Darbar

The film is Rajinikanth’s first role as a police officer in 27 years following Pandiyan (1992). The project’s working title was Thalaivar 167 and the title Darbar was officially announced on 9 April 2019. Principal photography commenced the same month, mostly in Mumbai, and was completed in October 2019. Anirudh Ravichander composed music for the film, the cinematographer was Santosh Sivan and the editor was A. Sreekar Prasad.

Darbar was released theatrically in India on 9 January 2020, coinciding with the Pongal festival. The film met with mixed reviews upon release and grossed ₹202–250 crore crore at the box office, making it the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2020. Despite this, it was considered a poor performer, which caused distributors to threaten hunger strikes and demand Rajinikanth recoup their losses.

Past: Aditya is assigned to Mumbai as the new Commissioner to curb the rampant drug-trafficking and prostitution in the city. Upon arriving in Mumbai, he rescues three kidnapped women, one of whom is the daughter of the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Sensing an opportunity, Aditya uses the kidnapped women as an excuse to initiate a campaign against the city’s drug-trafficking and prostitution rings. His efforts are extremely successful; numerous drug-dealers and child-traffickers are arrested.

Among the arrested is Ajay Malhotra, who is the son of influential industrialist Vinod Malhotra, who attempts to bail out Ajay but Aditya refuses bail. Aditya, seeking Ajay’s testimony on his involvement in drug smuggling, visits him in prison and discover a proxy in his place. He asks the state and central governments to investigate, and discovers the officials assigned to Ajay’s case are working for Vinod. Through a covert investigation, Aditya learns Ajay is hiding in Bangkok and has the Royal Thai Police arrest him on charges of passport fraud.

Corrupt diplomats on Vinod’s payroll falsely declare Ajay is still incarcerated in India, which leads to his release from Thai custody. Undeterred, Aditya returns to India and has Ajay’s proxy killed with the excuse of self-defence, and announces Ajay’s corpse will be displayed to the media. Vinod’s accomplices, cornered and with no other options, turn against him; to save themselves, they have Ajay secretly returned to India and killed. At Ajay’s wake, however, it is revealed Ajay is not Vinod’s son but that of feared mafia boss Hariharan “Hari” Chopra, who is responsible for the massacre of 57 policemen in Mumbai.

While in London, Hari learns of Ajay’s murder. Vowing revenge, he secretly enters India via the Bangladesh–India border. Fearing for his life, Vinod contacts Aditya’s daughter Valli and warns her Aditya is in danger. Hari later stabs Vinod for his inability to protect Ajay, targets Aditya and Valli, and arranges a gruesome car accident. Aditya survives the attack but Valli is diagnosed with a subdural hematoma and her doctor tells her she has only two hours to live.

Valli records a video for Aditya and dies. In his grief over her death, Aditya turns violent. Believing Vinod to be responsible for the car accident, Aditya barges into his residence but learns of his murder. Enraged and confused, Aditya sets out to discover the truth behind Valli’s death and kills numerous gangsters in the process.

Present: Hari’s goons ambush Aditya and his subordinates. Although they survive the attack, Aditya is suspended for his rash behaviour. About to give up, he discovers Valli’s video, in which she reveals Vinod’s earlier warning and encourages Aditya to persevere with his investigation. Emboldened by the video, Aditya manages to get reinstated to the police by proving his physical and mental stability. He then traces Ajay’s true biological origins to Hari.

Attempting to evade Aditya, Hari organises the murders of numerous police officers. Undeterred, Aditya traces Hari’s location to an old office building of Mumbai Media that is owned by media tycoon Pramod Gupta, who is found to be one of Hari’s associates. With the help of the police, Aditya launches a raid on the complex. He kills Hari’s goons and captures Gupta but fails to capture Hari.

Hari retreats to the site of his earlier massacre and lures Aditya by holding the families of the murdered police officers hostage at gunpoint. Aditya fights with Hari and wins. Hari attempts to shoot Aditya but he stabs Hari to death. As Aditya walks out of the police station, a young boy dressed in police uniform looks at him and salutes with a smile. Aditya returns the smile and salute.