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129-447: Aalavandhan ( transl.  He Came to Rule ) is a 2001 Indian action thriller film directed by Suresh Krissna and produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu . The film stars Kamal Haasan in dual roles, alongside Raveena Tandon , Manisha Koirala , Sarath Babu , Gollapudi Maruti Rao , Madurai G.S. Mani and Milind Gunaji . It is an adaptation of the novel Dhayam, written by Haasan in 1984, and has elements of magic realism . The film

258-599: A machete or Filipino Bolo than a knife. In the United States Marine Corps , the standard issue combat knife since World War II has been the USMC Fighting Utility knife. Designed for military use, with input for Capt. George Ingraham, a combat surgeon in the U.S. Army's 94th Medical Detachment, the No. 14 Randall "Attack" Model was a popular combat knife designed for military use, and

387-411: A military hospital , Vijay meets his girlfriend Tejaswini "Teju", a news presenter whom Vijay is ready to marry. Teju reveals she is pregnant after presenting her HCG report to Vijay following one of their dates that had gone wrong. Vijay tells Teju about his plan to visit his twin brother Nanda Kumar alias Nandu, in a mental asylum who is incarcerated for murdering his stepmother Jayanthi. Nandu,

516-420: A schizophrenic man with very severe paranoid delusions in addition to a criminal record, has spent most of his life in the asylum. Vijay cares about Nandu and looks forward to his release, but Nandu's doctor tells him that the latter is a danger to society and should not be released. Vijay and Teju visit Nandu to share the news about their upcoming wedding, which turns disastrous as Nandu begins to see Teju in

645-543: A trench knife , the "combat knife" was used by both sides on the Western front during World War I . Since then, combat knives have been issued by the armies of many nations. Though they differ in detail, they all share the common characteristic of being purposely designed for military use, with their primary role as a close-quarters combat weapon. During World War II, the British Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife

774-586: A "desperate attempt to mask the lack of content." Geoff King argued that the spectacle can also be a vehicle for narrative, opposed to interfering with it. Soberson stated that Harvey O'Brien had "perhaps the most convincing understanding of the genre", stating that the action film was "best understood as a fusion of form and content. It represents the idea and ethic of action through a form in which action, agitation and movement are paramount." O'Brien wrote further in his book Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back to suggest action films being unique and not just

903-510: A Global release status of Chinese-language martial arts films, most notably Zhang Yimou 's Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004), Stephen Chow 's Kung Fu Hustle (2004) and Chen Kaige 's The Promise (2005). Most Hong Kong action films in the first quarter of the 21st century, such as those in Cold War (2012), Cold War 2 (2016) and The White Storm film series have their violence toned down, especially compared to

1032-428: A belt in self-defense , reminding Nandu of Jayanthi's manner of punishing him. Vijay reaches by then, and there is another fight between the brothers. Nandu visualises his mother asking him to join her as Jayanthi is torturing her up there . Nandu realises his mistake and apologises to Vijay and Teju for the 'mixup'. To kill Jayanthi, Nandu lights up some gas cylinders which explode, killing him. Some months later, Teju

1161-410: A boarding school while Nandu remains home. The situation gets worse at home with Nandu and Jayanthi turning violent. Santhosh has another heart attack. Nandu overhears a conversation between Jayanthi and a lawyer and realises that she is only after his father's wealth. Seeing them break into a fight, Santhosh dies due to his heart attack. Nandu starts to see his deceased parents in his hallucinations, as

1290-776: A combat knife known as the " bollock dagger " into military service around 1350, while the French poignard and the Scottish dirk were daggers designed from the outset as military weapons. The rise in use of firearms led to a decline in the use of combat daggers and knives as military-issue weapons. However, privately purchased knives were often carried by foot soldiers for use both as auxiliary weapons and as utility tools. Some military forces issued knives for individual campaigns or for specialist troops such as pioneer or field engineer detachments, but these cutting tools were not primarily designed for use as combat knives. Formerly known as

1419-747: A combat knife presented to each graduate of the United States Army Special Forces Qualification Course . In the latest step of this evolution, Bill Harsey and Chris Reeve have collaborated with the father of the Modern Army Combatives Program, Matt Larsen, to design the LHR Combat knife . The German military uses the Eickhorn KM2000 as their standard issue knife. The design is a westernized Tantō , issued to

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1548-436: A fight sequence. In the 1980s, American martial arts films reflected the national move towards conservatism, reflected in films of Chuck Norris and other actors such as Sho Kosugi . The genre would shift from theatrical releases towards the end of the decade with the rise of home video, the lower box-office of American martial arts productions, and a significant portion of direct-to-video action films that first were made in

1677-500: A global audience of these films in the United States and Europe, but was cut short on Lee's death in 1973 leading the phases popularity to decline. Following a period of stagnation, Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-leung revitalized the genre with shaolin kung fu films and Chor Yuen 's series of darker swordplay films based on the novels of Gu Long . Kung Fu comedies appeared featuring Jackie Chan as martial arts films flourished into

1806-566: A hero overcoming enemies or obstacles and physical conflicts or challenge, usually battling other humans or alien opponents. By late 2010s studies of genre analysis, the term "genre" itself is often replaced or supplemented with the words "mode" and "narrative form" with all three terms often being used interchangeably. Johan Höglund and Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet said that the difference between these concepts are elusive, but stated that genre could be defined as belonging to specific historical and cultural moments while "mode" and "form" can refer to

1935-454: A larger pattern that operates across a wider historical and cultural field. In their book Action Cinema Since 2000 (2024), Tasker, Lisa Purse, and Chris Holmlund stated that thinking of action as a mode is more helpful than thinking of it as a genre. The three authors suggested that action frames a certain manner of filmmaking and viewing exceed genre without eclipsing it stating that websites such as IMDb and Misplaced Pages rarely label films by

2064-486: A machine called Airramp brought from abroad for jumping scenes. The soundtrack of the movie was composed by the music trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy making their debut in Tamil, and the film score is composed by Mahesh Mahadevan . The film features six tracks in both Tamil and Hindi versions with lyrics written by Vairamuthu and Javed Akhtar respectively. The album of the film was released on 24 September 2001, and it created

