Kanithan () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by T. N. Santhosh and produced by S. Thanu. The film stars Atharvaa and Catherine Tresa. Sivamani composed the film's music. Having begun production in 2013, the film was released in February 2016. The film was remade in Kannada as Athiratha (2017) and in Telugu as Arjun Suravaram (2019). It was dubbed in Hindi as the same Title by Goldmines Telefilms on 3 January 2020. It received mixed reviews from critics but was a Hit at box office.
Plot
Gowtham Ramalingam is an intelligent TV journalist who works in a small channel. For generations, his family has had close links with the media. His father Ramalingam is a news presenter working in Doordarshan. His grandfather was a newsreader in All India Radio. Despite being an academically brilliant engineering graduate, Gowtham prefers working as a TV journalist and yearns to join the BBC. One day, while reporting for his channel, he stumbles across Anu and falls for her. Anu turns out to be his colleague in the same TV channel he is working at and reciprocates his attempts. Gowtham receives an offer letter from BBC, and despite initially struggling, performs well in the interview and gets selected. He is congratulated by his friends at the TV channel office, including Anu. While all goes well, Gowtham suddenly gets arrested on charges of cheating banks (to the tune of several lakhs) of rupees by producing fake documents and degree certificates. Gowtham's degree certificates, along with those of the other affected students, get invalidated. While he is being taken to prison, a fellow graduate seated beside him commits suicide by falling off the police van and getting run over by a truck. Gowtham realizes that he (along with the other graduates) have been made a pawn in a huge scam. His neighbour who works in the police department and his friend Balaji, a lawyer, Senthil, his friend and colleague and Anu manage to get him out of prison. Gowtham's job at BBC gets rejected due to his certificate being labelled as forged. Gowtham then decides to infiltrate and expose the fake certificate scam with the help of his neighbour, Balaji, Senthil and Anu.
Gowtham recalls the scene at the police station about the fake documents, that were used to obtain loans from the banks; they carried the same photograph as the one present in his degree certificate. He deduces that he had used the certificate in a consultancy firm in Anna Nagar. When he, his neighbour, Senthil, and Balaji reach the place to find it locked, they break the lock and get inside. They search for the fake degree certificate in his name and find out that all the fake degree certificates, in the blueprints of Anna University, University of Madras, Madras Christian College, and several other major universities, are hidden in the ceiling. Gowtham and his team confiscate the fake certificates and convey a message to other TV channels, including his own channel, to list out the names of the fake degree certificate holders on-air. The consultancy firms are closed down, and it worries Thura Sarkar, the kingpin in the fake certificate scam, and his sons. While airing the news, he intentionally puts Balaji's name in the certificates(in-order to nab Thura, knowing that his name is not the list), Gowtham's plan works and manages to save Balaji just in time, fights and kill all of the goons,including Thura's son. He even hid the camera in the crime spot, knowing Thura would come there to find other evidence. However, Thura finds the hidden camera and almosts executed Gowtham, but with the help of Gowtham's neighbour they successfully escape. Gowtham infiltrates and records the scammers in his mobile phone while posing as an applicant for a fake certificate, on the other side, Thura starts looking for people who were responsible for spreading the news and manages to track the right guy. This news is spread further, and Thura's plans are thwarted. He reaches Gowtham's office and holds Senthil and the others hostage; Gowtham calls him on his phone and saves Senthil by revealing his whereabouts. Anu gets kidnapped by Thura's son and his gang when Gowtham overpowers and kills Thura's second son.