Darbar (film)

Darbar is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, and produced by Allirajah Subaskaran under Lyca Productions. The film stars Rajinikanth, Nayanthara, Nivetha Thomas and Suniel Shetty. The music was composed by Anirudh Ravichander while cinematography and editing are performed by Santosh Sivan and A. Sreekar Prasad, respectively. It marks Rajinikanth playing the role of a police officer in the film after 27 years, whose last police role being featured in Pandiyan (1992).

It follows Aaditya Arunasalam (Rajinikanth) the commissioner of Mumbai Police, sets out to curb rampant drug-trafficking and prostitution in the city. However, when he uncovers a deeper controversy linked to an international drug lord, he tries to fulfill his secret agenda. Earlier known under the working title Thalaivar 167, the film’s title Darbar was officially announced on 9 April 2019. Principal photography of the film commenced in April 2019, with film being primarily shot in Mumbai, and was completed in October 2019.

The film was released theatrically in India on 9 January 2020, coinciding with Thai Pongal. It met with mixed reviews upon release, and although the film grossed ₹250 crore at the worldwide box office, making it one of Rajinikanth’s highest-grossing films it was considered a poor performer, which caused distributors to threaten hunger strikes, demanding that Rajinikanth recoup their losses.

Plot

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Aditya Arunachalam, the Commissioner of Mumbai Police, is seen killing numerous gangsters across Mumbai in police encounters. His reckless behavior has become the target for widespread criticism and condemnation. His actions finally prompt the National Human Rights Commission of India to take action against him.

In a flashback, Aditya is assigned to take charge as the Commissioner of Police of Mumbai, in a bid by the police department to curb rampant drug-trafficking and prostitution in the city. He arrives in Mumbai with his daughter Valli to assume his new position. Upon arrival, he rescues three women, one of whom is the daughter of the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He immediately initiates a major campaign to curb drugs and prostitution, using the situation of the kidnapped women as a catalyst. In the process, he apprehends Ajay Malhotra, who is responsible for the abduction and abuse of minors under the influence of drugs. Ajay is the son of Vinod Malhotra, an influential industrialist, who becomes enraged at his son’s arrest.

Later, under Aditya’s directive, the police go to the prison where Ajay is incarcerated, in order to take video evidence of his imprisonment. However, when the video is shown to Aditya, a proxy is seen in his place. Having foreseen this, Aditya requests the Central Government to investigate, which is denied. Through an investigation, Aditya learns that Ajay is hiding in Thailand. He has the Royal Thai Police arrest Ajay on the charges of illegally entering Thailand under a fake passport and begins the formal diplomatic process to have him repatriated. However, corrupt government officials under Vinod’s payroll declare that Ajay is still incarcerated in India, forcing Aaditya to return to India empty-handed. Undeterred, he kills Ajay’s proxy under the pretext of self-defense and declares that “Ajay’s” body will be revealed to the public. Desperate to avoid public shame and with no other alternative, the corrupt officials have Ajay promptly executed, much to Vinod’s helplessness. At Ajay’s funeral, Vinod reveals that Ajay is not his son, but of Hariharan ‘Hari’ Chopra, a notorious mafia boss and international drug lord, infamously known for murdering numerous policemen in a brutal massacre 27 years prior.

Hari is informed of his son’s death. He enters India via the India-Bangladesh border and traces Ajay’s murder to Aditya. Seeking retribution, he plots to kill them. In anticipation, Vinod tries to warn Aditya through Valli, but is unable to do so. He is later murdered by Hari for failing to protect Ajay. Hari attacks Aditya and Valli by orchestrating a gruesome car accident. Aditya barely escapes with his life, sustaining minor injuries. However, Valli is diagnosed with terminal hemorrhage sustained as a consequence of the accident. Crestfallen, she makes a self-recording for Aaditya to see; dying before he regains consciousness. Grief-stricken and enraged, Aditya decides to kill Vinod, only to discover about his death. Driven to the verge of insanity, he turns extremely violent and begins a rampage of murdering gangsters, which brings the film back to the present.

