Revisiting Thuppakki: 50 lesser-known facts about the uber-cool Thalapathy Vijay-blockbuster
As the AR Murugadoss-directorial, featuring Vijay in a stylish avatar, is set to complete 9 years, we give you some interesting trivia about its making.
In July 2011, it was reported that Vijay and AR Murugadoss would collaborate to make an action film, after completing their then-respective ongoing projects, Velayudham and 7aum Arivu.
Vijay's father S. A. Chandrasekhar was initially going to produce the film, but S. Thanu eventually took over, producing it under his banner V Creations.
The film was initially titled Maalai Nerathu Mazhaithuli.
Instead of his regular editor Anthony and art director Rajeevan, AR Murugadoss chose Sreekar Prasad and Thota Tharani for those positions, respectively.
Harris Jayaraj was signed as the music director. It has his second film with Vijay after Nanban. Also, Thuppakki was Harris Jayaraj's third collaboration with director AR Murugadoss.
Santosh Sivan was hired as the cinematographer, his next Tamil film after Mani Ratnam's Raavanan.
Kingfisher Calendar model Angela Jonsson was first signed as the heroine and she took part in a brief photoshoot with Vijay in Chennai.
Later, Angela was replaced by Kajal Aggarwal.
Vidyut Jammwal, who was simultaneously shooting for Billa II, was signed up to the main antagonist.
The film's prime antagonist (Vidyut Jamwal) is not given a name in the film .
AR Murugadoss and Santhosh Sivan made a cameo appearance in the Google Google song. They are seen sitting in red couch watching movie and eating popcorn
Dubai-based Malayali orthodontist Prasanth Nair was signed to play a small but important role, making it his acting debut in Tamil cinema.
With Santhosh Sivan's assistance, Vijay acted and operated the camera himself for one scene at Linking Road in Bandra, Mumbai, which had to be filmed quickly, using the guerrilla technique.
Santhosh Sivan later commented that that particular scene that Vijay directed was filmed perfectly and the team decided to retain it in the film.
Santhosh Sivan shot Thuppakki with an Arri Alexa camera, as opposed to the traditional 35 mm film.
Although Santhosh Sivan has mostly preferred to shoot on film, he stated that he shot Thuppakki digitally because 'the story and milieu of the script demanded it'.
The Google Google song was shot in 10 days in a pub in Bangkok.
Vijay slipped and injured his knee while filming a sequence which involved him jumping from a height. Shooting was stalled following the incident and Vijay left to London to undergo treatment.
One of the film's songs was shot atop of a train, along with 300 dancers constructed by art director Sunil Babu. The dance sequence, choreographed by Shobi, was shot in the Mumbai Pune Expressway.
The song 'Vennilave' was shot in Switzerland. As Sivan was unable to give dates, Natarajan 'Natty' Subramaniam shot it instead.
The song 'Antarctica' was shot at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, with which principal photography was wrapped up.
This particular sequence, which involved the synchronized shooting of several sleeper cells, was talked about, after the film's release.
The climax of Thuppakki was shot with 7 cameras and 60 fighters were involved in the stunt sequence.
During the film's final sequences, a bomb is triggered to explode in 15 minutes. From that scene to the scene where it's exploded, the actual time lapsed on screen is 15 minutes.
The dialogue, 'I am waiting,' that Vijay utters at the the sparks-flying interval block, came to be associated with the actor, and was subsequently use in many of his later films.
Vijay lent his voice for the song 'Google Google' seven years after his last attempt at playback singing.
Vijay's last song before Google Google was 'Vaadi Vaadi' from Sachein (2005).
Thuppakki was first supposed to have been made in Hindi with Akshay Kumar. But ARM remade it later with Akshay as Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty in 2014.
Thuppakki ran into trouble when a promotional poster featured Vijay holding a cigar in his mouth. Later, ARM resolved the issue by promising that there won't be any smoking scenes in the film.
Madhan Karky had written over 35 pallavis for the 'Google Google, with one being finalised at last.
Apart from Madhan Karky, Na Muthukumar, Pa Vijay, Viveka wrote the lyrics for the film.
Thuppakki was made at a budget of 70 crores, Vijay's costliest film at that time.
The film released in more than 1500 screens, becoming the widest release for a Vijay film at the time.
Upon release, an Islamic group protested against the film, claiming that it portrayed Muslims as terrorists and traitors.
ARm and S. Thanu later tendered an open apology to representatives of 23 different Muslim outfits, and agreed to delete the scenes to which objections were raised.
In October 2012, a promotional poster, which depicted a police-uniform clad Vijay carrying Aggarwal on his hands was claimed to have been lifted from a poster of An Officer and a Gentleman (1982).
ARM admitted to have used the poster of An Officer and a Gentleman, and said, 'Sometimes, you admire something so much that sub-consciously it becomes a part of your work.'
Filmmaker Ravi Devan later sued the makers of Thuppakki, claiming that the title was too similar to that of his film Kallathuppakki. An out-of-the-court settlement was later made.
Thuppakki became Vijay's first 100 crore-grosser., and gave confidence to both stars and producers to make mega-budget films.
On the opening day, Thuppakki netted around 9. 2 crores in TN box office alone, which was a record.
The final worldwide earnings for the film were over 125 crores.
The broadcasting rights were purchased by Star Vijay for 11 crore, a record at that time.
The train engine shown in the opening scene of the movie (during the intro song) and the one shown when the train reaches Mumbai station are different.
In the opening scene, when Vijay fights his fellow mate, he lands a punch and his mate falls to the ground, the ground is dry and brown. The very next scene when he gets up, the floor is full of grass
A crew member is visible in Vijay's sun glasses in one of the scenes from the film.
The film was also released in Telugu under the same title, and made good business.
Thuppakki was also the first Tamil film to address the concept of 'sleeper-cells' among terrorist groups.
The villain's dialogue of I don't know who you're, where you're. I'm coming for you. And once I get to you, I'll kill you' is said to have been inspired by the Hollywood film, Taken.
ARM dedicated the film to the soldiers of the Indian army in a later interview, and mentioned that the core plot was based on a news article he chanced upon.
Here are few more stills and posters from the film.
