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Mafia: Chapter 1

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Mafia: Chapter 1
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKarthick Naren
Produced byAllirajah Subaskaran
StarringArun Vijay
Prasanna
Priya Bhavani Shankar
CinematographyGokul Benoy
Edited bySreejith Sarang
Music byJakes Bejoy
Production
company
Release date
  • 21 February 2020 (2020-02-21)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Mafia: Chapter 1, known simply as Mafia[1] is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Karthick Naren and produced by Allirajah Subaskaran under Lyca Productions. The film stars Arun Vijay in dual role ,Priya Bhavani Shankar and Prasanna in the lead roles.[2][3] The music was composed by Jakes Bejoy, while cinematography was handled by Gokul Benoy and editing by Sreejith Sarang.[4]

Filming was completed on 29 August 2019.

Mafia: Chapter 1 was released on 21 February 2020 to mixed reviews from critics and became an average grosser at the box office.

Plot

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Aryan, an NCB officer in Chennai, works with his teammates Sathya and Varun to eliminate drug lords known as Snake's Den. Aryan lost his twin brother Dilip due to drug addiction, which led him to become an NCB officer. Alongside Aryan's team are his team supervisor Selvam and Mugilan, a social activist and Aryan's neighbour. Aryan returns home and receives a news that Selvam has died due to a gunshot. Aryan and Sathya investigate around Selvam's house, where they concludes that a drug lord was also involved in Selvam's death. Mugilan is also targeted by the drug lord and his bodyguard also gets killed.

Before his death, Mugilan provides information about the drug lord in a USB stick, attached to the collar of his dog Pogo and sends Aryan a message. Aryan tracks down Pogo with the tracking chip installed in his collar and checks the information. The drug lord is Diwakar "DK" Kumaran, a philanthropic businessman and drug trafficker. Mugilan suspected DK's early source of income was with links of international drug cartels. DK and his brother Rudra had links with politicians so that their business cannot be derailed. Knowing this, Mugilan and Selvam decided to investigate a place thought to be D.K's secret hideout, but they were both caught.

Aryan finally concludes D.K's role in drug dealing, while DK deduces that Aryan and his team are after him and abducts Aryan's family. DK tells Aryan to meet his doom at a warehouse. With a plan, Aryan and his team tries foiling DK's plans in one night and finally manages to catch DK, who kills himself to prevent going into custody. In his dying moments, DK tells Aryan that he is not the main drug lord. It is later revealed that Dilip is actually alive and is the main drug lord with codenames Dexter and Cobra. DK and Dilip were best friends. After escaping from a police attack, Dilip had faked his death when he and DK found a bounty to start their drug business. After learning Aryan's involvement in DK's death and destroying his business, Dilip reveals his identity to Aryan and swears to exact vengeance.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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After the success of Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, Karthick Naren started work on his second project titled Naragasooran, which remained unreleased despite production completed in 2017.[5] Naren's third film Naadaga Medai, starring Kalidas Jayaram, Rahman, Parthiban and Gautham Karthik, was also put on hold.[6] In June 2018, Naren narrated a script to Silambarasan, who agreed to do the film. However, the project was not being confirmed.[7] In March 2019, Lyca Productions signed Naren for his upcoming project, which stars Arun Vijay in the leading role.[8] Prasanna was reported to play the antagonist and Nivetha Pethuraj was signed for a pivotal role, whom she was replaced by Priya Bhavani Shankar.[9] In May 2019, the makers announced the film's title as Mafia.[10]

Filming

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Principal photography began on 31 May 2019 in Chennai.[11] The shooting of the film's first schedule undergone a brisk pace and was completed on 2 July 2019.[12] The makers started the second schedule of the film on 5 July 2019, soon after the completion of the first schedule.[13] It was touted to be shot in eleven days, thus the film's shoot is scheduled to be completed within 37 days.[13] On 18 August, Priya Bhavani Shankar tweeted that she had completed shooting her portions for the film.[14] Within few days, Arun Vijay and Prasanna headed to Thailand to shoot some crucial action sequences.[15] On 26 August, it was announced that the makers had completed shooting for the film.[16]

Soundtrack

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The film's music is composed by Jakes Bejoy with lyrics written by Vivek and Travis A. King. The soundtrack album featuring three tracks was released on 7 February 2020.[17]

No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Vedan Vendaacho"VivekVijay Prakash, Sathya Prakash, Saint TFC [18]3:58
2."Beast In The House"Vivek, Travis A. KingSunitha Sarathy, Travis A. King4:00
3."Dexter Theme" Instrumental1:40