2193-554: A propensity for violent action, identified with the films of Chang Cheh . Violent female characters have been part of cinema since its early inception, with characters such as Kate Kelly brandishing a shotgun in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). Women traditionally appear in action films as romantic interests, tomboys , or sidekicks to male protagonists. Violent white women would appear in other genres as well such as

2322-467: A record by selling over 2,00,000 copies in less than eight hours of its release. However, according to Rediff, it "did not live up to expectations." All tracks are written by Vairamuthu All tracks are written by Javed Akhtar All tracks are written by Vennelakanti Started on a budget of ₹ 7 crore, the costs associated with Aalavandhan tripled by the time of release. The film was released on 16 November 2001, during Diwali . The Hindi version Abhay

2451-519: A result of the trauma from Jayanthi's cruel antics. Nandu's mother gives him a mission of killing Jayanthi, granting him a military knife . Nandu stabs Jayanthi with the knife, but before dying, she vows to return. Nandu stays with Jayanthi's corpse in the house for days before being incarcerated at the asylum. In the present, Vijay learns from his old friend Tenoosh Kooth that Nandu has reached Ooty. Vijay reaches on time to save Teju from Nandu, who entered their hotel room and leaves with her. Nandu chases

2580-484: A result. After returning to his senses, Nandu hallucinates his doctor and his mother reprimanding him. He regrets his actions and tearfully burns Sharmilee's corpse before exiting the room, but leaves behind evidence through which Vijay deduces Nandu as the murderer. Vijay and Teju leave for Vijay and Nandu's ancestral home in Ooty to stay safe from Nandu, but he secretly follows them. Vijay and Teju find Nandu's old diary in

2709-511: A series of action sequences, stating that that the difference between Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Die Hard (1988), that while both were mainstream Hollywood blockbusters with hero asserting masculinity and overcoming obstacles to a personal and social solution, John McClane in Die Hard repeatedly firing his automatic pistol while swinging from a high rise was not congruent with

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2838-745: A significant portion. These films include Taxi 2 (2000), Kiss of the Dragon (2001), District 13 (2004) and Unleashed (2005). Whan asked about the Americanization of these French films, Christophe Gans , director of Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) stated that "Hollywood ownership of certain elements [...] must be challenged, in order to show that these elements have also long been present in European culture." The most significant producers of French action films with international ambitions

2967-658: A similar level of popularity to that of the Western in the United States. The most internationally known films of this era were the films Kurosawa with Seven Samurai (1954), The Hidden Fortress (1958), and Yojimbo (1961). By at least the 1950s, Japanese films were looked upon as a model to be emulated by Hong Kong film production, and Hong Kong film companies began actively enlisting professionals from Japan, such as cinematographer Tadashi Nishimoto to contribute to color and widescreen cinematography. New literary sources also developed in martial arts films of this period, with

3096-406: A single genre and that streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix similarly dilutes what is marketed and received as action. In transnational cinema, there are two major trends in action films: Hollywood action films and their style being imitated around the globe and the other being Chinese-language martial arts films. The roots of action films extend into the beginning of film but it

3225-403: A street peddler for drugs and becomes infatuated with Sharmilee, a socialite, by looking at her promotional posters. By chance, Nandu stumbles across Sharmilee at a hotel. Sharmilee ecstatically falls for Nandu upon his antics, and both become close. Both high on pills, Sharmilee playfully whips Nandu, which inadvertently causes him to visualise Jayanthi's whippings and brutally murders Sharmilee as

3354-451: A three-act structure centered on survival, resistance and revenge with narratives where the physical body of the hero is tested, traumatized and ultimately triumphant. The third shift in action cinema, the postclassical, was defined by the predominance of Eastern cinema and its aesthetics, primarily the wire-work of Hong Kong action cinema from the classical era, through the convention of the increasingly computer generated effects. This saw

3483-594: A tough police officer protects society by upholding the law against systematic corruption. This extended into films which O'Brien described as "knee-jerk responses" to perceived threats with rogue cop and vigilante films such as Dirty Harry (1971) and Death Wish (1974) where the restoration of order is only possible by force and antisocial characters prepared to act when society does not. The vigilantism reappears in other films that were exploitative of southern society such as Billy Jack (1971) and White Lightning (1973) and "good ol' boy" comedies like Smokey and

3612-646: A utility knife. It differed from earlier USMC knives such as the Marine Raider stiletto in that the new knife used a stout, wide blade with clip point that facilitated slashing attacks as well as blade thrusts. Reports on the effectiveness of the new knife in jungle combat justified the Marine Corps' decision to designate the KA-BAR as the USMC's fighting knife for individual Marines. The U.S. Army adopted

3741-463: Is Luc Besson 's France-based EuropaCorp , who released films like Taxi (1998) and From Paris with Love (2010). EuropaCorp produced Transporter franchise starred British actor Jason Statham and made him an action film star, which led him to feature in The Expendables series by the end of the 2010s. The action film genre has been a staple of Bollywood cinema . In the 1970s,

3870-574: Is a generic term to refer to several types of films containing martial arts. The wuxia film is the oldest genre in Chinese cinema. Stephen Teo wrote in his book on Wuxia that there is no satisfactory English translation of the term, with it often being identified as "the swordplay film" in critical studies. It is derived from the Chinese words wu denoting militarist or martial qualities and xia denoting chivalry, gallantry, and qualities of knighthood. The term wuxia entered into popular culture in

3999-729: Is based on Twin Dragons (1992). Other films such as the martial arts film Bhadrachlam (2001), borrows from American cinema with the Jean-Claude Van Damme film Kickboxer (1989). SS Rajamouli 's RRR (2022) was among the highest budgeted films made in India, and became a rare hit film outside of Indian diaspora, where it broke box office records in Japan and performed exceptionally well in American box office. Japan

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4128-433: Is having an affair with another man and Nandu tries telling this to his father, who pays no heed and instead beats him. The boys plead to their maternal uncle to take him along with him, but as he is suffering from throat cancer, he refuses and suggests a boarding school. The boys' father pushes back, saying that he did not expect twins and wants one boy to stay behind with him. After a coin toss, Vijay leaves with his uncle for