Hari organizes an ambush to kill Aditya and his team. He escapes, but several of his subordinates are injured. He is suspended from the police force as a consequence but is given a second chance. Perplexed about the connection between the murders of Ajay, Vinod, and Valli, he discovers Valli’s video clip, which reveals a third person with a strong connection to the case. With the assistance of police records, Aditya traces the case back to Hari. He also learns about the true link between Hari, Ajay, and Vinod – Hari had handed over Ajay to Vinod to keep him safe, before fleeing India. With assistance from a prison’s inmates, Aditya traces Vinod’s location to the old office complex of Mumbai Media, a media franchise owned by media baron Pramod Gupta, one of Hari’s associates.

With the help of numerous policemen, Aditya launches a raid on the complex. He manages to capture Gupta and kill Hari’s goons but fails to capture Hari himself. Hari retreats to the police station where he had orchestrated his brutal massacre and takes several people hostage. Aditya arrives at the police station and fights Hari, eventually emerging victorious. He manages to incapacitate Hari and stabs him to death, thus avenging Valli’s death and instilling peace in Mumbai.

Cast

Production

Development

“Every one of us grew up with and even professionally, he just has a different vibe. Whenever do you see Rajini on-screen doesn’t it remind you of your childhood? I made this movie and wrote the script as a fan, how I enjoyed him on-screen. I didn’t put the same sequences but with an updated concept. He plays a heroic cop from Mumbai. We even have a similar sequence in the film like the one that took place in the recent Hyderabad vet rape case. I had written a similar sequence in the film where the criminal is punished in the same place he committed the crime. We were surprised to see something like that happen in reality.”

– AR Murugadoss about Darbar and Rajinikanth to Times of India

In March 2015, Rajinikanth was reported to sign his next film with A. R. Murugadoss and backed by Venu Ravichandran of Aascar Films; the project was reported to be put on hold until his issue with the distributors over the financial losses of his film Lingaa (2014), being sorted out. However, the project failed to materialize citing Ravichandran’s bankruptcy. On 25 September 2018, reports were surfaced that Rajinikanth will collaborate with Murugadoss, for his next project, and will be bankrolled by Sun Pictures, who also produced the latter’s Sarkar (2018), and the former’s Petta (2019). However, on 25 November 2018, Lyca Productions announced that they would collaborate with Rajinikanth again after their previous collaboration 2.0 (2018). At an awards ceremony held in December 2018, Murugadoss refuted the claims of the film’s title as Narkaali, and further stated that “the film is not a political genre as of my previous hits, but it will be a commercial mass entertainer”.

Production of the film began with the working title Thalaivar 167. Music director Anirudh Ravichander and cinematographer Santosh Sivan, openly confirmed their presence in the film. On 29 March 2019, Murugadoss offered a visit to the Pazhani Murugan temple, to perform a special pooja (prayer ceremony) for the success of the film, and also announced the title and release date of the film. On 9 April 2019, the film’s first look poster were released by Lyca Productions on the social media platforms, which revealed the title of the film as Darbar. The first look of Rajinikanth had him surrounded by police dogs, belts, badges and handcuffs. It marks Rajinikanth playing the role of a police officer in the film after 27 years, whose last police role being featured in Pandiyan (1992). In an interview, director Murugadoss stated the film is about a tough cop like Alex Pandiyan, a character from the film Moondru Mugam (1982).

