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Citizen (film)

For the 1982 film of the same name, see Citizen: I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm Giving It Away.

Citizen is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Saravana Subbiah and produced by S. S. Chakravarthy. The film stars Ajith Kumar in dual roles with Meena, Vasundhara Das and Nagma playing supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Deva, and cinematography was handled by Ravi K. Chandran. The film was released theatrically on 9 June 2001 and became a blockbuster at the box-office.

Citizen
Poster
Directed bySaravana Subbiah
Written bySaravana Subbiah
Balakumaran (dialogues)
Produced byS. S. Chakravarthy
StarringAjith Kumar
Meena
Vasundhara Das
Nagma
CinematographyRavi K. Chandran
R. D. Rajasekhar (one song)
Edited bySreekar Prasad
Music byDeva
Production
company
Nic Arts
Release date
  • 9 June 2001 (2001-06-09)
Running time
172 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

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Abdullah runs a motorcycle workshop with a few workers. He also gives casual legal advice to the locals. A computer science student named Indhu develops a crush on him and tries to woo him, although Abdullah has nothing of it.

In a massive street protest by lawyers across the city, Abdullah, in an altered appearance, kidnaps Judge Vedhachalam after introducing himself as 'Citizen'. Later on, Abdullah kidnaps Collector Santhanam by posing as freedom fighter Sundaramoorthy. On both occasions, Abdullah mentions 'Attipatti', which left his victims speechless.

With these two high-profile kidnappings, the CBI, which Senior Officer Sarojini Harichandran leads, handles the case. Sarojini finds out that both kidnap victims worked together in the Mayavaram division some years ago and were involved in a riot in Attipatti. However, a check with the Mayiladuthurai sub-collector's office and the Nagapattinam collector's office found no town or village named Attipatti existed. She visits the collector's office in Thanjavur and is shocked to discover that the hamlet, Attipatti existed in records before 1973 but not in the years after. She becomes convinced that the kidnapper has a link to Attipatti.

Meanwhile, Abdullah becomes irritated with Indhu, who longs for his affection. He scolds her and says she doesn't know who he is or the pain he endures in his heart.

The CBI team tracks down a former employee of the local government, which Attipatti was under, and visits Father Louis at Lutheran Chapel. At the chapel, Sarojini and her team meet Father Kuriakose, who informs them that Father Louis passed away ten years ago but left a box to hand over to whoever comes to the church and asks about Attipatti. Sarojini and her team find hundreds of dead bodies buried near the coastal area where the location of Attipatti was, and a tombstone bearing the names of all who perished. Sarojini concludes that Arivanandam and Anthony, the name of a boy baptised after the atrocity, are the same people, and her further investigation leads her to Abdullah, who manages to escape via a secret route. Sarojini discovers Citizen's operation room within the mosque. There she finds out Citizen's next target is DGP Devasagayam. However, simultaneously, Citizen already kidnapped the DGP. The CBI officers receive information that Citizen is hiding in Tada Forest and go after him. Indhu comes to meet Abdullah and reveals she already knew he was Citizen some time ago. The CBI officers arrive at the forest and, after a chase, finally arrest Citizen. In the trial, Citizen narrates what happened in his village, Attipatti.

Past: In 1973, it was a hamlet of 700 inhabitants surrounded by the sea. Therefore, it is often flooded by rising sea levels, causing deaths. The hamlet's MLA had promised to build a wall in exchange for votes but never constructed it. When the villagers, led by Citizen's father, Subramani, go to the collector's office to ask about its status, the collector sends them away, saying they cannot build a wall in that area as the number of people is too small. The villagers later found out that the district collector, the MLA, the DGP, and the judge had taken 150 million rupees allocated by the government to build the wall. After that, when the four visited Attipatti, the outraged villagers embarrassed them by forcing them to eat mouldy rice and pouring water over them. In response, the four officials vowed to make Attipatti disappear from the map. One night, they arrived at Attipatti with henchmen, caught all the villagers, tied them on a boat, tortured them, and pushed them to the sea, killing all except Arivanandam.

Present: At the trial, Citizen explains he did not kidnap the MLA because he got punished after losing the election. With the judge, DGP, and district collector on the witness stand, Citizen tells the court that the death penalty or life imprisonment is lenient for them. He says corruption exists because government officers want to provide a luxurious life for their family members. Arivanandam suggests stripping the wealth and citizenship of the three and all their immediate and extended family members. The court amends the retribution suggested by Arivanandam. The film ends with the court releasing Citizen because he fought for the good of the country.

