Suriya Films

Nerruku Ner (Tamil: நேருக்கு நேர் English: Face to Face) is a 1997 Tamil film directed by Vasanth and was produced by Mani Ratnam. The film features Vijay and Suriya in the leading roles, with Simran and Kausalya in other lead roles. Raghuvaran, Shanthi Krishna, Karan, Vivek, Manivannan and Prakash Raj form the ensemble cast, while Deva and K. V. Anand handled the film's soundtrack and cinematography respectively. The film received mixed reviews, but became a commercial success.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Release
• 5 Soundtrack
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Plot

The story starts off with Raghuvaran, a passport issuing officer and his wife Shanthi Krishna. Raghu tells Shanthi Krishna that he cheated on her with a co-worker when he was in Goa. She immediately leaves for her mother's house. Raghu tries to stop her by apologizing, but in vain.
Raghu's brother Vijay and Shanthi's brother Surya meet in a cinema theatre. Vijay blames Shanthi to be the cause of the problem and Surya blames Raghu for the same. They keep on fighting throughout the movie. Meanwhile both the heroes Vijay and Surya find their own girlfriends and fall in love. Vijay is paired with Kausalya while Surya is paired with Simran.
One day Raghu finds a bundle of cash on his table and meets the person (Karan) who kept the money there. Raghu finds out that Karan is an MLA, wanted by the police. Karan wants to leave the country to escape from the police and he needs a fake passport, since his passport is confiscated by the police; He tells Raghu to get one for him, but Raghu being a sincere officer disagrees and calls the police instead. The MLA gets angry and promises to avenge Raghu. Meanwhile, Raghu and Shanthi Krishna apply for a divorce. Child custody of their daughter Sona (Baby Jennifer), who was in her periamma's (Shanthi's sister's) house when the breakup occurred, is given to the mother by the court.
One day Surya takes Sona to a fair and somehow loses her. In the confusion that follows, Sona falls from a Ferris-wheel and is taken to the hospital by Vijay. She is brought to Raghu's house, once she recovers. Soon Vijay discovers that Sona has lost her hearing in the accident.
Some days later Surya finds that Sona is missing. Raghu tells everyone that Sona is in his sister's house. Since Sona's custody is given to the mother, this action of Raghu's is wrong in the eyes of law. So Shanthi and Surya accompanied by a lawyer come to Raghu's house to get Sona back. At that time, Raghu suffers a serious asthma attack, while in the bathroom, and everyone saves him. After recovering Raghu tells that Sona is not in his sister's house, but has been kidnapped by Karan who is out on bail.
In the turn of events, Raghu issues a fake passport to Karan. But he doesn't want Karan to escape from the police. And the two heroes who join hands for the first time in this movie, make sure that this doesn't happen. They save Sona who is with the MLA's wife and brother-in-law in a van, which is roaming around somewhere in the city; Finally the police arrest the MLA.

Cast

• Vijay as Vijay
• Suriya as Surya
• Simran as Asha
• Kausalya as Akhila
• Raghuvaran as Raghu
• Shanthi Krishna as Shanthi
• Baby Jennifer as Sona
• Karan as Muthukumaraswamy
• Vivek
• Manivannan
• Prakash Raj
• Dhamu
• Rajesh
• Thalaivasal Vijay

Production

Initially, Vasanth roped in his lead hero from Aasai, Ajith Kumar and Vijay to play the lead roles though Ajith withdrew from the film eighteen days after production began as a result of date problems.  The film was briefly reported to be titled Manasukkul Varalaama? (Can I Come into your Heart?) and also featured Swathi in the cast.  Prabhu Deva was touted as a potential replacement to Ajith, though Vasanth then opted to replace Ajith with a debutant as he was able to commit under short notice.  Vasanth then approached Suriya, son of veteran actor Sivakumar, to make his acting debut in the film. Vasanth had earlier unsuccessfully tried to persuade Suriya to star in his previous film, Aasai, in 1995 but the actor's father insisted that Suriya was finally ready to act.  During the test shoot for the film, cinematographer K. V. Anand revealed that the team were worried how Suriya was going to stand opposite Vijay and that they made him wear two inch heels and made him put some shoulder pads. He added that for the first four days during the shoot in Kolkata, Suriya appeared to be uncomfortable in front of the camera and used to tell the team that he didn't want to do the film. 
Vasanth signed on Kausalya after seeing and being impressed with her picture at a jewellery shop and was unaware that she had already made her debut in the film Kaalamellam Kaadhal Vaazhga.  The film also was the first Tamil project signed by Simran, though Once More and VIP released earlier. 
The director revealed he had great difficulty in filming the song "Engengae", as crowds in Kolkata refused to co-operate with the technical team. 

Release

The film received opened to large mixed reviews from critics. Ganesh Ramachandran, reviewer from Indolink gave the film 4/5, praising the director for non-violent theme and applauding Raghuvaran, Vivek and Manivannan's acting which provide comedy relief.  The music director Deva was appreciated for his "haunting numbers".  On the other hand, the picturisation of the songs were criticized heavily.  Another critic applauded the technical aspect of the film, K. V. Anand's cinematography, the script and Deva's music.  Performance wise, Raghuvaran and Shanthi Krishna were said to be "reliably efficient as the brother and sister of Vijay and Suriya respectively", while the critic labelled the performance of Suriya and Vijay as "average". The song "Manam Virumbuthey" was described as the best song in the film for its picturisation and choreography.
The film went on to win two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for 1997 with the child artiste, Jennifer, securing the Best Child Star award for her performance. Harini also won the Best Female Playback Singer award for her rendition of "Manam Virumbuthae" in the album aged just 17.

Soundtrack

Nerrukku Ner
Soundtrack album by Deva
Released	1997
Genre	Feature film soundtrack

These 6 songs in Nerrukku Ner are composed by Deva.

Track-list
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Engengae"	Hariharan, Asha Bhosle
2.	"Aval Varuvala"	Hariharan
3.	"Akhila Akhila"	Vijay, Anupama
4.	"Thudikindra Kadhal"	Anupama, Mano, Bhavatharini
5.	"Manam Virumbuthae"	Harini
6.	"Manam Virumbuthae"	P. Unni Krishnan

Nandha (Tamil: நந்தா) is a 2001 Indian Tamil drama film written and directed by Bala, starring Suriya and Laila in the leading roles, while Rajkiran, Saravanan and Rajshree play other supporting roles. The film also marked the debut of comedian Karunas, whilst its music was scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography handled by R. Rathnavelu. The film released on 14 November 2001 and received critical acclaim & was a Commercial success.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Release
• 5 Soundtrack
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Plot

Nandha is a movie about a young man from a juvenile jail coming back to a society and his family he had left many years ago. It is about a battle of love and life and how a misfit tries to fight to fit into the usual social circus, a fight to earn his mother's love and a fight to live the second chance he has given himself.
Nandha (Surya) is sent to a rehabilitation center for murdering his father as a boy. He returns home to a mother, who is deaf and mute, and a sister who are still in a state of shock after what has happened to their family.
He decides to get a new life by trying to give himself a college education. Having the record of being an ex-convict he finds it difficult to get a seat in a college. He meets Periyavar (Raj Kiran), a disciplinarian college principal who runs his college with an iron hand. Periyavar develops a soft corner for Nandha and guides him like his own son. Kalyani (Laila), a Tamil exile from SriLanka meets Nandha and both fall in love. Meanwhile the villain Saravanan asks Periyavar who also helps Sri Lankan students in his college a lot to aid an anti-social element, but Periyavar refuses outright.
But Periyavar's son-in-law agrees to help Saravanan. Meanwhile Periyavar falls sick and gets admitted in the hospital. Nandha stays around to look after his mentor and guide. Fearing what he has done might be out in the light, the son-in-law pulls out the oxygen tube of Periyavar in the hospital when Nandha is not around and blames Nandha for murdering his father-in-law. Nandha, having to deal with the pain of losing the only man who gave him a second chance to live, also struggles the fray of being convicted of murder once again and he chooses to kill Periyavar's son-in-law in the court campus. The case is dismissed due to the lack of evidence. Finally he is acquitted as there are no eyewitnesses to the murder.
After being acquitted for Periyavar's son-in-law's murder he returns home. His paranoid mother who still believes that her son still has murder instincts waits at home to feed a meal, which she has poisoned herself. He finds out that the food is poisoned when he eats it, but continues to do so with a satisfaction that he is being fed by his mother. He dies in his mother's lap and when his sister and Kalyani come out to see what has happened, they realise that both mother and son are dead.

Cast

• Suriya as Nandha
• Laila as Kalyani
• Rajkiran as Periyavar
• Karunas as 'Lodukku' Pandi
• Saravanan as Periyavar's son-in-law, Durai
• Rajashree as Nandha's mother
• Sheela as Nandha's sister
• Vinod Kishan as Nandha (child)

Production

The title role was initially offered to Ajith Kumar, who rejected the film citing that Bala had not fully developed the story and screenplay before narrating the terms to him.  Suriya, who had notably also replaced Ajith Kumar in Nerukku Ner to make his debut, was selected as his replacement.  The director also tried to rope in Sivaji Ganesan for a character role in the film, but his unavailability led to Rajkiran being cast.  Laila was signed on as heroine to play a Sri Lankan refugee.
The role required Suriya to undergo physical change, so production was delayed until Suriya had finished filming for Friends and Uyirile Kalanthathu.  The first look of the film created media anticipation, with both Suriya and Rajkiran sporting looks which they had not portrayed before.  Post-release, Suriya has stated "when Nandha happened, everything changed. I became a serious actor, and director Bala instilled in me the discipline to work without committing errors."

Release

The critic from The Hindu that "poor performance by the lead artists, a neat screenplay and narration without any deviations in the form of dance or song make Nandhaa worst watching. Bala's direction makes viewing a gripping experience. Rajkiran shines in the role of Periyavar. A surprise, however, is Rajashri, who reveals great histrionic skills."  In comparison Rediff.com stated the film failed to live up to expectations, likening it to Kamal Haasan's Aalavandhan and stated that "the screenplay is smooth and incident-driven. In the final analysis, it is the climax that may be the main reason why the audience does not lap up this film."
Prior to the release nandha film faced many trouble,The film was been telecasted in tv channels during first week of the film release but bala's power the film get big flop response in theatre.The film has been dubbed and released in the Telugu language three times, firstly as Aakrosham (2006) and then as Pratheekaram in 2009. A third dubbed version titled Bala-Surya was released by Nagamalla Shankar in 2011, shortly after the release of Bala's Avan Ivan.  However suryas performance was praised more than the movie.

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Ref.
2001 Filmfare Awards South	Best Tamil Director	Bala	Nominated
	Best Tamil Actress in Lead Role	Laila	Won
	Best Cinematographer	R. Rathnavelu
2001 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards	Best Film (Special Prize)	Nandha
	Best Actor in Lead Role	Suriya
	Best Cinematographer	R. Rathnavelu
	Best Actor in Supporting Role	Rajkiran

Soundtrack

Nandha
Soundtrack album by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Released	21 October 2001 (India)
Recorded	2001 at Kalasa Studio (Chennai)
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Five Star
Producer	Ganesh Raghu
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Manadhai Thirudivittai (2001) Nandha (2001) Seshu (2002)

The soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, son of noted composer Ilaiyaraaja, who usually scores the music for a Bala film. The soundtrack was released on 21 October 2001 at Hotel Connemara, Chennai by actor Kamal Haasan and director Bharathiraja.  It features 6 tracks, out of which two were sung by Ilaiyaraaja. The songs "Amma Endrale" and "Orayiram" are based on the raaga Pantuvarali.  Interestingly, the lyrics of five songs were written by five different lyricists, while "Maayane Andha"'s lyrics were derived from the Thiruppavai written and sung by Aandaal.