Casting

Nayanthara was confirmed to play the female lead in the film, collaborating with Rajinikanth for the third time, after Chandramukhi (2005) and Sivaji: The Boss (2007), despite playing a cameo in the latter. It was earlier reported that Bollywood actor Prateik Babbar was the main antagonist in Darbar. However, later reports showed that Suniel Shetty was cast as the lead antagonist, marking his return to Tamil cinema after 12B (2001). Shetty agreed to play the antagonist despite declining previous offers to play the antagonist in other Tamil films. Murugadoss approached Shetty while he was filming for Marakkar for which Shetty grew his hair long. Murugadoss wanted to do something special with Shetty’s long hair. Shetty showed Murugadoss the look of his man bun, which was ultimately used for the film. In an interview, Shetty revealed how Darbar is his first “meaty” role in Tamil cinema. Yogi Babu makes his collaboration with Rajinikanth for the first time, through this film.

Filming

On 4 April, a photoshoot featuring Rajinikanth was held at the popular studio in Chennai, with renowned photographer Venket Ram, and costumes designed by Niharika Bhasin Khan. The stills which were unofficially leaked into the internet, featured the actor in a cop avatar. Principal photography for the film began on 10 April 2019 in Mumbai. Few stills featuring Rajinikanth, Nivetha Thomas and Yogi Babu were leaked into the internet. On 3 May 2019, the shoot of the film has been put on hold, following reports of friction with college students at a campus where the movie was being filmed, which were resumed later. The film’s first schedule was completed on 15 May.

The second schedule of the film was resumed on 29 May and wrapped up within 30 June. Suniel Shetty joined the film’s second schedule. On 5 June 2019, a video from the shooting spot unofficially made its way through the internet, despite high security in the sets. The filmmakers reported a similar incident during the film’s shoot on the last week of June 2019. The team shifted the location from Mumbai to Delhi, citing heavy rains. It was reported that the film will be wrapped up in the end of August 2019.

After completing, the second schedule of the film, the makers took a 10-day long break, to resume the shoot from 10 July 2019. On 25 July, Murugadoss shared a few stills from the film, featuring Rajinikanth holds a sword in his hand and can be seen walking through a cloud of dust in a policeman’s uniform in the first still, and in the other image sees him happier in a light blue suit.

The final schedule of the film took place on 19 August 2019 in Jaipur, where a couple of action sequences will be shot. On 4 October 2019, the makers announced that they have completed the shooting of the film.

Post-production

On 14 November 2019, Rajinikanth started dubbing for the film in Chennai, and completed within two days.

Soundtrack

Darbar
Soundtrack album by Anirudh Ravichander
Released	7 December 2019
Recorded	2019
Studio	Albuquerque Records, Chennai
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	20:43
Language	Tamil
Label	Lyca Productions Divo
Producer	Anirudh Ravichander
Anirudh Ravichander chronology
Gang Leader (2019) Darbar (2019) Master (2021)
Singles from Darbar
“Chumma Kizhi” Released: 27 November 2019

The film’s soundtrack and score was composed by Anirudh Ravichander, marking his second collaboration with actor Rajinikanth after Petta (2019) and also with director A. R. Murugadoss after Kaththi (2014). An instrumental theme song for the film titled “Thalaivar Theme”, that accompanied with the motion poster was released on 7 November 2019. The film’s first single, “Chumma Kizhi”, with lyrics by Vivek and sung by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, was released on 27 November 2019. It was also released in Telugu as “Dhummu Dhooli”, and in Hindi as “Napde Killi” with S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, and Nakash Aziz rendering the vocals. The film’s album was launched on 7 December 2019 at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai, in the presence of the film’s cast and crew in attendance, and was simultaneously made available to stream through the online music streaming platform Gaana, on the same day itself.

Post the album release, the film’s soundtrack has an unreleased hidden song, titled “Kannula Thimiru”, which were recorded by three transwomen singers – Chandramukhi, Rachana and Priya Murthi, performed live on the film’s audio launch. The song was not included in the album, as Anirudh had to release the song with the tune phrase from the theme song of Annaamalai (1992). For the song, Anirudh roped in veteran composer Deva, to conduct the brass section of the tune; a making video of the song was released in mid-January 2020, went viral on the internet.

