Sardar (2022 film)

Sardar (transl. Chief) is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language spy action-thriller film directed by P. S. Mithran based on a script he co-wrote with M. R. Pon Parthiban, Roju, Bipin Ragu and Geevee and produced by S. Lakshman Kumar under Prince Pictures. The film stars Karthi in a dual role alongside Raashii Khanna, Rajisha Vijayan, Chunky Pandey, Laila, Rithvik, Munishkanth, Avinash, Yugi Sethu and Balaji Sakthivel in pivotal roles. In the film, a disgraced spy returns from a long exile to stop the launch of a suspicious water company which plans to spread toxic water across the country. The film marks Panday's debut and Laila's comeback to Tamil cinema, as well as films in general, after 16 years.

Sardar
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	P. S. Mithran
Written by	P. S. Mithran M. R. Pon Parthiban Roju Bipin Ragu Geevee
Produced by	S. Lakshman Kumar
Starring	Karthi Raashii Khanna Rajisha Vijayan Chunky Pandey Laila
Narrated by	P. S. Mithran
Cinematography	George C. Williams
Edited by	Ruben
Music by	G. V. Prakash Kumar
Production company	Prince Pictures
Distributed by	Red Giant Movies
Release date	21 October 2022 (2022-10-21) (India)
Running time	165 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

The film was launched on November 2020 without a title and the official title announced in April 2021. Principal photography commenced the same month and continued till July 2022, despite being halted twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Karthi's commitments to other films. Filming locations included Chennai, Kodaikanal, Pondicherry, Mumbai, Mysore, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The music was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, with cinematography handled by George C. Williams and editing done by Ruben.

Sardar was theatrically released on 21 October 2022, prior to the Diwali week and received positive reviews from critics and audience. The film was a commercial success, grossing ₹103.50 crore (US$12 million) and became one of the highest grossing Tamil films of 2022.^[1][2] The sequel, titled Sardar 2, is slated to release in 2025

Plot

Inspector Vijay Prakash is obsessed with building his reputation that was tarnished because of his absconding father Chandra Bose, a former spy of RAW who was branded as a national traitor 32 years ago resulting in his entire extended family except for Vijay committing suicide out of shame and disgrace. Raised by a generous police officer Paavadaisaami, Vijay tries hard to woo his childhood friend Adv. Shalini. Shalini represents a social activist Sameera Thomas in court, petitioning against One India One Pipeline, a project operated by a private water packaging company of former NSA officer Maharaj Rathore.

The project is expected to unify and control the supply of potable water across India. The court refuses to accept their petition while Sameera chances upon a wheelchair-bound Victor, who happens to share her objectives. Sameera organises a protest at Rajaji Bhavan while Vijay discovers that a highly classified file containing information about the RAW agents of 1980s is stolen from Rajaji Bhavan. Deducing that Sameera has stolen the file, Vijay heads to her residence only to find her son Timothy aka Timmy alone receiving an order from a bakery. Vijay takes Timmy to find Sameera, whose location is traced to the bakery but realises that he was misled as Sameera has thrown her smartwatch in the dustbin of the bakery.

Vijay meets Dr. Kuppusami, Sameera's acquaintance from whom he perceives that Sameera was not harbouring ill-intentions and that Timmy is diagnosed with sarcoidoisis. The police discovers Sameera's corpse and her death is ruled as suicide and she is declared as a national traitor for stealing the file and is suspected to have sold it. Vijay refuses to believe it and proceeds with his investigation and perceives that Sameera was abducted and drown into death in chlorination tank as she refused to disclose about Sardar. Vijay helps Timmy post a letter and accesses Sameera's laptop, finding a video of her explaining that the water in plastic bottles sold by private companies produce toxic water as a result of being exposed to sunlight and that the intention behind One India One Pipeline is to monopolise water supply in India.

