Billa (1980 film)
| Billa | |
|---|---|
Poster
|
|
| Directed by | R. Krishnamurthy |
| Produced by | K. Balaji |
| Written by | A. L. Narayanan (dialogues) |
| Story by | Salim-Javed |
| Starring |
Rajinikanth K. Balaji Sripriya |
| Music by | M. S. Viswanathan |
| Cinematography | G. Or. Nathan |
| Edited by | V. Chakrapani |
|
Production
company |
Suresh Arts
|
|
Release date
|
26 January 1980 |
|
Running time
|
175 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Billa is a 1980 Indian Tamil-language crime film produced by K. Balaji and directed by R. Krishnamurthy. The film stars Rajinikanth, K. Balaji, Thengai Srinivasan, Manorama, Sripriya, Reena Roy and Major Sundarrajan. The film revolves around Billa (Rajinikanth), a feared Mafia don in Madras, who is fatally wounded during an encounter with the police. Wanting to uncover Billa's accomplices, the police commissioner Alexander (K. Balaji) trains a lookalike village bumpkin Rajappa (also Rajinikanth) to pose as Billa and infiltrate the gang. The rest of the film deals with how Rajappa learns more about Billa's gang, and tries to get all of them arrested. Billa was released on 26 January 1980, to commercial success.The movie was a remake of the 1978 Hindi movie Don and went on to inspire the 2007 Tamil movie Billa.
Billa is a powerful mafia lord, who in spite of being one of the most wanted on the list of Interpol, remains elusive to the police. Along with the police, he makes a few other enemies through his merciless approach in running his organisation, especially when he kills one of his own men, Rajesh, when Rajesh decides to leave the business. This introduces Billa to two new enemies: Reena (Rajesh’s fiancee) and Rajesh's sister Radha. When Reena seduces Billa and attempts to have the police arrest him, her plan backfires, as Billa outsmarts her and escapes, and in the process Reena is killed.
A shattered, revenge-seeking Radha cuts her hair short, trains in judo and karate,and then enters Billa’s gang after deceiving them into thinking that she too is on the wrong side of the law. Billa is impressed with her fighting skills and allows her to work for him, without realising her true intentions. Meanwhile, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts at nabbing Billa, the police finally succeed, but Billa dies during the pursuit, botching DSP Alexander’s plan to reach the source of all crime—the man Billa reported to — by capturing Billa alive. DSP buries Billa’s body, ensuring that people believe that he is still be alive. Alexander remembers his chance encounter with Rajappa, a simpleton trying to survive in the hustle and bustle of Chennai to support two small foster children, who is a doppelganger of Billa. Alexander hatches a plan to transform Rajappa into Billa and place him back into the crime nexus, but this time as a police informer.
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