Mankatha is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language black comedy heist film,[7][8] written and directed by Venkat Prabhu.[9] It features Ajith Kumar in the lead role, starring in his 50th film,[10] along with an ensemble cast including Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Lakshmi Rai, Anjali, Andrea Jeremiah, Vaibhav Reddy, Premji Amaren, and Mahat Raghavendra . It was produced by Dhayanidhi Alagiri's Cloud Nine Movies[9] while Yuvan Shankar Rajacomposed the musical score and soundtrack, with Sakthi Saravanan working as the cinematographer and the duo Praveen K. L.and N. B. Srikanth as editors. The story, set in Mumbai, revolves around a heist of cricket betting money, executed by a gang of four thieves, who are joined by a fifth unknown man, and its aftermath. The film became a blockbuster very soon and became the first salt and pepper hit for Ajith after which he continued the same style in all his upcoming films.
The film was formally launched in August 2010,[11][12] with its principal photography beginning on 25 October 2010. Filming was held for more than eight months and took place primarily across Chennai, the Dharavislum in Mumbai and Bangkok, Thailand. Following speculations regarding the film's release, Sun Pictures acquired the theatrical rights and distributed the film via Raadhika's Radaan Mediaworks. Mankatha released on 31 August 2011 worldwide to generally positive reviews and grossed the second biggest opening of all time after Enthiran at the time of release.[13][14] The film was also dubbed into Telugu as Gambler and released in Andhra Pradesh[15] ten days later while it was a box-office hit in Kerala as well.[16]