4257-442: Is itself empowering and, if not, whether a hypersexualized female character can still represent strength and autonomy. Hypersexualized female action leads had tight fitting or revealing costumes that Tasker identified as "exaggerated statements of sexuality" and in the tradition of "fetishistic figure of fantasy" derives from comic books and soft pornography . This originated in television with characters like Buffy Summers ( Buffy

4386-490: Is revealed to be carrying twins, and fears they will have the same traumatic childhood Vijay and Nandu had, but Vijay comforts her by telling her that their children will have two loving parents unlike him and Nandu. Dhayam was a novel written by [Kamal] for a magazine long back, and it talked about a pair of twin brothers, one being an ‘animal’ (Nandhu) and the other a ‘trained animal’ (Vijay). We wanted this contrast and started off from there. The ‘animal’ had to literally look

4515-824: The Bundeswehr . The blade is made of either 440A or N695 depending on different models. Some of them use 55Si7 spring steel. The knifemaker Eickhorn in Solingen , Germany has issued KCB-77 bayonets to the Canadian Military and the USMC. Apart from the KM2000 there are many other knives from Eickhorn, the KM3000, KM4000, KM5000, ParaCommando, and Aviator Series knives. The knives from Eickhorn are extremely sturdy and for professional use. Those knives are also preferred by military forces worldwide. The Austrian Forces use

4644-578: The femme fatales in film noir and horror films of the 1970s. Violent women were common in action films since the 1960s. These films featured working-class women exacting revenge. Films of the 1970s featured black women such as Pam Grier in films like Foxy Brown (1974). In the 1980s, a new symbolically transgressive character emerged in the form of Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986) and Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and

4773-550: The Bollywood action film consolidated with two films starring Amitabh Bachchan : Prakash Mehra 's Zanjeer (1973) and Yash Chopra 's Deewaar (1975). The box office success of these films made Bachchan a star and spawned the "angry young man" film in Bollywood cinema. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the action genre film declined considerably with new films predominantly featuring former bodybuilders failing to reach

4902-517: The Hong Kong action cinema , such melodramatic male bonding and marginalized women characters, while the Korean films also have greater elements of tragedy and romance emphasized. Most martial arts films made before the mid-1960s were Cantonese-language productions. In comparison, Mandarin-language films were an integral part of Hong Kong cinema due to the influx of Shanghai film talent in

5031-503: The M3 Trench Knife in 1943 as its standard combat knife. The M3 replaced the earlier World War I-vintage Mark I trench knife in combat service. The M3 was a true combat knife, as it was designed solely for military use and was primarily intended as a fighting knife, though some compromises were made in the design to conserve strategic materials . When adapted to utility tasks such as opening ration tins or ammunition boxes,

5160-564: The September 11 attacks in 2001, which suggested an end to fantastical elements that defined the action hero and genre. Following the release of Quentin Tarantino 's Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004) revisited the tropes of 1970s action films leading a renaissance of vengeance narratives in films like The Brave One (2007) and Taken (2008). O'Brien found that Tarantino's films were post-modern takes on

5289-510: The xinpai wuxia xiaoshuo (or "new school martial arts fiction") coming into prominence with the success of Liang Yusheng 's Longhu Dou Jinghua (1954) and Jin Yong 's Shujian enchou lu (1956) which showed influence of the Shanghai martial arts films but also circulated from Hong Kong to Taiwan and Chinese communities overseas. This led to a growing demand in both local and regional markets in

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5418-580: The 1950s Randall adopted the general pattern of the Bowie knife for several of his fighting knife designs. The majority of military forces today have largely standardized the types of combat knife issued to soldiers. The Chilean Commando forces, for instance, are trained in the use of the Corvo , a traditional Chilean military weapon. The Gurkha regiments favor the kukri , a broad-bladed, curved general-purpose cutting tool and weapon that more closely resembles

5547-428: The 1960s with films like The Born Losers (1967) which was predominantly a drama, interspersed with martial arts scenes. American martial arts films predominantly came into production following the release of Enter the Dragon (1973), with the only higher-budgeted American film to follow in its wake being The Yakuza (1974). Lott noted the two films would lead to the two subsequent styles of martial arts films in

5676-609: The 1970s. James Monaco wrote in 1979 in American Film Now: The People, The Power, The Money, the Movies that "the lines that separate on genre from another have continued to disintegrate." Tasker said that most post-classical action films are hybrids, drawing from genres as varied as war films, science fiction , horror , crime, martial arts , and comedy films . In Chinese-language films, both wuxia and kung fu are genre-specific terms, while martial arts

5805-784: The 1980s. Other films again modernized the form with gangster films of John Woo ( A Better Tomorrow (1986), The Killer (1989)) and the Wong Fei Hung saga returning in Tsui Hark 's Once Upon a Time in China featuring Jet Li which again revitalized the swordplay styled films. By the turn of the century Hollywood action films would look towards Hong Kong cinema and bringing some of their major actors and directors over to apply their style to their films, such as Chan, Woo, Li, Michelle Yeoh and Yuen Woo-Ping . The release of Ang Lee 's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) led to

5934-486: The 1980s. This was followed by the post-classical era where American action films were influenced by Hong Kong action cinema and the growing using of computer generated imagery in film. Following the September 11 attacks , a return to the early forms of the genre appeared in the wake of Kill Bill and The Expendables films. Scott Higgins wrote in 2008 in Cinema Journal that action films are both one of

6063-706: The 21st century have been comic book adaptations, which commenced with the X-Men and is seen in other series such as Spider-Man , and Iron Man series. Tasker wrote that despite the central characters in superhero cinema being extraordinary, occasionally even God-like, they often followed the traces of the central character becoming powerful of which is fundamental to action films, often dealt with origin stories in superhero films. Action films often interface with other genres. Tasker wrote that films are often labelled action thrillers, action-fantasy and action-adventure films with different nuances. Tasker later discussed that

6192-522: The Bandit (1977). This era also emphasizes the car chase scenes as moments of spectacle in films like Bullitt and The French Connection (1971). O'Brien described these films as emphasizing "the fusion of man and machine" with the drivers and vehicles acting as one, concluding with what he described as "the ultimate in apocalyptic modernity and social erasure" in Mad Max 2 (1981). O'Brien described

