Si3 (film)

Si3 (also known as Singam 3) is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Hari. A sequel to Singam II (2013) and the third film in the Singam film series, it stars Suriya and Anushka Shetty (both of whom reprised their roles in the first two films), along with Thakur Anoop Singh and Shruti Haasan in the lead roles.[3] It is the fifth collaboration of Suriya and Hari. The film occurs a few months after Singam 2 and focuses on officer Durai Singam's attempt to solve the murder case of Visakhapatnam police commissioner Ramakrishna, motivated by much more disastrous activities masterminded all the way from Australia.

Si3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hari
Produced by	K. E. Gnanavel Raja Dhaval Jayantilal Gada
Written by	Hari
Starring	Suriya Anushka Shetty Shruti Haasan Thakur Anoop Singh Soori
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography	Priyan
Edited by	V. T. Vijayan T. S. Jay
Production company	Studio Green Pen Movies Aadnah Arts
Distributed by	Pen Movies
Release date	9 February 2017 (2017-02-09)[1]
Running time	154 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Box office	₹110 crore[2]

Principal photography commenced in January 2016 in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.[4] The film was released worldwide on 9 February 2017 along with the Telugu dubbed version, S3 (Yamudu 3).[5]

Plot

It has been just a few months since officer Durai Singam arrested international drug lord Danny. A tough debate occurs within an Andhra Pradesh state assembly about the long pending murder case of Visakhapatnam City Police Commissioner Ramakrishna. The Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh proposes recruiting Singam from Tamil Nadu to Vizag as the new DCP, by order under the CBI. As Singam arrives in Vizag station, he fends off an attack from goon Gun Ravi, who works for Vizag's most influential and powerful don Madhusudhana Reddy Singam is followed by Vidya, a journalist in guise of a student hoping to write a story on Singam. Singam had previously covered his relationship with his wife Kavya Mahalingam to keep her away from enemies, and after curiosity from Constable Veeram, he closes it as a divorce, revealing it only to Inspector Subba Rao.

After briefly confronting Bheemli Selvam, Reddy's man who ordered the attack at the train station, Singam finds that a constable at the station has gotten sick from consuming an expired medicine tablet. With help from a paroled hacker named Murali, Singam tracks Mallaiya who drove Ramakrishna to Vizag harbour on the night of the murder. A local schoolteacher informs Singam that a toxic smoke attack from the nearby dump killed his 32 students, including his grandchildren. Singam realizes that Ramakrishna intended to expose illegal dumping of mediwaste and electronic waste, which included recycled tablets being sold to the public and the smoke attack on the school. The garbage is being imported by Vizag Scraps owner Rajeev Krishna in exchange for free metal scrap delivery to steel companies in Australia. Mallaiya confirms that Reddy, who authorizes this business in India killed Ramakrishna to prevent him from thwarting his operation. Both Reddy and Rajeev's activities are supervised from by wealthy steel businessman Vittal Prasad, who receives full support from his father, Union Minister Ram Prasad. In the meantime, Vidya writes an article on Singam claiming that he exported Reddy for personal gain and that he is corrupt, putting Singam's reputation at edge. Singam begins to eliminate and arrest criminals all over the city, including Selvam whom he guns down. Later on, he heads to Vizag harbour to obtain evidence from Reddy's containers but is attacked by his men while Ravi murders the school teacher. Vittal calls Singam anonymously and threatens to use his influence to kill Singam's family if he doesn't stand down.

The next day, Singam chases down Ravi and arrests Reddy. He pays a personal visit to Vittal in Australia from looking into Reddy's contacts, and confirms that he's the one behind the illegal dumping. He narrowly escapes Vittal and returns to India, where he finds that Reddy has been bailed by three criminals who framed the Commissioner for supposed sexual assault on one of their wives, and justify the murder as revenge. Singam is also fired from the CBI for speaking out of turn, and has Vidya pay a fine for discrediting him. Singam has the home minister transfer him as a cop in Vizag to continue pursuing Reddy's men. He exposes the garbage containers to the public, forcing Vittal to come to Vizag. When Vittal warns him again to stay out of his way, Singam responds by having Subbu Rao kill Reddy, whom previously killed his nine-year-old son in a city riot to defend Ram Prasad's position. Singam brings Vittal to his station and gives him another chance to repent for whom he's hurt. Singam and Kavya later visit Thoothukudi to attend Kavya's grandma's funeral. They are followed by Rajeev, who is arrested. When Vidya attempts to interview Vittal, she is captured and drugged. With help from Murali, Singam rescues Vidya but is targeted by Vittal's men who bomb the police station. Singam decides to finish this once and for all and gets an arrest warrant for Vittal using computer evidence of agreements signed with medical companies, hacked by Murali. The next day, Singam pursues Vittal all the way to an airport in a neighboring state and has him arrested. Vittal escapes custody into a nearby forest, where Singam fights and kills him.

