Jailer is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. Produced by Kalanithi Maran under Sun Pictures, the film stars Rajinikanth as a retired jailer who sets out to apprehend an eccentric idol smuggler threatening his family. The cast also includes Ramya Krishnan, Vinayakan, Tamannaah Bhatia, Sunil, Vasanth Ravi, Yogi Babu and Mirnaa in supporting roles. Mohanlal, Shiva Rajkumar and Jackie Shroff play guest appearances.
The film was officially announced in February 2022 under the working title Thalaivar 169, being the 169th film of Rajinikanth, while the official title was announced in June that year. Principal photography commenced in August 2022 in Chennai followed with schedules in Cuddalore, Hyderabad, Jaisalmer, Mangalore, Kerala and wrapped by early-June 2023. The music is composed by Anirudh Ravichander, with cinematography handled by Vijay Kartik Kannan and edited by R. Nirmal.
Jailer was released theatrically on 10 August 2023. The film received positive reviews from critics and emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2023, sixth highest-grossing Indian film of 2023 and second highest-grossing Tamil film of all time. Additionally, the film received four nominations at the Filmfare Awards South, and won two Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, two IIFA Utsavam awards including Best Film, and two South Indian International Movie Awards including Best Film and Best Director for Nelson, all in the Tamil branch. A sequel, Jailer 2, is scheduled to release on 15 October 2026.
Plot In Arakkonam, police discover a temple priest murdered and the temple idol has been stolen and replaced with a fake one.
"Tiger" Muthuvel Pandian lives in Tamil Nadu with his family. Muthuvel's son, ACP Arjun, is investigating Varman, an eccentric gangster based in Arakkonam, who smuggles idols of gods and sells them to overseas buyers. Arjun confronts Varman's henchman, Seenu, and demands to know Varman's whereabouts. While getting close to nabbing Varman, Arjun suddenly goes missing, and the police department covers this up by spreading word that he may have committed suicide due to the stress of the job.
Grieving the apparent loss of his son and partly blaming himself for raising him to be honest and fearless, Muthuvel goes after Seenu and murders him, disposing of the body by coercing a clueless local taxi driver, Vimal, into helping him. In retaliation, Varman's men attempt to kill Muthuvel's grandson, Rithvik, but Muthuvel saves him. Muthuvel tries to convince Varman to leave him and his family alone. However, Varman does not listen to him. Enraged, he decides to fight back.
First, Muthuvel blackmails a psychiatrist, S. Dhandapani, into providing asylum for his family. He then visits Narasimha, a reformed criminal living in Mandya, who loans him four sharpshooters. With the help of Narasimha's men, Muthuvel steals Varman's idols that were being smuggled and uses them to blackmail and humiliate Varman, who is about to kill his family. Varman retaliates by killing three of his men and hires a Bihari gangster named Kamdev to send people to kill Muthuvel and his family at his home. Still, Muthuvel and Narasimha's men finish them, with his family watching in fear. On discovering Varman's target to be Muthuvel, Kamdev reveals to him that Muthuvel was previously the ruthless and charismatic jailer of Tihar prison who disciplined criminals harshly but also helped them reform, thus gaining a massive network of allies, including Kamdev.
Muthuvel corners Varman in his base along with a hundred men sent by another former criminal, Sikandar Singh, but Varman reveals that Arjun is still alive and threatens to kill him. Both of them ultimately compromise: Varman will release Arjun in exchange for retrieving a famous antique crown currently secured in a temple in Mangalagiri. With a lot of thoughts, Muthuvel agrees to bring the crown, with Varman enforcing a condition that two of his men will be sent as spies with him 24/7 to Hyderabad, to which he agrees. Muthuvel plans a heist involving the actor Blast Mohan, a temple trustee, at a temple where they keep the crown. After various deceptions and with the help of a smuggler in Mumbai named Mathew, Muthuvel eventually comes into possession of the crown and sends it to Varman through Varman's men sent for the heist.
Varman frees Arjun, who reveals himself as a corrupt police officer wanting to be cut in on Varman's operations, willing to kill his father for money. However, the crown is fake and conceals a hidden camera, through which Muthuvel sees their entire conversation. Varman discovers that the crown is fake. Feeling enraged and betrayed, he kills his two men sent along with Muthuvel for the heist and attempts to kill Arjun, but Arjun manages to fight back and Muthuvel attacks Varman's hideout with Kamdev, Vimal, and his allies, slaughters Varman's men and kills Varman, while Narasimha protects Muthuvel's family and Mathew destroys Varman's smuggling operations. Later, Muthuvel asks Arjun to surrender, but Arjun refuses and attempts to kill him. At Muthuvel's signal, Narasimha's men shoot and kill Arjun while Muthuvel solemnly walks away, throwing away his chain containing Arjun's childhood tooth that he kept as a memento.
Cast Adapted from the closing credits:
Cameo appearances
Production Development During the filming of Master (2021) in late-2019, Lokesh Kanagaraj reportedly visited Rajinikanth at his residence in Chennai and discussed for a potential collaboration. The project, becoming Rajinikanth's 169 film was reportedly to be produced by Kamal Haasan's Raaj Kamal Films International. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and Rajinikanth's commitments to Annaatthe (2021) supposedly delayed the launch of the film and Lokesh decided to collaborate with Haasan on Vikram (2022).
