Kaali (1980 film)

Kaali is a 1980 Indian action film written by Mahendran and directed by I. V. Sasi. Produced by Hem-Nag,^[1] the film stars Rajinikanth, Seema, Fatafat Jayalaxmi and Shubha.^[2][3] The film was simultaneously made in Tamil and Telugu languages, with Chiranjeevi replacing Vijayakumar in Telugu.^[4] The cinematography was handled by Ashok Kumar and soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.^[5] Kaali ran for less than 50 days in Chennai and was considered a box office failure in both Tamil and Telugu.^[6] The film is infamous for a fire accident which caused the deaths of some stuntmen and horses.

Kaali
Poster of Tamil version
Directed by	I. V. Sasi
Written by	Mahendran
Produced by	Hem Nag
Starring	Rajinikanth Vijayakumar/Chiranjeevi Seema Fatafat Jayalaxmi Shubha
Cinematography	Ashok Kumar
Edited by	K. Narayanan
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Production company	Hem Nag Productions
Release dates	3 July 1980 (1980-07-03) (Tamil) 19 September 1980 (1980-09-19) (Telugu)
Running time	144 minutes
Country	India
Languages	Tamil Telugu

Plot

Cast

Cast (Tamil)	Cast (Telugu)	Role (Tamil)	Role (Telugu)
Rajinikanth		Kaali
Vijayakumar	Chiranjeevi	G. K.
Seema		Anitha	Geetha
Fatafat Jayalaxmi		Alangaram
Major Sundarrajan	Kantha Rao	Sampath
Manorama		Thayamma
Suruli Rajan		Sokku
Shubha		Sampath's wife
Vennira Aadai Nirmala		Kaali's sister
V. Gopalakrishnan	Giri Babu	Somu
Kaikala Satyanarayana		Rajaram	Rajarao
Prasad Babu		Rajaram's sons	Rajarao's sons
Sundar Raj
Pushpalatha		Rajaram's wife	Rajarao's wife
Anuradha Sriram		child artist
Master Haja Sheriff		child artist

Production

It was reported that Mithun Chakraborty would be featured in the film but proved untrue.^[7] During production a fire broke out, killing some stuntmen and horses.^[8]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.^[9] The film had Vairamuthu's first written song, "Kali Bhadrakali".^[4]

Tamil tracklist

Song	Singers	Lyrics	Length
"Adi Aadu"	Malaysia Vasudevan	Kannadasan	4:39
"Azhagazhaga"	P. Susheela		4:46
"Kali Bhadrakali"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki	Vairamuthu	4:00
"Thithikkum"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Kalyan, S. P. Sailaja	Kannadasan	4:33
"Vaazhumattum"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam		4:46

Release and reception

Kaali was released on 3 July 1980 in Tamil,^[10] and 19 September the same year in Telugu clashing with another Chiranjeevi-starrer Thathayya Premaleelalu (1980).^[11][12] Saavi wrote that I. V. Sasi has started taking roots in Tamil. The critic added that the makers have mixed the colour in the cinemascope and added by looking at the title if you guess this film as revenge plot then you have better intelligence than Sasi.^[13] Ananda Vikatan rated the film 43 out of 100, criticising its excessive reliance on violence and expressed concern it would inspire real life violence which was already rampant in India.^[14] Naagai Dharuman of Anna praised Mahendran's dialogues, Ashok Kumar's cinematography, stunt choreography, Ilayaraja's music, acting of star cast and direction.^[15]