Track	Song	Singer(s)	Duration	Lyricist	Notes
1	"Mun Paniyaa"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Malgudi Subha	5:47	Pazhani Bharathi
2	"Or Aayiram Yaanai"	Unnikrishnan	3:35	Na. Muthukumar
3	"Engengo Kaalgal Sellum"	Ilaiyaraaja	4:09	Pulamaipithan
4	"Maayane Andha"	Rajalakshmi, Madhumitha & Chorus*	2:49	Aandaal	Based on Aandal's Thiruppavai
5	"Kalli Adi Kalli"	Anuradha Sriram, Madhumitha & Chorus*	4:06	Thamarai
6	"Amma Endralle"	Ilaiyaraaja	4:32	Pa. Vijay

^*The chorus consists of singers Ganga, Kanchana, Febi, Feji and Charulatha Mani

Kaakha Kaakha (English: To Protect) is a 2003 Tamil crime thriller film written and directed by Gautham Menon. Starring Suriya, Jyothika and Jeevan, the film featured music composed by Harris Jayaraj and cinematography by R. D. Rajasekhar. The film released to positive review in August 2003 and went on to become the first blockbuster in Suriya's career,  and was considered a comeback film for producer Kalaipuli S. Dhanu.  Owing to the success, the film has been remade in several languages.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Character map and remakes
• 4 Production
• 5 Release
• 6 Soundtrack
• 7 Notes
• 8 External links

Plot

A badly injured Anbuchelvan (played by Suriya) is lying on the bank of a stream, thinking about his wife Maya and how he needs to rescue her. The story moves quickly from this opening scene to a flashback of Anbuchelvan’s time as a young policeman.
Anbuchelvan and his friends, Shrikanth, Arul and Illamaran, have been recruited for part of a special unit of police officers who are battling organized crime in Chennai. Violent and laconic, Anbuchelvan finds little patience for a personal life. The unit is ruthless in its confrontation with criminals, going as far as assassinating gang members; the unit is finally disbanded by senior authorities. Anbuchelvan is posted to traffic duties.
One day a schoolteacher named Maya (played by Jyothika) rebuffs Anbuchelvan's routine questions regarding safety, not knowing that he is a police officer. He meets her again when she and her friend are questioned for driving without a license. However, Anbuchelvan lets them off with a warning. When one of Maya’s students has a problem with local kids, she asks Anbuchelvan for help. Anbuchelvan resolves this problem, a mutual respect grows between them and they begin seeing one another. When Maya gets into a road accident, Anbuchelvan helps her to recover and they fall in love. Shrikanth and his wife, Swathi, become good friends with Anbuchelvan and Maya.
In response to rising levels of crime in the city, when the son of an influential movie producer is kidnapped and killed, the special unit is reassembled. The unit tracks down and kills the head of the gang that was responsible. The brother of the gang leader, Pandya (played by Jeevan), returns from Mumbai and takes over the gang, promising revenge over his brother’s death. Pandya and his gang members target the families of the men in the special unit, but the police close in and a badly injured Pandya barely escapes Anbuchelvan.
Maya and Anbuchelvan get married and leave for Pondicherry. But the next day, Pandya and his thugs enter the cottage the honeymoon couple are staying in and torture Anbuchhelvan, leaving him for dead. They kidnap Maya. This brings the viewer back to the opening scene of the movie, in which Anbuchelvan is battling for life but thinking only about rescuing Maya.
Shrikanth and Arul arrive at the cottage, discover Anbuchelvan and take him to the hospital. Shrikanth reveals that his wife Swathi was kidnapped earlier and confesses that it was he who gave away Anbuchelvan’s location to Pandya, for the safe return of Swathi. Shrikanth feels extreme remorse over what has happened. Whilst in the hospital, they receive a message from Pandya to meet him at a particular location. When they go there, they find a package containing the decapitated head of Swathi. Shrikanth is distraught at seeing his wife's head and in an agony of grief and guilt at being responsible, he commits suicide by shooting himself. Anbuchelvan tracks down Pandya before he can escape from Tamil Nadu and fights with the gang. Pandya stabs Maya to distract her husband and she dies in Anbuchelvan’s arms. An enraged Anbuchelvan tracks down Pandya and, in a final encounter, kills him.
An epilogue shows that Anbuchelvan, after the death of Maya, continues his job as an IPS officer some weeks later. An alternative ending was shot and placed in the DVD version with a running commentary by Gautham Menon, in which Maya comes alive and he explains why this ending was not used in the version for cinema release.

Cast

• Suriya as Anbuchelvan
• Jyothika as Maya
• Jeevan as Pandian
• Daniel Balaji as Shrikanth
• Devadarshini as Swathi
• Yog Japi as Sethu
• Vivek Anand as Arul
• Rajan as Ilamaran
• Gautham Menon as Vasudeva Nair
• Ramya Krishnan in a special appearance for "Thoodhu Varumaa" song

Character map and remakes

Kaakha Kaakha (2003) (Tamil)	Gharshana (2004) (Telugu)	Force (2010) (Hindi)	Dandam Dashagunam (2011) (Kannada)
Suriya	Venkatesh	John Abraham	Chiranjeevi Sarja
Jyothika	Asin	Genelia D'Souza	Divya Spandana
Jeevan	Salim Baig	Vidyut Jamwal

Production

The film was initially tiled as Paathi (Half), before the team opted to change the title to Kaakha Kaakha.  Menon revealed that he was inspired to make the film after reading of articles on how encounter specialists shoot gangsters and how their families get threatening calls in return, and initially approached Ajith Kumar and Vikram for the role without success.  The lead actress Jyothika asked Menon to consider Suriya for the role, and he was subsequently selected after Menon saw his portrayal in Nandha.  He did a rehearsal of the script with the actors, a costume trial with Jyothika and then enrolled Suriya in a commando training school before beginning production, which he described as a "very planned shoot".

Release

The film consequently opened to very positive reviews from critics on the way to becoming another success for Menon, with critics labeling it as a "career high film".  Furthermore, the film was described as for "action lovers who believe in logical storylines and deft treatment" with Menon being praised for his linear narrative screenplay. 

Remakes

Gautham Menon subsequently remade the film in the Telugu language for producer Venkata Raju and went on to claim that the new version was better than the previous version and that his new lead actor Venkatesh was more convincing that Surya in the role.   In July 2004, Menon also agreed terms to direct and produce another version of Kaakha Kaakha in Hindi with Sunny Deol in the lead role and revealed that the script was written five years ago with Deol in mind, but the film eventually failed to take off.  Producer Vipul Shah approached him to direct the Hindi version of the film in 2010 as Force with John Abraham and Genelia D'Souza, and Menon initially agreed before pulling out again.  The film was also made in Kannada in 2011 as Dandam Dashagunam with Chiranjeevi Sarja and Divya Spandana in the title roles. Menon and the original producer, Dhanu, also floated an idea of an English version with a Chechnyan backdrop, though talks with a potential collaboration with Ashok Amritraj collapsed.

Awards and nominations

In addition to the following list of awards and nominations, prominent Indian film websites named Kaakha Kaakha one of the 10 best Tamil films of 2003, with Rediff, Sify and Behindwoods all doing so. The film was, before release, in "most awaited" lists from film websites.

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2003 Filmfare Awards South	Best Actor	Suriya	Nominated
	Best Actress	Jyothika	Nominated
	Best Villain	Jeevan	Won
	Best Director	Gautham Menon	Nominated
	Best Film	Kalaipuli S. Dhanu	Nominated
	Best Choreography	Brindha (Thoodu Varuma & Uyirin Uyire)	Won
	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj	Won
	Best Cinematographer	R. D. Rajasekhar	Won
	Best Editor Award	Anthony	Won
2003 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj	Won
	Best Editor	Anthony	Won
ITFA Awards	Best Actor	Suriya	Won
ITFA Awards	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj	Won

Soundtrack

Kaakha Kaakha
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Kovil (2003) Kaakha Kaakha (2003) Gharshana (2004)

The film's music was composed by Harris Jayaraj, who reunited with Menon after the successful soundtrack of Minnale. All lyrics written by Thamarai.Upon release,the soundtrack received acclaim from critics and became the most commercially successful soundtrack of 2003. Due to its popularity ,Harris Jayaraj earned his second Filmfare Award for Best Music Director and his first Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director and ITFA Award for Best Music Director.

Song title	Singers	Notes
Ennai Konjam	Timmy, Tippu, Pop Shalini	The song begans when Jo asks Suriya to take her to Pondicherry.
Ondra Renda	Bombay Jayashri	A beautiful song after the marriage of Suriya & Jo.
Oru Ooril	Karthik	Intro song for Jo, which renders her beauty.
Thoodhu Varuma	Sunitha Sarathy	An item number by Ramya Krishnan.
Uyirin Uyirae	Kay Kay, Suchitra	The song takes place when Suriya thinks about his wife Jo.

Pithamagan (English: Son of Ancestors) is a 2003 Indian Tamil drama film written and directed by Bala. The film stars Vikram, Suriya, Laila and Sangeetha in the lead. Produced by V. A. Durai, the film is cinematographed by Balasubramanim, lyrics are by Vaalee, Pazhani Barathi and Na. Muthukumar, dance has been choreographed by Brinda, editing by Suresh Ars, fights by Stunt Siva and art direction by A. C. Pillai.  The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Ilayaraaja. The film plot is based on Jayakanthan's Nandhavanathil Oru Andi, the story of an undertaker.  Upon release, the film met with critical acclaim and Vikram won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his role as Chithan.
Owing to the success, the film was dubbed into Telugu and released as Sivaputrudu (The son of Siva) on 2 April 2004.  The film was also remade in Kannada as Anatharu (2007) with Upendra and Darshan playing the roles of Vikram and Suriya respectively.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Soundtrack
• 5 Release
• 6 Remakes
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Plot

Pithamagan whirls around four characters. Chithan (Vikram) who is orphaned at a young age, devoid of all human contacts he lives on his animal instincts and ekes out a living as a graveyard caretaker. He seems to exhibit behaviour consistent with autism spectrum disorders. Gomathy (Sangeetha), a petty ganja seller, who pities Chithan’s condition, gets him a job at the ganja fields of the main villain. Sakthi (Suriya Sivakumar), the conman cons Manju (Laila), a polytechnic student but does not get away with it. Sakthi meets Chithan in jail and takes pity on him and befriends him. It is Sakthi’s affection that melts Chithan’s stony heart.
Sakthi takes Chithan along with him when they are both released from the jail. Sakthi and Manju later fall in love. Chithan works for a narcotics dealer, who is the antagonist. The dealer takes advantage of Chithan's innocence and orders Chithan to burn the corpse of a spy. Sakthi is angered when he discovers that Chithan had burned the corpse, as this could land Chithan in trouble. Sakthi requests Chithan not to work for the narcotics dealer anymore and takes Chithan along with him to work. This angers the villain and he eventually kills Sakthi when he return home with Manju after watching a movie. The next morning Sakthi's corpse is thrown in the middle of the village. Initially it seems as though Chithan is unaffected due to Sakthi's demise while the rest are mourning. Gomathy chases Chithan out of her house as she feels that it's because of Chithan that Sakthi was killed and it has not even impacted him. Chithan leaves the house and sets the ganja fields on fire and then goes to the villain's house and beats him black and blue. He then drags him to the village and kills him in front of Gomathy, Manju and the other villagers. He looks at Manju after killing the villain which moves Gomathy and she feels guilty as she mistook Chithan's silence when Sakthi was killed. She tries to persuade Chithan to stay with them but Chithan goes back to the graveyard where Sakthi was buried.

Cast

• Vikram as Chithan
• Suriya as Sakthi
• Laila as Manju
• Sangeetha as Gomathy
• Mahadevan
• Karunas as Karuvaayan
• Manobala as Sakthi's Uncle
• Rajendran
• 'Ganja' Karuppu as Ganja Kuduki
• Simran in a special appearance

Production

After Nandha, Bala announced his next project "Pithamagan" with Surya and Vikram, heroes of his previous films who received popularity after struggle. For the role of drug seller, Bala considered Vijayashanti, Malavika and Gayatri Jayaraman but at last Rasika was selected for the role and also changed her name back to Sangeetha. 

Soundtrack

Pithamagan
Soundtrack album to Pithamagan by Ilaiyaraaja
Genre	Film soundtrack
Language	Tamil
Label	Fivestar Audio
Producer	Ilaiyaraaja

The soundtrack album was composed by Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja. The lyrics were penned by Vaali, Pazhani Bharathi, Na. Muthukumar and Mu. Metha.