Vijay and Shalini discover that Sameera is supposed to meet Agent Karapanpoochi, who divulged to her about the secret location at Rajaji Bhavan and had given her a key to access it, at a railway platform the next day. They head to the platform and find the agent, who tries to escape misinterpreting the situation but Vijay chases him. However, an unknown person ultimately causes him to be killed in an accident. Vijay secures his belongings and finds an address to which Timmy posted the letter as instructed by Sameera before her death. The letter reaches the prison in Chittagong, Bangladesh that holds a mysterious elderly man, who was captured by Bangladesh Coast Guard 32 years ago and his identity has been unknown.

The prison guards contact RAW upon interpreting a code through the letter which is named CODE RED causing the RAW to realise that Sardar has been in Bangladesh. RAW Chief Chandra Mohan heads to Bangladesh and requests the prison's guards to keep the letter hidden from Sardar. Rathore perceives this and contacts the NIA, instructing them to have Sardar killed by the prison warden. However, a prison guard lets Sardar know about the letter resulting in him escaping from the prison. Vijay arrives at a ruined petrol bunk, about whom he perceives through Karapanpoochi's belongings and finds a secret tunnel, which leads him to a file. An assassin attacks Vijay with an intent to retrieve the file, but he manages to defeat the assassin and secures the file. Vijay and Shalini go through the file and learn about Sardar's story.

Past: in 1985, Chandra Bose is a RAW agent codenamed as Sardar, who lives with his joint family performing stage plays. His cousin Indhrani harbours a crush on him and perceives his occupation, but decides to keep it hidden and marries him. After a lake is poisoned at the border, Sardar is assigned by his trainer Rathore and Agent Victor on a mission to interpret the rival's conspiracies by infiltrating a camp of Pakistani Army at India-Pakistan Border. Sardar disguises himself as a native, injured due to a blast and the army officials take him to the camp for treatment where he defeats the officials and disguises himself as one of them.

Sardar escapes the camp with a photograph and a type-written copy of a file written in Chinese language. Sardar meets an agent code-named Cockroach that China conspires to control the water supply in India through One India One Pipeline and as a part of his machination, has the water poisoned through Pakistan pushing the people to buy packaged water and accept the pipeline project. Sardar deciphers that a person dubbed as Laughing Buddha is helping China with their mission; Rathore and Victor deploy Sardar to trace the Laughing Buddha. While Sardar and Indhra have a son Vijay, Sardar discovers that the NSA Chief P.K. Abraham is the Laughing Buddha and notifies Rathore, offering to eliminate Abraham and framed as a traitor until Rathore proves Abraham's intentions.

Rathore, consumed by greed, agrees to eliminate Abraham and conspires to permanently brand Sardar as the traitor and join China in its mission for money. Sardar abducts Abraham and assassinates him. On a phone call, Sardar requests Rathore to reveal the truth to his father as the latter couldn't endure being called as the father of a traitor. Sardar deliberately has himself arrested by the Bangladesh Coast Guard by exposing his multiple passports. Rathore destroys all the evidence proving China's intentions and doesn't inform Sardar's family as requested by him, resigning from his post. The family gets embarrassed of Sardar being a traitor and hangs themselves to death leaving Vijay, while Rathore joins hands with China in their project.

Present: Sardar visits a secret place and gets infuriated after he perceives Rathore's treachery, his family's mass suicide and the implementation of One India One Pipeline. Paavadaisaami obliges to his duty by helping the RAW apprehend Vijay for luring Sardar while Shalini heads to Victor who has been housing Timmy. Chandra Mohan orders Victor and Timmy to be secured and brought to the headquarters and his orders are implemented; However, they discover that Sardar disguised himself as Victor while Shalini finds Victor dead and an assassin tied and captivated in the cupboard. Sardar defeats the other agents and infiltrates the vault with Timmy to access the vault through his fingerprints.