During the credits, Ram Prasad is removed from position for assisting his son. Kavya is revealed to be pregnant six months later and Singam's old friend, Tamil Nadu home minister Ramanathan calls him in for yet another mission.

Cast

• Suriya as S. Durai Singam, recent deputy commissioner of Vizag, and tasked with solving Ramakrishna's murder.
• Anushka Shetty as Kavya Mahalingam, Singam's wife whom has pretended to divorce her husband for security purposes.
• Shruti Haasan as Vidhya and Agni (Undercover name), an investigative journalist who tails Singam.
• Hansika Motwani as Sathya, Singam's love interest in Singam 2, who comes in dream sequence
• Raadhika as Ramakrishna's wife
• Krish as V. Sreenivas, an officer of Vizag.
• Thakur Anoop Singh as Vittal Prasad; ruthless and powerful businessman, 28th richest man in India, CEO of Vittal Steels, Reddy and Rajeev's higher order, and main villain.
• Soori as Veera Babu "Veeram", a Vizag officer and comedy relief of the film.
• Robo Shankar as Police Inspector Subba Rao "Subbu", Singam's colleague; His son was killed in a bus accident by Reddy in a riot the latter started to save Ram Prasad.
• Sarath Babu as K. C. D. P. Sathyanarayana Reddygaru, Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh who assists Singam throughout his case.
• Vijayakumar as Ramanathan, Home Minister of Tamil Nadu and long supporter of Singam.
• Sharat Saxena as Madhusudhana Reddy "M. S. Reddy", the don who controls Andhra Pradesh and Vittal's illegal dumping.
• Jayaprakash as Commissioner Ramakrishna IPS, who gets murdered by Reddy for trying to expose his illegal activities.
• Suman as Ram Prasad, Vittal's father.
• Nithin Sathya as Murali, a hacker paroled by Singam to help him apprehend Vittal.
• Radha Ravi as Soundara Pandi, Singam's father
• Nassar as Mahalingam, Kavya's father and owner of India Cycles
• Sumithra as Kalyani, Singam's mother
• Janaki Sabesh as Bharathi, Kavya's mother
• Yuvarani as Dhanalakshmi, Singam's sister
• Manorama as Kavya's grandmother, who passes away.
• Delhi Kumar as Kavya's grandfather
• Imman Annachi as Pushparaj, a worker of India Cycles and Singam's contact in Australia.
• Thyagu as Habour Shanmugam, former ally of extortionist Mayil Vaaganam from Singam, who helps Singam transport Rajeev out of police custody.
• Joe Malloori as unnamed school teacher, whose grandchildren are killed by Vittal's mediwaste and electronic waste dumps.
• Jeeva Ravi as Mallaya, ACP Krishnaraj's driver who witnessed the commissioner's murder
• Prem as Ananda Rao, a customs officer
• Sarayu as Ananda's wife
• Sandra Amy as Aarthi
• Mohan Raman as Judge
• Chaams as G. Sathyan
• Crane Manohar as Palani, Kavya's houseworker
• Nalini as Thandubazaar Thangam, a rowdy lady whom Veeram tries to apprehend and falls in love with him.
• Bonda Mani as Thandubazaar Thangam's assistant
• Muthukaalai
• Boys Rajan as Andhra Today Editor
• TSR

Production

Following the commercial success of Singam 2, Hari was keen to collaborate with Suriya for another action film with a fresh script away from the Singam franchise, and agreed terms in principle with the actor in October 2014.[6][7] Hari revealed that as a result of pressure from those around him, he later developed the one-line story from the film into a script for a third part of Singam. While the first film was primarily shot within Tamil Nadu and the second featured a few scenes in South Africa, Hari stated that the third part would be more "international" and would be set in three countries as the protagonist tackles a global issue.[8][9]