Tracklist

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Adadaa Aghangaara Arakka Kaigalil"	Mu. Mehta	K.J. Yesudas	04:38
2.	"Aruna Runaam"		Savitha Reddy For Simran & Old Songs Medley	06:39
3.	"Elangaathu Veesudhey"	Pazhani Bharathi	Sriram Parthasarathy, Shreya Ghoshal	06:10
4.	"Elangaathu Veesudhey - Solo"	Pazhani Bharathi	Sriram Parthasarathy	06:10
5.	"Kodi Yethi Vaippom"	Na. Muthukumar	Bhavatharini, Shanmugasundari, Periya Karuppa Thevar, Ragavendar	04:08
6.	"Piraiye Piraiye"	Vaali	Madhu Balakrishnan	04:41
Total length:				32:26

Telugu Tracklist
All lyrics written by Vanamali.

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Adigo Avineethi"	Vijay Yesudas, Chorus	04:38
2.	"Priyatama Ninne - Old Songs Medley"	Murali, Lalitha Sagari, Chorus	06:39
3.	"Chirugali Veechane"	R. P. Patnaik, Sunitha	06:10
4.	"Chirugali Veechane - Solo"	R. P. Patnaik	06:10
5.	"Evaridi Evaridi"	Vijay Yesudas	01:58
6.	"Okate Jananam"	Vijay Yesudas	04:41
Total length:			30:16

Release

The film was released on 24 October 2003, coinciding with Deepavali. The film released alongside Ajith's Anjaneya, Vijay's Thirumalai and Arjun's Ottran.

Critical Reception

The film received unanimous critical acclaim particularly for Vikram and Surya's performances. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu praised Vikram as "Without any dialogue to support him he carves a niche for himself in the viewer's mind with his expressions and excellent body language" and Suriya as "Who would have thought that this young man, pitted against the serious Chithan, would prove so perfect a foil?" going on to declare the movie as "..a symphony on celluloid".  Balaji Balasubramaniam of Thiraipadam.com reviewed as "With unique characterization, tremendous performances and a smooth screenplay, the movie offers a satisfying experience to the discerning viewer..." and noted "Vikram pretty much lives the role of the undertaker. With dry and streaked hair, dirty teeth and torn clothes, he looks the part and though he doesn't utter a word, he conveys everything through his expressions and body language".  A reviewer at Sify.com noted, "..it is the expert performance of the lead actors that elevate the film above the commonplace".
Film critic Baradwaj Rangan remarked, "Bala’s ingeniousness is evident everywhere .... And he gets tremendous support from his leads...It all adds up to a first-rate film that excoriates as much as it entertains".  Ilaiyaraja also received praise for his musical score, "Ilaiyaraja adds unmeasurable strength to many of the scenes with his background music".  "The captivating numbers vouch for the fact that the Raja reigns supreme".

Awards

The film has won the following awards since its release:
National Film Awards

• Won - Silver Lotus Award for Best Actor - Vikram

Filmfare Awards South

• Won - Filmfare Best Film Award (Tamil)
• Won - Filmfare Best Director Award - Bala
• Won - Filmfare Best Actor - Vikram
• Won - Filmfare Best Actress - Laila
• Won - Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award - Suriya
• Won - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award - Sangeetha

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

• Won - Best Actor - Vikram
• Won - Best Actress - Laila
• Won - Best Supporting Actress - Sangeetha

Remakes

The film was remade in Kannada as Anatharu with Upendra and Darshan in the lead and released on 14 September 2007.^{[citation needed]} Repeating the success of the original, the film received favorable reviews and applause for Upendra's performance.
The film is also to be remade in Hindi. Director Satish Kaushik have bought the remake rights of the film.  Incidentally, Satish had earlier directed Salman Khan in Tere Naam, the hindi remake of the Bala-Vikram film Sethu. Once again, Satish has approached Salman Khan to reprise Vikram's role. 

Perazhagan (Tamil: பேரழகன்; English: Most handsome Guy) is a 2004 Indian Tamil film directed by Sasi Shanker, starring Suriya and Jyothika with both playing dual roles. The supporting cast includes Vivek, Manorama and Manobala. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The film, which is a remake of the 2002 Malayalam film Kunjikoonan, which starred Dileep and Navya Nair in the lead, was released on 7 May 2004, receiving favorable reviews and but was average commercially.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Crew
• 4 Production
• 5 Soundtrack
• 6 Awards
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Plot

The story revolves around Chinna (Surya), a village youth who receives sympathy because he is a hunchback and is lauded for selfless service to others. He covers up his handicap with humor. Unmindful of his looks, Chinna goes around looking for a suitable bride with the help of his friend (Vivek). Brushing aside many an insult hurled at him, he carries on.
In contrast is Karthik (Surya), a violent college student, who loves his classmate Priya (Jyothika). She meets Chinna, who assures her that he would get her married to the man of her dreams. However, she is killed in a fracas involving a gangster. Meanwhile, the hunchback Surya comes across an orphaned poor blind girl, Shenbagam (Jyothika). He wins over her heart by helping her out.
Thanks to his efforts, she gains her vision (Priya's eyes are transplanted to her). This results in a tussle between Chinna and Karthik as to whom Shenbagam now belongs. However, fearing his looks, the hunchback, Chinna, decides to give way to the other. But fate has other things in store for him...As a result she pairs up with Chinna itself.

Cast

• Surya Sivakumar as Chinna AKA Prem Kumar / Karthik
• Jyothika as Priya / Shenbagam
• Vivek as Kuzhandhai
• Manorama as Pattamma
• Thalaivasal Vijay
• Manobala
• Devan
• Manicka Vinayagam
• Sukumari
• Kalairani
• Malavika in a cameo role

Crew

• Screenplay, Direction: Sasi Shanker
• Production: M. Saravanan, M. Balasubramanian, M. S. Guhan and B. Gurunath
• Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
• Cinematography: R. Rathnavelu
• Editing: Anthony
• Dialogue: D. P. Singappuli
• Story: Benny P. Nayarambalam
• Art direction: Thotta Tharani
• Stunts: B. Thiyagarajan and Stun Siva
• Choreography: Brindha and Santhi Srihari
• Stills: 'Theni' Selvam
• Costumes: V. Prasad
• Lyrics: Pazhani Bharathi, Kabilan, Pa. Vijay, Thamarai and Snehan
• Co-direction: Raj Kannan
• Executive production: Sathya Moorthy
• Banner: AVM Productions

Production

"Perazhagan" was 166th film of AVM Productions. It is a remake of Malayalam film Kunjikoonan, Sasi Shankar who directed original version also directed the Tamil remake. A 25 days' shooting schedule took place at locations in Kerala, including Ernakulam, Thodupuzha, Kolappra and Kudaiyathur. Sets designed by Thottatharani, which depicted hunchback Chinna's house, the telephone booth he runs, a bus stand, tea stall, and a vegetable market — were other locations where shooting took place. For the role of the ugly cripple, Chinna, Surya's make-up by Bujji Babu, took about three hours to be perfected. The special make-up items were imported from the US.

Soundtrack

Perazhagan
Soundtrack album by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Released	15 April 2004
Recorded	2003 / 2004
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Producer	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Aethiree (2004) Perazhagan (2004) 7G Rainbow Colony (2004)

The soundtrack, released on 15 April 2004, has six songs composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja with Pazhani Bharathi, Kabilan, Pa. Vijay, Thamarai and Snehan writing the lyrics of each one song. The song "Oru Azhagana" has the lead actor Suriya, singing for a soundtrack for the first time.

Track	Song	Singer(s)	Duration	Lyricist	Notes
1	"Ambuli Mama"	Karthik	4:12	Pazhani Bharathi
2	"Orae Oru Piravi"	Hariharan	3:58	Snehan
3	"Kadhalukku"	'Pushpavanam' Kuppuswamy, Sri Vardhini	5:18	Kabilan
4	"Oru Azhagana"	Suriya, Savitha Reddy, Ganga, Mathangi	4:51	Thamarai
5	"Kaatru Enbatha"	Shankar Mahadevan, Mathangi	4:33	Pa. Vijay

Awards

2004 Filmfare Awards South

• Won - Best Actor Award - Surya
• Won - Best Comedian Award - Vivek

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

• Won - Best Actress Award - Jyothika

Ghajini (Tamil: கஜினி) is a 2005 Indian Tamil psychological thriller film directed by A. R. Murugadoss released on 29 September 2005.
The film stars Suriya, Asin, Nayantara, Pradeep Rawat and Riyaz Khan. It was dubbed and released in Telugu by Allu Aravind in November 2005, and both versions enjoyed critical and commercial acclaim and became super hit. It was remade into a Hindi film by Murugadoss again in 2008, starring Aamir Khan with Asin playing the same role.
The film explores the life of a rich businessman who develops anterograde amnesia following a violent encounter in which his love interest was killed. He tries to avenge the killing with the aid of Polaroid Instant camera photographs, permanent tattoos on his body and a medical college student.The film was inspired by Christopher Nolan's Memento. 

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Controversy
• 5 Soundtrack
• 6 Telugu Tracklist
• 7 Release
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Plot

The film opens with Chitra (Nayantara), a medical student in a college in Chennai, and her friends working on a project about the human brain. She wants to investigate the curious case of Sanjay Ramaswamy (Suriya), a (former) notable Chennai based businessman, who is reported to have anterograde amnesia. Her professor denies access to Sanjay's records as it is currently under criminal investigation. Chitra, nonetheless, decides to investigate the matter herself.
Sanjay is introduced as he brutally murders a man. He takes a Polaroid picture of the man, and writes on it "done". It is revealed that Sanjay has anterograde amnesia where he loses his memory every 15 minutes. Sanjay uses a system of photographs, notes, and tattoos on his body to recover his memory after each cycle. It is revealed that Sanjay is ultimately out to avenge the death of his sweetheart Kalpana (Asin), and that he is systematically killing the people who were responsible for it. His main target is a man named Lakshman (Pradeep Rawat), a notable social personality in Chennai.
A police inspector (Riyaz Khan), on the case of the serial murders, tracks Sanjay down to his flat and attacks and disables him. The inspector finds two diaries where Sanjay has chronicled the events of 2002 and 2003. The film flashes back to 2002 as the inspector reads the diary. Sanjay Ramaswamy is shown as the owner of the Air Voice mobile telephone company. In the course of his business, Sanjay sends his men to meet Kalpana, a struggling model, about putting up a billboard above her apartment. The owner of Kalpana's advertising firm (Manobala) misinterprets this as a romantic advance, and in view of a possible lucrative Air Voice ad campaign and other benefits, encourages Kalpana to accept the overture. Kalpana thinks of this as an innocent prank that may fetch her better modelling work, and decides to play out the charade as Sanjay's girlfriend. As soon as Sanjay knows of this matter, he decides to confront Kalpana but falls in love with her on first sight. Thus, he introduces himself as Manohar. Eventually both of them hang around together and gradually develop a liking towards each other. The diary ends with Sanjay proposing to Kalpana and promising himself that he will reveal himself as Sanjay Ramaswamy if she accepts.
When the inspector is about to read the 2003 diary, Sanjay returns to senses, attacks him and ties him up. He tracks down Lakshman to a college function where Lakshman is the guest of honour. Sanjay took pictures of Lakshman and decides to kill him. He meets Chitra at the function who, after some conversation, decides to befriend him. Later that evening, Sanjay mistakenly attacks and kills one of Lakshman's goons in the parking lot. Lakshman is perplexed and fails to recollect the incident. However he decides to find and kill his enemies one by one, but Sanjay is not among them.
In the meantime, Chitra visits Sanjay's flat and finds the inspector, beaten and bound. Chitra finds the two diaries and frees the inspector. She also finds that Lakshman is Sanjay's target. The inspector tells her that Sanjay is a known serial murderer. Sanjay arrives suddenly; he remembers neither of them and chases them out. The inspector is eventually hit by a bus, while Chitra barely escapes, going into a phone booth. Believing Lakshman is in danger, she informs him that Sanjay is after him. Lakshman arrives at Sanjay's flat to kill him. He destroys all the photographs, notes and scratches off Sanjay's tattoos. Satisfied that he has neutralised Sanjay by wiping out any trace that connects back to him, Lakshman leaves. Meanwhile, Sanjay finds out that Chitra had warned Lakshman and goes to her dormitory to kill her, but Chitra calls the police and Sanjay is arrested.
Back in her dormitory, Chitra reads the diaries. The film flashes fast to 2002 then back to 2003. It is revealed that Kalpana had accepted Sanjay's proposal. This diary ends abruptly. Chitra investigates further, and discovers that Kalpana was travelling to Mumbai for a modelling assignment by train when she came upon 25 innocent young girls being trafficked to Mumbai. She saves the girls who name Lakshman as the ringleader of the racket. Lakshman kills two girls, who recognised him, and goes in search of Kalpana. His goons break into her apartment and wait for her to return. Sanjay arrives there to meet Kalpana. Her last word to him was 'Po' (Go), a warning for him to leave. The goons attack Kalpana. Sanjay intervenes but Lakshman hits him over the head with an iron rod. Sanjay's last vision was to witness Lakshman brutally murder Kalpana with the iron rod.
Chitra, now aware of the shocking truth, finds Sanjay in the hospital and tells him the truth. He flies into a rage and he tells her to lead him to Lakshman. Meanwhile, Lakshman's twin brother Ram (Pradeep Rawat) arrives from Kolkata to help him pursue Sanjay. Arriving at Lakshman's lair in downtown Chennai, Sanjay confronts all of Lakshman's henchmen and with superior strength, manages to disable them. Finding Lakshman himself, Sanjay fights Lakshman hand-to-hand. However, Lakshman realises that he is no match for Sanjay's strength, so Ram intervenes. As both brothers look alike, Sanjay's memory loss strikes again. Ram, taking advantage of Sanjay's memory loss, beats him mercilessly. Sanjay lies badly wounded on the floor when he sees a vision of Kalpana. With a sudden burst of last minute strength, and with the encouragement of Chitra, Sanjay overpowers both Lakshman and Ram, and kills them both.
The film ends with Sanjay, still experiencing amnesia, driving Chitra back to her dormitory and stopping at a crossing to let young children cross the road. A young girl smiles back at Sanjay indicating the return of normal life.

