Chithha
| Chithha | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | S. U. Arun Kumar |
| Produced by | Siddharth |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Balaji Subramanyam |
| Edited by | Suresh A. Prasad |
| Music by | |
Production company | Etaki Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Red Giant Movies |
Release date |
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Running time | 139 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Chithha (transl. Uncle) is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by S. U. Arun Kumar and produced by Siddharth, who stars in the lead role alongside with Nimisha Sajayan (in her Tamil debut), in addition to Baby Sahasra Shree and Baby S. Aafiyah Tasneem in the prominent roles.
Chithha was released theatrically on 29 September 2023 to critical acclaim from critics and became a commercial success at the box office.
Plot
Eeswaran is a government employee from Palani who bonds with his eight-year old niece Sundari and is always protective about her. Eeswaran also has a couple of close friends, one of whom happens to be an undercover cop named Vadivelu, whose niece Ponni and Sundari are also good friends. Unable to comprehend her elder sister’s romantic conversation with her boyfriend, Ponni assumes that a bevy of deers is present in a forest area close to the school and asks Sundari if she would be interested in going to see the animals after school.
The two girls plan to leave Eeswaran and head to the area on their own. Ponni and Sundari board an auto rikshaw to the area as per the plan, but Sundari gets scared and leaves Ponni, who goes alone to see the area. The next day, Ponni's father accuses Eeswaran of assaulting Ponni, but Vadivelu finds that Eeswaran is innocent and apologizes to him. One day, due to ongoing pressure and doubts on him from his Sister-in-law makes Eeswaran angrily walk away from home, and Sundari tries to run behind him, but gets kidnapped by a notorious pedophile. Eeswaran sets on a crusade to save Sundari, where they finally save Sundari and admits her to the hospital after being abused by the pedophile.
Eeswaran finds that the police has captured the culprit, but finds out that the culprit is actually Ponni's abuser who was the driver of the auto rickshaw. Even though, he was still stabbed by Eeswaran using a glass stuck knife. Eeswaran's girlfriend Shakti shares about her tragic past of being assaulted and ask him to forget about his vengeance. Eeswaran agrees and takes care of Sundari.
A year later, the police find a burnt corpse of the pedophile, implying that Eeswaran had learnt about the pedophile's identity and killed him.
Cast
- Siddharth as Eeswaran alias Eesu: Sundari's uncle (Chithha)
- Baby Sahasra Shree as Sundari "Settai": Eeswaran's niece
- Baby S. Aafiyah Tasneem as Ponni: Sundari's friend
- Nimisha Sajayan as Sakthi: Eeswaran's love interest
- Anjali Nair as Sundari's mother and Eeswaran's sister-in-law
- Baalaji S. U. as SI Vadivel: Eeswaran and Sakthi's friend; Ponni's uncle
- R. Dharshan as the pedophile
- R. Suresh as Suresh: Eeswaran, Vadivel and Sakthi's friend
- Natturaja Durai as CI N. Dhivakar
- Sindhuja Viji as Ponni's mother
- Saleth Santhosh in a Cameo role
Production
The film was produced by Siddharth under his banner, Etaki Entertainment. On April 17, 2023, Siddharth's birthday, Kamal Haasan unveiled the first-look poster and the film's title. The major portions of the film were shot in Palani. The filming was wrapped up in April 2023. The cinematography of the film was by Balaji Subramanyam, and the editing was handled by Suresh A. Prasad.
Music
The songs for the film were composed by Dhibu Ninan Thomas and Santhosh Narayanan, while the background score was composed by Vishal Chandrashekhar.
| Chithha | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Album cover | ||||
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 2023 | |||
| Recorded | 2023 | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 12:38 | |||
| Language | Tamil | |||
| Label | Think Music | |||
| Producer | Dhibu Ninan Thomas, Santhosh Narayanan, Vishal Chandrashekhar | |||
| Dhibu Ninan Thomas chronology | ||||
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| Santhosh Narayanan chronology | ||||
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| Vishal Chandrashekhar chronology | ||||
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| External audio | ||||
| Chithha - Jukebox on YouTube | ||||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Kangal Edho" | Yugabharathi | Dhibu Ninan Thomas | Pradeep Kumar, Karthika Vaidyanathan | 4:02 |
| 2. | "Unakku Thaan" | Vivek | Santhosh Narayanan | Santhosh Narayanan, Dhvani Kailas | 3:36 |
| 3. | "Theera Swasame" | S. U. Arun Kumar | Dhibu Ninan Thomas | Kapil Kapilan | 3:46 |
| 4. | "Show Me The Way" | — | Dhibu Ninan Thomas | Poorvi | 1:14 |
| Total length: | 12:38 | ||||
Reception
Chithha received critical acclaim from critics.
Critical response
Sudhir Srinivasan of Cinema Express gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "A sensitive, powerful film that breaks conventional rules of heroism." M. Suganth of The Times of India gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "Siddharth's Chithha is a hard-hitting and deeply unsettling tale of abuse." Kirubhakar Purushothaman of The Indian Express gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "This is easily Siddharth's best performance by far. It is painful to watch him suffer through it all without respite." K. Janani of India Today gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "'Chithha' is a much-needed film with a solid message. This is truly a hard-watch but will leave with a good afterthought."
Thinkal Menon of OTTPlay gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Chithha is one of the must-watch films of the year, thanks to the terrific performances from lead actors, intriguing screenplay and the originality with which a sensitive subject is handled." Krishna Selvaseelan of the Tamil Guardian gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and said the film "tears out the viewer's heart and holds it ransom - an impressive feat". "S. U. Arun Kumar has delivered a gut-wrenching thriller, displaying a little horror whilst insinuating a lot."
Rajasekar S. of The Federal wrote "Chithha will go down as one of the best Tamil films of this year. It is a must-watch for its message, exemplary writing and performances." Gopinath Rajendran of The Hindu wrote "Handling the sensitive issue of child sexual abuse with care, Chithha marks a befitting resurgence for both its director S. U. Arun Kumar and lead actor Siddharth."
Home media
After much confusion about the digital premiere of Chithha, Disney + Hotstar, bagged the digital rights of the film. Chithha premiered on Disney + Hotstar on the 28th of November, 2023.