Veerapandi is a rich and powerful man in Pandiapuram in the Sivagangai district. Selvam is his son. Rajalingam is the local MLA backed by Veerapandi. However, Rajalingam is in reality a corrupt politician, despite appearing good. One day, Veerapandi sends Selvam to Trichy to stay with his uncle Mariyappan ostensibly to tame rowdy behavior, but in truth to protect him. Selvam meets his childhood love interest Radhika who goes to college there. He proposes to her, but she tells him that she needs time to think about it. Selvam says he won't bother her for 6 months and will leave her alone if she refuses him after that time. Meanwhile, Veerapandi gets to know about Rajalingam's real nature and prevents him from smuggling sand. Rajalingam gets enraged and decides to kill Selvam in revenge. Rajalingam sends a few thugs to Trichy to kill Selvam, who beats up the goons. but Veerapandi and his men arrive anyway and threaten the rowdies. Afterwards, Veerapandi and Selvam force Rajalingam to donate land he bought with black money to the people. This causes Rajalingam to again get angry, and send rowdies from Madurai and Dindigul to kill Selvam again. When he is cornered, Selvam is forced to take up sickle and is filmed attacking the rowdies by many. This results in him getting arrested and jailed for 15 days, after which he returns to Pandiapuram. Radhika, after seeing his violence, decides not to disclose her love. Soon, Rajalingam becomes a minister and openly challenges Veerapandi since he doesn't need his support anymore. Radhika gets to know that it was Selvam who helped her uncle by recovering the money invested in disputed land. When Selvam and his sister go to an engagement ceremony Radhika is attending, Selvam implies he is waiting for her to propose. Radhika tells Selvam about her love, but also requests Selvam to leave his family. However, Selvam ditches Radhika, saying that his family is more important to him than anything else in the world. Later, Radhika realizes her mistake and apologizes to Selvam, and they reunite. Radhika then introduces herself to Selvam's parents. Meanwhile, Rajalingam plans to kill Veerapandi, knowing about his train journey based on information from Radhika. However, Selvam comes to the rescue and attacks his goons. Meanwhile the truck sent to hit Veerapandi's car kills an innocent family, whose deaths Veerapandi says will not go unpunished. Veerapandi realizes that he drank poisoned coffee and is rushed to the hospital, where his life is saved. Selvam is shocked to know that Radhika poisoned Veerapandi's coffee and informed Rajalingam about Veerapandi's travel plans. Selvam rushes to Radhika's home, where her mother Padmavathi and grandfather state that Veerapandi killed Radhika's father years ago, and they were waiting for an opportunity to exact revenge. Veerapandi comes to Radhika's home and tells how it was the ruling party rowdies who killed Radhika's dad and it was not him who killed her father. Radhika's family feels guilty about their acts. Selvam feels bad that Radhika cheated him, so he leaves her. The next day, Radhika's family apologizes to Veerapandi and informs that they are leaving. Veerapandi and his wife Thangam forgive Radhika's mistake and urge Selvam to accept Radhika, which he does. Rajalingam hires 50 men from Rameshwaram to kill both Veerapandi and Selvam. Selvam makes plan with other villagers to burn hayfields to make it look like job is already done, and goes to kill Rajalingam and goons himself. He gets men to distract Rajalingam's goons and kills them one by one. The burnt haystacks cause the Rameshawarm goons to think the job is done and they leave. Selvam then lures Rajalingam to a place where, after a fight, he stabs Rajalingam in the throat. He then flies to Kuala Lumpur and lives there for 6 months. Afterwards he returns to great happiness from all and reunites with Radhika.
It was announced in 2010 that Hari and Dhanush would collaborate. Title was said to be "Aruva" but Hari denied that he would never keep such title instead title is announced as "Venghai". Telugu cinematographer Vetri as appointed for cinematographer. The film started its shooting in November 2010 at Trichy, took place in Karaikudi, Kutralam, and Munnar. The song sequences have been shot in Phuket Islands and Malaysia. Venghai was Hari's first collaboration with Dhanush, his second film with Vijaya Productions after Thamirabharani. This was Dhanush's second collaboration with Vijaya Productions and Tamanna after Padikkathavan.
The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV.
Critical reception
Venghai received generally negative reviews from critics, who particularly noticed the predictability of the plot. Rediff's Pavithra Srinivasan gave the film 2.5 out of 5, labelling it as "tedious" and "an overdose of rural action", further claiming that it was "so overlaid with unnecessary bloodshed, repetitive action and predictable plot twists, that after a point you lose interest". Behindwoods gave 2.5 out of 5 and deemed that Venghai was "another Hari film with his usual ingredients but sans his usual spirit and this film might work for people who seek action entertainers set in villages." Rohit Ramachandran of nowrunning.com rated it 1/5, calling it "cheap entertainment." IBN Live gave 2.5 of 5 citing that the film was "typical Hari style formula movie Despite the predictable story, Hari has managed to make the script interesting to some extent The major flaw is that the story and screenplay have nothing new. Everything happens in a predictable manner." KollyInsider gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, claimed it as a 'Masala Entertainer'. Another portal, Indiaglitz said "Venghai is an entertainer that is racy and pacy. At the same time, there is no denial that a section of the audience would grouse, alleging that the film has nothing new to offer. But they are not Hari's target..."
