Viswasam

Viswasam is a 2019 Indian Tamil action drama film written and directed by Siva. The film stars Ajith Kumar and Nayanthara. Produced by Sathya Jyothi Films, the film was officially announced on 20 November 2017 and principal photography began in May 2018. The film was released on 10 January 2019.

Plot
Thookku Durai (Ajith Kumar) is the well-respected chieftain of his village Koduvilaarpatti of Theni district. After 10 years, a thiruvizha (festival) is set to occur at the village's Ayyanar temple, when Thooku Durai's rival (O. A. K. Sundar) tries to stop it from occurring. The thiruvizha occurs, thanks to Thooku Durai's intervention; however, his aunts (Kalairani and Sujatha Sivakumar) and grandmother (Cheeniamma) have been longing to see his wife and child. After much deliberation, Thooku Durai decides to go to Mumbai to meet them.

On the journey, Merit (Robo Shankar) and Rosamani (Thambi Ramaiah) are upset over Thooku Durai's current life and remind him of his life 10-12 years ago; Thooku Durai used to be a happy-go-lucky man and rice mill owner, and was also a Good Samaritan, albeit using violent ways to deal with problems. When chasing a few goons, he stumbles across Niranjana (Nayanthara), a doctor, who witnesses his antics and lodges a case against him. When Thooku Durai sees Nirajana, he is immediately smitten by her and surrenders to the police, out of the love he has for her, but she is later forced to release him after Aavudaiyappan (Mime Gopi) threatens to close her medical camp unless she pays him. After fighting the goons, Thooku Durai relocates her camp to his rice mill. Niranjana realizes her love for Thooku Durai and proposes to him, which he gladly accepts. They get married and lead a happy life, but Niranjana is disturbed by Thooku Durai's involvement into feuds. Soon, she gets pregnant and is accepted to go to one of the finest pharmaceutical programs in the country, which she refuses for Thooku Durai. After their child, Swetha, is born, one day, Niranjana leaves out of town, after getting a promise from Thooku Durai not to bring Swetha to any fights, and on the way to pick her up, Aavudaiyappan, waiting for revenge, picks up a fight with Thooku Durai. Thooku Durai, not finding Niranjana at the train station, finds her at home, and Swetha passes out as she had been injured during the fight. After rushing to the emergency ward, she survives, but Niranjana gets infuriated at Thooku Durai and tells him to stay away from her and Swetha and leaves him.

Back to the present day, Thooku Durai tries to meet up with Niranjana at her company, Niranjana Pharmaceuticals, to no avail. He later sees his daughter Swetha (Anikha), who is in contention for the Junior National 100m title. Swetha travels home, when attempts are made to kill her. Thooku Durai arrives at the nick of time to save her. It is then revealed that Gautham Veer (Jagapathi Babu) is the one behind this as his daughter had been paralysed while attempting suicide. Gautham Veer is the CEO of Skyline exports and owns a range of multinational companies, and expects the first position in everything, as he used to achieve the same in his earlier days, including academics and sports. He expects the same of his daughter, who is slower than Swetha by milliseconds. After Gautham threatens his daughter that she would find no affection in him if she loses, she resorts to doping which helps her win the race. Unfortunately this is found out by Swetha, who reports it to the authorities. Fearing that her father's reputation and affection would completely vanish, his daughter attempts suicide but becomes paralysed in the process. Gautham Veer is distraught on seeing his daughter's condition and vows to have Swetha killed at any cost.

After saving her, Thooku Durai requests Niranjana to appoint him as Swetha's bodyguard for the next 10 days, until her competition, on condition that he does not reveal any information about him being her father, to which she reluctantly accepts. He enjoys being in the company of his daughter, whilst saving her from goons on multiple occasions. Thooku Durai later meets Gautham face-to-face and challenges him. Thooku Durai is run over a car before Swetha's competition and is critical. Swetha then is forced to leave for America, and Thooku Durai recovers. Swetha also brings Gautham's daughter and mother. Before the competition, Gautham fights an already injured Thooku Durai, at which point Niranjana reveals that Thooku Durai is Swetha's father. Swetha lags behind during the meet as she has no encouragement. Thooku Durai fights Gautham back, reaches the track, and encourages his daughter by whistling, and Swetha wins the race. Gautham arrives at the track to attack Thooku Durai, but after seeing his daughter's recovery, he realizes his mistake. Thooku Durai tells Gautham that children should grow up as they desire and not to burden them with what the parents desire. Swetha is announced as the winner, along with Thooku Durai's name added to her name by Niranjana and they reunite with Thooku Durai.