Reception

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Critical response

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Thinkal Menon of The Times of India gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Mafia would appeal to fans of action movies, especially those which have stylish narcotics backdrop."[19] Sreedhar Pillai of Firstpost gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Mafia: Chapter I is stylishly cut but has very little substance. But the climax has kindled the expectation meter for Chapter II."[20] Behindwoods gave it 2.75/5 and wrote "Mafia is an action flick that is majorly uplifted by the stylish treatment and a smart climax for the sequel."[21]

Anupama Subramanian of Deccan Chronicle gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Overall, Chapter 1 of Mafia is a flat sequence of nice artwork and choreography. Chapter 2 has much ground to make up."[22] S. Subhakeerthana of The Indian Express gave 2/5 stars and wrote "The biggest problem is that Mafia: Chapter 1 is so randomly written".[23] Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Karthick falls back on voiceovers and an excessive use of English in the dialogues to keep up the sophisticated tone, but the writing falls flat".[24]

Srivatsan. S of The Hindu wrote "Arun Vijay and Prasanna struggle hard to keep the tension alive in an adequate thriller that abuses its own substance".[25] Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times wrote "Mafia may come across as slightly over stylised for a story set in Chennai and involving officers of the Narcotics Control Bureau, but once you get used to the world, you’re in for a surprise".[26] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote ""Style" isn't just about posing. It isn't just about looking "cool". And it's certainly more than just colour schemes and costumes. The bigger disappointment in Mafia is that there's no style in the writing."[27]

Sequel

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A sequel titled Mafia: Chapter 2 is in the works, continuing on the story from the first chapter.[28]

References

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  1. ^ Arun Vijay is thrilled about Mafia
  2. ^ Lakshmi, V. "Mafia will be a high-octane gangster drama: Karthick Naren". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  3. ^ Subramanian, Anupama (3 July 2019). "Mafia not usual North Chennai story". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Mafia first look: Arun Vijay looks dapper in Karthick Naren's next". The Indian Express. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Karthick Naren opens up on 'Naragasooran' controversy". The Times of India. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Director Karthick Naren's next titled 'Naadaga Medai'". The Times of India. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Simbu and Karthick Naren to join hands?". The Times of India. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Arun Vijay to do a film with Karthick Naren?". The Times of India. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  9. ^ "It's Arun Vijay versus Prasanna". The Times of India. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Karthick Naren's next film with Arun Vijay is titled Mafia". India Today. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Arun Vijay and Karthick Naren's Mafia kicks off today". The Times of India. 6 July 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  12. ^ "Mafia shoot is progressing at a brisk pace". The Times of India. 13 July 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  13. ^ a b "'Mafia': Second schedule of the Arun Vijay starrer begins". The Times of India. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  14. ^ "Priya Bhavani Shankar wraps up shoot for Mafia". The Times of India. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Arun Vijay and Prasanna off to Thailand for Mafia shoot". The Times of India. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Karthick Naren wraps up shoot of Mafia". The Times of India. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Birthday Special: Arun Vijay's upcoming movies which will leave you spellbound". The Times of India. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  18. ^ "SAINT TFC (@sainttfc) • Instagram photos and videos".
  19. ^ "Mafia: Chapter 1 Movie Review : The way the film ends makes us eagerly wait for the next chapter". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  20. ^ "Mafia: Chapter I movie review — Arun Vijay's thriller is an uber-stylish film with a wafer-thin plot". Firstpost. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  21. ^ "Mafia (aka) Maafia review". Behindwoods. 21 February 2020.
  22. ^ "Mafia Chapter 1 review: Game of chess between cop and drug kingpin". Deccan Chronicle. 22 February 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  23. ^ "Mafia movie review: Stylish but hollow gangster drama". The Indian Express. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  24. ^ "'Mafia: Chapter 1' review: Style, swag and no substance". The News Minute. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  25. ^ S, Srivatsan (21 February 2020). "'Mafia: Chapter 1' movie review: A wonderfully ordinary movie with a great presentation". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  26. ^ "Mafia movie review: Karthick Naren's film is a smart, ultra-stylized gangster drama". Hindustan Times. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  27. ^ "Karthick Naren's Mafia: Chapter 1, Starring Arun Vijay, Mistakes Slo-Mo For Style". FilmCompanion. 4 March 2020.
  28. ^ "Mafia Chapter 2? Arun Vijay Exclusive Interview". IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
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