The RAW agents unsuccessfully attempts to apprehend Sardar while the latter has a confrontation with Rathore, who divulges that he killed Sardar's entire family by strangling them to death as Indhra overheard their conversation about eliminating Abraham through a radio, having accessed the frequency and tried to reveal the truth to Sardar's father. He later staged it as a suicide and left Vijay for the latter to endure the social stigma of being a traitor's son. Vijay hears this and grows enraged. Sardar takes a truck filled with sodium and escapes with Timmy intending to blast the pipelines at the water plant. Discerning Sardar's plan, Rathore heads to the water plant to desist him and unleashes guards to kill Sardar, but the latter defeats them and intrudes the plant with the truck, asking Timmy to be out of the plant for rescuing him from the blast.

Vijay reaches the plant and from Timmy, discovers Sardar's plan and helps him orchestrate it successfully. Sardar throws the truck of sodium into water, successfully blasting the pipelines and killing Rathore and ultimately meets Vijay, who intends to expose his virtue, but Sardar desists as the public shall lose their trust in the government if Rathore's conspiracies are exposed, and leaves. Sameera is proven innocent and the government scraps One India One Pipeline. Vijay is suspended from the police force for not being able to nab Sardar alive. Chandra Mohan discloses to Vijay that he was the one who orchestrated his suspension from the police force and recruits Vijay as a RAW agent and assigns him on a mission in Cambodia, giving him an unrevealed code name.

Cast

• Karthi in a dual role as
  • Agent Chandra Bose "Sardar"
  • Inspector Vijay Prakash, Bose's son
• Raashii Khanna as Shalini, a lawyer, Vijay's love interest (Voice dubbed by Ashmini Balakrishnan)
• Rajisha Vijayan as Indhrani, Bose's wife and Vijay's mother
• Chunky Panday as Maharaj Rathore
• Laila as Sameera Thomas, a social activist and Timmy's mother (Voice dubbed by Savitha Reddy)
• Rithvik as Timothy alias Timmy, Sameera's son
• Munishkanth as Paavadaisami, Vijay's adopted uncle
• Syed as Raw Agent
• Sengottuvel as Kathiresan, Vijay's friend
• Ashwin Kkumar as Rathore's hitman
• Yugi Sethu as Agent Karapanpoochi
• Avinash as Victor (Chetta)
• Yog Japee as Chandra Mohan, RAW Chief
• Mohammad Ali Baig as P. K. Abraham, NSA Chief
• Balaji Sakthivel as Chidambaram, Bose's father, an ex-military officer and Vijay's grandfather
• Dinesh Prabhakar as Chittagong Prison guard
• Aadhira Pandilakshmi as Muthulakshmi, Bose's mother and Vijay's grandmother
• Sal Yusuf as General Yusuf (Pakistan Army)
• Ilavarasu as Politician
• Rajeev Anand as RAW officer
• Gunavanthan as RAW officer
• Sahana Vasudevan as RAW officer
• Shyam Krishnan as Rathore's assistant
• Swaminathan as Reporter
• Sharath Ravi as Goon
• Jagan Krishnan as Media Analyst
• K. S. Krishnan as Kuppusami, Timmy's doctor
• Vijay Varadaraj as Philips
• Abdool Lee as Abdul, a Reporter
• Geevee as The Thief in the Song
• Myna Nandhini as Valli, playing the role as goddess Valli during a drama act

Production

Development

In late-December 2019, it was reported that Karthi, who was filming for Ponniyin Selvan: I and II at that time had signed a new project with P. S. Mithran and the production would commence only after his commitments for the two-part series.^[3] However, production of the two-parter was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in India which led to Karthi prioritizing on other projects.^[4][5] On 14 November 2020, coinciding with Diwali, the production company Prince Pictures officially confirmed the project.^[6]

A puja ceremony was held at the office of Prince Pictures with the actor and director being present. Mithran renewed his norm technicians—cinematographer George C. Williams, editor Ruben and stunt choreographer Dhilip Subbarayan—while G. V. Prakash Kumar was assigned as the music composer and K. Kadhir served as the art director.^[7] The film's title Sardar was officially announced on 25 April 2021.^[8]

