The Universe is a Ruse)[1] is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film[2] directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by YNOT Studios together with Reliance Entertainment.
After an official launch in July 2019, the film began production in September 2019, with shooting taking place across London, Madurai, Rameshwaram, and Jaipur and concluded by December 2019.
The film received mixed reviews from critics who praised its cast performances (particularly Dhanush, Cosmo and George), cinematography, technical aspects, soundtrack and musical score, but criticised its pace and screenwriting.
Suruli and Sivadoss negotiate to kill Peter under the ruse of inviting him for a "peace talk" to end their feud, in exchange for £600,000 as well as a paratha restaurant in London.
Attila further reveals that Sivadoss was involved in smuggling, with the intention to use the money to help the illegal immigrants and refugees from all countries financially and legally and was planning to fight for her brother's release as well.
The hawala brokers around the world are refusing to pay Sivadoss' due money and Attila's brother has no chance of being released from prison.
In the present, Suruli learns about a bill pending in the British parliament called BICORE, whose purpose is for restricting immigration and is being pushed by Peter and a few other lawmakers.
Suruli realises that Peter wants him to kill Andrews so that his death can be blamed on an immigrant, and thus BICORE would gain more support and be passed in Parliament.
Suruli, Deepan and Dharani then destroy all proof of Peter's British citizenship, offer him a fake passport from the "Republic of Mattuthavani" and leave him there to live as a stateless refugee forever.
[3] He was inspired by popular crime films such as The Godfather, The Irishman, Once Upon a Time in America and Casino, and with this he planned to come up with a script, bridging the gap of a gangster from New York and a man from Madurai, with the issue of foreign immigrants being set as the subplot.
[4] Subbaraj wrote the script with Dhanush and Hollywood actor Robert De Niro in mind, and happened to approach the former in April 2016.
[6] The makers unsuccessfully approached Hollywood actors Morgan Freeman, De Niro and Al Pacino about playing a key role in the film during October 2016.
"[24] In mid-April 2018, Pierce Brosnan was reportedly approached for a role in the film, after Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, but it was later proved to be false.
[24] During the official announcement of the project, it was reported that Malayalam actress Aishwarya Lekshmi will play the female lead,[25] in her second Tamil film, after Action (2019).
[26] In September 2019, British actor James Cosmo (of Game of Thrones fame) signed up for the character Peter Sprott,[27] in his Indian film debut.
[43][44] The film's final duration for Netflix's version was about 158 minutes, with an 18+ rating (adult certificate) due to violence and abusive words;[45] three songs and sequences were removed to follow the platform's guidelines.
[46] Karthik Subbaraj revealed in an interview that Jagame Thandhiram, apart from being a gangster film, explores the themes of xenophobia, cultural shifts, and also what the meaning of 'home' is to different people.
[32] Eventually Dhanush stayed away from imitating Rajinikanth's mannerisms in his earlier films, due to his change in script selections,[48] but Karthik Subbaraj had said "Let Rajini be there".
Dhanush, Karthik Subbaraj, Santhosh Narayanan and the musical team of Jagame Thandhiram conducted a session on 7 June through Twitter Spaces in order to celebrate the soundtrack's success, thus being the maiden entry of a South Indian actor through the live-audio conversation platform.
[68][69] Without any pre-announcement, on 22 February 2021, the teaser trailer for the film was unveiled by Netflix India, through their official YouTube channel, thus confirming the release through the streaming platform.
[79][80] In interviews with online portals, Karthik Subbaraj expressed his disinterest on not crediting the creators of the film on its promotional posters released through Netflix's social media handles.
[57] He added that "it is the platform's policy not to include credits of the directors and other artists", which led Subbaraj to promote his own poster designs through his media sites.
[83][84] Dhanush's look in the film was recreated by Medha Srivastava, a makeup artist, whose video was shared by Netflix India's social media handles, the very same month.
[91] Dhanush was upset over Sashikanth, as the latter accepted for direct-to-streaming release, irrespective of theatres being reopened and operated with 50% seating capacity due to the pandemic restrictions.
[100] Natalia Winkelman of The New York Times called the screenplay (by Karthik Subbaraj) elevated the "usual crime antics by drawing attention to language, and how it can be used as a weapon or a unifier".
[103] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated two-and-a-half out of five, calling that "the tedium is lessened by the ebullience of Dhanush and the solidity of Joju George".
[108] The News Minute editor-in-chief, Sowmya Rajendran, gave three out of five stars saying "There are some wildly fun moments in the film, but they don't add up to give us anything meaningful".
[109] Shubham Kulkarni of Koimoi rated two-and-a-half out of five stars and opined that the film "had the potential to define new benchmarks, but ended up choosing between its conflict".
[110] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated two-and-a-half out of five saying, "Dhanush-in-veshti strides across sleety England streets in slo-mo, doing Rajini but wisely keeping it low key, channelling the street-smart, lovable scamp he specialises in, when not going all out gangsta familiar to us from such cracking films as Vada Chennai.
"[111] Sajesh Mohan of Onmanorama gave three out of five saying "Jagame Thandhiram could not be considered equal to Pa. Ranjith's Kaala or Kabali, where the director used the popular figure of Rajinikanth and his Style Mannan avatar to drive home a political and ideological point.