While most of the cast was retained from the earlier films, Initially Akshara Hasan was considered for the second female lead but she opted out the film then Shruti Haasan was added to the team in July 2015 to portray another leading female role, while Anirudh Ravichander was signed as the music composer replacing Devi Sri Prasad.[10][11] Anirudh later opted out of the project citing scheduling issues and Harris Jayaraj was brought in to compose the film's music.[12] Vivek, who portrayed the police officer Erimalai in the first two films, declined to reprise his role in this film as he felt he "did not have a meaty role in it".[13] New actors to the series including Radhika, Soori, Robo Shankar, Krish and Nithin Sathya were added to the cast, while Thakur Anoop Singh was signed on to portray the lead antagonist.[14][15][16] In preparation for his role, Suriya bulked up his physique by spending more hours in the gym and by adopting a strict oil-free diet.[17]

The start of the film's shoot, initially scheduled for December 2015, was delayed as a result of the 2015 South Indian floods.[18] Production began in Visakhapatnam during January 2015 with scenes featuring Shruti Haasan as a journalist being shot. Following a series of action sequences shot in the city, the team moved to film song sequences in Romania with Anushka joining the team.[19][20] After a production break, the team restarted the shoot in Visakhapatnam, before moving to the Talakona Forest region and then on the AVM Studios in Chennai during mid-2016.[21][22][23] The team moved to Malaysia to finish filming the climax in October 2016, before a further song was shot in Georgia with Suriya and Shruti Haasan.[24][25] In January 2017, the film was re-titled from S3 to Si3 (spelt சி3 in Tamil) to exploit the Tamil Nadu Government's rule of entertainment tax exemption for films titled in Tamil.[26][27]

Release

Singam 3 went through several changes of release date, before being released on 9 February 2017 coinciding with Thaipusam festival.[28] The film was completed in mid-2016 and the team completed post-production work aiming to have a theatrical release in October to coincide either with the Ayudha Puja or Diwali season, but the release was postponed to avoid a box office clash with Suriya's brother, Karthi's film, Kaashmora.[29] The film was then scheduled to release on 16 December. However, due to a request from the makers of Dhruva, the film release date was pushed even later on 23 December to make most of the Christmas holiday season, but was delayed after the team chose to allow the public of Tamil Nadu more time to recuperate from the aftermath of Cyclone Vardah, the death of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and the demonetisation problems.[30][31] Prior to the film's revised release date of 26 January, PETA India had remarked that Suriya was trying to garner publicity for Si3 by speaking out against the organisation at the 2017 pro-jallikattu protests. Suriya subsequently filed a legal notice against PETA for the defamatory allegations.[32] The film was pushed back even further following riots in Chennai at the end of the protest, with the producers finalising a worldwide theatrical release date of 9 February.[33][27] In Malaysia, this movie was available in Astro First channel 481 in early April 2017. Viewers need to pay RM15.00 to watch the movie for two days. The first premiere of this movie was in Astro Vinmeen Channel 231(HD) during the festive weekend of Hari Raya Haji and further premiered in Astro Vellithirai Channel 202 on Diwali 2017.The satellite rights of Si3 were sold to Sun TV.[34]Amazon has acquired the digital rights of Si3.[35]

Critical reception

This film received mixed reviews from critics.[36][37] Times of India stated that the delayed release " did not seem to deter Duraisingam from roaring loud, making swift actions, bashing up the baddies uncompromisingly and winning applause from his colleagues as well as the audience", while also lauding Suriya and Hari's contribution to the film. The critic rated 3 out of 5 and wrote "Suriya, who carries the entire film on his shoulders, is in full form — Duraisingam looks as intense, brave and energetic as he appeared more than six years ago", and "director Hari's consistency in handling cop stories convincingly and entertainingly needs to be commended as he has been proving his expertise repeatedly".[38] The New Indian Express also gave 3 out of 5 for the film and gave positive review, stating "In Si3, Suriya proves with the third film of the franchise that no one can play Durai Singam better than him", while analysing that "Hari maintains a sense of urgency in his films from the beginning to end, but, as a commercial film director, his storytelling methods also suffer from following a set of rules, which include frequent yawn-inducing songs", though added that "he makes up for that formulaic approach with fast-paced narration in the scenes that follows".[39] Behindwoods rated the film 2.75 out of 5 and stated that "Durai Singam strikes again! Suriya and Hari don't disappoint you in this Singam franchise".[40] In contrast, the critic from The Hindu gave 2 out of 5 and stated that the film was "loud, fast, and without a single memorable moment".[41] Likewise, Sify called the film "a cocktail of harebrained predictable plot, exhausting action scenes and slapstick comedy", while concluding it was "loud and exhausting".[42]