6321-754: The Bollywood press who reported on him in the headlines of Bollywood magazines for his public brawls and affairs with leading actresses. In Dabangg (2010), Khan continued with this public persona, which was repeated in several of his later films such as Ready (2011), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Dabangg 2 (2012). From the 1980s, generations of actors in Telugu cinema have invoked Hong Kong action films, such as Srihari who stated he wanted to become an actor after watching his first Bruce Lee film. Several films in Telugu cinema were remakes of Hong Kong films, such as Hello Brother (1994) which

6450-598: The Dragon briefly allowed an influx of Hong Kong films to Japan, but the trend did not last, with 28 Hong Kong films, mostly kung fu films, being released in 1974, and the number decreasing to five in 1975, four in 1977 and only two in 1978. Ryuhei Kitamura , director of Versus (2000), said in 2004 that he grew frustrated with the Japanese film industry as producers felt they couldn't make action films in competition with Hong Kong or American productions. Versus grew to become popular outside of Japan, and Kitamura said he

6579-573: The Fairbairn–Sykes based upon discussions Applegate and Fairbairn had during World War II to eliminate the weaknesses of the F-S knife (e.g., weak blade point, inability to determine orientation of blade merely by grip). The first of these knives were made by Al Mar Knives , based on Harsey's designs. Knifemaker Bill Harsey later teamed up with Chris Reeve to design the Yarborough Knife ,

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6708-487: The Hindi version Abhay , Taran Adarsh said, "On the whole, Abhay has nothing to offer to the masses or the classes. Poor". Rediff author R. Swaminathan said, "What happens when an exceptionally talented actor develops an inexplicable urge to delve into the dark side of the human psyche, and worse, decides to paint the town red about it? Well, for one, you get a film called Abhay ." Vijay Ramanan of Planet Bollywood rated

6837-602: The Hong Kong film industry after the handover in 1997. Anglophone action film scholarship has tended to emphasize bigger budget American action films, with academics tending to find films that fall out of Hollywood productions as not quite fitting definitions of the genre. By 2024, many national and regional industries were known for action films. These include international films such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam , South Korean, Japanese, Thai , Brazilian , Chinese , South African , French and Italian action titles. At

6966-807: The Red Lotus (1965) and King Hu 's Come Drink with Me (1966). In the 1970s, the Hong Kong martial arts films began to grow under the format of yanggang ("staunch masculinity") mostly through the films of Chang Cheh which were popular. This transition led to the kung fu film sub-genre at beginning of the decade and moved beyond the swordplay films with contemporary settings of late Qing or early Republican periods and had more hand-to-hand combat over supernatural swordplay and special effects. A new studio, Golden Harvest quickly became one of independent filmmakers to grant creative freedom and pay and attracted new directors and actors, including Bruce Lee . The popularity of kung fu films and Bruce Lee led to attract

7095-616: The USSR, the Red Army issued combat knives based on a single pattern known as the NR Series . In late 1942, the U.S. Marine Corps adopted the 1219C2, later designated the "USMC Mark 2 Combat Knife," but better known in popular terminology as the KA-BAR . The KA-BAR differed from World War I-era U.S. combat knives in that it was designed as a dual-purpose item, adapted for both combat and as

7224-484: The United States, Europe and Japan had during this period. Yip described Japanese cinema as the most advanced in Asia at the time. This was showcased by the international breakthrough of Akira Kurosawa 's films like Rashomon (1950). The film genre known as the chanbara was at its height in Japan. The style was a sub-genre to the jidai-geki , or period drama with an emphasis on sword fighting and action. It had

7353-406: The United States, with films like Enter the Dragon about people who reveled in combat, often in a tournament setting, and The Yakuza which had several genres attached to it, but featured several martial arts sequences. By the end of the 1970s, the style was an established genre in American cinema, often featuring tough heroic characters who would fight and not think about their actions until after

7482-591: The Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)) and Xena ( Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001)). These series popularity demonstrated a growing market for female action film heroes, in films of the 2000s like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Charlie's Angels (2000), Ultraviolet (2006), Salt (2010) and series like Underworld and Resident Evil . These series like their television series earlier, had their leads eroticized as active and physically capable while also being scantily-clad, hyper-feminized similar to

7611-693: The Vietnam War was the Gerber Mark II , designed for military use by US Army Captain Bud Holzman and Al Mar which in turn was based on the pattern of a Roman Gladius or short sword. In the 1970s and 1980s a student and protégé of Fairbairn, Colonel Rex Applegate worked with knife designer Bill Harsey, Jr. to design the Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Knife , so named because it was designed as an improvement on

7740-594: The action film genre has been a subject of scholarly debate since the 1980s. Soberson wrote that repeated traits of the genre include chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work while other scholars asserted there were more underlying traits that define the genre. David Bordwell in The Way Hollywood Tells It wrote that audiences are "told that spectacle overrides narrative" in action cinema while Wheeler Winston Dixon echoed that these films were typified by "excessive spectacle" as

7869-553: The action heroine's dual status of an active subject and sexual object was overturning the traditional gender binary because the films "assume that women are powerful" without resorting to justify her physical aggression through narratives involving maternal drive, mental instability or trauma. Purse found that female leads in films like Elektra (2005), Kill Bill , Underworld , Charlie's Angels and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) did showcase women having expensive cars, clothing, travel, homes and often high-paying jobs, but that this

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7998-420: The art director. Actor Jayam Ravi also worked on the film as an assistant director. The film was first announced with Haasan and Simran and Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji in a special appearance. Both actresses left the project for its delay in start, being replaced by Raveena Tandon and Manisha Koirala . Producer Dhanu had initially tried to cast Aishwarya Rai in the film, but the actress did not sign

8127-435: The book Australian Genre Film , Amanda Howell suggested that this label was used to help distance Australian cinema from Hollywood films as it would be suggesting commerce over culture and that it would be "quite unacceptable to make Australian movies using conventions established in the U.S.A." Howell stated this to be the case with action films of the 1970s and 1980s with Brian Trenchard-Smith 's Turkey Shoot (1982) being

