Beast (2022 Indian film)

Beast is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, and produced by Sun Pictures. The film stars Vijay, alongside Pooja Hegde, Selvaraghavan, Shaji Chen, VTV Ganesh, Ankur Vikal, Aparna Das, Sathish Krishnan, Shine Tom Chacko, Yogi Babu and Redin Kingsley. It follows Veeraraghavan "Veera", an ex-RAW agent, who is trapped in a shopping mall by terrorists and seeks to rescue the hostages.

Sun Pictures acquired the production rights for Vijay's 65 film in January 2020. AR Murugadoss was initially signed to direct it; however, he was ousted from the film, after he refused to cut his remuneration. Nelson was subsequently brought on board, with announcement in December 2020 under the tentative title Thalapathy 65, and the official title was announced in June 2021. Principal photography commenced in April 2021. It was shot sporadically in several legs, with filming locations Chennai, Delhi and Georgia, and wrapped by mid-December 2021. The film has music composed by Anirudh Ravichander, cinematography was handled by Manoj Paramahamsa and editing by R. Nirmal.

Beast was released on 13 April 2022 in theatres to mixed reviews from critics. Despite this, the film was a commercial success, grossing ₹217–300 crore worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of all time. A sequel was announced the following year.