Bigil (Eng: Whistle) is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language sports action film written and directed by Atlee Kumar and produced by Kalpathi S. Aghoram under the banner AGS Entertainment. Bigil stars Vijay in dual lead roles as father and son alongside Nayanthara and Jackie Shroff in other prominent roles. Bigil has music composed by A. R. Rahman. The film’s title, Bigil was announced on 22 June 2019.
Bigil follows Michael, a mobster and a former footballer who decides to coach a women’s football team when their coach gets attacked. Michael faces challenges when his team doesn’t co-operate with him due to his violent background and also finds himself hunted by some rivals who want revenge. Released theatrically in India on 25 October 2019, Bigil emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2019.
Michael Rayappan is a crime boss from Chennai who works for the welfare of people in his slum. He has a romantic relationship with Angel Aasirvatham, a physiotherapist who comically refuses to marry any groom at the last minute due to their love. He has a running feud with a rival don Daniel. One night, Daniel attacks Michael and his close friend Kathir, who is the coach of the Tamil Nadu women’s football team. Kathir suffers spinal injuries during the attack, due of which he is paralysed for a year. To allow the women’s football team to take part in the upcoming National Championship in Delhi, Kathir requests to the Tamil Nadu Football Federation to replace him with his former teammate named “Bigil”, who is none other than Michael. The story then shifts to Michael’s past as a football player.
Seven years earlier, Michael was an aspiring footballer and contributed to victories for the Tamil Nadu football team along with Kathir. His father was Rayappan, a don who had a feud with a rival don Alex, who was Daniel’s father. Rayappan encouraged his son’s passion for football, as he did not want him to end up as a criminal like him. When Michael was unable to make it to the Indian football team due to Rayappan’s criminal record, Rayappan personally took up the matter with the All India Football Federation president J. K. Sharma and forcefully ensured Sharma to include Michael and Kathir in the Indian team probable list. But despite Rayappan’s efforts, Michael’s football career was cut short as he witnessed Rayappan being killed by Alex and Daniel, just when he was about to leave for Delhi to attend the selection trial for the Indian football team. Michael killed Alex in front of Daniel, taking revenge for Rayappan’s death, and stayed back in Chennai to become the new leader of his father’s gang.
In the present day, Michael accepts Kathir’s request to coach the women’s football team and leaves for Delhi with the team, with Angel also accompanying them as team physiotherapist. But due to his criminal background, the girls refuse to co-operate with him, even blaming him for the team’s opening loss to Manipur in the National Championship and requesting the Federation to have him removed. Dejected, Michael gives his resignation to Sharma, but soon realises that Sharma is targeting him in revenge for the humiliation he faced at the hands of Rayappan to allow him into the Indian football team. Sharma sends armed assailants to attack Michael, however Michael subdues the assailants and withdraws his resignation. He convinces the girls to support him and starts training them hard with the sole focus of winning the Championship. He even manages to bring back two former key players to boost the team’s strength; Gayathri, a Brahmin girl who had to quit playing football after she was married to a conservative family; and Anitha, who went into depression and refused to leave her room after a man threw acid on her face as she spurned his advances. Despite Sharma trying to rig the team’s next match against Haryana so that they will be eliminated and sent home, they manage to beat Haryana and win all their remaining matches, eventually qualifying for the Final at Chennai, where they are to play Manipur again.
On the eve of the Final, one of the team’s players, Vembu, is kidnapped and forcefully injected with cocaine by Daniel, who is hired by Sharma in order to sabotage the team’s chances of winning the Championship. Though she recovers, she is unable to play in the final as she would fail the dope test. The team’s captain, Thendral, is also kidnapped by Daniel, who attempts to forcefully inject cocaine on her as well, however Michael manages to rescue her. Michael proceeds to kill Daniel once and for all, but when he sees Daniel’s young son, he changes his mind and spares Daniel, as he does not want the young boy’s future to end up like him by seeing his father die. The next day, Tamil Nadu plays the Final against Manipur without Vembu. The match turns out to be a thriller with Tamil Nadu winning the Championship through a penalty shootout. Michael and the team dedicate their success to Kathir, who is watching the match from the dugout in a wheelchair.
During the credits, Michael gets Sharma framed for drug possession, leading to Sharma’s arrest in Malaysia, where he is on a holiday. A few months later, Michael, no longer a rowdy, takes up football coaching for children, with one of his wards being the son of Daniel, who has made peace with Michael.
Directed by Atlee Kumar
Produced by Kalpathi S. Aghoram, Kalpathi S. Ganesh & Kalpathi S. Suresh
Written by Atlee Kumar
Screenplay by Atlee Kumar
Story by Atlee Kumar
Starring Vijay, Nayanthara, Jackie Shroff, Kathir, Vivek
Music by Songs: A. R. Rahman Score: A. R. Rahman & Qutub-E-Kripa
Cinematography G. K. Vishnu
Edited by Ruben
Production AGS Entertainment
Distributed by Screen Scene Media Entertainment
Release date 25 October 2019
Running time 178 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
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