Cobra is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language psychological action thriller film directed by R. Ajay Gnanamuthu and produced by 7 Screen Studio. The film stars Vikram in a dual roles as twin brothers, alongside Srinidhi Shetty, Irfan Pathan, Roshan Mathew, Sarjano Khalid, Mirnalini Ravi, Miya George, K. S. Ravikumar, Anandaraj, Robo Shankar and Meenakshi Govindarajan. It marked the acting debut of Pathan, previously a cricketer, and the Tamil debuts of Roshan Mathew, Sarjano Khalid and Srinidhi Shetty. In the film, an Interpol officer is assigned to catch a mysterious assassin, who intelligently assassinates people using mathematical skills, named "Cobra".
The project was officially announced in May 2019 under the tentative title Vikram 58 as it is the actor's 58th film as a lead actor, and the official title was announced in December. Principal photography commenced in October 2019 and nearly took three years due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema, travel restrictions and Vikram's commitments on other projects, wrapping only in February 2022. It was primarily shot in Chennai, while filming also took place in Kerala, Kolkata and Russia. The film has music composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography handled by Harish Kannan and editing by John Abraham and Bhuvan Srinivasan.
Cobra was released worldwide on 31 August 2022 in theatres, coinciding with Vinayaka Chathurthi. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics, who praised Vikram's performance, Rahman's music, the cinematography and concept but criticized its convoluted screenwriting and excessive length. The film was a box-office bomb.
Plot Turkish Interpol officer, Aslan Yilmaz, investigates the assassinations of the Chief Minister of Odisha, the Mayor of France and the Prince of Scotland, where he, with a young Tamil criminologist Judith Samson, deduces that "Cobra", a skilled assassin, is the mastermind behind the assassinations. The duo learn that Cobra perfectly assassinates his targets using mathematical skills, leading them to believe that the master assassin is a mathematics professor. Judith reveals to Aslan that the bullet that killed the Chief Minister ricocheted off a fan, killing him.
Meanwhile, Mathiyazhagan, "Mathi", a mathematics professor revealed to be Cobra, receives his next assignment from his mentor and senior journalist in Kolkata, Nellaiappan. He is to kill the Russian defence minister, Dmitri Yugolsav. He travels to Russia, successfully assassinates him and escapes, despite tight security from Interpol and Aslan's plan that almost trapped him. Before Yugolsav's assassination, Aslan and his team watch a telecast conversation between Nellaiappan and Nawab, who works at a company named Rishi Corporation, where he concludes that the victims are connected to the company's owner, Rajeev Rishi, a psychotic and sadistic business magnate, who inherited the company from his father. Rishi runs a criminal syndicate that targets people who oppose his company. Following the engagement to his criminologist girlfriend and Judith's teacher, Bhavana Menon, Mathi learns that someone has kidnapped Nellaiappan and discovers they are targeting him from the beginning of his assignments.
After a clue from Sudoku, Mathi receives a call from the person, who is Mathi's doppelgänger, and he challenges Mathi to save himself from him. An unexpected turn of events reveals "Mathi" to be Kathirvelan "Kathir", Mathi's schizophrenic long-lost twin brother, and the doppelgänger who challenged Kathir is the real Mathi. Since Mathi killed the cop for insulting their mother, who was hanged after being sentenced to prison for murder, they have been living separately since childhood. Rishi sends men to capture Mathi, but Kathir manages to kill them. Mathi had been holding a grudge against Kathir, as he was responsible for the death of his girlfriend, Jennifer Rosario, who was the daughter of the Kolkata city commissioner Rosario. Jennifer's relatives threw Mathi away on a boat, which reached Thailand, and the police arrested him as a criminal and sentenced him to seven years in prison. Mathi learns about Kathir's identity as Cobra and plans to seek vengeance for Jennifer's death, revealing that he was the one who was sending clues about the assassinations to Interpol.
Mathi hands Kathir to Aslan, where Anand Subramaniam, the investigating officer and Rishi's mole, takes Kathir's help to capture Mathi. Kathir brings them to Mathi's hideout, which is an under-construction mall. Rishi and his men arrive, and a fight ensues between the gang and Kathir, in which he successfully subdues them. Mathi confronts Kathir about Jennifer's death. Kathir reveals that he had arranged for Mathi and Jennifer to leave for Bangladesh, but her father and relatives followed and killed her. After clearing the misunderstanding, Kathir reveals that he killed Jennifer's relatives and locks Mathi in a room. Kathir kills Rishi and his men single-handedly but gets shot and succumbs to his injuries, leaving Mathi and Bhavana devastated.
Cast
Production Development In May 2019, Producer S. S. Lalit Kumar of 7 Screen Studio and Viacom18 Studios announced their upcoming project featuring Vikram, tentatively titled as Vikram 58. The film is directed by R. Ajay Gnanamuthu, who previously helmed Demonte Colony (2015) and Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018). It was intended to be a pan-Indian film, set for release in five languages, during the summer in April 2020. By July 2019, A. R. Rahman was chosen to score the music for the film. Stunt choreographer Dhilip Subbarayan and cinematographer Sivakumar Vijayan, were reported to be a part of the technical team. Vijayan was later replaced by debutant Harish Kannan. A report from The New Indian Express, dated 2 August 2019, stated that Vikram will be seen in 25 different looks.
