Coolie movie Rajnikanth is a South Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and produced by Kalanithi Maran under Sun Pictures. The film features an ensemble cast including Rajinikanth, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Soubin Shahir, Upendra, Shruti Haasan, Sathyaraj and Rachita Ram, with Aamir Khan and Pooja Hegde in special appearances. In the film, a former coolie union leader investigates the death of his friend which leads him to a crime syndicate.
At the Visakhapatnam harbour, smuggler Simon Xavier runs an operation trafficking gold and luxury watches with his lieutenant Dayalan "Dayal." Simon's son, Arjun, rejects his family business of crime and becomes a customs officer. An undercover cop posing as a coolie is killed by Dayal, who then offers a ₹2 crore reward for exposing another undercover officer in the gang.
In Chennai, Devaraj "Deva" runs a strict boarding house. After learning of his friend Rajasekhar's death, he attends the funeral but is driven away by Rajasekhar's daughter, Preethi. A drunken friend, Ravi, admits he and Rajasekhar ruined their lives, prompting Deva to investigate. Though the autopsy claims a heart attack, Deva finds evidence of chest trauma. Rajasekhar, once broke, had invented an electric chair for disposing of animal remains. His patent rejected, he was coerced by Simon into adapting it for human use to dispose of murder victims. Dayal tries to abduct Preethi as she knew how to operate the electric chair after her father, but Deva intervenes and joins the operation, using the chair with her help. Deva tells Preethi to quit this profession, but Preethi is helpless as she wants to support her sisters.
Eventually, Simon asks Deva to bury Dayal, claiming he was an undercover cop. They discover Dayal alive; he reveals his identity and threatens Preethi. Simon shows Deva a video of Dayal killing Rajasekhar. Dayal later contacts Deva from Nellore, demanding obedience and holding Preethi hostage in his hideout. Deva, following Dayal's orders, gains access to a harbour vault and uncovers a heart-trafficking ring targeting coolies. One order is to kill Arjun, but Deva spares him and asks him to run away with his lover in a boat. Dayal retaliates by threatening Preethi on a rooftop, but Deva unsettles him by revealing his real name, Dilip, and police past, working as a Constable in Thrissur.
He then captures Dayal's wife, Kalyani, who was revealed to be duping lover of Arjun, and demands Preethi’s release. Kalyani frees herself, kills Ravi, and reveals that she and Dayal were undercover partners. She orders Dayal to pursue Preethi, who escapes on a train but unwittingly calls Deva using a code from Rajasekhar, revealing she is Deva’s daughter. Deva's aide sacrifices himself to protect her from Dayal, who survives. Kalyani tells Dayal to go to her car, which was parked. Dayal finds Arjun there. Dayal calls up Simon and reveals that he was alive, and kills Arjun in front of him. Simon goes to Chennai and sends his men to Deva's mansion to kill off Deva and Preethi's sisters, but Deva kills off his men with the help of his lieutenant, Kaleesha, and 18 coolies who worked with Deva. On reaching Chennai, Kalyani captures Preethi but is herself kidnapped by Simon's men. Simon kills Kalyani in front of Dayal, then seizes Preethi to harvest her heart.
Deva storms the ship, revealing his past: in the 1990s, as a coolie union leader in a North Indian town called Mandwa under Simon's father, Xavier, and his partner, Kakkar, he fought against their exploitation. When they tried to have 100 coolies killed to cover up their smuggling of drugs, Deva and Kaleesha led a revolt, eliminating Xavier at the cost of 70 coolies. A young Simon tried to witness his father's death, but was prevented from his mother, with it becoming a traumatic event in his life. Telling Simon that Preethi is his daughter, Deva duels and kills him, and the coolies destroy the ship. Later, Deva, Kaleesha, Preethi, and her sisters are kidnapped to a desert by a global syndicate leader named Dahaa, who is revealed to be Kakkar's son. Impressed, Dahaa offers Deva a place as his right-hand man; Deva agrees, on the condition that his coolies are spared. Dayal is eventually captured and buried alive.
Preethi and her sisters depart abroad, forgiving Deva without knowing he is her father, calling him "uncle" in her farewell.
CAST:
- Rajinikanth as Devaraj "Deva"
- Nagarjuna Akkineni as Simon
- Karthikeya Dev as young Simon
- Soubin Shahir as Dayalan "Dayal" / Dilip
- Upendra as Kaleesha
- Shruti Haasan as Preethi Rajasekar
- Sathyaraj as Rajasekar
- Rachita Ram as Kalyani
- Kanna Ravi as Arjun
- Reba Monica John as Revathi Rajasekar
- Monisha Blessy as Priya Rajasekar
- Charle as Ravi
- Kaali Venkat as Palanisamy
- Lollu Sabha Maaran as Kumar
- Dileepan as Saravanan
- Karate Karrthi as Karthi
- Rishikanth as Rishi
- Ravi Raghavendra as Vikram Singh
- Ayyappa P. Sharma as Ayyappan
- Subramaniapuram Dumka Mari as Deva's aide
- Baburaj as Simon's enemy
- Mahesh Manjrekar as Kakkar, Dahaa's father
- Ajay as Xavier, Simon's father
- Tamizh as a goon
- Junior MGR as Simon's aide
- Aamir Khan as Dahaa (special appearance)
- Pooja Hegde as Monica (special appearance in the song "Monica")
- Shobana as Subbulakshmi, Deva's wife and Rajasekar's sister (photo presence)
