Kavan (Eng: Catapult) is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language satirical thriller film directed by K. V. Anand written with Subha and produced by AGS Entertainment. The film stars Vijay Sethupathi and Madonna Sebastian in the lead roles, Akashdeep Saighal and Bose Venkat as the main antagonists, and Vikranth, T. Rajender, Pandiarajan and Jagan in supporting roles. Kavan, which has a soundtrack and score composed by Hiphop Tamizha, began production in July 2016. Kavan released on 31 March 2017 & received generally positive reviews from critics and was declared a blockbuster at the box office.
Thilak (Vijay Sethupathi) is a news anchor who works for Zen One TV, which is run by Kalyan (Akashdeep Saighal), a corrupt and unethical media baron who uses blatant sensationalism to gain TRP and is closely associated with Dheeran Maniarasu (Bose Venkat), a corrupt and powerful politician. Kalyan ensures that his channel does not report anything negatively about Dheeran and receives kickbacks in return. Also working for Zen One TV is Malar (Madonna Sebastian), who is Thilak’s ex-girlfriend. Though Malar avoids Thilak initially, she soon realises her feelings for him and they get back together.
One day, Malar gets the news that her friend Kalpana (Darshana Rajendran), who is a social activist, has been raped, with the blame put on her boyfriend Abdul (Vikranth). Thilak, Creative Head Ashok (Five Star Krishna) and Malar manage to smuggle out Kalpana from hospital and convince her to tell her story. Kalpana had been raped by Dheeran’s goons in retribution for protesting against Dheeran’s pesticide factory, which had ruined a once-prosperous village due to the effluents coming out of the factory, and the blame was put on Abdul instead. This confession is telecasted live and Kalpana gains massive support from the public. However, Kalyan soon telecasts another video which depicts Kalpana as “mentally ill” and had tried to malign Dheeran due to her “mental state”. Enraged, Thilak attempts to expose Dheeran during a talk show, despite being bound by the Zen One management to ask questions framed by them to Dheeran. A brawl eventually ensues between Thilak and Dheeran and Thilak even brutally assaults Ashok, who is responsible for the video which had defamed Kalpana. Thilak then confronts Kalyan for his cronyism and lack of journalism ethics and is fired and blacklisted from all major media networks in response. Malar, Executive Producer Jagan (Jagan) and two other colleagues also walk out with Thilak in a show of solidarity and they too are blacklisted.
With nowhere else to go, Thilak, Malar, Jagan and the other 2 colleagues take up jobs with Muthamizh TV, a struggling local news channel run by Mayilvaganan (T. Rajendar). Thilak goes to the village and reports on how the villagers are affected as a result of the pesticide factory and telecasts it on Muthamizh TV. He also makes Abdul and Kalpana reveal their side of the story and also gets that telecasted along with a video showing Dheeran assaulting him at the Zen One TV studio. With Zen One TV as well as Dheeran now exposed, Kalyan decides to take revenge on Thilak by orchestrating a bomb blast with the help of Dheeran at the District Collector’s Office and putting the blame on Abdul, who was present at the Collector’s Office minutes before the bomb exploded, thereby sensationalising it as a “terrorist attack”. He also frames Thilak, Malar and Muthamizh TV as co-conspirators, leading to Muthamizh TV being blacked out by the Central Government. Undaunted, Thilak, who is on the run, manages to capture a video of Abdul revealing that he was not involved in any terrorist attack and was framed by Dheeran and Zen One TV. Thilak also records a video showing Ashok and the police orchestrating a fake encounter to kill Abdul. He manages to get both the videos telecasted on Zen One TV itself with the help of Jagan and the other 2 colleagues (who have rejoined Zen One TV as part of Thilak’s plan to expose Kalyan and Dheeran) as well as his former boss Pillai (Pandiarajan), the Chief Editor at Zen One TV who had long suffered in silence against the atrocities committed by the Zen One management.
Having being exposed completely, Kalyan and Dheeran, who are at the Muthamizh TV studio, boldly admit their crimes to Thilak and defend themselves, but unfortunately for them, their confession is recorded by the Police Commissioner (Nassar), who was working incognito in Muthamizh TV. Kalyan and Dheeran are arrested. Thilak, Mayilvaganan, Malar, Jagan, Pillai and the other 2 colleagues celebrate their victory. In the end, Thilak marries Malar.
Directed by K.V. Anand
Produced by Kalpathi S. Aghoram, Kalpathi S. Ganesh & Kalpathi S. Suresh
Written by K. V. Anand, Subha & Kabilan Vairamuthu
Starring Vijay Sethupathi, T. Rajendar, Vikranth, Madonna Sebastian, Pandiarajan
Music by Hiphop Tamizha
Cinematography Abinandhan Ramanujam
Edited by Anthony
Production AGS Entertainment
Release date 31 March 2017
Running time 160 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
