Muthu Pandi, a village strongman, decides to marry Dhanalakshmi, and begins his quest by eliminating everyone who opposes their union - starting with both her brothers. In desperation, Dhanalakshmi decides to escape from the village, and in the process is unwittingly assisted by a university Kabaddi player Velu.
Acting
Prakash Raj's scenery-chewing villainy steals every scene he's in
Stunts
Kabaddi sequences reinvented as action set pieces with actual rules
Direction
Dharani's masala pacing keeps 168 minutes from ever dragging
Director
Dharani
Vijay
Saravanavelu
Trisha Krishnan
Dhanalakshmi
Prakash Raj
Muthupandi
Ashish Vidhyarthi
Sivasubramanian
Janaki Sabesh
Saravanavelu's Mother
Nancy Jennifer
Bhuvana
Dhamu
Otteri Nari
Tanikella Bharani
Muthupandi's Father
T. K. Kala
Muthupandi's Mother
Nagendra Prasad
Prasad
Mayilsamy
Narayanan
Maran
Adhivaasi
Brahmanandam
Priest Ramakrishna
Appukutty
Priest Ramakrishna's Assistant
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ghilli is a remake of the Telugu blockbuster Okkadu (2003), but Vijay's performance and Dharani's mass-appeal adjustments made it the definitive version for Tamil audiences.
This film cemented Vijay's 'mass hero' status and made kabaddi briefly cool to urban Tamil youth—previously seen as a rural sport.
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