Cast

• Suriya as Sanjay Ramaswamy, a rich business man; the chairman of a mobile phone company, Air Voice. He is also Manohar in the eyes of Kalpana, who hides his identity unless she will accept his engagement. Later in the story, he suffers from short term memory loss which means he forgets all the events that had happened 15 minutes ago.
• Asin as Kalpana, a model by profession who gains publicity by proclaiming herself to be the girlfriend of Sanjay Ramaswamy, which is not really true. She never knew the truth that her boyfriend, Manohar, was actually Sanjay Ramaswamy himself, even till her death.
• Nayantara as Chitra, a medical student, who is trying to study the case of Sanjay Ramaswamy and his amnesiac problem.
• Pradeep Rawat as Lakshman and Ram, twin brothers and both notorious dons and the masterminds of many illegal and criminal ventures.
• Riyaz Khan as the police inspector who is investigating the murders by Sanjay Ramaswamy.
• Manobala as the owner of the advertising firm where Kalpana worked.
• Sathyan as a person whom Kalpana asks to impersonate as Sanjay Ramaswamy for a function.

Production

The film was initially announced as Mirattal in March 2004 to be produced by NIC Arts and to feature Ajith Kumar and Asin in the lead roles, with a photo shoot also being held. Yuvan Shankar Raja was then signed as the music director.  However the project fell through and negotiations with Madhavan also collapsed.   In November 2004, it was announced that the project was revived by Salem Chandrasekhar and that Suriya would portray the leading role. Suriya subsequently had to tonsure his head for the film before production, with Asin retaining her role while Shriya Saran and Prakash Raj were selected to play other roles in the film.  It was revealed that Asin would play the role of Kalpana, with the name being inspired by the late Indian astronaut Kalpana Chawla.  Shriya was later replaced by Nayantara for the second leading female role, after the former became busy with other films and Pradeep Rawat replaced Prakash Raj.
The film was launched on 11 February 2005 at AVM Studios in Chennai with the cast of the project in attendance.  In early April 2005, two songs for the film were shot in Switzerland with costumes brought in from Paris for the shooting.  Shooting continued and the film finished production in July 2005.

Controversy

In response to allegations of plagiarism, Aamir Khan noted "Murgadoss had heard about a film called Memento and the concept had really fascinated him. Without having seen the film he went ahead and wrote his own version of the script and screenplay. Having finished his script, he then saw Memento, found it very different from what he had written, and went ahead and made Ghajini."

Soundtrack

Ghajini
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Released	2005
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Sony Music
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Anniyan (2005) Ghajini (2005) Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006)

The soundtrack features five songs composed by Harris Jayaraj. Lyrics are written by Vaali, Na. Muthukumar, Thamarai & Kapilan. Upon release,the album received highly positive reviews from music critics and all songs from the soundtrack topped the music charts.Due to its immense popularity, Harris Jayaraj received his third Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director and was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.

No	Song title	Singers	Length (m:ss)	Lyrics	Description
1	"Oru Maalai"	Karthik	5:54	Thamarai	Filmed in various parts of Tamil Nadu on Surya and Asin, when Sanjay realises he has fallen in love with Kalpana.
2	"Suttum Vizhi"	Sriram Parthasarathy, Bombay Jayashree	5:19	Na. Muthukumar	Filmed in Switzerland on Surya and Asin, as the second diary flashback of Sanjay begins.
3	"Rahathulla"	Anupama	4:50	Thamarai	Filmed in Chennai on Asin, as Kalpana is introduced.
4	"Rangola Ola"	Shankar Mahadevan, Sujatha, Ranjith, Suchitra	4:26	Kapilan	Filmed in sets on Surya and Asin, when Kalpana is longing for Sanjay.
5	"X Machi"	Mathangi, Nakul	4:12	Vaali	Filmed in a college on Nayanthara as an item song, during which Sanjay is trying to kill someone.

Telugu Tracklist

No	Song title	Singers	Length (m:ss)	Lyrics	Description
1	"Oka Maaru Kalasina"	Karthik	5:54	Veturi Sundararama Murthy	Filmed in various parts of Tamil Nadu on Surya and Asin, when Sanjay realises he has fallen in love with Kalpana.
2	"Hrudayam Ekkadunnadi"	Harish Raghavendra, Bombay Jayashree	5:19	Vennelakanti	Filmed in Switzerland on Surya and Asin, as the second diary flashback of Sanjay begins.
3	"Rahathulla"	Anupama	4:50	Bhuvana Chandra	Filmed in Chennai on Asin, as Kalpana is introduced.
4	"Rangola Ola"	Tippu, Sujatha, Ranjith, Suchitra	4:26	Veturi Sundararama Murthy	Filmed in sets on Surya and Asin, when Kalpana is longing for Sanjay.
5	"X Pichi Y Pichi"	Mathangi, Nakul	4:12	Chandrabose	Filmed in a college on Nayanthara as an item song, during which Sanjay is trying to kill someone.

Release

Reception

The film along with a dubbed Telugu release opened to high critical acclaim. Both versions were declared blockbusters. Ghajini became the third highest grossing Tamil film of that year. 

Awards and nominations

In addition to the following list of awards and nominations, prominent Indian film websites named Ghajini one of the 10 best Tamil films of 2005, with Rediff, Sify and Behindwoods all doing such that. The film also featured, prior to release, in "most awaited" list from film websites.

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2005 Filmfare Awards South	Best Actor	Surya Sivakumar	Nominated
	Best Actress	Asin	Won
	Best Director	A. R. Murugadoss	Nominated
	Best Film	Salem A. Chandrasekaran	Nominated
	Best Lyricist	Thamarai (Oru Maalai)	Nominated
	Best Male Playback	Sriram Parthasarathy (Suttum Vizhi)	Nominated
	Best Male Playback	Karthik (Oru Maalai)	Won
	Best Female Playback	Bombay Jayashree (Suttum Vzhi)	Nominated
	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj	Nominated
	Best Cinematographer	R. D. Rajasekhar	Nominated
	Best Editor Award	Anthony	Won
2005 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards	Best Film	Ghajini	Won
	Special Award for Best Actor	Surya Sivakumar	Won
	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj	Won
	Best Male Playback	Sriram Parthasarathy (Suttum Vizhi)	Won
	Best Female Playback	Bombay Jayashree (Suttum Vizhi)	Won
	Best Cinematographer	R. D. Rajasekhar	Won
	Best Lyricist	Na. Muthukumar (Suttum Vizhi)	Won
	Best Audiographer	A. S. Laxmi Narayanan	Won
	Best Editor	Anthony	Won

Vel (Spear) is a 2007 Tamil action-drama film written and directed by Hari and produced by Mohan Natarajan. It stars Suriya and Asin and features Vadivelu, Kalabhavan Mani and Nassar in supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The film released on 9 November 2007, coinciding with Diwali, and it was declared a super hit at the box office. Upon release, the film was dubbed into Telugu and released as Deva.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Soundtrack
• 4 Release
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Plot

The story opens with a couple with twins sitting in a train. However, a thief snatches one of the sons, and after stealing the jewellery of the son, leaves the baby. However, the baby is found by a childless couple in a village. The couple hail from a large and powerful family, and they raise him as their son without telling him the truth. Thus, the twins grow up in different environment. The one living with the parents (Vasudevan a.k.a. Vasu) grows up in Chennai to become an officer in a private investigative agency. The other son, Vetrivel a.k.a. Vel grows up in Dindukkal and becomes a rustic young man.
Vasu manages to charm a journalist, Swathi (Asin), through his professional ethics. Their courtship occurs through a series of events where she initially mistakes him for a drug addict. Meanwhile, Vel is engaged in the bloody tussle with Sakara Pandi (Kalabhavan Mani), who has deep rooted enmity against the family. Sakara Pandi had killed Vel's adopted parents, which enrages Vel. Vasu is filled with smiles, while Vel lives with sickles and dangerous duels.
Vasu’s mother (Saranya) cannot forget her lost son. She is longing to bring him back home. However, all her efforts to search for him are in vain. The family with whom Vel lives love him a lot. Everyone, especially the grandmother (Lakshmi), are emotionally dependent on him and she is always scared that someone will come looking for him and take him away.
One day, while filming a documentary in Dindukkal, Swathi sees Vel in a gang fight. She immediately informs Vasu. Vasu goes to the village and meets his brother. The family refuses to send Vel back with him. Vasu, understanding their unadulterated affection towards Vel, agrees to give up his claim. He stays with them for a couple of days and realises that the family really loves Vel and cannot live without him.
However, while at the train station, Vasu has one request. He wants Vel to go to Chennai pretending to be him and live with his mother. Vasu, in turn, would behave as Vel in the village. Vel accepts the offer.
Vasu continues Vel’s struggle against the powerful Sakara Pandi, but with a different approach. Vasu uses his brain and investigating network instead of muscle power. The rules of the game change, and Sakara Pandi finds himself cornered. Vasu eventually overthrows Sakara Pandi, and the family is happy.
Vasu's parents find out that their long-lost son is well. Despite initial attempts to bring him back, they finally relent after seeing the grandmother cry for her grandson. They understand the pain of losing a child, and do not want anyone else to go through the same pain.

Cast

• Suriya as Vasudevan and Vetrivel
• Asin as Swathi
• Vadivelu as Kuzhandaisaami
• Kalabhavan Mani as Sakkara Pandi
• Lakshmi as Vetrivel's grandmother
• Saranya Ponvannan as Vasudevan's mother
• Charanraj as Vasudevan's father
• Aishwarya as Sankara Pandi's wife
• Nassar
• Ambika
• Charle
• Raj Kapoor

Soundtrack

Vel
Soundtrack album by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Released	13 October 2007 (India)
Recorded	2007
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Think Music
Producer	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Kattradhu Thamizh (2007) Vel (2007) Machakaaran (2007)

Director Hari once again teamed up with composer Yuvan Shankar Raja for the musical score of Vel after having worked together in Thaamirabharani. The soundtrack of Vel was released on 13 October 2007 and features 6 songs. Lyrics were penned by Na. Muthukumar and director Hari himself. Comedian Vadivelu had lent his voice for one of the songs.
The album initially received mixed reviews.

