Ko

Directed by K. V. Anand

Produced by Kumar

Jayaraman

Written by K. V. Anand

Subha

Starring Jeeva

Ajmal Ameer

Karthika Nair

Piaa Bajpai

Music by Harris Jayaraj

Cinematography Richard M. Nathan

Editing by Anthony

Studio R. S. Infotainment

Distributed by Red Giant Movies

Release date(s) 22 April 2011

Running time 166 minutes

Country India

Language Tamil

Ko (film)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ko (Tamil: ேகா; English: King) is a 2011 Indian Tamilpolitical thriller film directed by K. V. Anand starringJeeva, Ajmal Ameer, newcomer Karthika Nair and PiaaBajpai. The film was released on 22 April 2011 to

mostly positive reviews,[1] and was dubbed into Teluguas Rangam as well. The film is being remade into Hindiwith Akshay Kumar depicting the role of Jeeva andKarthika Nair reprising her role.The Movie borrows itssource material from the Hollywood Movie State of Playstarring Ben Affleck and Russel Crowe.

Contents

1 Plot

2 Cast3 Development and filming

4 Release

5 Reception

5.1 Box office

6 Soundtrack

7 References8 External links

Plot

Ashwin (Jeeva), a young, energetic photojournalistworking for the private newspaper Dina Anjal,witnesses Naxalites robbing a local bank. He chasesthem and manages to click photos of the robbers. Whenhe tries to escape, he is stopped by a young woman(Karthika Nair) who assumes he is the culprit and helpsthe robbers to take his camera. However, he is able tosecure the memory card of the camera and to prove thathe is a press photographer he shows the photos to thepolice, who identify everyone except the gang leader(whose face is covered by a mask). At his office, hemeets Renuka ‘Renu’, the woman who earlier mistookhim, who has newly joined as Article Editor. Saraswathi‘Saro’ (Piaa Bajpai) also works in his office who hasfeelings for Ashwin. After finding out that Ashwin likesRenuka, she sacrfices her love.

Vasanthan Perumal (Ajmal Ameer), a recent graduate and engineer, strives hard to enter the political field. He is

in contest against his rivals who capture the people at the time of elections by giving freebies and money. No onecares about Vasanthan and his team of graduates, who promise a healthy government to people. Their groupname happens to be 'Siragugal'.

Meanwhile, Renuka writes a cover story about politician Aalavandhan (Kota Srinivasa Rao), describing hisattempt to marry a minor. Enraged by this, Aalavandhan barges into the newspaper office and shouts at Renuka.The audio recording of her interview disappears, and she is fired from her job for falsified reporting. Ashwinnow risks his life to capture the pictures of Aalavandhan who actually engages in child marriage. Later the storywith the photos is printed in their newspaper and this makes Renuka to fall in love with him.

Vasanthan organizes a political campaign meeting. Ashwin receives a text message from Saro that states there isa bomb underneath the stage where Vasanthan and his political party is. Ashwin manages to save Vasanthan,while he finds Saro seriously injured and fighting for her life amidst the riot, eventually dies from her injuries.

Ashwin, through a video clip recorded by another photographer, finds out that Saro was intentionally killed bysomeone. He later notices a resemblance between the leader of the bank robbery and this unknown killer,concluding that it is the same person.

Vasanthan wins in the elections taking majority, gaining the title of Central Minister and his party raises to thesecretariat. He orders the release of 20 naxals on Republic Day, citing humanity. Hearing this, Ashwin rushes tomeet Vasanthan. In Vasanthan's office, he finds the leader of the bank robbery who had also killed Saro. Hetells Vasanthan about it, but he ignores him and pretends to be busy. Ashwin then follows the leader to hishideout.At the same time, the CM (Vasanthan) orders Tamil Nadu Police to go kill the naxals at the addressVasanthan gave and the Police Commandos surrounds the perimeter. There he learns that it was Vasanthanwho, with the help of the naxals, planted the bomb and killed Saraswati as she saw the bomb being planted. Inthe end Vasanthan gets killed by a blast. Ashwin never reveals the relationship between Vasanthan and the killerto the media. Ashwin feared that if he does so, other party members who won along with Vasanth in electionwill lose their seats because of people. Ashwin tells the press that Vasanth sacrificed himself to kill the naxals.

