Abhimanyu Mathur of Hindustan Times gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Lokesh Kanagaraj and Rajinikanth's combination gives an entertaining, but uneven film that could have been so much more."Read at source
Coolie 2025 
Synopsis
Coolie
Coolie is a 2025 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and 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, 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 dangerous crime syndicate.
- Director
- Lokesh Kanagaraj
- Studio
- Sun Pictures
- Run time
- 170 min
- Language
- Tamil
Reviews
10 Indian-media reviews, grouped by reception.
Critics' consensus
Mixed
Critics' aggregate for Coolie is 58/100 from 10 scored critic/publication reviews.
Synthesized by AI (gpt-5-codex-omdb-enricher) from 11 source-backed reviews — verify against the linked sources.Common praise
- performances
- writing
- visual craft
Watch points
- writing
- visual craft
- emotional impact
Positive 8
Arjun Menon of The Indian Express gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Coolie is as much a Rajinikanth film as it is a showcase of the much-celebrated young director’s weakest impulses as an image maker."Read at source
Bollywood Hungama gave 3/5 stars and wrote "On the whole, Coolie has ample mass moments and swag of Rajinikanth.Read at source
Himanshi Tiwari of India TV gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Lokesh Kanagaraj, famous for his action films, has once again impressed the audience with the star cast, story and dialogues of this film."Read at source
Rachit Gupta of Filmfare gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Coolie does really create a pocket universe of coolness and pulls off the fan service with elan.Read at source
S Viswanath of Deccan Herald gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "By making ‘Coolie’ bloody and gory, Lokesh Kanagaraj has elevated villainy and violence to its full brutal form.Read at source
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 3/5 stars and wrote "It is Rajinikanth the star and Deva the character who call the shots all the way through."Read at source
Sridevi S of The Times of India gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Coolie emerges as one of Rajinikanth's most electrifying outings in recent years, surpassing his previous films in sheer energy and style".Read at source
Critical 2
Anusha Sundar of OTT Play gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Apart from a few interesting pockets of writing, Coolie gets a disjointed narration and a much lesser adrenaline rush to make you enjoy."Read at source
Avinash Ramachandran of Cinema Express gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Once again, this blow-hot-blow-cold treatment proves to be the undoing of Coolie, which needed more emotional heft if it wanted to be taken seriously as an action drama.Read at source
Media & trailers
Verified video records attached to this title.
Details
Soundtrack
- Coolie Disco Anirudh Ravichander
- Chikitu T. Rajendar, Arivu, Anirudh Ravichander
- Uyirnaadi Nanbane Sai Smriti, Anirudh Ravichander
- I Am The Danger Siddharth Basrur, Anirudh Ravichander
- Monica Sublahshini, Anirudh Ravichander, Asal Kolaar
- Kokki Sooraj Santhosh, Amogh Balaji
- Powerhouse Anirudh Ravichander, Arivu
- Mobsta Anirudh Ravichander
Technical specs
- Run time
- 170 min
- Language
- Tamil
- Country
- IN
- Director
- Lokesh Kanagaraj
- Studio
- Sun Pictures
Trivia
- The film was officially announced in September 2023 under the tentative title Thalaivar 171 as it is Rajinikanth's 171st film as the lead actor.
- Principal photography took place between July 2024 and March 2025, in locations including Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur and Bangkok.
- The film was produced on a budget of 350-400 crore, making it one of the most expensive Indian films ever made.
- Coolie was theatrically released worldwide on 14 August 2025.
- The film emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2025 and the fourth highest-grossing Tamil film of all time.