8256-469: The box office. Initial reviews at the time of the film's release were mixed. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu said, "Too much publicity can sometimes affect a film adversely, because of the great expectations triggered. In the case of Aalavandhan , the hype and hoopla built up for months seems justified — to a certain extent". Visual Dasan of Kalki praised the acting of Haasan, music, visual effects, flashback, cinematography and editing. Reviewing

8385-550: The classical form of action cinema to be the 1980s. The decade continued the trends of formative period with heroes as avengers ( Lethal Weapon (1987)), rogue police officers ( Die Hard (1988)) and mercenary warriors ( Commando (1985)). Following the continuity of the car and man hybrid of the previous decade, the 1980s featured weaponized men with who were either also carrying weapons such as Sudden Impact (1983), trained to be weapons ( American Ninja (1985)) or imbued with technology ( RoboCop (1987)). O'Brien noted that

8514-473: The couple, wreaking havoc across the road. After a while, they escape from Nandu, Vijay manages to push Nandu's car into an abyss and assumes he is dead. However, Nandu escapes and continues his trail. Vijay plans to leave the city and notices Nandu coming to the hotel secretly. Vijay and his commandos try to nab Nandu, but he takes on everyone and kills many. The brothers have a fight in which Nandu overpowers Vijay. Nandu corners Teju, who starts whacking him with

8643-464: The decline of overt masculinity in the action film which corresponded with the end of the Cold War in 1991, while the rise of self-referential and parodies of this era grew in films like Last Action Hero (1993). O'Brien described this era as being soft where the hard bodies of the classical era were replaced with computer generated imagery such as that of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). This

8772-559: The direct-to-video field, or in similarly low-budget theatrical releases such as Bulletproof Monk (2003). While the American styled-films were predominantly made in the United States, productions were also made in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and South Africa, and were predominantly shot in the English-language. Heroic Bloodshed is a that originates with English-language Hong Kong action and crime film fan communities in

8901-487: The earlier work of directors like Woo and Johnnie To . Antong Chen, in his study on the Hong Kong action film, wrote that the influence of China and the amount of Chinese co-productions made with Hong Kong created a shift in these films, particularly following the release of Infernal Affairs (2002). Harvey O'Brien wrote in 2012 that the contemporary action film emerged through other genres, primarily Westerns , crime and war films and can be separated into four forms:

9030-432: The early 1960s and saw a surge in production of Hong Kong martial arts films that went beyond the stories about Wong Fei-hung which were declining in popularity. These new martial arts films featured magical swordplay and higher production values and more sophisticated special effects than the previous films with Shaw Brothers a campaign of "new school" ( xinpai ) martial arts swordplay films such as Xu Zenghong's Temple of

9159-672: The end of trench warfare , most military combat knives have been secondarily designed for utility use (clearing foliage, chopping branches for cover, opening ammunition crates, etc.) in addition to their original role as close-quarter combat weapons, and may be referred to as "fighting-utility knives." On the other hand, military knives that are intended primarily for use in a role other than combat are typically referred to by their primary role, such as " utility knife " or " survival knife ". Daggers designed for military usage in close combat engagements have been carried by soldiers for thousands of years. The adoption of combat daggers made of iron

9288-491: The end of the 1990s. Films such as Chunhang (2000) and Memento Mori (2000) and action films Shiri (1999) and Nowhere to Hide (1999) received commercial releases in North America, Asia, and Europe. The success of the latter two films was unprecedented, and was followed by other South Korean action films in the early 2000s reaching the top of the local box office. These South Korean films mimic some traits of

9417-532: The female leads in implausible elements, such as in Charlie's Angels , Fantastic Four (2005) and My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006). The fighting styles of women also tend towards more traditionally feminine fluid movements of martial arts, over using guns or directly punching. Purse wrote that the contemporary female action film lead's sexualized brand had her in close proximity of post-feminism discourse about choice, power and sexuality. Marc O'Day interprets

9546-428: The film 5.5 out of 10, saying, "The film falls flat on its face because of its failure in the two most important departments of filmmaking – scriptwriting, and direction [...] It almost seems as if Kamal Haasan and Suresh Krishna were high on drugs while making this film." Smriti Kashyap of fullhyd.com said "The movie is a huge letdown. It lacks the pop, snap and crackle to fill you with enough guts to potter down to

9675-523: The film is released on December 8, 2023. In April 2021, Thanu announced that he would release a re-edited version of Aalavandhan . The song "Kadavul Paathi Mirugam Paathi" inspired a 2015 film of same name directed by Raaj Menon. The American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino revealed in one interview that the animated sequence in Aalavandhan inspired a similar sequence of his film Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003). Action thriller film While

9804-414: The following films were voted the top ten best action films of all time. In Hong Kong, the "new school" of martial arts films that Shaw Brothers brought in 1965 featured what featured what Yip described as "strong, active female characters as protagonists." These female-centered films were challenged with the rise of a new male heroic prototype marked by a strong sense of youthful energy and defiance and by

9933-448: The formative trends at this point had become "identifiably generic" as film industries began to reproduced these films during the decade producers like Joel Silver and production companies like The Cannon Group, Inc. began to formulate production of these films with both high and low budgets. The action films of this era have roots in classical story telling, specifically rooted from martial arts films and Westerns, and are built around

10062-610: The formative, the classical, the post-classical and neoclassical phases. Yvonne Tasker reiterated this in her book on action and adventure films , saying that action films became a distinct genre during the New Hollywood period of the 1970s. The formative films would be from the 1960s to the early 1980s where the Anti-hero appears in cinema, featuring characters who act and transcend the law and social conventions. This appears initially in films like Bullitt (1968) where

10191-551: The former was one of the highest-grossing movies of the year in Japan. Following LoveDeath , Kitamura's next directing work was in the United States. The action cinema of South Korea mostly existed on the margins of the film industry in South Korea. The genre was initially called the Hwalkuk ("living theatre") was a term that indicated plays and films driven by action scenes, while this term has not been used regularly since

10320-430: The ground. While heroes in kung fu films often display chivalry, they generally hail from different fighting schools, namely wudang and shaolin . American martial arts films feature what author M. Ray Lott described as a more realistic style of violence over the Hong Kong wuxia films with more realism and are often low-budget productions. Martial arts began routinely appearing in fight scenes in American films in