Box office

Si3 collected ₹20 crore (US$2.8 million) in domestic box office on its opening day and ₹50 crore (US$7.0 million) in 5 days of release.[43] The film collected ₹62 crore (US$8.7 million) at the worldwide box office in its opening four-day weekend.[44] The film collected ₹90 crore (US$13 million) worldwide in 6 days.[45][46]

Soundtrack

S3
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Released	27 November 2016
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	26:23
Label	Eros Music
Producer	Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Iru Mugan (2016) S3 (2016) Vanamagan (2017)
External audio Official Audio Jukebox on YouTube Official Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The film's soundtrack is scored by Harris Jayaraj, who replaced Devi Sri Prasad as the composer of the film series. Taking a break after various schedules of shooting, director Hari and Harris Jayaraj completed the song composing in Bangkok, Thailand.[47] The audio rights of the film was acquired by Eros Music and the complete album was released on 27 November 2016. Reviewing the album, Srivatsan of India Today stated "S3 might not be Harris' best work, but definitely not bad either. Having said that, it's a pucca (English: really) commercial album from the composer. Be it the songs or the theme music, the album has enough scope to pander to the B and C centers".[48]

Tamil Track-List

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"O Sone Sone"	Pa. Vijay, M. C. Vickey	Javed Ali, Priya Subramaniyan, M. C. Vickey	5:06
2.	"Mudhal Murai"	Thamarai, Ramya NSK	Harish Raghavendra, Swetha Mohan, Ramya NSK, Karthik	5:05
3.	"Universal Cop"	Viveka, Dinesh Kanagaratnam	Christopher Stanley, Dinesh Kanagaratnam, Krish	4:49
4.	"He's My Hero"	Hari, Maalavika Manoj	Maalavika Manoj	2:31
5.	"Wi Wi Wi WiFi"	Hari, Harris Jayaraj	Karthik, Christopher Stanley, Nikhita Gandhi	4:50
6.	"Mission To Sydney"	Hari, Lady Kash	Lady Kash	2:28
7.	"S3 Vettai Theme"	Hari	M. C. Vickey	1:32

Telugu Track-List

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"O Sone Sone"	Vennelakanti, Mc Vickey	Javed Ali, Priya Subramaniyan, Mc Vickey	05:06
2.	"Musi Musi Navvula"	Sahithi, N.S.K Ramya	Aalap Raju, Swetha Menon, N.S.K Ramya, Karthik	05:05
3.	"Universal Cop"	Vennelakanti	Christopher Stanley, Krishna Iyer, Krish	04:49
4.	"He's My Hero"	Rakendu Mouli, Maalavika Manoj	Maalavika Manoj	02:31
5.	"Wi Wi Wi Wi Wifi"	Rama Jogayya Shastry	Karthik, Nikhita Gandhi, Christopher Stanley	04:50
6.	"Mission To Sydney"	Director Hari, Rakendu Mouli, Lady Kash	Lady Kash	02:28
7.	"S3 Vetta (Theme Music)"	Rakendu Mouli	Mc Vickey	01:32
Total length:				26:06

