Richie is a 2017 Indian Tamil/Malayalam neo-noir crime film directed by Gautham Ramachandran and written by Rakshit Shetty. It is a remake of the 2014 Kannada film Ulidavaru Kandanthe, and stars Nivin Pauly in the title role, with Natarajan Subramaniam, Shraddha Srinath, and Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli in supporting roles.
The film began production in June 2016. Richie was released in India on 8 December 2017.
The film opens on Boxing Day with Megha (Shraddha Srinath), a news reporter from Chennai who is writing a story about the mysterious death of a young man, Richie (Nivin Pauly) who was shot dead during a Santa Claus parade in the port city of Thoothukudi. Megha actually knows Richie as he grew up at the reform school her parents used to work at. Megha goes to the port city to investigate the story for her article.
By questioning many villagers, Megha comes to know that he was wrongly sent to the reform school for killing a fellow classmate when in reality, it was his childhood best friend, Raghu, who was the culprit. However, Raghu managed to run away from the city and escaped the law. The local police then framed Richie for the murder in order to close the case. After witnessing his son beating up another boy at the school, Richie’s father, the local priest Father Sagayam (Prakash Raj) stopped visiting him. After leaving school, Richie returned to his hometown and became the henchman of Isaac Annachi (G.K. Reddy), the don of the city who controlled the local fishermen community. Anything taken from the sea is split between the fishermen and Annachi.
One evening, Peter (Elango Kumaravel), a local fisherman finds an ancient statue in the sea and tries to sell it by himself to a smuggler from Kolkata. However, Annachi finds out about this and has Richie abduct Peter to find out where the statue is. Peter’s best friend, the motorboat mechanic Selvam (Natraj), who is in love with Peter’s sister, Philomena (Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli), tries to search for him. As it turns out, Raghu (Raj Bharath), Richie’s childhood friend, works for the smuggler in Kolkata. Wanting to make money for himself, Raghu steals the statue and returns to Toothukudi for the first time in years. He secretly meets his widowed mother, Radha (Tulasi) and promises to take her with him to Dubai where they can start a new life.
On Christmas Eve, Annachi learns that Peter sold the statue to a smuggler in Kolkata who has allegedly run away to Toothukudi. He is then also told by Raghu’s mother that her long lost son has returned last night from Kolkata. Sensing the connection between the two cases, Annachi sends Richie to retrieve the statue from Raghu. Richie forcefully brings Raghu onto one of his boats where he tortures Peter in front of him as punishment for going behind Annachi’s back. Richie then reveals to Raghu that when he was tormented at the reform school and he can never change now. However, after taking the statue, he lets Raghu go but keeps Peter captive. Raghu goes back to his mother and tells her to wait for him at the train station the next day so that they can leave the city forever.
On Christmas morning, Raghu manages to track down the house of Murugesh (Aadukalam Murugadoss), Richie’s friend from the reform home and another member of Annachi’s gang. Raghu steals the statue from the house and tries to run away but is captured by Richie and his men. Richie secretly tells Murugesh that he still cares for Raghu and he plans to let his former friend run away with the statue and his mother. However, while driving Raghu to the train station to meet his mother, Raghu starts to get suspicious of his intentions and tries to kill him but ends up getting killed by his childhood friend. Murugesh and their other friends help Richie dispose of Raghu’s body in the sea. Raghu’s mother is shown waiting at the train station for her son who will never come.
Later in the evening, Father Sagayam is participating in the parade and stop at Annachi’s house to bless his own son for the very first time in years. Meanwhile, Selvam finds Peter’s bloodied mask in Richie’s jeep, which leads him to believe that Richie killed Peter. He steals Murugesh’s gun and shoots Richie while he is dancing in the parade. Murugesh follows Selvam and guns him down too. Meanwhile, another one of Annachi’s goons finds the statue and runs away with it while the parade turns into a commotion.
Peter manages to escape his captivity and Murugesh is arrested by the police for killing Selvam. Both of them, and Annachi, narrate their story to Megha.
Directed by Gautham Ramachandran
Produced by Anand Kumar & Vinod Shornur
Written by Rakshit Shetty
Screenplay by Rakshit Shetty & Gautham Ramachandran
Based on Ulidavaru Kandanthe by Rakshit Shetty
Starring Nivin Pauly, Natraj, Shraddha Srinath, Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli, Prakash Raj
Music by B. Ajaneesh Loknath
Cinematography S.Pandi Kumar[citation needed]
Edited by Athul Vijay
Production Yes Cinema & Cast n’ Crew
Distributed by Trident Arts
Release date 8 December 2017
Country India
Language Tamil/Malayalam