Pre-production

Mithran wrote the initial script during the COVID-19 lockdown period,^[5] with fellow co-writers M. R. Pon Parthiban, Roju, Bipin Ragu and Geevee providing additional inputs.^[9] In an interaaction with Srivatsan S of The Hindu, Mithran admitted that he wanted to make a "suave" spy film like the James Bond and Mission: Impossible films, but the principal characters in the films—Bond and Ethan Hunt—did not have a family and are emotionally detached, which led to the question "Why are spies in movies that cold? Should they be cold? This film is such an exploration. I’ve balanced out my ambitions with the palatability factor."^[10] Pre-production for the film commenced in late-November 2020 and continued through early April 2021, with reports suggesting that filming would commence after the release of Karthi's Sulthan (2021).^[11]

Casting

Sardar marked the debut of Chunky Panday (left) in Tamil cinema as well as Laila's (right) return to films after a 16-year hiatus.

Karthi was reported to play dual roles in the film: one being the police officer and the other being the agent.^[12][13] It was the second time the actor played dual roles after Siruthai (2011).^[14] For the titular character as the agent, Karthi was seen sporting around 15 different makeovers;^[15] Mithran clarified that "every single makeover has a purpose. The film is about a theatre actor who can play several characters in a single play. I wrote Karthi’s character with this description: someone from the audience goes and tells Karthi’s character that they really enjoyed the play and thought he did a terrific job in five disguises. Then the Karthi character would say: 'No, I actually had 11 disguises in the play.'"^[10]

In April 2021, Raashii Khanna and Rajisha Vijayan was announced as the female leads;^[16][17] the latter, in her third Tamil film after Karnan and Jai Bhim (both 2021).^[18][19] Simran was further signed to play an important role,^[17] and Chunky Panday was cast as the main antagonist, marking his Tamil cinema debut.^[20][21] In March 2022, Simran opted out of the project due to scheduling conflicts and Laila signed the project the same month, returning to films after a 16-year hiatus.^[22] Balaji Sakthivel, Rithvik, Munishkanth, Yugi Sethu, Avinash Yelandur, Yog Japee, Mohammad Ali Baig amongst others were cast in supporting roles.^[23][9]

Filming

Major portions of Sardar were shot at the Baku Convention Center and the Government House in Azerbaijan, and at the Enguri Dam in Tsalenjikha, Georgia for ten days.

Principal photography commenced on 26 April 2021 at Chennai.^[24] Due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, filming halted after two days of shoot.^[25] The makers constructed a jail set at Gokulam Studios in Chennai, which cost them ₹2 crore (US$230,000),^[26][27] and intended to shoot those portions there after pandemic restrictions were lifted.^[28] In June, it was reported that filming would resume during the first week of July after government allowed resumption of film shoots with 100 crew members within Chennai, Chengalpattu and Kanchipuram.^[29][30] However, filming resumed on 16 July at the specially erected set in Gokulam Studios, with a stunt sequence choreographed by Dhilip Subbarayan being canned first.^[31]

The film's first schedule was completed by early August 2021.^[32] Following that, shooting was reportedly put on hold as Karthi prioritized on M. Muthaiya's directorial Viruman (2022).^[32] After the production of Viruman was completed, shooting for Sardar resumed on 6 January 2022.^[33][34] Raashii Khanna joined the film's shoot in Chennai on 5 February.^[35] The team canned an action sequence at the forest areas of Kodaikanal during that month. In early March, the team went to Mysore for filming another action sequence, specifically set in forest areas.^[36] Khanna resumed filming in mid-March,^[37] with her portions being filmed for 12 days in Chennai, Mumbai and Mysore.^[38][39]

In May 2022, the team left to Azerbaijan for filming Panday's sequences. The team shot his portions at the Baku Convention Center and the Government House, Baku, and at the Enguri Dam in Tsalenjikha, Georgia for 10 days.^[40][41] As each day of shoot in these countries, accounted to around ₹24 lakh (US$28,000), the team had nearly spent ₹4 crore (US$470,000) for the particular schedule.^[41] The team initially planned to shoot combination sequences between Karthi and Panday, but as Karthi was on a vacation during that time, Panday's portions were shot first.^[40] By June 2022, the team returned to Pondicherry for filming the climax portions.^[42] Principal photography wrapped by July 2022.^[43]