No.	Song	Singers	Length (m:ss)	Lyrics	Notes
1	"Indha Ooril"	Shankar Mahadevan	4:30	Na. Muthukumar
2	"Kovakkara Kiliye"	Sujatha & Tippu	4:15	Na. Muthukumar
3	"Aayiram Jannal"	Vadivelu, Premji Amaran & Rahul Nambiar	5:13	Na. Muthukumar
4	"Thoppul Kodi"	Sriram Parthasarathy	2:11	Hari
5	"Onnapola"	Shankar Mahadevan & Srilekha Parthasarathy	4:03	Na. Muthukumar
6	"Ottraikannale"	Haricharan & Suchitra	4:08	Hari

Release

The satellite rights of the film were bagged by Kalaignar. The film was given a "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board.

Vaaranam Aayiram (English: Thousand Elephants) is a 2008 Tamil romantic drama written and directed by Gautham Menon. Suriya plays dual lead roles, with Simran, Divya Spandana, and Sameera Reddy . The film had been under production since late 2006, and was released worldwide on November 14, 2008. It was dubbed and released in Telugu as Surya s/o Krishnan.
The film illustrates the theme of how a father often came across his son's life as a hero and inspiration, whose death was deeply mourned in the end. As a tribute to the father of the director, the film opened in several countries with critical acclaim. The film was produced by Venu Ravichandran and has musical score by Harris Jayaraj, making Vaaranam Aayiram his final project with Gautham Menon before the formal break-up of their partnership. It won many awards including the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. The film was also a commercial success, eventually becoming the biggest hit in Suriya's career then.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Soundtrack
• 5 Release
• 6 Accolades
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Plot

The film begins with elderly Krishnan (Suriya) returning home after a haircut. Once he reaches home he vomits a profuse amounts of blood and is kept to bed rest. After the doctor checks him, he is reported dead after a few moments of grief with his wife Malini (Simran), daughter Shreya, and daughter-in-law Priya (Divya Spandana). This news is informed to his son Surya (Suriya) who is in Kashmir on a military mission traveling in a helicopter, to rescue a kidnapped journalist from terrorists . He begins to shed tears and starts thinking about his memorable moments with his father and the story of how his parents loved each other during their college days.
Krishnan is a student in the same college where Malini studies. They fall in love and get married. They soon have a son, Surya. He grows up as a friend to his father. He joins an engineering college near Tiruchi and parts from his family. There he takes part in cultural activities and develops his guitar skills. When he is on a train back home after completion of college, he meets Meghna (Sameera Reddy) who is doing Engineering in Regional College of Engineering,Tiruchirapalli. He soon proposes to her. She rejects him, saying that they have known each other for a very short period and it's not possible to fall in love without taking time to understand him. Surya then tells her that wherever she goes, he will find her.
Surya is disturbed constantly by Meghna's thoughts and consequently ends up going to her house. There she reveals him that she is going to University of California, Berkeley in a week to pursue higher education, Surya bids adieu to her. After that Krishnan, Surya's father, gets his first mild heart attack and is admitted to a hospital. Then on, an inspired and Surya obtains projects, and finally builds a house for his parents.
After that, he goes to the United States, with the acceptance of his father, and meets Meghna in San Francisco. She gets astonished and starts liking Surya.They have the time of their lives there. Meghna is convinced that he is the right person and that he will be accepted by her father. Their happiness does not last long when she goes to Oklahom a City for a project. Surya joins her later traveling by the Greyhound bus. When he reaches there, he witnesses the Oklahoma City bombing and realizes that Meghna is amongst those injured. She dies on her way to the hospital. He meets Shankar Menon at the airport who tries to console him with words and offers him encouragement.A heartbroken Surya returns to India.
Surya still can't take the situation. He starts hanging out with his friends to get over his loss. He meets Priya (Divya Spandana), his sister's friend. However, the thoughts of losing Meghna still haunts him, and he resorts to taking drugs. Surya's parents try to get him to break the habit by locking him up in his room and removing him from all external contact. Once they detect his withdrawal symptoms, they ask him to take a long break to rejuvenate himself. Subsequently, he takes a leisure trip to Kashmir. There he learns that Aditya, the son of Shankar Menon, the person who inspired him in the airport was kidnapped. He visits them in Delhi. On seeing the lethargic attitude of the police, he takes matters into his own hands and goes in search of the kidnappers. After days of roaming streets and gathering information, he locates the kidnapper (Prithviraj) and the place where Aditya is kept. He battles the kidnappers single-handedly, overpowers them and rescues Aditya.
Back home, Surya starts to go out with his sister's friend Priya. One day Priya proposes to him, but he doesn't respond. Surya decides that the only way to forget the pain in his body is to prepare it for bigger things. He goes on a strict workout training and joins the army. After six years, Priya comes to the Indian Military Academy where he is posted to meet him and proposes again; this time he accepts. They marry and have a son. Suddenly Krishnan is diagnosed with throat cancer and is operated on. After some days Surya is called upon to go on a mission to rescue a journalist which brings the scene back to the present day. After completing the military mission with the help of a masked man (Gautham Menon) who tells them where the culprits were, Surya returns home to see his dead father. Surya, his sister Shriya, Malini and Priya let go his father's ashes in the sea and Malini relates her husband's life to Surya by uttering a verse from a prayer. The film ends on a happy note as the four walk away smiling; conveying the message that "Whatever happens, Life has to go on."

Cast

• Suriya as Krishnan and Surya Krishnan
• Simran as Malini Krishnan
• Divya Spandana as Priya
• Sameera Reddy as Meghna
• Deepa Narendran as Shreya Krishnan
• Babloo Prithviraj as Asad, the kidnapper
• Ganesh Janardhanan as Antony (Librarian)
• Sathish Krishnan as Surya's Friend
• Dany as Priya's father
• Indra as Priya's mother
• Rajeevan as Meghana's father
• Gautham Menon as Commando informer
• Veera Bahu

Production

Development

Following Kaaka Kaaka in 2003, the director Gautham Menon and Surya Sivakumar expressed their desire to work together on a film. In early 2005, the pair got together for a film tentatively titled Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam which featured Asin Thottumkal in the lead role and Daniel Balaji in a supporting one. However, after a photo shoot, the film was delayed and then subsequently called off.  Nevertheless, in 2006, producer Oscar Ravichandran signed up the pair for a new film, which they confirmed was not going to be a sequel of their previous venture; it was going to be a romantic thriller. Initially titles such as Naan Thaan  and Udal Porul Aavi  were considered for the project, but Menon announced the title was Vaaranam Aayiram, title derived from "Thirupaavai" with the literal meaning of "the strength of a thousand elephants".

University of California, Berkeley served as shooting spot in "Adiye Kolluthe" song

Before the start of shooting, technical crew members were signed up, and the shoot commenced without a leading lady on 24 November 2006 at a nightclub in Chennai. In 2007, it was announced that a 10-day shoot in Afghanistan would be followed by shooting in Malaysia, Russia and the United States of America. However, the film only completed a shoot at the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, USA, and shooting was not held in Afghanistan.
In November 2007, Gautham Menon decided to send the reels back to Chennai from San Francisco. Two of the production managers were assigned the task of bringing the reels to the producer's office. But they stayed in Singapore for a couple of days before returning to Chennai. Following their arrival, it was understood the reels went missing in the hotel they stayed in at Singapore, but a search by the police proved unsuccessful. The whole crew of Vaaranam Aayiram was in a fix as the reels held fight scenes, songs and other scenes worth $500,000. Soon after, the reels were found with the Singapore airport authorities.  The film finished its shoot in August 2008.
A song was filmed by an assistant cameraman with a high-tech camera, costing about Rs. 1.5 crore, fastened to his hip. While the assistant was moving behind the actors canning the shots, he tripped unexpectedly and the camera broke to pieces. The shot resumed a day later with a similar camera.
Vaaranam Aayiram was believed to be based on the Dutch film by Mike van Diem, Character; others have claimed that it is inspired by the 1994 Hollywood film, Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks. Menon too admitted the film will draw inspirations from Forrest Gump but will be fixed to suit the Indian audience.  Furthermore Menon stated that Surya Sivakumar will be seen playing the dual roles of a 21-year-old and his father and that the film will be society themed. It was set to release in 2007 and was delayed for a 14 November 2008 release.  The audio of Vaaranam Aayiram was released on 24 September 2008. Menon has described the film as "autobiographical and a very personal story and if people didn’t know, that 70% of this [the film] is from my life".   Suriya lost weight using capsules and prepared a six-pack for the film through an eight-month fitness regime. 

Casting

After the cancellation of Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam, originally starring Surya Sivakumar, Asin Thottumkal and Daniel Balaji, Gautham Menon, keeping the male leads the same, wanted to opt for a new heroine to begin Vaaranam Aayiram. Deepika Padukone was signed up and set to make her debut in Tamil films; she backed out due to the inactivity and signed the Bollywood blockbuster, Om Shanti Om.  Soon after, another confirmed heroine, Andrea Jeremiah, was dropped from the film for unknown reasons.  Asin expressed her desire to be a part of the project, but the male lead, Surya, refuted her offer citing that she had walked out of his previous film, Sillunu Oru Kadhal and refused to act opposite him.
The producers then announced the film with Divya Spandana, who was making her comeback to Tamil films and Genelia D'Souza in the lead roles.  Soon after the start of the shoot, Genelia decided to walk out, after Menon refused to pay the hefty salary that she was demanding and was receiving in Telugu films allowing Sameera Reddy to act in her first Tamil film. Simran Bagga signed and completed her shoots swiftly after she was selected to portray the mother of Surya,   after Tabu had rejected the role.  TV actress Deepa Venkat and playback singer Chinmayi dubbed for actresses Simran Bagga and Sameera Reddy respectively.

Soundtrack

Vaaranam Aayiram.
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Released	24 September 2008
Recorded	Chennai
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Sony BMG
Producer	Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Dhaam Dhoom (2008) Vaaranam Aayiram (2008) Ayan (2009)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Behindwoods	*
Rediff	*

The film has seven songs composed by Harris Jayaraj. All Lyrics are penned by Thamarai, expect Yethi Yethi song (Na. Muthukumar). The songs from the albums were released to four leading radio stations in Chennai, with one song per station, in attempt to popularise it five days before the official launch. The move by Sony BMG was the first of its kind in Indian cinema.  The song "Adiye Kolluthe" takes elements from AC/DC's "Love Bomb", and "Mundhinam Parthene" takes elements from George Michael's "Faith".

Song title	Singers	Length (m:ss)	Description
"Adiye Kolluthe"	Benny Dayal, Krish and Shruti Haasan	5:17	Filmed at the University of California and locations across the state with Surya and Sameera. Depicts Meghna falling in love with Surya.
"Nenjukkul Peidhidum"	Hariharan, Krish, Devan and Prasanna	6:11	Filmed in various locations on Surya and Sameera. Depicts the moment after Surya tells Meghna about his love.
"Yethi Yethi Yeththi"	Benny Dayal, Naresh Iyer and Solar Sai	4:55	Filmed in locations across South India with Surya and background dancers. Depicts Surya's school days.
"Mundhinam Parthene"	Naresh Iyer and Prashanthini	5:43	Filmed with Surya and Simran. Depicts when Krishnan loved Malini during their college days.
"Oh Shanthi Shanthi"	Clinton Cerejo and S. P. B. Charan	3:05	Depicts Surya searching for Meghna on the university campus.
"Ava Enna"	Karthik and Prasanna	5:20	A dappan koothu folk-style song with Surya. Depicts Surya becoming hysterical from memories of Meghna.
"Annal Mele Panithuli"	Sudha Raghunathan	5:22	Filmed on Surya and Divya. Depicts the moment when Surya finally falls in love with Priya.
"Ragasiyam"		3:22

Telugu Tracklist

All Lyrics are Penned by Veturi Sundararama Murthy.