10449-432: The house through which they read his past: Vijay's and Nandu's mother Priya committed suicide after realising that Santhosh, their father, was having an affair with Jayanthi, who later became their stepmother. Vijay and Nandu hate her. The teacher complains about this and Nandu justifies that he only reflects the home environment. Enraged, Santhosh beats his sons for disliking his new wife. One day, Vijay learns that Jayanthi

10578-489: The image of Indiana Jones in Raiders swinging his whip to fend off villains in the backstreets of Cairo. British author and academic Yvonne Tasker expanded on this topic, stating that action films have no clear and constant iconography or settings. In her book The Hollywood Action and Adventure Film (2015), she found that the most broadly consistent themes tend to be a characters quest from freedom from oppression such as

10707-451: The image of Jayanthi. Seeking to save Vijay from Teju, Nandu manages to escape custody after killing two other inmates Sulthan and Paasha for a clean getaway, thus leaving no trail. Nandu later meets his maternal uncle, who was responsible for incarcerating him. The man dies of choking upon the shock from seeing Nandu. Vijay and Teju marry, and the next day, are shocked to learn about Nandu's escape. Nandu's doctor initially refuses to believe it

10836-492: The knife was widely purchased by individual soldiers and Marines. During the conflict , Randall received feedback from Captain Ingraham, who requested serrations on the spine to cut through the fuselage of downed aircraft to rescue trapped personnel and a hollow handle to allow storage of survival gear. Randall made the changes and the result was the first of the modern survival knives . Another combat knife appearing during

10965-520: The late 1920s. These films were popular during the period, which comprised almost 60% of the total Chinese films. Man-Fung Yip stated that these film were "rather tame" by contemporary standards. He wrote that they lacked the kind of dazzling action choreography as expected today and had crude and rudimentary special effects. These films came under increasing attack by both government officials and cultural elites for their allegedly superstitious and anarchistic tendencies, leading them to be banned in 1932. It

11094-570: The late 1970s, with "action movie" becoming the more familiar term. The Korean action films came from Japanese cinema, James Bond series , and Hong Kong action cinema. As North Korea borders China, it block access to the continent from a South Korean perspective, the Cold War allowed South Koreans to substitute deferred travel beyond the border through films with locations shot in Hong Kong. While melodrama and comedy were staples in South Korean cinema, most action films were sporadic and tied to

11223-508: The late 1980s and early 1990s. In the Chinese language, the term used for these films is jinghungpin , literally meaning "hero films". Academic Laikwan Pang asserts that these gangster films appeared at a time when Hong Kong citizens felt particularly powerless with the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China set for 1997. The key directors of the genre were John Woo and Ringo Lam , and producer Tsui Hark , with

11352-513: The late 1980s and early 1990s. Author Bey Logan stated that the term was coined by Rick Baker, in the British fanzine Eastern Heroes . The term is used broadly. Baker described the style as Hong Kong action films which feature gangsters and gunplay and martial arts that were more violent than kung fu films and academic Kristof Van Den Troost described it a term used to distinguish Hong Kong gun-heavy action films from period martial arts films from

11481-431: The late 1980s in the United States were martial arts films. Towards the end of the 1990s, production of low-budget martial arts films declined as no new stars in the genre developed and older actors such as Cynthia Rothrock and Steven Seagal started showing up in less and less films. Even internationally popular films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) had negligible effects in American productions in either

11610-565: The limitations of the M3 quickly became apparent. In the United States, Bo Randall began production of the "All Purpose Fighting Knife" giving it the designation of "Number 1" in his catalog. Between 1942 and 1945, Randall Made Knives produced 4,000 of these knives for battlefield use by US troops, with approximately 1,058 knives additionally subcontracted to Northampton Cutlery Company in Springfield, Massachusetts to meet wartime demand. In

11739-624: The most notorious. Smith had previously released films like Deathcheaters (1976) and Stunt Rock (1979) when financial incentives were available for overtly commercial projects. She commented that action films did tell identifiably Australian stories such as the Sandy Harbutt 's biker film Stone (1974) and Miller's post-apocalyptic film Mad Max (1979) derived from Australia's social and cultural realities, as well as how George Miller 's later Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) derived from Australia's long-standing cinematic fascination with

11868-475: The most popular and popularly derided of contemporary cinema genres, stating that "in mainstream discourse, the genre is regularly lambasted for favoring spectacle over finely tuned narrative." Bordwell echoed this in his book, The Way Hollywood Tells It , writing that the reception to the genre as being "the emblem of what Hollywood does worst." In the Journal of Film and Video , Lennart Soberson stated that

11997-604: The notion that traditional marks of masculinity are not exclusive to men and that musculature was not natural, but something to be achieved. Accusations of these muscular women of the era were levelled at that them by 1993 were that they were "men in drag" and that the films generally have to "explain" why their female leads displayed physical aggression and why they were "driven to do it." As the 1990s went on, Hollywood films began having more conventional looking women in their action films such as The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). A vibrant debate exists about whether hypersexualization

12126-663: The other in the film, he went to the National Defence Academy for a crash course and also consulted his co-actor Major Ravi , who was a former officer in the Indian Army . Stunt choreographer Grant Page, who had worked in the American film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World , was assigned to compose stunt sequences in Kashmir. Another fight sequence was shot in Delhi for 15 days using 39 cars with 3 cameras with

12255-480: The part, and that's why Kamal sir went bald and bulked up like never before [...] The ‘trained animal’ was a dashing commando with a logical approach. Usually, most twin films fail to show the real difference between both brothers. To bring out this contrast, Kamal shot for Vijay first and then took on the Nandhu character. —Suresh Krissna, in 2017 In the early 1980s, Kamal Haasan wrote a story titled Dhayam that

12384-435: The physical effort required to completing a task and the abilities and skills acquired over time. Films from the period reflected on the cultural and social climate from the period, as seen in invoking Japanese or Western imperialist forces as foils. The kung fu film came out of the wuxia films. In comparison to the wuxia , film, the focus on the kung fu film is on the martial arts over chivalry, The martial arts films

