar Raja, with lyrics penned by the latter and "Maari's Anandhi", written by Dhanush, and sung by Ilaiyaraaja and M. M. Manasi, were released as a part of the album.

No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Rowdy Baby"DhanushDhanush, Dhee4:41
2."Maari Gethu"Yuvan Shankar RajaDhanush, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Chinnaponnu, V. M. Mahalingam3:46
3."Maari's Anandhi"DhanushIlaiyaraaja, M. M. Manasi4:19
Total length:12:45

Release and reception

Maari 2 was released on 21 December 2018.[22] Srivatsan of The Hindu called the film a significant improvement over its predecessor, but criticised its second half, and overuse of characters.[23] Anusha Iyengar of Times Now also called the film significantly better than its predecessor, especially with regards to Dhanush's performance and also praised the treatment of Tovino Thomas and Sai Pallavi's characters, but criticised the use of slow motion in the majority of fight scenes and felt the plot was becoming predictable.[24] M. Suganth of The Times of India rated the film 2.5 stars out of 5, appreciating the "dignified" treatment of Sai Pallavi's character, but felt Varalakshmi was underutilised, and criticised the film's second half.[25]

Accolades

66th Filmfare Awards South[26][27]

References

  1. ↑ "Dhanush's Maari 2 Is Trending. Here's Why". NDTV. 28 September 2017. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Would Maari 2 Begin from End of Maari?". The New Indian Express. 5 November 2015. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  3. ↑ "Maari 2 will have more depth to Dhanush's character". Only Kollywood. 30 January 2016. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  4. ↑ "Maari 2 to kickoff from early 2017". Only Kollywood. 20 July 2016. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  5. ↑ Dhanush [@dhanushkraja] (18 December 2016). "Guess what I got :) final draft of Mari 2 script from @directormbalaji  !! #hewillbeback #donudonudonu #senjiruven" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ↑ "Hollywood project in May, Maari 2 in August: Dhanush". Only Kollywood. 17 April 2017. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  7. ↑ "Dhanush's 'Maari 2' to be made as Tamil-Telugu bilingual". The New Indian Express. IANS. 28 September 2017. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Tovino Thomas on board as the villain for Maari 2". Deccan Chronicle. 26 September 2017. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  9. ↑ "Sai Pallavi signs second Tamil film, 'Maari 2' it is!". The News Minute. 29 September 2017. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  10. ↑ "New addition to cast of 'Maari 2', Krishna signed as second lead". The News Minute. 7 October 2017. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  11. ↑ "Varalaxmi Sarathkumar joins the cast of Dhanush's Maari 2". Hindustan Times. 28 December 2017. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  12. ↑ "Yuvan Shankar Raja, Dhanush reunite after a decade for Maari 2". Hindustan Times. 26 December 2017. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  13. ↑ Chennai Times [@ChennaiTimesTOI] (1 January 2018). "Pooja stills of @dhanushkraja & @Sai_Pallavi92's #Maari2 that happened on December 14th! Shoot of the film directed by @directormbalaji to start from this month!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  14. ↑ "Maari 2 and Suriya 36 commence". The New Indian Express. 22 January 2018. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  15. ↑ "Maari 2 shooting underway in Tenkasi". Sify. 9 February 2018. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  16. ↑ "Varalaxmi Sarathkumar begins shooting for Dhanush's 'Maari 2'". The New Indian Express. 14 February 2018. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  17. ↑ "Balaji Mohan's latest update on Dhanush's Maari 2". Sify. 16 March 2018. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  18. ↑ "'Maari 2': Dhanush and Balaji Mohan resume film's shoot". The Times of India. 23 April 2018. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  19. ↑ "Prabhu Deva to choreograph the last song in 'Maari 2'". Sify. 2 August 2018. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "Dhanush's 'Maari 2' shoot wrapped up". The News Minute. 13 August 2018. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  21. ↑ "Rowdy Baby Becomes The First South Indian Song To Set This Record!". V Cinema. 25 September 2023. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  22. ↑ "'Maari 2' to release on December 21". Sify. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  23. ↑ S, Srivatsan (21 December 2018). "'Maari 2' review: An overlong yet entertaining sequel". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  24. ↑ Iyengar, Anusha (21 December 2018). "Maari 2 movie review: Dhanush and Sai Pallavi's sequel is a complete mass entertainer with a dash of nostalgia". Times Now. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  25. ↑ Suganth, M (22 December 2018). "Maari 2 Movie Review". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 April 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  26. ↑ "Nominations for the 66th Filmfare Awards (South) 2019". Filmfare. 10 December 2019. Archived from the original on 12 December 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  27. ↑ "Winners of the 66th Filmfare Awards (South) 2019". Filmfare. 21 December 2019. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
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