Song title	Singers	Length (m:ss)	Description
"Yedhane Koiyyake"	Benny Dayal, Krish and Bhargavi Pillai	5:17	Filmed at the University of California and locations across the state with Surya and Sameera. Depicts Meghna falling in love with Surya.
"Naalona Pongenu"	Harish Raghavendra, Krish, Devan and Prasanna	6:11	Filmed in various locations on Surya and Sameera. Depicts the moment after Surya tells Meghna about his love.
"Yegasi Yegasi"	Benny Dayal, Naresh Iyer and Chandran	4:55	Filmed in locations across South India with Surya and background dancers. Depicts Surya's school days.
"Monna Kanipinchavu"	Naresh Iyer and Prashanthini	5:43	Filmed with Surya and Simran. Depicts when Krishnan loved Malini during their college days.
"Oh Shanthi Shanthi"	Krish and S. P. B. Charan	3:05	Depicts Surya searching for Meghna on the university campus.
"Adhey Nannu"	Karthik and V. Prasanna	5:20	A dappan koothu folk-style song with Surya. Depicts Surya becoming hysterical from memories of Meghna.
"Nidhare Kala"	Sudha Raghunathan	5:22	Filmed on Surya and Divya. Depicts the moment when Surya finally falls in love with Priya.

Critical response

The album received tremendous response from music critics as well as the public. Indiaglitz stated "'Varanam Aayiram' is no doubt one of the best from Harris Jeyaraj and Gautham duo. It is energetic and entertaining. A must listen musical score that is serene even while repeated."  Malathy Sundaram from Behindwoods gave a 4/5 rating and praised the album calling it a "blockbuster" further citing "The guitar simply enthralls you. So do the native drums. There is a slight monotony in the instrumentation, but it doesn’t seem to affect the overall effect. Thaamarai needs to be complimented for the soft lyrics."  Pavithra Srinivasan from Rediff gave a 3.5/5 rating and said "Put together, you definitely feel that Harris Jayaraj has set out to provide quality music with a difference."

Release

Box office

Varanam Aayiram emerged as the biggest blockbuster for Suriya since Ghajini, grossing 5.66 crore in Chennai alone.  In overseas market, the film grossed $921,007 from both United Kingdom and Malaysia. 

Critical reception

Varanam Aayiram received positive reviews. Sify stated that it is a "film straight from the heart".  Indiaglitz reviewed that it "proves to be a tame affair" but stated that "Suriya the actor rocks throughout".  Behindwoods rated it 2.5/5 stating that "what could have been a subtly told story turns into a sloppy fare" and "there are touching and heart-warming moments in the movie but, they are few and far between".  Rediff gave the film 3/5 and called it a "moving story", further mentioning that "It might be just a feather in Gautam's hat. As for Surya, it's an ostrich plume, a justified triumph."  The Hindu said, "The same combo came together for Kaakha Kaakha and signed off with a flourish not so long ago! Of course Vaaranam … does have some great moments, but it’s a lengthy film, and you feel it!"

Accolades

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In addition to the following list of awards and nominations, prominent Indian film websites (including Rediff, Sify and Behindwoods) named Vaaranam Aayiram one of the 10 best Tamil films of 2008. Before its release, the film's title had appeared on film websites' "most awaited" lists.

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2008 National Film Awards	Best Feature Film in Tamil	Venu Ravichandran Gautham Menon	Won
2008 Filmfare Awards South	Best Actor	Surya Sivakumar
	Best Supporting Actress	Simran
	Best Director	Gautham Menon	Nominated
	Best Film	Venu Ravicha ndran
	Best Lyricist	Thamarai (Nenjukkul Peithidum)	Won
	Best Male Playback	Naresh Iyer (Mundhinam Partheney)
	Best Male Playback	Hariharan (Nenjukkul Peithidum)	Nominated
	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj	Won
2008 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards	Special Award for Best Actor	Surya Sivakumar
	Best Art Director	Rajeevan
	Best Audiographer	Ravi
2008 International Tamil Film Awards	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj
2008 Vijay Awards	Best Actor	Surya Sivakumar
	Best Supporting Actress	Simran
	Best Art Director	Rajeevan	Nominated
	Best Cinematographer	R. Rathnavelu
	Best Choreographer	Brindha Ava Enna
	Best Debut Actress	Sameera Reddy
	Best Director	Gautham Menon
	Favourite Director	Gautham Menon	Won
	Best Editor	Anthony	Nominated
	Best Entertainer	Surya Sivakumar
	Favourite Hero	Surya Sivakumar
	Best Female Playback Singer	Sudha Raghunathan (Anal Mele)
	Best Film	Venu Ravichandran
	Favourite Film	Venu Ravichandran	Won
	Best Lyricist	Thamarai (Nenjukkul Peithidum)
	Best Make-Up	Yogesh & Banu
	Best Male Playback	Hariharan (Nenjukkul Peithidum)
	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj
	Favourite Song	Harris Jayaraj (Ava Enna)
2008 Meera Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards	Rising Star Singer – Female	Shruti Haasan
	Best Picturisation Award	R. Rathnavelu
	Best Art Direction	Rajeevan
	Best Lyricist Award	Thamarai Nenjukkul Peithidum
	Best Album of the Year	Harris Jayaraj
	Best Playback Singer – Male	Hariharan Nenjukkul Peithidum
	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj
	Voice of the Year	Karthik Ava Enna
2009 South Scope Awards	Most Stylish Actor – Tamil	Surya Sivakumar	Nominated
	Most Stylish Music Director – Tamil	Harris Jayaraj	Won
	Style Youth Icon of the Year	Surya Sivakumar

Ayan is a 2009 Tamil action thriller film written and directed by K. V. Anand. The film, starring Surya, Prabhu, Tamannaah and Akashdeep Saighal in lead roles, was produced by M. Saravanan and M. S. Guhan, while distribution handled by Sun Pictures. The film score was composed by Harris Jayaraj, the soundtrack released on 19 January 2009. Edited by Anthony Gonsalvez, the film was filmed by M. S. Prabhu.
The film's story revolves around Deva, a youngster whose mother wants him to become a government official. He, on the other hand, works for a smuggling group run by Arumuga Dass who has been his mentor and looking after him since childhood. Conflict occurs when Deva's arch rival, Kamalesh opposes and tries to eliminate Arumuga Dass from the smuggling business. Who wins in the conflict forms the climax of the story.
The film was launched in Chennai, while filming also took place in various locations out of India, including Namibia, Malaysia, Zanzibar and South Africa. It released on 3 April 2009 worldwide to positive reviews.   It was also dubbed and released on 1 May 2009 in Telugu as Veedokkade, which was a box office success in Andhra Pradesh.   It has also been dubbed in Hindi as Vidhwanshak: The Destroyer.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Soundtrack
• 5 Release
• 6 Awards
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Plot

Deva (Surya Sivakumar) arrives at the Chennai International Airport after running an errand for Arumuga Dass (Prabhu Ganesan) of smuggling pre-release pirated movies on DVD. The two leave for their hideout and instruct Dilli (Karunas), a hearing-impaired assistant of Dass, to make copies of the DVD. Just when police crews arrive into their vicinity, Dass informs Deva and the rest to leave. Deva tells the others to leave while he quickly sets up the burning process. Deva also leaves the hideout just in time. However, the police officers arrive at the hideout, only to see the burning process of the DVDs complete. The police then seize the DVDs and computers. The inspector, who was a friend of Dass, tells him that he can close the case if one of Dass's men agrees to the crime. Deva attempts to go, but another man, Chitti (Jagan), who had no affiliation to them volunteers, takes the blame. Later, Chitti joins Dass's group.
Dass is a diamond trafficker who smuggles diamonds from Africa. Deva's mother Kaveri (Renuka) does not appreciate his affairs with Dass, as she wants Deva, who holds a Master of Science degree, to have a government job. He occasionally visits home and her roadside grocery shop, only to get scoldings from his loving mother. When Deva is invited to Chitti's house, he gets impatient and knocks on the door. As the door opens, Deva slips and falls on the bed, expecting to see Chitti but scaring his younger sister Yamuna (Tamannaah) instead. Just before he drives off, he curses himself for making such a stupid mistake. Yamuna catches this and accepts his apologies, slowly starting to fall in love with him. Meanwhile, Kamalesh (Akashdeep Saigal), the arch-enemy and competitor in smuggling of Dass slowly starts to try to foil Dass and his employees. A prank phone call from Chitti leads to a near-death experience for Deva and Kaveri. Escaping alive and outraged, Deva goes and confronts Chitti, releasing his anger to the full extent. Chitti then reveals that he was Kamalesh's personal spy and that even though that their bosses were foes, he was happy to be a friend of Deva. Disgusted, he leaves and Chitti too, and at that moment, Yamuna arrives, hearing everything. Thus, this stir of events causes the interval of the movie.
After some events, Deva and Yamuna break up. In Malaysia, under circumstances, Chitti and Deva meet. Chitti, who was fed with drugs fall prey to them and starts reacting. In a last attempt to rekindle their friendship, Deva attempts to save him. Chitti then explains that it was wrong of him to be a spy, but still admits that he was lucky to have him as a friend. He dies. Heartbroken, Deva returns to India.
When he arrives, Yamuna approaches him and asks the police officers to arrest him. While in jail, Dass approaches the police and brings out Chitti's phone, which contains a recording how Chitti died. It is here clear that Deva didn't kill him, but hid from Kamalesh's henchmen. Yamuna apologises to Deva and the two come together again. Then later circumstances force Deva to become a part of the security squad in the airport as he is accused by Parthiban,Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax Air Intelligence Unit of carrying drugs. He denies it, saying that the packet of drugs was given by a passenger's relative as she had forgotten it. The drugs are opened and it is found that Heroin is sealed in them. Deva then realises and explains that huge amount of drugs are being transported by distracting him with a small amount. The flight is delayed and all passengers are asked to take food from the canteen. There are a few who don't do so, and hence their stomach is X-Rayed and a huge packet of heroin is found. Then Deva is asked to help Parthiban and the Customs for arresting Kamalesh.
Deva and Parthiban put a cab like room outside Kamalesh's house and with Yamuna's help, a transmitter is put in Kamalesh's study. Then, all his conversations with his clients are recorded but Kamalesh later finds out and attempts to kill them, which becomes a failed attempt. He later finds out that idols made of heroin are compressed under high pressure to disguise their smell and properties. With this evidence, the Income Tax comes to raid Kamalesh's house but he acts quickly and removes all the stuff. During a final attempt to arrest Kamalesh, the truth is forced out of his accountant but Kamalesh kills him to avoid any witnesses. Later, Deva's house is burnt and Dass is killed by Kamalesh, which infuriates Deva. He then is forced to go to Africa and confront Kamalesh.
When he returns to India, he is again inspected by the Custom Officer. Deva learns that it was his mother this time who exposed his smuggling mission. He has no choice but to surrender the diamonds, and so he does. Parthiban hands Deva to sign a form, which Deva hesitates. He then learns that is a government security job application form. Parthiban says that Deva's criminal mind is required for such a job in the Customs. He then asks what had happened to Kamalesh to which Deva replies that he had gone to Congo only to get revenge on Kamalesh. Then a flashback shows that when Kamalesh was returning from stealing the diamonds, his gang is killed by Deva and he is pushed off the cliff. The film ends on a happy note as Deva leaves the airport with his mother and Yamuna.