Cast
• Ajith Kumar as Thookku Durai

• Nayanthara as Niranjana

• Jagapathi Babu as Gautham Veer

• Anikha as Swetha

• Vivek as Kesavan

• Yogi Babu as Velu

• Thambi Ramaiah as Rosamani

• Robo Shankar as Merit

• Kovai Sarala as Filomina

• Kalairani as Pechiammal, Thookudurai's aunt

• Jangiri Madhumitha as Thookudurai's cousin

• Sujatha Sivakumar as Thookudurai's aunt

• Bharath Reddy as Swetha's coach

• Ramesh Thilak as Thookudurai's friend

• Surekha Vani as Gautham Veer's wife

• Saloni Umesh Burde as Neha

• Mime Gopi as Aavudaiyappan

• R. N. R. Manohar as Thookudurai's uncle

• Chatrapathi Sekar as Khadar

• Papri Ghosh as Priya, Niranjana's colleague

• Sharmila Thapa as Niranjana's colleague

• Sakshi Agarwal as Niranjana's colleague

• Cheeniamma as Thookudurai's grandmother

• Namo Narayana as Thookudurai's friend

• Ramachandran Durairaj as a police constable

• Ravi Prakash as Gautham Veer's personal assistant

• George Maryan as a police inspector

• Varghese Mathew as a district collector

• OAK Sundar as Kozhimuthu, Thookudurai's rival

• Sampath Ram as Kozhimuthu's aid

• T. M. Karthik as Niranjana's colleague

• Narayan Lucky as Niranjana's colleague/manager

• Meesai Ramesh as a villager

• Ravi Awana as a Biswas, wrestler

Development
The collaboration between Sathya Jyothi Films director Siva and Ajith Kumar was announced via the studio's official Twitter handle in late November 2017, after months of speculation on Ajith's next project. Nayanthara was announced as the lead actress in early February 2018. D. Imman was signed on to work as the film's music composer which marked his first collaboration with Ajith and Siva. This would be Yogi Babu's 100th film as actor.

Filming
Principal photography was supposed to begin on 23 March 2018, but was pushed back significantly to the Tamil Film Producers Council's strike. It eventually began on 7 May at Hyderabad, and wrapped in November 2018 and released for Pongal 2019.

Release
Viswasam was released on 10 January 2019. The Telugu-dubbed version with the same title was released on 1 March 2019 in 450 theaters in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. And the Kannada version named Jagamalla was released on 7 March 2019.

Home Media
Released on digital platform Amazon Prime Video on 25 February 2019.

Reception
The Times of India rated 3/5, stating, "The film follows the regular template in its narration and changes track at a point keeping in mind to reach all sections of audience. The plot also becomes predictable once the real story unfolds. But the lack of evident flaws make it a one time watch entertainer".

Behind Woods rated 3/5 stating "Viswasam is packaged with right commercial elements to satisfy the family audience and Thala fans".

Film Companion rated 3/5 stating "A lot of mainstream filmmaking is about finding new ways to tell the same old story. With Viswasam, Siva does more. He justifies his star’s faith in (and perseverance with) him".

First Post rated 3/5 stating "Viswasam has several moments worth paying a visit to the theatre. The bang for buck interval fight sequence in the rain is one of the highlights of the film. As a pair, Ajith and Siva make a strong comeback with the film, which has its issues but makes for quite an entertaining watch anyway".

India Glitz rated 3/5 stating "Viswasam is Siva - Ajith combo's emotional Pongal treat for families".

Sify rated 3/5 stating "Ajith is endearing and is in tremendous form that the actor looks super energetic as Thooku Durai. Viswasam is a pucca family entertainer for this Pongal festival. Go and enjoy with your family!".