Ko (2011)

Interesting facts

Ko (transl. King) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language political action thriller film directed by K. V. Anand, and written by him and the writing duo Subha. The film stars Jiiva, Ajmal Ameer, Karthika Nair, and Piaa Bajpai, while Prakash Raj, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Bose Venkat appear in supporting roles. It follows a photojournalist who, while covering the Tamil Nadu State Election, uncovers a conspiracy involving Naxalites.

Production

After the success of Ayan (2009), the director K. V. Anand had begun working on a story idea based on his early life as a freelance photojournalist before transitioning to films. Having worked on magazines such as Kalki, India Today, Illustrated Weekly and other publications, as a photo editor, Anand felt that a newspaper scenario was something new to him.

The film was initially announced with AGS Entertainment as the producers, but the company backed out and the film was eventually produced by Elred Kumar's RS Infotainment. Music composer Harris Jayaraj, cinematographer Richard M. Nathan, editor Anthony, art director D. R. K. Kiran and action choreographer Peter Hein were involved as a part of the technical crew. The film's title Ko was derived from an ancient Tamil word which means "king".

Anand initially thought of casting Ajith Kumar or Karthi in the lead role. He eventually approached Silambarasan, and the actor accepted after being impressed with Anand's script. Karthika Nair was cast as the lead actress, in her Tamil debut, as Anand wanted "an actress who looks like an ordinary journalist and not a sex bomb" and cast her after being impressed with her performance in the Telugu film Josh (2009).

Anand then narrated the script to Jiiva, who eventually agreed to be a part of the film. Upon his casting, Anand attributed this to his versatile performances, even with his sophomore Raam (2005) adding, "He is one of the most talented young actors in Tamil, a dark horse, I would say. He can do comedy in a film like SMS and also serious roles like Katrathu Thamizh; a real versatile actor.

Ko was filmed predominantly in Chennai during early 2010. The scenes set in the protagonist's newspaper office were shot on a set created to resemble such offices. Like his previous film Ayan, Anand wanted to film the songs in various locations across the world, and as a result, he and cinematographer Richard searched the internet for the picturesque locations and discussed with tourism ministries and frequent globetrotters before finalising the…

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