Cast

Jeeva as Ashwin JayaramanAjmal Ameer as Vasanthan Perumal

Karthika Nair as Renuka "Renu" NarayananPiaa Bajpai as Saraswathi "Saro"

Prakash Raj as Yogeswaran "Yogi"Kota Srinivasa Rao as Alavandhan

Sona Heiden as Sumitha KothariD. Suresh as Suresh

Pattimandram Raja as JayaramanJegan as Chandr eruma maaduBose Venkat as Kadhir, the Naxalite group head

Anthony as himself

Special appearances (in alphabetical order) by:

AbbasAdharvaa

AnjaliAnuja Iyer

Bharath

Ganesh Venkatraman

Harris JayarajJai

Jayam RaviJohn VijayKannan

KarthiKrish

Madhan KarkyNarain

Peter HeinRima Kallingal

Sanjana SinghM. Sasikumar

ShivaSuriyaTamannaah Bhatia

Development and filming

Initially the film was rumored to have Karthi in the lead. However, it was later officially announced that

Silambarasan Rajendar would play the lead in the film,[2] but was later replaced by Jeeva.[3] The lead femalerole was initially supposed to be enacted by Tamannaah Bhatia, who was replaced by actress Radha's daughter,

Karthika Nair.[3] The trailer of this film was played during Manmadan Ambu and got a favourable

response.[4][5]

The film was shot on location in Chennai, Harbin in China as well as in Western Norway at Trolltunga, Stalheim,

Bergen and Prekestolen,[6] becoming the first Tamil film to be shot in Norway.

Release

Ko released in nearly 230 theatres in Tamil Nadu, making it Jeeva's biggest wide release.[7] It is also beingreleased in multiplexes in metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Vadodara with Englishsubtitles to attract the non-Tamil audience.

Reception

The film opened to mostly positive reviews. Behindwoods.com gave three out of five and the verdict "a stylish

commercial entertainer!", while also lauding the performances of the lead artists.[8] Sify also gave a positivereview, citing that "for an audience numbed by predictable Kollywood potboilers week after week, here is anoriginal offering from KV Anand, a fearless filmmaker who doesn't insult your intelligence. He is able to cater to

the needs of both the elite as well as mass audiences, which should be applauded."[9] Pavithra Srinivasan ofRediff also gave three out of five saying that Ko was a "spicy ride", further citing that "with its basic plot ofpolitics, it has enough twists and turns to keep you occupied. Best of all are the light touches of sarcasm andhumour that make it work. Go for it." She also appreciated Ajmal in particular, labelling him as the "surprisepackage" who had got "a lot of scope to perform, and makes use of the opportunity well." Malathi Rangarajanfrom The Hindu described the film as a "tale with a realistic twist" and praised Anand who "strikes gold with Ko.

Blending the commercial with the realistic is a challenge, but K. V. Anand proves adept at it."[10] Times Chennai

Ko

Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj

Genre Feature film soundtrack

Label Sony Music

Harris Jayaraj chronology

Engeyum Kaadhal

(2010)

Ko

(2011)

7aam Arivu

(2011)

Professional ratings

Review scores

Source Rating

Behindwoods [19]

gave 65/100 and stated that "You feel empathy, rage, helplessness, and triumph at every step of the way".[11]

Indiaglitz said that "Racy all through, it is a movie that is worth a watch, if you are really not bothered about logic

at certain places", while stating that Jeeva was "impressive and played his part exceedingly well."[12] A criticfrom The Times of India gave three and a half stars and said that "With Ko, director Anand gives notice of hisimmense talent once again, making a movie that is all set to lord over the box office this summer!" and said that

Karthika made "A confident debut in Tamil".[13]

Nevertheless, the film also fetched scattered mixed to negative response. Ko is loosely based on the 2009Russell Crowe starrer State of Play.Rohit Ramachandran of nowrunning.com rated the film 1.5 out of 5 statingthat "Ko staggers throughout, pretending to take risks and after the first misstep; it's nothing but a free fall, all the

way. The funny thing is the free fall isn't a smooth ride either. It hits every protruding rock." [14] National FilmAward-winning critic, Baradwaj Rangan wrote that "If someone wants to make a case for the abolishment ofsong and dance from our cinema, Ko would be Exhibit A." He also went on to state that "Ko is a series of big

scenes with no transitions, no segues, no scenes that just stop to smell the scenery."[15]

Box office

Ko collected 5 crore during its first two days of screening.[16] In Chennai, it collected 73.39 lakhs in the

opening weekend.[17] After 9 weeks, it collected 7.99 crore in Chennai.[18]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is scored by Harris Jayaraj, who had

previously worked with Anand on Ayan.[21] Thecomposition of the songs took place in Macau. DuringDiwali 2010 a short teaser was released which featuredthe song "Enamo Aedho" which received a high response.Another song, "Aga Naga", featured special appearancesby several Tamil film personalities, including composerJayaraj (see under cast). The album was launched on 19