In December 2021, Nelson Dilipkumar was reported to direct Rajinikanth's 169 film in his lead role, after finishing his commitments to Beast (2022). In February 2022, an article from The Times of India had reported that the actor had not finalised his next film and stated that the project with Nelson was reported to be false. However, on 10 February 2022, Sun Pictures officially announced that project under the working title Thalaivar 169. This also marks the first collaboration of Nelson with Rajinikanth.
The project was planned to be filmed across various locations within a span of five to six months. Due to the subpar critical reception for Beast where Nelson was criticised for his writing, there were speculations that he was dropped from the project and would be replaced with another director. However, the producers dismissed the rumours and reaffirmed Nelson's involvement in the film. The film's official title Jailer was announced on 17 June 2022. Rajinikanth received a salary of ₹110 crore as an advance prior to the release.
Pre-production Nelson began writing the film's script in April 2022 and completed writing the first half within two months. While K. S. Ravikumar was reported to assist Nelson in the scriptwriting, the official poster revealed Nelson as the sole writer, dismissing those reports. Speaking at the Film Companion Directors Adda 2023 roundtable, Nelson felt that one of the main challenges was getting people to accept Rajinikanth playing his age as most of the industry insiders refuted this idea. But Nelson convinced them and also felt being slightly confident at times that it would work. He also added that he spent a month to come up with the idea for the interval sequence, where he would show a cool demeanor and set the character to be more interesting, a contrast from Rajinikanth's films.
Nelson retained the crew members from his previous films, which included cinematographer Vijay Kartik Kannan who worked with him on Doctor (2021), music composer Anirudh Ravichander, editor R. Nirmal, production designer D. R. K. Kiran, action choreographer Stun Siva, dance choreographer Jani Master, costume designers Pallavi Singh and Muthul Hafeez, and publicity designer Kabilan Chelliah. D. Ramesh Kuchirayar was the production controller, and Raja Sridhar and Sembian Sivakumar were the executive producers.
Prior to the commencement of the first schedule, the team constructed a set at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad, where major portions were being planned to be predominantly shot there. Test shoots for the film took place in late July 2022 at Chennai. Prominent stylist Aalim Hakim designed the looks and character sketches for Rajinikanth, while Venket Ram photographed the promotional stills.
Casting
In April 2022, Ramya Krishnan was reported to be a part of the film. That May, there were reports suggesting that Kannada actor Shiva Rajkumar would be seen in a pivotal role, before he was officially confirmed as a part of the cast, the following month; It marks Shiva Rajkumar's debut in Tamil cinema. That June month, Redin Kingsley who acted in Nelson's previous films speculated on being involved in the film, but undisclosed on which role he would play, before he was officially a part of the cast.
In early August, Vasanth Ravi was confirmed to be part of the film. The same month, Krishnan confirmed her participation, reuniting with Rajinikanth after 24 years since Padayappa (1999). She recalled her experiences on working with the actor on Padayappa, and she disclosed that her character's name does not recall her name Neelambari from the film, adding "Don't come in expecting a Padayappa-Neelambari romance; these are two different characters, but Nelson has definitely managed to create a new kind of magic with them." Yogi Babu was reported to play a role in the film which was confirmed by the production house on late-August.
Malayalam actor Vinayakan was cast as the film's main antagonist Varman. Vasanth Ravi recalled that Mammootty was the original choice for Varman, but the team felt that the character would not suit the actor's stature; they ultimately decided against casting him. Mirnaa Menon was cast as Vasanth Ravi's wife, and said she had "no second thoughts" about doing the film. Harish Roy was initially offered a role in the film but refused it due to health issues. On 6 January 2023, it was announced that Mohanlal would be acting in the film in a cameo role. Almost two weeks later, Sunil and Tamannaah Bhatia were announced as part of the cast for brief roles. In February 2023, Jackie Shroff was announced to be a part of the film. While Sivakarthikeyan was speculated to play a role in the film, the actor confirmed that he was never approached.
On 4 May 2023, a video that revealed the film's official release date was unveiled which revealed the remaining cast members: Nagendra Babu, Jaffer Sadiq, Kishore, Billy Muralee, Sugunthan, Karate Karthi, Arshad, G. Marimuthu, Rithvik, Saravanan, Aranthangi Nisha, Mahanadi Shankar and Makarand Deshpande amongst others.
Filming
Principal photography was initially intended to commence on 3 August in Hyderabad. However, the launch of the film was indefinitely delayed due to a strike in Hyderabad which was expected to last at least three weeks. Filming ultimately began on 22 August in Chennai. A special set resembling a police station was constructed in a film city in Chennai where few sequences intended to be shot there. According to cinematographer Vijay Kartik Kannan, a set that resembling houses from the 1990s was constructed for the principal character's household and where most of the film's first half is set. The month-long schedule for the film was completed in Chennai on late September. Afterwards, the team moved to Cuddalore for filming a brief schedule with Rajinikanth and Babu.