Cast

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As per the film's opening and end credits:[1]

Production

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Early indications suggested that the film directed by Saravana Subbiah was a remake of the 1973 English film The Day of the Jackal, but it proved to be untrue.[4] Ajith Kumar put on weight for the film, which would feature him in nine roles, and he claimed that he was inspired by Kamal Haasan's award-winning performances.[5] Sameera Reddy was initially part of the cast but opted out due to conflicting commitments.[6][7][8] Subsequently, singer Vasundhara Das, who had earlier appeared in Hey Ram, was chosen to play the leading lady, while Nagma was selected to essay the role of a police officer.[9] A special feature on the making of the film was broadcast by Sun TV in May 2001.[10] Dubbing for Nagma was provided by actress Anuradha.[11] Gemini Ganesan was also initially meant to play a role in the film, but his character was later altered in the script and replaced by Pandiyan.[12]

After 2 months of pre-production, shooting started on 28 December 2000 with Ajith and Vasundhara Das, after the former completed the shooting for his previous action thriller film Dheena, which was also released in 2001 during the Thai Pongal festival, with Ravi K. Chandran as cinematographer who had replaced P. C. Sriram in the project.[13][14] The location for the Athipatty scenes was an island situated on the outskirts of Chennai, and it took three hours for the team to travel from the city and then by boat to get there.[15][16] A scene filmed at Rajaji Hall featured five thousand of Ajith's fans as extras.[9] A song in the film was shot in Australia in March 2001, delaying the proposed release date of 1 May.[17]

Reception

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The review from The Hindu labelled it as a "definite milestone in Ajit's acting career".[18] Visual Dasan of Kalki wrote Ajith's dream of trying out makeup techniques has come true but the director's celluloid dream is not valid due to weak screenplay and tense direction.[19] The film was a commercial success.[20]

The film was later dubbed and released as Citizen in Telugu, to positive reviews.[21] The actor and director began to work on another project titled Itihasam, written by Sujatha and focusing on caste issues, but the production was shelved.[22]

Soundtrack

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Citizen
Soundtrack album by
Deva
Released11 May 2001
Recorded2001
GenreSoundtrack
Length39:17
LabelMass Audios
Nic Arts
Bayshore
Divo
Sony Music
Vega Music
ProducerDeva
Deva chronology
Chocolate
(2001) 		Citizen
(2001) 		Engalukkum Kaalam Varum
(2001)

The music was composed by Deva and all lyrics were penned by Vairamuthu. The song "I Like You" is copied from "I Feel Lonely" by German singer Sasha, and parts of "Pookara Pookara" were copied from "Take a Chance on Me" by Swedish group ABBA.[23] Indiainfo wrote "This Ajith starrer has some good foot beating notes but sadly they are all lifts and blatant".[24]

Track list
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Australia Desam"Hariharan, Harini6:46
2."Merkey Vidhaitha"Tippu6:13
3."Pookara Pookara"Shankar Mahadevan, Vasundhara Das6:20
4."Chikkimukki Kallu"Shankar Mahadevan, Sadhana Sargam6:51
5."I Like you"Vasundhara Das6:53
6."Merkey Vidhaitha Sooriyaney"Shankar Mahadevan6:13
Total length:39:17

References

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  1. ^ "Citizen Tamil Full Movie HD 4K | Super Hit Movie | #ajith #meena #nagmamirajkar Ajith Action Movie". 23 November 2022. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2024 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ "அஜித் நல்லவரா ? கெட்டவரா ? அஜித்தின் சிட்டிசன் படத்தின் மூலம் அறிமுகமான நடிகரரின் பேட்டி". 7 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Citizen Tamil Full Movie HD 4K | Super Hit Movie | #ajith #meena #nagmamirajkar Ajith Action Movie". 23 November 2022. Event occurs at 2:34:00 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ "www.ajithkumar.fr.fm". www.ajithkumar.fr.fm. 16 November 2000. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Filmfare - Print Edition". Downloads.movies.indiatimes.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  6. ^ "Grill mill -- Sameera Reddy". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 21 March 2008. Archived from the original on 24 March 2008.
  7. ^ "Nagma is back". Tamilmovies. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Tamil Movies Online News". tamilmovies.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b "www.ajithkumar.fr.fm". www.ajithkumar.fr.fm. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  10. ^ "The Hindu : Fiesta for film buffs". Hinduonnet.com. 10 May 2001. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ "The Director's dilemma". Cinematoday2.itgo.com. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  12. ^ "rediff.com, Movies: Gossip from the southern film industry". Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  13. ^ "Citizen". Cinematoday2.itgo.com. 1 May 2001. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  14. ^ Kamath, Sudhish; Kannan, Ramya; Kumar, S.Shiva (29 December 2000). "Talk of the town". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  15. ^ Prasad, Ayyappa (13 January 2001). "Kamal Hassan inspired me - Ajith". Indianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  16. ^ Kumar, N. Ravi (9 March 2001). "Placid isle makes waves". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  17. ^ "www.ajithkumar.fr.fm". www.ajithkumar.fr.fm. 29 May 2001. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  18. ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (15 June 2001). "Film Review: Citizen". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  19. ^ தாசன், விஷுவல் (24 June 2001). "சிட்டிசன்". Kalki (in Tamil). pp. 85–86 – via Internet Archive.
  20. ^ S Saraswathi (5 February 2015). "Ajith's Top 10 Hits". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  21. ^ "Telugu Cinema - Review - Citizen - Ajith, Vasundhara Das & Nagma - Saravanan Subbaiah". Idlebrain.com. 28 December 2001. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  22. ^ "Arts & Culture". Tamilguardian.com. 3 April 2002. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  23. ^ "20 Years of Thala Ajith's Citizen: Five interesting facts about the film". The Times of India. 12 June 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  24. ^ "Citizen not bad!". Indian Info. Archived from the original on 3 February 2002. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
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