Post-production

Post-production works commenced during May 2022.^[44] Karthi began dubbing for his portions in July 2022, soon after the completion of filming.^[45] In September 2022, George C. Williams through his X (formerly Twitter) had stated that the digital intermediate and color grading works were undergoing at the post-production company Knack Studios, under the supervision of Prasath Somasekar.^[46][9] Lorven Studios handled the principal visual effects under the supervision of Hariharasudhan.^[9] The film was sent to the Central Board of Film Certification during mid-October 2022 where the film received a U/A certificate with a runtime of 166 minutes (2 hours and 46 minutes) being finalized.^[47][48]

Music

G. V. Prakash Kumar composed the film score and four-song soundtrack to Sardar, in his first collaboration with Mithran and fourth with Karthi after Aayirathil Oruvan (2010), Saguni (2012) and Komban (2015).^[49] The lyrics for the songs were written by Yugabharathi, GKB, Arivu, Ekadesi and Rokesh.^[50] Karthi recorded vocals for the song "Yaerumayileri" which was released as a single on 10 October 2022.^[51][52] The soundtrack was released under the Sony Music India label on 19 October 2022, two days prior to the film's release.^[50] The chorus phrase of the song "Rasasayya" sung by Bhadra Rajin for The Storyteller Band has been used in the song "Soraka Poove".^[50]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Yaerumayileri"	Yugabharathi	Karthi	4:12
2.	"Mere Jaan"	GKB	Nakash Aziz	4:20
3.	"Soraka Poove"	Ekadesi	Aditya RK, Bhadra Rajin	3:52
4.	"Inky Pinky Ponky"	Arivu, Rokesh	Arivu, Santhosh Hariharan	3:26
Total length:				15:51

Marketing

The film's teaser trailer was released on 30 September 2022, launched by Karthi's brother, actor Suriya.^[53][54][55] The full-length trailer was launched at an event held in Nexus Vijaya Mall on 14 October 2022.^[56][57] At the event, the team distributed glass containers branded with the film's posters and logo instead of plastic bottles, for the film's cast and crew and other media personalities.^[58] The pre-release event was held at Daspalla Convention Center in Hyderabad, with Nagarjuna as the chief guest.^[59]

Release

Theatrical

Sardar was released on 21 October 2022 on the eve of Diwali along with Sivakarthikeyan's Prince.^[60] The film was further released in Telugu under the same title.^[61]

Distribution

Red Giant Movies acquired the theatrical distribution rights in Tamil Nadu.^[62] The theatrical distribution rights for the Telugu states were acquired by Annapurna Studios.^[61] The Karnataka distribution rights were acquired by AV Media Consultancy,^[63] while Fortune Cinemas acquired the theatircal rights in Kerala.^[64][65]

Home media

The post-theatrical streaming rights of the film were bought by Aha.^[66] The satellite rights of the film were sold to Kalaignar TV, even before filming was completed.^[67] The film began streaming on Aha from 18 November 2022.^[68]

Reception

Critical reception

Sardar received positive reviews from critics.^[69] Kirubhakar Purushothaman of The Indian Express gave three-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote "One of the significant differences between PS Mithran’s film and the generic affairs is that the director treats the genre and the audience with respect."^[70] Tanmayi Sharma of Pinkvilla also rated three-and-a-half out of five and wrote "On the whole, Sardar is definitely a hit this festive season and something every audience would love to watch on the big screen."^[71] Avinash Ramachandran of Cinema Express rated three-and-a-half out of five and wrote that "Sardar is a true blue action thriller with the spy angle amply explored [...] With both Irumbuthirai and Hero having open endings, Mithran's propensity for promising us a franchise of sorts is known, and with Sardar, he has definitely delivered a film with the potential to finally fulfill that promise".^[72] M. Suganth of The Times of India rated three out of five and called it "a solid spy movie, nothing more nothing less".^[73] Krishna Selvaseelan of Tamil Guardian gave the film three out of five stars, writing, "The film emotionally connects through well done parallels in the story and properly realised characters and their respective arcs."^[74]