Reviewing for the soundtrack album, Behindwoods gave 3 out of 5 stating, “Anirudh packs interesting tunes for every ‘Rajini’ mode, expect the visuals to add more punch.” Indiaglitz, gave the same rating and stated “An album which gets you tapping your feet endlessly”. Sify stated “the soundtrack album is quite disappointing as compared to Rajinikanth’s earlier film Petta, due to the unimpressive lyrics but it touches the listener’s soul and enables them to sing along”. Moviecrow gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated “Anirudh tunes are hardly memorable and the album has no catchy or repeat worthy tracks.”

All lyrics are written by Vivek, except “Thani Vazhi” which had lyrics by Yogi B, Senthuzhan and Syan.

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	“Chumma Kizhi”	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	3:50
2.	“Dumm Dumm”	Nakash Aziz	4:38
3.	“Thalaivar Theme”	Instrumental	0:43
4.	“Thani Vazhi”	Anirudh Ravichander, Shakthisree Gopalan, Yogi B	3:26
5.	“Tharam Maara Single”	Anirudh Ravichander, Arjun Chandy	3:48
6.	“Villain Theme”	Instrumental	1:05
7.	“Kannula Thimiru”	Chandramukhi, Rachana, Priya Murthi	3:12

Release

On the announcement of the first look release, the makers also planned to schedule the release, coinciding with the Pongal festival. However, in November 2019, the makers announced a new release date of 9 January 2020, to get the benefits of the extended holiday weekend, as Pongal falls on 15 January 2020. The film was also scheduled for a pan-Indian release in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi languages. The film opened in 7,000 screens worldwide, with 4,000 screens across India.

On 7 January 2020, the High Court restrained the film’s release in Malaysia after its producer failed to pay ₹23 crore deficit to its distributor. However, later revoked the claims, after Lyca Productions, had showed a bank guarantee of ₹4.9 crores.

Distribution

Dheeraj Enterprises bought the distribution rights of the film in Karnataka. The film’s North Indian theatrical rights, were sold to Reliance Entertainment, and released the film in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages in the North Indian circuits. Prime Media acquired the US rights, and released the film earlier on 8 January, a day before the Indian release.

Marketing

The motion poster of the film was released on 7 November 2019. Kamal Haasan, Mahesh Babu, Mohanlal and Salman Khan, released the poster in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi languages. The film’s trailer was released at a launch event in held in Mumbai on 16 December, with Rajinikanth, Suniel Shetty and Murugadoss being present. The pre-release event of the Telugu dubbed version took place in Hyderabad on 3 January 2020.

To make the film’s promotion more unique, the makers wrapped a SpiceJet airline with Darbar Rajini livery on its flights. The outside branding on the aircraft bearing an image of Rajinikanth in police uniform from the movie Darbar was displayed. This is the second time, a passenger jet had been wrapped for advertising an Indian film, after AirAsia India for Kabali (2016).

Speaking to The Hindu, R. Kannan, COO, Lyca Productions said, “The film will release in 7,000 screens across the world. We are planning to release it in a few islands to reach out to the maximum number of people”. Mr. Kannan said that around 15 brands such as SpiceJet, Cadbury’s, BookMyShow and Airtel have tied up with the film. “We are spending ₹7–80 million to promote the film. The marketing investment for this film is one of the highest in Tamil cinema,” he said, adding that the trade is expecting a super hit.

Home media

The film was made available to stream on OTT platform Amazon Prime on 24 February 2020. The satellite rights of the film was sold to Sun TV.

Controversy

Darbar has two scenes where characters speak of prison inmates being allowed to go out and shop. The dialogues are not mouthed by Rajinikanth in either scene, though the actor is present in the shot in the movie. Lyca Productions announced that it will be removing controversial dialogues in the film, deemed to be a reference to V. K. Sasikala, the jailed aide of former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. Lyca Productions released a statement on Twitter that read: “In Darbar, particular words and dialogues having references to prisoners or inmates going out of jail or prison during their imprisonment was only included with an intention of providing entertainment to the audience and not intended to refer to any specific individual or to offend anyone. However, since some of those words seemed to have hurt some people, we have hereby decided to remove the same from the film.” Talking about the same, Sam Daniel from NDTV wrote, “Fans watching superstar Rajinikanth’s Darbar will miss his dialogues on irregularities inside prisons which many felt were a tacit dig at jailed Sasikala Natarajan, close friend of late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa”.