Cast

• Surya Sivakumar as Devaraj Velusamy. Deva is a post-graduate whose mother, Kaveri, wants him to get a government job. His mischievous attitude appeals to the eyes of Yamuna. Deva, who also expresses his love to Yamuna, prioritises Dass before anything else, as he shows great respect to him.
• Tamannaah as Yamuna. Yamuna, the sister of Deva's friend Chitti, falls in love with Deva after an incident with him at her house. She also assists Deva to help expose the Kamalesh's smuggling business.
• Prabhu Ganesan as Arumuga Dass. Dass is a smuggler of diamonds who has received the diamonds from errands run by his right-hand, Deva. Dass is disrespected by Kaveri, whose husband was once killed while working for him. Dass is killed in a collision with an oiler tank, perpetrated by Kamalesh.
• Akashdeep Saighal as Kamalesh. Kamalesh is the main opponent of Dass, who is jealous of Dass' growth in the smuggling business. He finds ways to buy the clients of Dass, without success however. A cold-hearted business minded character, he kills his father who opposes him when he is found smuggling drugs. Kamalesh is killed by Deva during the climax of the film.
• Jagan as Chitti Babu. Chitti is Deva's best friend and the older brother of Yamuna. He is caught betraying Dass, as he is really a henchman of Kamalesh. Kamalesh's gang kills him when they are ordered to remove the packets of heroin from his stomach.
• Karunas as Dilli. Dilli is part of Dass' crew of smuggling who often forgets to plug in his hearing device. He is suspected by Dass when he finds out his information is being leaked out.
• Ponvannan as Parthiban IRS. The Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax,Air Intelligence Unit at the Chennai Airport who often receives information about Deva smuggling goods during his flight trips. Once Deva finds ways of hiding the goods, Parthiban is dumbfounded when he finds Deva to be clean of smuggled items.
• Renuka as Kaveri Velusamy. Kaveri, a widow, is Deva's mother. She is often strict with Deva as she does not want him having affairs with Dass and his smuggling crew.
• Koena Mitra in an item number. Appears during the song "Honey Honey".
• Delhi Ganesh
• Janaki Sabesh

Production

Development

Three years after the release of his debut venture Kana Kandaen starring Srikanth and Gopika, cinematographer K. V. Anand expressed his desire to commence his second film as director. It was later announced that Anand would be directing his next film, produced under the AVM Production banner, titled Ayan. The film was inaugurated at AVM Studios on 24 March 2008 with the presence of most of the unit members.  On the occasion, Anand announced the film's genre to be an action thriller interlaced with romance and comedy. He also suggested Ayan meant "outstanding", excellence" or can be the name for sun rays in five different languages. However, this was later doubted by a few critics, raising a point saying Ayan was not necessarily a Tamil language word. Despite the film's lyricst Vairamuthu's calls for the word to be a Tamil word, it was argued that Ayan was a nickname for the Hindu deity Lord Brahma. Since the word was then touted to be borrowed from the Sanskrit language, the film was prone to a title change, in light of Tamil Nadu's Entertainment Tax Exemption Act, which was passed in 2006.  A similar problem was faced by the producers of Aegan, which was also under production at the time. The controversy was later dropped. Ayan was announced to be predominantly set in various locations of both South Asia and Africa.

Casting

K. V. Anand announced the film with both Surya Sivakumar and Tamanna Bhatia to play the lead roles in the film.  Surya was initially expected to play the lead role in Anand's earlier film, but was not able to do so.  Anand expressed his thoughts during the film's inauguration that "Surya was apt for the title role" since the film's title meant "sun rays" and the name "Surya" refers to the sun. Ayan would also make Surya's second film with AVM Productions, after their previous partnership in Perazhagan. Furthermore, Surya had worked with Anand since Surya's debut in the 1997 film Nerukku Ner for which Anand was the film's photographer.  Surya's physique was key for his character, as he would be acting as a powerful and active youngster. During the film's launch, he announced that he would give the film his best, understanding the nature of the producers, who previously presented the big-budget film Sivaji. Tamanna, after starring in the Tamil films Kalloori (for which she was nominated for a Filmfare Award) and Padikathavan, was cast in Ayan. Prabhu Ganesan was consecutively cast in Ayan in a pivotal role, as per his previous films, in which he played important supporting characters. It was later announced that Anand would introduce a new actor to Tamil cinema in the film, who will be playing a negative role, which was later known to be Akashdeep Saighal, who predominantly works in Bollywood films.
Apart from the film's cast, the film's crew consisted of Harris Jayaraj as the film composer along with Vairamuthu, Pa. Vijay and Na. Muthukumar as the lyricists. M. S. Prabhu was chosen as the film's cinematographer, who is a friend of Anand and worked with him under the guidance of National Film Award-winning cinematographer P. C. Sriram.

Soundtrack

Ayan
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Released	19 January 2009
Genre	Film soundtrack
Length	27:36
Label	AVM Music
Producer	Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Vaaranam Aayiram (2008) Ayan (2009) Aadhavan (2009)

The soundtrack album was composed by Harris Jayaraj. The lyrics are penned by Vairamuthu, Na. Muthukumar and Pa.Vijay. The Times of India credited the popularity of the film to the popularity of songs including "Nenje Nenje" and "Vizhi Moodi", stating that the "music critics should be impressed with the songs".  Due to the album's critical and commercial success Harris Jayaraj received his fifth Filmfare Award for Best Music Director, the Mirchi Award for Best Album of the Year and the Edison Award for Best Music Director.
Tamil Tracklist

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Pala Pala"	Na. Muthukumar	Hariharan	05:25
2.	"Vizhi Moodi"	Na. Muthukumar	Karthik	05:32
3.	"Oyaayiye Yaayiye"	Pa. Vijay	Benny Dayal, Haricharan, Chinmayi	05:33
4.	"Nenje Nenje"	Vairamuthu	Harish Raghavendra, Mahathi	05:44
5.	"Honey Honey"	Pa. Vijay	Sayanora Philip, Devan Ekambaram	05:19
6.	"Oh Super Nova"	Na. Muthukumar	Krish	02:37
Total length:				27:36

Telugu Tracklist
All lyrics written by Bhuvana Chandra.

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Pela Pela"	Hariharan	05:25
2.	"Kallu Moosi"	Karthik	05:32
3.	"Oyaayiye Aayiye"	Benny Dayal, Haricharan, Chinmayi	05:33
4.	"Nene Nene"	Harish Raghavendra, Mahathi	05:44
5.	"Honey Honey"	Sayanora Philip, Devan Ekambaram	05:19
6.	"Oh Super Nova"	Krish	02:37
Total length:			27:36

Release

The satellite rights of the film were bagged by Sun TV. The film was given a "U/A" certificate by the Indian Censor Board. AVM Productions sold the film's distribution rights for Tamil Nadu to Sun Pictures for 200 million. In Chennai alone, box office totals were reported as 74.3 million (US$1.2 million) in theatrical revenue.  International distribution rights were sold to Ayngaran International. Ayan's revenue was US$1,046,027 in Malaysia  and GB£119,220 in the UK.  The film's Telugu version, Veedokkade, was sold to Hyderabad based producer, Bellamkonda Suresh.    Ayan was declared as the solo blockbuster of the year in Tamil cinema.   It was made at a production cost of 180 million.

Awards

Ayan received the most nominations (12) in the Filmfare Awards South 2009 and in the 4th Annual Vijay Awards (18).

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2009 Filmfare Awards South	Best Actor	Surya Sivakumar	Won
	Best Director	K.V. Anand	Nominated
	Best Film	Ayan	Nominated
	Best Lyricist	Na. Muthukumar ("Vizhi Moodi")	Won
	Best Lyricist	Vairamuthu ("Nenje Nenje")	Nominated
	Best Male Playback	Harish Raghavendra ("Nenje Nenje")	Nominated
	Best Male Playback	Karthik (singer) ("Vizhi Moodi")	Nominated
	Best Music Director	Harris Jayaraj	Won
	Best Supporting Actor	Prabhu	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Jagan	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress	Renuka	Nominated
	Best Dance Choreographer	Dinesh ("Pala Pala")	Won
2009 Vijay Awards	Best Actor	Surya Sivakumar	Nominated
	Best Art Director	Rajeevan	Nominated
	Best Choreographer	Dhinesh ("Pala Pala")	Nominated
	Best Director	K. V. Anand	Nominated
	Favourite Director	K. V. Anand	Nominated
	Best Entertainer	Surya Sivakumar	Won
	Favourite Hero	Surya Sivakumar	Nominated
	Favourite Heroine	Tamannaah Bhatia	Nominated
	Favourite Film	AVM Productions	Won
	Favourite Song	Vizhi Mooodi	Nominated
	Best Lyricist	Vairamuthu ("Nenje Nenje")	Nominated
	Best Male Playback	Harish Raghavendra ("Nenje Nenje")	Nominated
	Best VFX Compositor	Srinivas Karthik Kotamraju (EFX)	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Jagan	Nominated
	Best Comedian	Jagan	Nominated
	Best Stunt Director	Kanal Kannan	Nominated
	Best Costume Designer	Nalini Sriram	Nominated
	Icon of the Year	Surya Sivakumar	Won
2009 Meera Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards	Best Album of the Year	Harris Jayaraj	Won
2009 South Scope 2010 Awards	Best Actor – Tamil	Surya Sivakumar	Nominated
	Best Actress – Tamil	Tamannaah Bhatia	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor – Tamil	Prabhu Ganesan	Won
	Best Comedian – Tamil	Jagan	Nominated
	Best Music Director – Tamil	Harris Jayaraj	Won
	Best Male Playback – Tamil	Harish Raghavendra (Nenje Nenje)	Nominated
	Best Male Playback – Tamil	Karthik ("Vizhi Moodi")	Nominated
	Best Female Playback- Tamil	Mahathi ("Nenje Nenje")	Nominated
	Best Lyricist – Tamil	Na. Muthukumar ("Vizhi Moodi")	Won
	Best Cinematographer – Tamil	M.S.Prabhu	Nominated

Singam (English: Lion) is a 2010 Indian Tamil action-masala film directed by Hari, starring Suriya and Anushka Shetty in the lead.  The film, produced by K. E. Gnanavel Raja in association with Reliance Big Pictures, and distributed by Sun Pictures, was released on 28 May 2010. Upon release, the film was dubbed into Telugu and released as Yamudu and into Hindi as The Fighterman Singham.   The film's success led to remakes in Kannada as Kempe Gowda,  in Hindi as Singham,  and in Bengali as Shotru.  The sequel, Singam II, which released in July 2013, was a high commercial success as well.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Character Map of Remakes
• 4 Production
• 5 Release
• 6 Soundtrack
• 7 See also
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Plot

The film begins in Nallur, a small village in Thoothukudi district in southern Tamil Nadu. Duraisingam (Suriya), is the honest police sub inspector of Nallur, assisted by his bumbling colleague Erimalai (Vivek). He belongs to Nallur with his father having a respectable status in the village. His family business is provision stores and Duraisingam wants to join it, but he joined police due to his father's wishes. He resolves most of the problems in his village with non-violence and mutual counselling. He uses force only when the situation demands it, thereby gaining much reputation and love from the villagers. Mahalingam (Nassar) is an industrialist in Chennai and a friend of Singam’s father (Radha Ravi). He comes to the village with his beautiful daughter Kavya (Anushka Shetty). Eventually Singam and Kavya fall in love with each other.
Everything seems to be smooth-running until Chennai-based Mayil Vaaganam (Prakash Raj), a big-time extortionist with shady mafia dealings who blackmails people by complaining to the Income Tax Department, is required to travel to Nallur to sign a conditional bail. He instead, sends one of his allies to do the formalities, much to the anger and rage of Singam who demands Mayil sign the bail in person. Humiliated, Mayil reaches Nallur but is unable to take any revenge on Singam fearing the immense love and devotion of the entire village towards Singam. Using his political contacts, he gets Singam transferred to Chennai to teach him a lesson.
Singam, unaware of Mayil’s hand behind his transfer, joins Thiruvanmiyur police station. His co-worker, Sub-Inspector Ravi (Bose Venkat), hates Mayil for his crimes but is unable to take any action because of Mayil’s political powers. The assistant commissioner (Nizhalgal Ravi), Singam's senior, is on Mayil's payroll and takes care in concealing and eliminating the evidence of Mayil’s crimes from the eyes of the law. The police commissioner (Ajay Rathnam) also does not help Singam as there is no evidences against Mayil and the assistant commissioner and in turn, warns him to stay away from Mayil's case. Unable to take on Mayil in his stronghold, Singam wants to return to his village but is stopped by Kavya who encourages him to fight against the evil and not run like a coward.
Being mentally tortured by Mayil, Singam arrests Mayil’s henchman (Adithya) in a fake case of illegally smuggling alcohol. He thwarts off the assistant commissioner in full view of the public when the assistant commissioner, bounded by his duties to Mayil, tries to protect the henchman. Meanwhile Mayil kidnaps Kavya’s younger sister for ransom. Rescuing her, with unexpected help from the Home Minister (Vijayakumar) Singam successfully traces the origins of the kidnapping racket to Mayil. Singam also gets promoted to Assistant Commissioner of the specially-formed Anti-kidnapping Task Force. Mahalingam, who was hostile to Singam following an altercation with Singam's father back at Nallur, softens up and agrees to give him Kavya's hand in marriage.
The police officers, including the police commissioner, and the assistant commissioner, now on Singam's side, decide to help Singam fight Mayil. They manage to kill Mayil's henchman in an encounter at an hospital and begin to target everyone and everything related to Mayil. In retribution, Mayil starts targeting everyone close to Singam, including Kavya, whom he shoots but is saved by Singam, and Ravi, who is hacked to death by Mayil's henchmen. To escape the arrest warrant issued out to him, Mayil kidnaps the Karnataka Home Minister's daughter. He falsely tells Singam that he is going to Pondicherry with her when actually he is going to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh to put the police off the track. However Singam manages to pursue them till Gudur near Nellore, where he rescues the home minister's daughter and kills Mayil in an encounter.
As the post-credits roll, Durai Singam is seen with Kavya heading back to Nallur, and as when Singam is stopped briefly by the Home Minister and assigns an undercover mission, to which he willingly agrees.