Priyanka Sundar of Firstpost rated the film three out of five stars and wrote "Overall, the film comes together after its initial hiccup, and it forms a cohesive and effective narrative".^[75] Prathyush Parasuraman of Film Companion complimented the staging, summarized that: "the world of Sardar is established with style, dramatic intensity, and when needed, that silly comedic charm. The imagination of its maker — PS Mithran — bends just as easily towards silliness as it does towards style, such are the gruelling demands from a mass film director."^[76] However, he was critical of the "designer-dusty sepia grime" toned color grading being prominent throughout the film, making it "looks dull, and the world lethargic".^[76] Srivatsan S of The Hindu wrote that "The light of Vikram does shine brightly on Sardar but isn’t eclipsed by it, letting the PS Mithran film breathe and have its own share of enjoyable portions.^[77]

Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times wrote "Sardar is still a watchable spy thriller that’s powered by some great action set pieces."^[78] Janani K of India Today rated two-and-a-half out of five stars and called it "a solid film with a strong core idea. With a few misses here and there, the film makes for a compelling watch."^[79] In a negative review, Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute rated one-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote that "The film moves across time periods, shifts from one country to another, and never tires of its ambition to drill information into our brains".^[80]

Box office

Sardar opened to 380 screens in Tamil Nadu on the first day and grossed ₹3.7 crore (US$430,000) in the state, and ₹5.75–6 crore (US$660,000–690,000) worldwide, according to trade analyst Ramesh Bala.^[81][82] The Times of India, however, reported that the film ₹8 crore (US$930,000) worldwide.^[83] While Bala initiated that the film had a dull opening due to the competition between Sivakarthikeyan's Prince and the holdover Ponniyin Selvan: I, also starring Karthi, it saw growth on its evening and night shows, owing to positive word of mouth.^[84] The film grossed around ₹10 crore (US$1.2 million) on its second day, with the two-day collections being reported ₹18 crore (US$2.1 million).^[85][86] On its third day, the film grossed ₹7 crore (US$820,000), becoming the highest grossing film in that weekend.^[87][88]

The film further saw growth on its fourth day (24 October), coinciding Diwali, performing well ahead of Sivakarthikeyan's Prince.^[89] Besides its performance in Tamil Nadu, the film collected ₹7 crore (US$820,000) from the Telugu states and ₹7 crore (US$820,000) in Kerala during the first four days of its release.^[90] By the end of its fifth day, the film earned ₹10 crore (US$1.2 million) resulted in its five-day gross accounting to ₹50 crore (US$5.8 million).^[91] The collections in Tamil Nadu during the extended opening weekend (21–25 October) were around ₹50 crore (US$5.8 million).^[91] Owing to the commercial performance, screenings of the film increased from 380 to 500 in its second weekend with the film being moved to main screens across multiplexes.^[92][93][94]

By the end of its tenth day, the film grossed ₹85 crore (US$9.9 million).^[95] As of 7 November 2022, the film's worldwide earnings were accounted to be ₹103.50 crore (US$12 million), becoming Karthi's third film to cross ₹100 crore at the box office, after Kaithi (2019) and Ponniyin Selvan: I.^[2][95]

Sequel

Main article: Sardar 2

At the film's success meet, Karthi and MIthran announced the sequel for the film being titled Sardar 2.^[96][97] An announcement teaser for the same was screened during the event and officially released online.^[98] The film began production on 12 July 2024 and completed by March 2025, with filming taking place in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangkok, Luton, Madurai and Kochi.^[99][100] S. J. Suryah was cast as the main antagonist,^[101][102] while Malavika Mohanan, Ashika Ranganath and Rajisha Vijayan as the female leads, the latter of whom reprises her role from the predecessor.^[103][104]