12513-574: The popularity Bachan had. These films predominantly earned their revenue through longer runs at B-grade theatres. A cycle of action films came from these films in the 1980s and 1990s called the Avenging Woman film, where female protagonists seek justice for a rape victim, where the protagonist seeks revenge through violence. In 2009, the action genre was re-popularized with the box office success of Wanted (2009) starring Salman Khan . Khan reinvented his screen persona with that of his image in

12642-543: The postwar period. These films were targeted at the more educated and more refined middle-class audiences who saw themselves as above the contemporary martial arts films. Scott Higgins wrote in 2008 in Cinema Journal that Hollywood action films are both one of the most popular and popularly derided of contemporary cinema genres, stating that "in mainstream discourse, the genre is regularly lambasted for favoring spectacle over finely tuned narrative." Bordwell echoed this in his book, The Way Hollywood Tells It , writing that

12771-456: The project. Composer Harris Jayaraj was first approached by the producer to do music for the film, and he assured to introduce him as a music composer before Minnale . But Harris refused as he owed to do his first movie with Gautham Vasudev Menon . Later, music trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy was signed as music composers. The film featured Haasan in two distinct roles, for one of which he had his head shaved bald and gained ten kilograms. To play

12900-402: The reception to the genre as being "the emblem of what Hollywood does worst." Tasker wrote that when action and adventure films secured awards, it is often in categories such as visual effects and sound editing. Time Out magazine conducted a poll with fifty experts in the field of action cinema, including actors, critics, filmmakers and stuntmen. Out of the 101 films ranked in the poll,

13029-441: The road and cars and a history of cultural anxiety towards a bleak and forbidding outback landscape opposed to the optimism of American action films. France is a major European country for film production and has made co-production commitments with 44 countries around the world. Around beginning of the 21st century, France began producing a series of films explicitly intended for international markets, with action films representing

13158-529: The serialization of Jinaghu qixia zhuan (1922) ( transl.  Legend of the Strange Swordsmen ). In wuxia , the emphasis is on chivalry and righteousness and allows for phantasmagoric actions over the kung fu film 's more ground-based combat. The Kung fu film emerged in the 1970s from the swordplay films. Its name is derived from the Cantonese term gong fu which has two meanings:

13287-485: The starting point of the genre being traced to Woo's A Better Tomorrow (1986) make a record-breaking HK$ 34.7 million at the Hong Kong box office. The style of these films would influence American productions, such as Michael Bay 's Bad Boys II (2003) and the Wachowskis ' The Matrix (1999). Korean media recognized the more fatalistic and pessimistic tone of these films, leading to Korean journalists to label

13416-407: The storylines of Pammal K. Sambandam and Nala Damayanthi . This prompted the pair to begin work on Dhayam instead, and the film was revealed to be called Aalavandhan in Tamil and Abhay in Hindi. Abhay was distributed by reputed Shringar Films. Mahesh Mahadevan was signed on to compose the background music, Tirru was selected to be the cinematographer and Sameer Chanda was picked to be

13545-433: The style as "Hong Kong noir ". The influence of these films was evident in early Korean films such as Im Kwon-taek 's General's Son (1990) and later films such Song Hae-sung 's A Better Tomorrow (2010), Cold Eyes (2013) and New World (2013). Postcolonial Hong Kong cinema has struggled to maintain its international identity as a provider of these types action films because the talents involved had abandoned

13674-406: The term "action film" or "action adventure film" has been used as early as the 1910s, the contemporary definition usually refers to a film that came with the arrival of New Hollywood and the rise of anti-heroes appearing in American films of the late 1960s and 1970s drawing from war films , crime films and Westerns . These genres were followed by what is referred to as the "classical period" in

13803-450: The term action film genre and adventure are often used in hybrid, and are even used interchangeably. Along with Holmund and Purse, Tasker wrote that the action films expansiveness complicates easy categorization and though the genre is often spoken of as singular genre, it is rarely discussed as singular style. Screenwriter and academic Jule Selbo expanded on this, describing a film as " crime /action" or an "action/crime" or other hybrids

13932-461: The theater and watch it. Catch it on the CD, it's easier on the brains." National Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Following the film's positive response at the 2016 Fantastic Fest, a digitally restored version was announced. On 25 January 2023, it was announced that the film would release in over 1000 screens, although no release date was provided. In November 2023, Thanu announced that

14061-445: The themes that rescinded irony to restore " cinephile re-actualization of the genre's conventions." The genre went into full circle resurrecting films from the classical period with Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and Rambo (2008) finding the characters navigating a contemporary world while also acknowledging their age, culminating into The Expendables (2010) film. The most commercially successful action films and franchise of

14190-529: The title character in China O'Brien (1990) who were physically muscular and or enacted more extreme violence that was usually reserve for male action leads. In her book Contemporary Action Cinema (2011), Lisa Purse described the media response to female leads in action films reveal a discomfort about their presence and are often described with hesitant terms of women moving into territories that are perceived as masculine. Revealing woman in this form deconstructs

14319-539: The turn of the millennium, Australian genre films have gained increasing acceptance in the Australian feature film industry, while the action genre represented a small percentage of its output in the 21st century. Scholars of Australian genre film generally used the term "action-adventure" which allows them to apply it to various forms of narratives such as tongue in cheek heroic posturing stories like Crocodile Dundee (1986), road movies or bush/outback films. In

14448-422: The use of locations such as Hong Kong. These films often featured one-legged or otherwise handicapped action characters similar to those of Japanese films ( Zatoichi ) and Hong Kong films ( The One-Armed Swordsmen ). These included Im Kwon-taek's Returned Left-Handed Man (1968), Aekkunun Bak's One-Eyd Park (1970) and Lee Doo-yong's Returned One-Legged Man (1974). In the 1990s, the country's national cinema

14577-475: The woman of exploitation films of the 1970s such as Caged Heat (1974) and Big Bad Mama (1974). While characters like Frank in The Transporter series are permitted to visibly sweat, strain and be bloodied, Purse found a reluctance for filmmakers to have their female leads have any appearance warping injuries to ensure a perfectly made-up face. Comedy is often used in films of this period to place