In December, Viacom18 backed out of the project for unknown reasons, and Lalit Kumar was credited as the sole producer. While it was rumoured to be titled as Amar, the makers cleared the rumours by announcing the official title as Cobra on 25 December 2019. The team titled the film "Cobra" because it resembles the pivotal character of snake cobra. Gnanamuthu, further revealed in an interview to The Times of India, saying "The protagonist's character and cobra has a link", and revealing anything further would give away key plot details. He added, "Also, since the film is made in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, I wanted a title that works in all languages. Hence, we zeroed in on Cobra". Speaking to Ananda Vikatan, Gnanamuthu described Cobra as a multi-genre film and includes various genres such as psychological, science fiction, thriller and action. Vikram's character was revealed to be a mathematician and a shape-shifter, who uses mathematics for criminal activities.
Casting
In late October 2019, the makers announced that Srinidhi Shetty, would play the female lead. This film marks her debut in Tamil cinema. Shetty was cast after a successful audition, and Gnanamuthu called her role a "complete contrast" to what she played in the Kannada film KGF: Chapter 1 (2018). Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan signed to play a pivotal role in the project. This also marks his debut in Indian film industry. Gnanamuthu had watched several of his TikTok videos, and impressed by his acting stints he met Pathan at his house in Vadodara, Gujarat, who later agreed to be a part of the film. On his birthday, the team revealed his look and character name as Aslan Yilmaz, an Interpol agent.
In late October, K. S. Ravikumar joined the cast and shot for a few days. Gnanamuthu stated that his character will be a "complex" one and "quite integral to the script". In January 2020, Mirnalini Ravi was roped in to the cast, and in the same month Robo Shankar also joined as one of the supporting actors. Ajay Gnanamuthu chose to sign Shane Nigam for an important role in this flick, after being impressed by his performance in the Malayalam film Kumbalangi Nights (2019). However, the Kerala Film Producers Association (KFPA), had written to the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFC), requesting a ban on the actor until he pays the producers of two of his cancelled films. Sarjano Khalid was brought in as the film's replacement. Theatre personality Mohammad Ali Baig, was also cast in February 2020. In April 2020, Malayalam actors Roshan Mathew, Miya George, and Mamukkoya were included in the cast. It is the Tamil debut of Roshan Mathew.
Filming
Principal photography began on 4 October 2019 in Chennai. While Pathan joined the sets of the shoot on 15 October, Shetty joined only at the end of the month. The former had finished the first schedule of the film on 6 November 2019 in Chennai. On 11 November 2019, Vikram and his team headed to Alleppey for a song shoot, which was completed within two days. By the end of November 2019, the second schedule of filming was completed in Kerala. The third schedule of the film took place in Chennai in December 2019. The makers planned to shoot a few sequences across Russia and Europe in January 2020. Meanwhile, on 17 January, the makers headed to Kolkata to prepare for the third schedule. Irfan Pathan completed his portions for the flick on 21 January, during the fourth schedule. On 6 February, the makers planned to shoot the climax sequence in Russia. On 7 February 2020, the makers shot a crucial sequence at the Ramee Mall in Chennai.
Vikram and Gnanamuthu began filming in Russia in March 2020, despite fears that COVID-19 might spread. A rapid spread of COVID-19 forced the crew to halt filming and return to India. The film's shoot was further affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as 25% of the shoot is pending as of March 2020. Ajay Gnanamuthu announced he would take a pay cut for the film, in order to help producers during these challenging times. The lack of international travel facilities made it impossible for the team to shoot in Russia, so they created huge sets resembling the country in Chennai. The team began dubbing the film in October 2020. Filming resumed on 3 December 2020 in Chennai, with Vikram joining the sets. After completing the schedule, the team travelled to Kolkata on 22 December 2020. However, since Vikram was also involved in the shooting of Ponniyin Selvan during mid-January 2021, the team decided to shoot a few scenes without him and the production team stated that the actor would join the shoot once his portions were completed. Shetty completed her shoot on 7 February 2021.
Ajay Gnanamuthu was unsatisfied with the portions shot on the sets, so the team decided to go back to Russia in mid-February 2021, despite the cold weather. On 22 February 2021, Vikram joined the film's shoot in Moscow, where the final portions of the film were being filmed. Pathan joined them on 26 February 2021. The team filmed a few scenes at Saint Petersburg State University on 2 March 2021 as part of their final schedule. The team completed the major portions of the film on 5 March 2021. Shooting was delayed, apparently due to Vikram's commitments with Karthik Subbaraj's directorial Mahaan (2022) produced by the same production company 7 Screen Studio and the subsequent lock-down implemented by the government to curb the second wave of the pandemic. After the shooting of Mahaan concluded, the team restarted production on 15 August 2021, with the commencement of a minor schedule in Kolkata. After the producer's parallel projects and Vikram's other commitments, the team started its final schedule in Chennai on 24 November 2021 and continued for a month. Vikram completed his portions in January 2022, and on 15 February 2022, Gnanamuthu tweeted that the filming was completely wrapped.
Music