References

1. "Si3 to have many English punch dialogues!". Sify. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
2. "Singam 3 box office collection: Suriya's film mints Rs 110 crore worldwide". IBTimes. 28 February 2017.
3. "Singam 3 is now officially called S3. Here are the new posters of the Suriya-starrer". India Today. 7 January 2016.
4. "Suriya's 'Singam 3' is now 'S3'". The Indian Express. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
5. "Suriyas Singam 3 will not be postponed, confirms producer". Retrieved 15 December 2016.
6. "Not sure if next film with Suriya is Singam 3: Director Hari". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
7. "'Singam' franchise a milestone in my career: Suriya | Tamil Movie News". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
8. "Suriya's 'Singam 3' to be shot across four countries". The Indian Express. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
9. "In one hell of a Hari". The Hindu. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
10. "Exclusive: Director Hari reveals Suriya's 'Singam 3' will take off from where 'Singam 2' ends". Dnaindia.com. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
11. "Suriya, Hari to team up for 'Singam III'". The Indian Express. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
12. "Singam 3 begins with song composition". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
13. "My sense of humour has kept me going during tough times: Vivekh". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
14. "Singam 3 gets Soori onboard now". Top 10 Cinema. 8 June 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
15. "Singer Krish Plays A Cop In 'Singam 3'". Silverscreen.in. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
16. "Singam 3: Behold the bad lion as actor Thakur Anoop Singh reveals his look, see pic". The Indian Express. 14 December 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
17. "Singam 3 Si3: Here's Suriya's workout and diet regime for 'Singam 3' | Tamil Movie News". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
18. "Suriya's Singam 3 Shoot Delayed Due to Chennai Rains - NDTV Movies". Movies.ndtv.com. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
19. "Shooting for Suriya's Singam 3 to begin from next week | regional movies". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
20. Manohar, Niveda. "Singam 3 Shoot Moves To Romania". Silverscreen.in. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
21. "Shooting restarts for Suriya's 'Singam 3' in Vizag". The News Minute. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
22. "Suriya's Singam 3 team heads for Malaysia to shoot the climax scene | regional movies". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
23. "Singam 3: Suriya shoots climax sequence in Talakona forest : Regional cinema, News". Indiatoday.intoday.in. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
24. "Singam 3 Georgia schedule underway". Only Kollywood. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
25. "Suriya's Singam 3 working stills in Malaysia - Photos". Ibtimes.co.in. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
26. "From S III to Si 3". Deccan Chronicle. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
27. "It`s official: Suriya`s Si3 new release date is Feb 9". Sify.com. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
28. Kavirayani, Suresh (10 February 2017). "Suriya's Si3 morning shows cancelled in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
29. "Confirmed: Suriyas Singam 3 to roar on December 16". India Today. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
30. "Suriya's 'Singam 3' gets a new release date!". The Times Of India. 22 December 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
31. "Singam 3 release gets postponed due to cyclone Vardha, Suriya asks for support". The New Indian Express. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
32. "Jallikattu row: Suriya slaps legal notice against PETA for Singam 3 publicity remarks". The Indian Express. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
33. "Singam 3: Suriya film postponed again over Jallikattu violence in Tamil Nadu". The Indian Express. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
34. "'Singam 3 – New Year Special Premier Movie On Sun TV – 1st January 2018 At 6.30 P.M'". www.tholaikatchi.in. 29 December 2017.
35. "Watch Singam 3 from April 14th on Amazon Prime Video". Amazon Prime Video India. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
36. James, Anu (9 February 2017). "Suriya's Singam 3 (s3 aka Si3) review: Here's what critics have to say about the action thriller". International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
37. November 28, Srivatsan; November 28, 2016UPDATED:; Ist, 2016 17:27. "Singam 3 music review: Suriya-Harris Jayaraj strike the perfect chord in this potboiler". India Today. Retrieved 19 April 2020.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
38. "Si3 film Review". Times Of India. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
39. "Singam 3 movie review: Si3 is Suriya's show all the way". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
40. "Si3 film Review - Behindwoods". Behindwoods. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
41. "Singam 3: Loud, fast, and without a single memorable moment". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
42. "Review : Si 3 review: Loud and exhausting!". Sify.com. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
43. "Singam 3 box office collection: Suriya's Si3 racing towards Rs 90 cr, Singam 4 on cards". The Indian Express. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
44. "Si3 box office collection: Suriya's film rakes in 62 cr worldwide during four day weekend". Firstpost. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
45. "Singam 3 box office collection: Suriya's Si3 collects Rs 11cr, Singam 4 on cards". The Indian Express. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
46. "Singam 3 box-office collection: Suriya's film gets steady response in US". India Today. 20 February 2017.
47. "IndiaGlitz — Suriya Anushka S3 Harris Jayaraj finishes composing five songs in nine days — Tamil Movie News". Retrieved 22 July 2016.
48. "Suriya-Harris Jayaraj strike the perfect chord in this potboiler". India Today. Srivatsan. Retrieved 30 November 2016.

External links

• S3 (2017) on IMDb