14706-530: Was simultaneously shot in Hindi which was titled as Abhay ( transl.  Fearless ) with three different actors. Although a commercial disappointment, Aalavandhan was positively received over the next few years, subsequently becoming a cult classic , with some critics stating that the film was "way ahead of its time". The film won the National Film Award for Best Special Effects , and

14835-448: Was "only a semantic exercise" as both genres are important in the construction phase of the narrative. Mark Bould in A Companion to Film Noir (2013) said that categorization of multiple generic genre labels was common in film reviews who are rarely concerned with succinct descriptions that evoke elements of the film's form, content and make no claims beyond on how these elements combine. Film Studies began to engage generic hybridity in

14964-498: Was Nandu who escaped, but Vijay believes it was Nandu who escaped, because of the similarity that Nandu and Sulthan are circumcised for health reasons after the postmortem of Sulthan's beheaded corpse, thus proving Nandu is circumcised. Later, Nandu's doctor is convinced that it was Nandu. When Vijay is not there, Nandu visits Vijay's home and leaves a message about wanting to kill Teju. He keeps hallucinating his deceased mother in his imagination. While searching for Teju, Nandu kills

15093-408: Was a difficult market for Hong Kong action cinema to break into. Prompted by the success of Enter the Dragon and the popularity of Bruce Lee, Toei made their own Bruce Lee-style martial arts films, with The Street Fighter and its two sequels starring Sonny Chiba as well as a spin-off with a female lead similar to Hong Kong's Angela Mao called Sister Street Fighter . The success of Enter

15222-490: Was a significant milestone in combat knife development, and such weapons were highly prized in the ancient armies of the Middle East . French and Italian military daggers of the 14th century were the first to introduce the acutely tapered, sharply pointed and double-edged blade as a response to improvements made in armor design and the need to exploit weaknesses in armor protection. The English and Scandinavians introduced

15351-466: Was aiming for the foreign audience, as he was disappointed with the current state of Japanese films. Kitamura's characters have been described as "a careful combination of the maverick independence of 1980s Hollywood action heroes and the calmness and acceptance of Japanese samurai, a consistent criticism of Japanese people today." Kitamura followed up Versus with two manga-inspired big-budget action films, Azumi and Sky High . Both released in 2003,

15480-678: Was bought over in Maharashtra by the reputed Shringar Films. The number of prints in Tamil Nadu had been increased by almost 5 times the average. Both Aalavandhan and Abhay got A (adults only) certificate from the CBFC . Later, both were re-examined upon request to get a UA certificate. The film was the top opener of the Diwali weekend at the box office but was not successful. According to Bollywood Hungama , Abhay collected ₹ 2.02 crore at

15609-690: Was designed by William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes , two former members of the Shanghai Municipal Police who trained many soldiers in close-quarters fighting. The Fairbairn–Sykes knife inspired several similar knives of the era such as the V-42 stiletto designed by Lt. Colonel Robert T. Frederick who commanded the joint US and Canadian First Special Service Force and the United States Marine Raider stiletto designed by Lieutenant Colonel Clifford H. Shuey. In

15738-417: Was displayed in corresponding with corresponded with millennial angst and apocalypticism showcased in films like Independence Day (1996) and Armageddon (1998). Action films of mass destruction began requiring more overtly super heroic characters with further comic book adaptations being made with increased non-realistic settings with films like The Matrix (1999). The fourth phase arrived following

15867-468: Was featured retrospectively at the 2016 Fantastic Fest , where it fetched standing ovation. In 2013, Rediff included the film in its list, "The 10 Best Films of Kamal Haasan". A digitally remastered version, heavily trimmed by 50-55 minutes, was released on 8 December 2023. Major Vijay Kumar and his group of the Black Cats save a group of tourists held hostage by terrorists in a Kashmir valley. At

15996-469: Was in decline by the mid-1970s in Hong Kong in relation to the stock market crash which went from over 150 films in 1972 to just over 80 in 1975, which led to a downfall in martial arts films produced. When the economy became to rebound, a new trend of martial arts films, the Shaolin kung fu films emerged and sparked a revival of the genre. Unlike the wuxia , the kung fu film primarily focuses on fighting on

16125-509: Was in decline leading to Hong Kong gangster films filled in this void leading to large commercial success at the national box office. Early Korean heirs to Hong Kong action films include Rules of The Game (1994), Beat (1997), and Green Fish (1997) involving men who gain confidence and achieve personal growth as they embark on journeys to protect national state and meet devastating ends. South Korean cinema only received international attention in both art film and blockbuster formats towards

16254-599: Was not until the base of Chinese commercial filmmaking was relocated from Shanghai to Hong Kong in the late 1940s that martial arts cinema was revived. These films contained much of the characteristics of the previous era. During this period, over 100 films were based on the adventures of real life Cantonese folk hero Wong Fei-hung who first appeared in film in 1949. These films primarily on circuited within Hong Kong and Cantonese-speaking areas with Chinese diaspora . Yip continued that these Hong Kong films were still lagging behind in aesthetic and technical standards that films from

16383-504: Was only in the mid-20th century when action films developed into their own recognizable genre instead of being a collection of other types of films such as Westerns, swashbucklers or adventure films. Films have been described "action films" or "action-adventure film" as early as the 1910s. Only by the 1980s was the term action as its own unique genre used routinely in terms of promotion and reviewing practices. The first Chinese-language martial arts films can be traced to Shanghai cinema of

16512-581: Was only shown as being applicable to white middle-class women. Purse found that these women were empowered at the price of women of other ethnicities. This is seen in Aeon Flux (2005) where Sithandra dies protecting Aeon and Rain's death to make way for Alice in Resident Evil (2002). Combat knife A combat knife is a fighting knife designed for military use and primarily intended for hand-to-hand or close combat fighting. Since

16641-432: Was serialised in the magazine journal, Idhayam Pesugiradhu . He had discussed making the story into a film with K. Balachander during the period, but felt that the story was ahead of its time. In 2000, he picked up the story again and agreed to make the film with director Suresh Krissna , a former assistant of Balachander, and producer S. Thanu . When Thanu had agreed to produce a film for Haasan, he had initially rejected

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