Pulimurugan

Pulimurugan is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language epic action thriller film directed by Vysakh and produced by Tomichan Mulakuppadam through Mulakuppadam Films. The screenplay was written by Udayakrishna —half of the duo Udayakrishna and Sibi K. Thomas —in his first independent screenplay. The film stars Mohanlal in the titular role, along with a huge ensemble cast including Jagapati Babu, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Lal, Vinu Mohan, Kishore, Bala, Noby Marcose, Siddique, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Nandu, M. R. Gopakumar, Sudheer Karamana, Hareesh Peradi, Makarand Deshpande and Namitha. The film centers on Murugan, a skilled protector of Villagers of Puliyoor facing the threat of deadly tiger attacks. He meet Daddy Girija, an illegal drug dealer who take advantage of his innocence.

Principal photography commenced on 16 July 2015 in Hanoi, Vietnam, and was completed in early February 2016. The film score and soundtrack were composed by Gopi Sundar, while cinematography and editing was handled by Shaji Kumar and Johnkutty respectively. The film was released on 7 October 2016. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, Pulimurugan became the first Malayalam film to earn ₹100 crore, setting several records at the box office and emerged as the highest grossing Malayalam film till date and held the record for seven years until it was surpassed by 2018. The 3D version of the film was released in April 2017, and that version released in theatres on July, 2017. The film has recorded theater footfalls of around 7.5 million during its run in Kerala alone. It remains as one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.

Two songs from the film—"Kaadanayum Kaalchilambe" and "Maanathe Maarikurumbe" were selected among the 70 eligible songs contending for the Academy Award for Best Original Song nomination in the 90th Academy Awards. The film score was also selected among the 141 eligible scores contending for the Academy Award for Best Original Score nomination.

Murugan lives in Puliyoor, a small forest village that is vulnerable to man-eating Royal Bengal Tigers and frequent human–wildlife conflicts. When he was young, Murugan's mother died after his brother Manikuttan was born. Soon after, his father was killed by a tiger; in vengeance, Murugan traps and kills the tiger with the help of his uncle Balaraman. Years later, Murugan is a truck driver, who lives with his wife Myna, and has a daughter, Chakki. He hunts and kills rogue tigers whenever they invade the village. Acknowledging his skills in hunting tigers, the villagers call him Pulimurugan (tiger Murugan). Murugan is grateful to the villagers who cared for him after his parents's deaths, and is obsessively protective of Manikuttan, who is about to finish his MBA graduation in Mangalore.

One day, Kadutha, the village chief, meets a hooded stranger who asks the whereabouts of Murugan for a hunting assignment. Murugan has been away from Puliyoor for days and many people have been killed by the tigers. According to Kadutha, Manikuttan's friends Benny and Shiva had arrived at Puliyoor, sent by Manikuttan to see Balaraman. Shiva's father Daddy Girija owned a pharmaceutical company which was developing a drug to treat cancer and they need ganja (cannabis) from the forest. When the medical research succeeds, Manikuttan will be offered a job in the company, so Balaraman helps them. They made a contract with Ramaiya, an illegal ganja dealer in the forest; on their return to the village they encounter a tiger but were saved by Murugan, who kills it.

Meanwhile, Manikuttan returned home after his final examinations. The forest officials have found the dead tiger's carcass at Thookupara; its killing is a violation of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, a non-bailable offence. Forest ranger R. K. was assigned to investigate; R.K. has a four-year-old grudge against Murugan, when he had once tried to molest Myna, only to be threatened by Murugan. Taking advantage on the present scenario, R.K. prepared to file a self-witness F. I. R. against Murugan, who was forced to hide. Meanwhile, DSP Iyep Zachariah arrived at Puliyoor, apparently for Murugan. The ganja was loaded into Murugan's lorry for transporting to Mangalore.

Shiva and Benny hear that a confidant of Ramaiya was in police custody. Seeing a possibility of leaking the information, they are forced to transport it overnight. Shiva offered Murugan sanctuary in Kasaragod under Daddy's protection and deceived him that the police are in pursuit to arrest him for the tiger killing. A team led by Zachariya arrived at Murugan's home. Murugan with his family escaped to Mangalore in the transport and managed to escape the cops. He delivered the ganja and Manikuttan's job had been approved. Murugan impressed Daddy and earned his trust by helping in his business activities. Meanwhile, more people are killed by tigers at Puliyoor. In an encounter with Zachariya, Murugan learnt that Daddy was illegally producing hash oil and exporting it under cover of the pharmacy where Manikuttan was working.

Manikuttan co-operated with the cops to capture Daddy. Shiva caught Manikuttan extracting evidence of their activities and tortured him. Murugan rescued Manikuttan; in the ensuing fight, Shiva was accidentally killed by Murugan. The cops ambushed Daddy but he escaped. After narrating the events, the hooded stranger is revealed to be Daddy, who is seeking revenge for Shiva's death. Daddy assembles a group of assassins and ambushes Balaraman and Poongayi Sasi, where they take Balaraman and send Sasi back with severe injuries. Murugan returns home and learns about the events, where he heads to kill Daddy. A fight with the assassins ensues where Murugan kills them all, but gets attacked by Daddy. A fight ensues where Murugan saves Balaram from the tiger's den and defeats Daddy. Daddy gets killed and eaten by the tiger, when Murugan rescues Balaram and gets out of that den.