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Thodari
Poster
Directed by	Prabhu Solomon
Written by	Prabhu Solomon
Produced by	T. G. Thiyagarajan (Presenter) Sendhil Thiyagarajan Arjun Thiyagarajan Prabhu Solomon
Starring	Dhanush Keerthy Suresh Swarupu Radharavi Thambi Ramaiah Ganesh Venkatraman
Cinematography	Vetrivel Mahendran
Edited by	L. V. K. Doss
Music by	D. Imman
Production companies	Sathya Jyothi Films God Pictures
Distributed by	Ayngaran International
Release date	September 22, 2016 (2016-09-22)
Running time	167 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Thodari (transl. Train) is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action-romance film written, directed and co-produced by Prabhu Solomon. It stars Dhanush and Keerthy Suresh, with D. Imman composing the film's music. Set on an express train, Thodari follows a pantry worker who tries to save the passengers and his girlfriend from hijackers and a politician's bodyguard amid a runaway train incident.

Thodari was released theatrically on 22 September 2016. It was later dubbed into Hindi as Express Khiladi in 2018. An action mobile video game, Thodari Official Game, based on the film was released by Mobi2Fun as a tie-in with the film.

Plot

At New Delhi Railway Station, Poochiyappan is a railway catering company server on duty on the New Delhi-Chennai Express. He works with his team member and best friend, Vairam, under his supervisor, Chandrakanth.

During the journey, he meets Saroja, actress Srisha's make-up artist, and falls in love with her at first sight. She wants to become a successful singer. Poochi tells Vairam about Saroja, who promises to help him woo her. Poochi devises a plan and makes her talk on the phone to Vairam, who acts as the renowned Tamil poet Vairamuthu. However, he soon discovers that Saroja is not good at singing, despite continuing to support her. Saroja remains close to Poochi, as she wants to enter the singing industry without knowing that Vairam is Vairamuthu.

The train stops at Jhansi Junction (in Uttar Pradesh), where Union Minister Rangarajan boards the train with his two bodyguards. One of them, Nandhakumar, doesn't get along with Poochi and Saroja. The minister humiliates him in front of Poochi, and he wants to take revenge. Poochi asks him to apologise to Saroja for hitting her earlier, to which he agrees to get his lost gun back. He soon discovers that the firearm is with the minister. He vows to murder Poochi and Saroja. Meanwhile, at Nagpur Junction (in Maharashtra), robbers board the train without anyone's knowledge as the driver celebrates his retirement.

The following morning, Srisha's mother spots Saroja with Poochi and informs Saroja's uncle, who then asks him to call singer Vairamuthu in front of them, which leads to the truth. After discovering the truth, Saroja's uncle scolds her. Saroja, now devastated, asks him never to show his face again. When he goes to apologise to Saroja, Nandhakumar confronts him and locks him in a room. The train stops after hitting wild bulls. The driver blames the assistant driver, who failed to alert the driver. Nandhakumar tries to attack Saroja, but she escapes. Due to a fight between the train guard and the assistant driver, the deputy driver waves a green flag; the locomotive driver notices, and, thinking that the deputy driver has checked the brakes' connection, the engine driver starts the train. She boards the engine instead of the passenger compartment as she fails to get on the moving train. At the same time, the guard and the assistant driver fall off the train, leaving them behind. The train ticket examiner passes a message to the railway administrator that the guard is not on the train. However, the driver, numb from thinking of the incident, does not hear it. After a few moments, the driver dies of a heart attack. While falling, he pushes the controls forward, making the train speed up, which Saroja watches, much to her horror. The train starts to skip stations, much to the stationmaster's alarm and the railway administrators' dismay. At the same time, the burglars attack the passengers and order the train not to stop. The passengers get terrified due to the high speed. Poochi then overpowers Nandhakumar and attempts to save Saroja. He kills all the burglars and gives Saroja a walkie-talkie for communication. Nandhakumar tries to kill Poochi but dies after hitting an oncoming rail tunnel.

News circulated that the train driver died and that terrorists hijacked the train. Several people mistake the robbers for terrorists and Saroja as their leader. The government gave responsibility to officers from the police and railway administration to bring down the train. When they realise that the train is out of control and not hijacked, they take help from Poochi and Saroja to stop the train by guiding Saroja on how to turn on the emergency brake. However, due to a short circuit earlier, the brakes do not work. They devise a plan to detach the engine from the passenger compartment. Poochi succeeds after a long attempt and jumps onto the locomotive to save Saroja. Saroja realises her love for Poochi. At Chennai Central Railway Station (in Tamil Nadu), police evacuate the whole station as the oncoming train approaches. The locomotive crashes into the station, and Poochi and Saroja are injured but alive. The separated passenger compartments arrive in Chennai, safe with passengers unscathed. The media interviews them, and Poochi is named a national hero.

