Kathakali (film)

Kathakali
Theatrical release poster
Tamil	கதகளி
Directed by	Pandiraj
Produced by	Pandiraj Vishal
Written by	Pandiraj
Starring	Vishal Catherine Tresa
Music by	Hiphop Tamizha
Cinematography	Balasubramaniem
Edited by	Pradeep E Ragav
Production company	Pasanga Productions Vishal Film Factory
Distributed by	Sri Thenandal Films
Release date	14 January 2016 (2016-01-14)
Running time	125 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Kathakali is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Pandiraj, starring Vishal and Catherine Tresa. Co-produced by both Pandiraj and Vishal, Kathakali released on 14 January 2016. The Telugu dubbed version with the same title was released on 18 March 2016.

Amudhavel (Vishal), after spending 5 years in the United States, returns to Cuddalore for his marriage to his long-time girlfriend Meenu Kutty (Catherine Tresa). He is forced to invite to his marriage a local don Thamba (Madhusudhan Rao), despite a previous history between them. Thamba was responsible for dragging Amudhavel and his elder brother Gnanavel (Mime Gopi) to jail 5 years ago on a false charge after Gnanavel, who worked in Thamba's fishing business, decided to leave Thamba and start his own fishing business. Thamba was also responsible for chopping off the leg of Amudhavel and Gnanavel's father Rajarathinam when he had tried to intervene in the fight between Thamba and his sons, confining him to a wheelchair. To escape from Thamba and his gang and not cause any more harm to his family, Amudhavel had emigrated to the USA.

While Amudhavel is in Chennai doing wedding shopping with Meenu Kutty, he gets the news that Thamba had been killed the previous day. Unfortunately for Amudhavel, he is soon suspected of murdering Thamba due to their enmity. Thamba's henchmen set Amudhavel's house on fire, forcing Gnanavel and his family to go into hiding. Inspector Saravana Vadivel (Sreejith Ravi), a cruel and merciless police officer, is assigned to bring Thamba's killer to justice. Since Amudhavel is the prime suspect, Vadivel orders him to present himself at Cuddalore the next day and prove his innocence, failing which he will be considered as the murderer of Thamba and will be thrown into jail. Amudhavel leaves for Cuddalore at midnight, with policemen heavily guarding the bus and route in which he is travelling to prevent him from escaping.