January 2011 in Chennai.[22]

No. Title Lyrics Singer(s) Length1. "Aga Naga"

Pa. Vijay

Vijay

Prakash,

Tippu, Ranina

Reddy, PriyaSubramaniam,

Solar Sai

05:22

2. "EnamoAedho"

MadhanKarky,

Sricharan,

Emcee

Jesz

Aalap Raju,Prashanthini,

Sricharan,

Emcee Jesz

05:36

3. "Gala Gala"

Kapilan

Tippu, Krish,

Haricharan,

SayanoraPhilip

04:55

4. "Venpaniyae" Sriram

Rediff [20] Pa. Vijay

Parthasarathy,

BombayJayashree

05:25

5. "Netri Pottil"

Madhan

KarkyNaresh Iyer 02:43

6. "Amali

Thumali" Viveka

Hariharan,

Swetha

Mohan &

Chinmayi

05:50

References

1. ^ Ko release postponed (http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-news-1/apr-11-02/ko-kv-anand-11-04-11.html) , Behindwoods, http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-news-1/apr-11-02/ko-kv-anand-11-04-11.html

2. ^ "Simbu walks out of KV Anand’s Ko!" (http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=14930039) . SifyMovies. 2010-02-04. http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=14930039. Retrieved 2011-02-07.

3. ̂a b "Simbu 'OUT' Jeeva 'IN'" (http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/54196.html) . Indiaglitz. 2010-02-05. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/54196.html. Retrieved 2011-02-07.

4. ^ "‘Manmadhan Ambu’ comes with ‘Ko'" (http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/62530.html) .Indiaglitz. 2010-12-23. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/62530.html. Retrieved 2011-02-07.

5. ^ http://www.indiaeveryday.in/tamilnadu/news-five-reasons-to-watch-k-v-anands-ko-1144-2384308.htm

6. ^ "Ko at Western Norway Film Commission" (http://www.wnfc.no/index.php?page=films/profile&counter=182) . Western Norway Film Commission. 2010-10-23.http://www.wnfc.no/index.php?page=films/profile&counter=182. Retrieved 2011-04-25.

7. ^ http://www.sify.com/movies/ko-opening-big-worldwide-news-tamil-levo9qagfgh.html

8. ^ http://behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-reviews/reviews-2/apr-11-04/ko-review.html

9. ^ http://www.sify.com/movies/tamil/review.php?id=14968101&ctid=5&cid=2429

10. ^ http://www.hindu.com/cp/2011/04/24/stories/2011042450410200.htm

11. ^ http://www.timeschennai.com/index.php?mod=article&cat=Entertainment&article=30302

12. ^ http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/review/11894.html

13. ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/tamil/Ko/moviereview/8063480.cms

14. ^ http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/7959/tamil/ko/3055/review.htm

15. ^ http://baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/bullet-point-report-ko/

16. ^ http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/66650.html

17. ^ Ko release postponed (http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-slide-shows/movie-4/top-ten-movies-apr-25/tamil-cinema-topten-movie-ko.html) , Behindwoods, http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-slide-shows/movie-4/top-ten-movies-apr-25/tamil-cinema-topten-movie-ko.html

18. ^ "Chennai Box office" (http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-slide-shows/movie-4/top-ten-movies-june-27/tamil-cinema-topten-movie-ko.html) . Behindwoods. http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-slide-shows/movie-4/top-ten-movies-june-27/tamil-cinema-topten-movie-ko.html.

19. ^ "KO MUSIC REVIEW" (http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-music-reviews/review-1/ko-music-review.html) . Behindwoods. http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-music-reviews/review-1/ko-music-review.html. Retrieved 2011-07-17.

20. ^ "Nothing original about Ko's music" (http://www.rediff.com/movies/report/south-music-review-ko/20110125.htm) . Rediff. http://www.rediff.com/movies/report/south-music-review-ko/20110125.htm.Retrieved 2011-07-17.

21. ^ "‘Ko’, a political thriller" (http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/59757.html) . Indiaglitz. 2010-08-31. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/59757.html. Retrieved 2011-02-07.

22. ^ "‘KO’ Audio comes in style" (http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/63234.html) . Indiaglitz. 2011-01-20. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/63234.html. Retrieved 2011-02-07.

External links

Ko (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1851988/) at the Internet Movie Database

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko_(film)"Categories: 2011 films | Indian films | Tamil-language films

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