Reception

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The film received mixed reviews from critics. Behindwoods wrote “Rajini’s Darbar has the substance perfectly laced with Superstar’s style and mass” and gave 2.75 out of 5 stars. Film critic Sreedhar Pillai, writing in an article for Firstpost gave 2.75 out of 5 stars and stated “The first half of Darbar is enjoyable mainly due to Rajinikanth’s style and swagger.” Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote “Darbar is targeted fair and square at Rajinikanth fans, but it does nothing to give masala cinema a fresh shot of energy”. Writing for The Times of India, M Suganth gave 3 out of 5 stars and stated “Darbar is an engaging commercial cocktail of action and drama.” Shubhra Gupta, editor-in-chief of The Indian Express gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated “Darbar remains a Rajinikanth film which bows at each step to the continuing myth of the one and only Thalaivar.” A critic from The Hindu stated “Despite A.R. Murugadoss offering very little substance for him to work with, the superstar just about manages to carry this film on his aging shoulders.”

Sify gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated “Darbar is an average cop action entertainer packed to satisfy the appetite of the die-hard fans of Thalaivar.” Karthik Kumar of the Hindustan Times wrote “AR Murugadoss plays on Rajinikanth’s strength and swag but everything else in this film gets a lackadaisical treatment.” Baradwaj Rangan of the Film Companion, stated “The film falls in a no-man’s land, where the drama and the action is neither powerful nor punchy enough.” India Today gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating “Barring a clichéd and predictable storyline, Darbar is strictly a film by a Rajinikanth fan for Thalaivar’s fans.” Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated “Despite being a stale and predictable cop film, it’s Rajinikanth’s trademark swag that keeps the scenes alive.” News18 gave 3 out of 5 stars stating “Darbar is terrific entertainer that has its shortcomings and dull moments, but Rajinikanth fans won’t be disappointed.”

Economics

Pre-release revenue

The film’s pre-release rights were sold for ₹220 crore (US$31 million). Tamil Nadu theatrical rights of the film were sold for ₹60 crore (US$8.4 million), Karnataka theatrical rights were sold for ₹9 crore (US$1.3 million), rights in Kerala were sold for ₹6 crore (US$840,000), and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana theatrical rights were sold for more than ₹15 crore (US$2.1 million). North India rights of the film, which included the Hindi dubbing satellite, digital and theatrical rights were sold up to ₹40 crore (US$5.6 million). The film minted more than ₹37 crore (US$5.2 million) on overseas rights. The satellite and digital rights of the film were sold for ₹50 crore (US$7.0 million), while other rights of the film were sold for ₹3 crore (US$420,000).

Box office

Domestic

The film reportedly minted Rs 180 million in Tamil Nadu alone on its first day. and it has approximately grossed over Rs 85 crore in Tamil Nadu. Chennai city has been particularly good for Darbar, where it grossed Rs 14.67 crore. while in Kerala and Karnataka it has collected Rs 8 crore and Rs 19 crore respectively. It has collected around Rs 20 crore from Telugu states and around Rs 8 crore from the Hindi version. The film has grossed ₹1.35 billion in domestic box office in 11 days.

Worldwide

Darbar has grossed over ₹2 billion worldwide in 11 days since its release. The film grossed $400,000 (USD) on its opening day in the United States. Just over the opening weekend, Darbar has comfortably raked in $1 million (₹7.09 crore) in the US. Till 19 January 2020, the film crossed $1.6 million (₹11.36 crore) in the US. Darbar has collected approximately ₹70 crore in overseas market in 11 days.