Cast

• Dhanush as Poochiyappan "Poochi"
• Keerthy Suresh as Saroja
• Swarupu as Saroja's uncle
• Radha Ravi as Union Council of MinistersIUnion Minister Rangarajan
• Thambi Ramaiah as Chandrakanth
• Karunakaran as Vairam
• Harish Uthaman as Nandhakumar
• Ganesh Venkatraman as Sultan IPS, DIG, Railway Protection Force
• Nassar as NSG Chief
• Pooja Jhaveri as actress Srisha
• Chinni Jayanth as Jack
• Ashvin Raja as Johnson
• Imman Annachi as Stephen, Train Ticket Examiner
• Saiju Kurup as Delhi commissioner
• G. Gnanasambandam as Sadhasivam
• Pattimandram Raja as Tamilselvan
• Bose Venkat as Assistant Loco Pilot
• Anu Mohan as Pughazhmannan
• R. V. Udayakumar as Devaraj, Loco Pilot
• A. Venkatesh as Thangapandian, D.R.M
• Prem as Aravind
• Badava Gopi as Unmai TV Host
• Darbuka Siva as Rajapandi
• Maya Krishnan as IBC David daughter
• Florent Pereira
• Bharathi Kannan
• Dhalapathy
• Supergood Subramani as a cook

Production

In early 2015, Prabhu Solomon approached Dhanush to play the lead role in his next film and by February 2015, the director had started pre-production work with a recce in North India. Keerthy Suresh was signed to play the leading female role.

Thodari is the first Indian film that was shot entirely on a train. The film's shoot took place predominantly on the Duronto Express, and the film features the lead pair travelling from Delhi to Chennai. Hence, initially, a grand train set was put up at Binny Mills, Chennai during July 2015 for the film's initial schedule. Production continued for sixty days straight, with the makers alternating between shooting the film in sets and on a live train. Shoot progressed through the middle of 2015, with scenes also filmed in Goa and Hyderabad. In October 2015, a schedule was shot in Orissa, after which production was completed for scenes featuring Dhanush. Prabhu Solomon continued to shoot further scenes featuring parallel stories throughout late 2015 and early 2016, with Ganesh Venkatraman filming scenes during January 2016.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics and audience.

Box office

The film collected ₹15 crore (US$1.8 million) to ₹17 crore (US$2.0 million) in Tamil Nadu in five days and ₹1.7 crore (US$200,000) in Chennai in first weekend. The film collected ₹17.2 lakh (US$21,000) in United States, ₹3.32 lakh (US$4,000) in UK and ₹46.87 lakh (US$56,000) in Malaysia.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film is composed by D. Imman. The last time he scored music for a film starring Dhanush was in 2006 for Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambam, and this is the fifth time Prabhu Solomon is collaborating with Imman.

All tracks are written by Yugabharathi

References

1. "Dhanush's 'Thodari' cleared with celan 'U'". indiatimes.com. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
2. "How Dhanush Filmed Thodari. It Was 'Life Threatening'". NDTV. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2016. Thodari is the story of a pantry boy played by Dhanush and happens on a Delhi- Chennai train. Though it has elements of realism like all my films, it's a complete commercial action-romance film.
3. Avinash Pandian (7 January 2016). "Dhanush next movie titled as Rail?". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
4. "Express Khiladi Full Movie". Hotstar. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
5. "Thodari Official Game". App Store. 21 September 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
6. SUBHA J RAO (4 February 2015). "Dhanush, Prabhu Solomon team up". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
7. "Thodari will be a talked about film: Prabhu Solomon". newindianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
8. "Dhanush-Prabhu Solomon film titled 'Rail'". sify.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
9. "Dhanush-Prabhu Solomon film shoot progressing in Chennai". Sify. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015.
10. Avinash Pandian (6 July 2015). "Dhanush — Prabhu Solomon project shoot begins in the outskirts of Chennai". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
11. Avinash Pandian (10 October 2015). "Poochiyappan will be Dhanush's character name in Prabhu Solomon film". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
12. "Dhanush completes Prabhu Solomon's film!". Sify. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
13. Avinash Pandian (22 September 2015). "Dhanush — Prabhu Solomon's film is 60% complete". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 28 December 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
14. Ravi, Nandita. "Ganesh wraps up shooting for Prabu Solomon's film". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
15. "Kollywood box office: Thodari fails to beat Vikram's Iru Mugan, Aandavan Kattalai grows on second day". The Indian Express. 24 September 2016. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
16. "Thodari box office collection: Dhanush-starrer performs well in 5 days". International Business Times. 27 September 2016. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
17. Thodari audio launch: what's the buzz? Archived 13 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine. The Hindu (6 June 2016)
18. "Thodari (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by D. Imman on iTunes". iTunes. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.

External links

• Thodari at IMDb
• Thodari on Facebook

• 2016 films
• 2010s Tamil-language films
• 2010s Indian films
• 2016 action thriller films
• 2010s romantic action films
• Films scored by D. Imman
• Films set on trains
• Films about terrorism in India
• Indian romantic action films
• Indian action thriller films
• Films shot in Hyderabad, India
• Films shot in Goa
• Films directed by Prabhu Solomon
• Films set in Delhi
• Films set in Maharashtra
• Films set in Chennai
• Fictional portrayals of police departments in India
• Films adapted for other media
• Films shot in Odisha
• Films shot in Nagpur
• Films set in Uttar Pradesh
• Films shot in Uttar Pradesh
• Films shot in Chennai