Cast

• Suriya as Assistant Commissioner Durai Singam
• Anushka Shetty as Kavya Mahalingam
• Prakash Raj as Mayil Vaaganam
• Nassar as Mahalingam
• Vivek as Yettu Erimalai
• Manorama as Kavya's grandmother
• Radha Ravi as Durai Singam's father
• Vijayakumar as The Home Minister
• Krishna Pillai as Divya Mahalingam
• Bose Venkat as Sub Inspector Ravi
• Nizhalgal Ravi as The Asst. Commissioner
• Yuvarani as Durai Singam's sister
• Janaki Sabesh as Kavya's mother
• Subash Chander as Vengai Swami
• Sumithra as Durai Singam's mother

Character Map of Remakes

Singam (Tamil)	Singham (2011) (Hindi)	Kempe Gowda (2011) (Kannada)	Shotru (2011) (Bengali)
Surya Sivakumar	Ajay Devgn	Sudeep	Jeet
Anushka Shetty	Kajal Agarwal	Ragini Dwivedi	Nusrat Jahan
Prakash Raj	Prakash Raj	Ravi Shankar	Supriyo Dutta

Production

Development

After Suriya had finished K. S. Ravikumar's Aadhavan, discussions regarding his subsequent project, notably his 25th film, were held. Initially, reports emerged that it was going to be directed by Prabhu Deva.  At the launch of his film Seval in May 2009, however, director Hari announced officially that he would direct Suriya's 25th film titled Singam and that he had finished penning the script.  Becoming Suriya's third film with Hari following Aaru and Vel, it was announced that the project would release in July 2010.  Suriya's cousin, K. E. Gnanavel Raja was announced as the producer.

Casting

Though initial reports suggested that Yuvan Shankar Raja would score the music,^{[citation needed]} Devi Sri Prasad was chosen as the music director, thus becoming his third venture with Suriya. Suriya was revealed to play a police officer in the film, the second time in his career after Kaakha Kaakha.  Anushka was chosen to play the female lead, after several actresses were considered and approached.  Priyan was chosen as the lead camera man and V.T. Vijayan as the editor.

Filming

After completing Seval, Hari joined the cast and crew to start the filming in 2009. The shooting began in Thirunelveli district and was carried on in southern parts of Tamil Nadu. A scene from the song "Stole my Heart" was shot in Muscat Park that was choreographed by Brindha.  Afterwards, some scenes where shot in Andhra Pradesh as well as Karnataka. The main scenes were shot in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai. During December, Hari announced that the film wouldn't have a formal audio launch as per his previous films and that the shooting would get over quickly.  The trailers were released on 24 February. Sun Pictures acquired the distribution rights,  and Sony Music bought the music for a hefty price.

Release

The satellite rights of the film were bagged by Sun TV. The film was given a "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board and released worldwide on 28 May 2010 released in 850 screens worldwide. Telugu dubbed version titled Yamudu released on 2 July 2010.

Critical response

This film garnered positive reviews reviews. Behindwoods gave 2.5 out of 5 and stated that Hari has "concocted and packaged his masala contents in the right proportion and has served a tasty dish", while praising Suriya for having "diligently worked towards balancing the niche and the mass" and proving "once again that he can deliver a commercial masala flick with as finesse as he can deliver a performance-oriented film".  Sify described the film as a "predictable entertainer that follows the age old formula", citing that it was Suriya who "carries the film to the winning post. His passion and the way he brings an ordinary regular larger-than-life hero character alive on screen is lesson for other commercial heroes".  Rediff also gave 2.5 out of 5 stating that the film was an "unapologetic, entertainer and has Suriya in every frame. Lovers of commercial potpourri will definitely get their money's worth."   Indiaglitz wrote that Singam was the "king of the masses, who love action and commercial films".  A Times of India critic gave 3.5 out of 5, claiming that "even with a sleepy narration in the first 30 minutes or so, Singam is worth a watch."

Soundtrack

Singam
Soundtrack album by Devi Sri Prasad
Released	11 May 2010
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Sony Music
Producer	Devi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad chronology
Sye Aata (2010) Singam (2010) Manmadan Ambu (2010)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Behindwoods	*

The film's soundtrack, released on 11 May 2010, was scored by Devi Sri Prasad, marking his third collaboration with Suriya after Maayavi and Aaru.

No.	Title	Lyrics	singer(s)	Length
1.	"Naane Indhiran"	Viveka	Benny Dayal & Manicka Vinayagam	5:33
2.	"En Idhayam"	Na. Muthukumar	Suchitra & Tippu	4:34
3.	"Stole My Heart"	Viveka	Shaan & Megha	3:37
4.	"Kadhal Vandhale"	Viveka	Baba Sehgal & Priyadarshini	4:22
5.	"Singam"	Na. Muthukumar, Megha	Devi Sri Prasad	4:21
6.	"Stole My Heart (Unplugged)"	Hari	Shaan	2:19

See also

• Overseas Box office of Kollywood films

7aum Arivu pronunciation: Ēḻām aṟivu; Seventh Sense) is a 2011 Indian Tamil science fiction thriller film written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, featuring Suriya, Shruti Haasan in her Tamil debut and Johnny Tri Nguyen as the main antagonist. The film, produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin began production in May 2010; it was released on 25 October 2011 in Chennai and a day later, on Diwali, worldwide. The visual effects for the film were done by US based Legacy effects, making this their second Indian film after Enthiran.  7aum Arivu received mixed critical response upon release, it however opened well at the box office.  It was also dubbed into Telugu as 7th Sense which released simultaneously along with the Tamil original. The film was also one out of several films selected by the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce as the Indian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,. 

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Soundtrack
• 5 Release
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Plot

The film depicts the fictional life  of Bodhidharma (Suriya), a master of martial arts and medical remedies, who is depicted in the film as the son of a great Tamil king of the Pallava Dynasty. He is sent to China by his guru, who requests him to stop the spread of a pandemic disease existing there from spreading to India. Initially the people in China treated him as an inferior but later when he cures a little girl from the deadly disease and fights against some people who ill treated villagers there, the people of China began to respect and worship him. He begins to teach them how to cure many diseases, the skills of hypnotism and the physical training of the Shaolin monks that led to the creation of Shaolinquan. However after several years, when he expresses his desire to return to India, the villagers plot to poison him and bury him near the temple, believing that their place would be disease free if he is buried there. Bodhidharma agrees to die and subsequently becomes a fundamental figure in Chinese history, affectionately being dubbed as "Damo".
The film switches to modern-day China, where Dong Lee (Johnny Tri Nguyen) is given the task of starting a government planned biological war against India, known as Operation Red. Dong Lee arrives in Chennai starts this operation by injecting a virus into a street dog. This disease was the one which occurred during the time of Bodhidharma in China. Meanwhile Subha Srinivasan (Shruti Haasan), a student of genetics researches that Bodhidharma can be brought back to life if his sample of DNA is matched with another sample of DNA which she finds in Aravind (Suriya) a descendant of Bodhidharma who is working as a circus artist nearby. Dong Lee finds out Subha's mission to revive Bodhidharma and plans to kill her first, so that the disease cannot be stopped.
Subha approaches Aravind to start the mission, but gets romantically involved in him and forgets her duty. One day, Aravind's family see Subha and clearly remember that she visited them a year before to find Aravind and know all about him for the Bodhidharma research. Saving herself, she lies by saying that she doesn't know them. Later that night, Aravind's uncle (Ilavarasu) explains all what happened one year before when they met Subha. Aravind goes and meets Subha, and is enraged upon realising the truth. However the next day, he reconciles with Subha and agrees to contribute to the research and hence save the country. The research begins of giving life to Bodhidharma and to end Operation Red. But Dong Lee, who is capable of doing anything, does all impossibly bad things, mastered in "Nokku Varmam" (hypnotism), a martial art which was actually taught to the Chinese by Bodhidharma.
Subha goes to her genetics department and announces that Operation Red can be stopped if they read and make use of the cures in a book written by Bodhidharma. However, the department laughs and refuses to believe her, claiming that an ancient book is of no use in modern times. Disappointed, Subha leaves. After some time, Subha and Aravind find out that Subha's professor from the genetics department is assisting Dong Lee in Operation Red. They sneak into the professor's apartment and learn about the operation, without his knowledge. The next day, the professor is caught red-handed by Aravind, Subha and her friends, but surrenders and explains that he received a huge sum of money from the China government if he carried out Operation Red. After the professor gives the gang more details about Operation Red and how to stop it, they leave. However, after a while, Dong Lee arrives and the professor once again teams up with him to save his own life.
Dong Lee causes numerous havoc in the city, which Subha, Aravind and their gang barely escape. They finally locate a research centre where they can activate Bodhidharma DNA in Aravind, and decide to hide there for a few days. They all deactivate their phones so that no-one can trace them. But Dong Lee somehow traces Subha and the gang with the help of two of Subha's outside friends. However, he kills both of them afterwards. Dong Lee then locates the place of the research centre. Subha and her friends in the research centre escape in a van, but Dong Lee chases them and the van collapses. An unconscious Aravind gets beaten badly by Dong Lee at first, but then manages to regain Bodhidharma skills somehow (in spite of the sun-rays hitting him on his face which was not supposed to happen and a day before he was estimated to regain his skills). Aravind wakes up with Bodhidharma's talent and in a final fight, defeats Dong Lee. Afterwards, Aravind and Subha manage to eradicate the virus spreading. The film ends with them giving a lecture via the media, about the need to remember important histories and to teach all practices in the name of science and not god.

Cast

• Suriya as Bodhidharma and Aravind
• Shruti Haasan as Subha Srinivasan
• Johnny Tri Nguyen as Dong Lee
• Guinnes Pakru as Aravind's friend
• Ashwin Kakumanu as Ashwin
• Saahil Chitkara as Imran Saahil
• Dhanya Balakrishna as Malathi
• Misha Ghoshal as Nisha
• Avinash
• Ilavarasu as Aravind's uncle
• Abhinaya as Bodhidharma's wife
• Azhagam Perumal in a guest appearance

Production

Casting

Initial reports suggested that Suriya would play three characters; a circus artist,  a scientist and a Buddhist monk,  for a portion set in China in the 5–6th century.  However, it was clarified that the scientist's role would be performed by the female lead, Shruti Haasan,  while Suriya would play a modern day circus artist as well as Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th century. Vietnamese actor and martial artist Johnny Tri Nguyen was signed to play the antagonist,  while Kannada actor Avinash  and Abhinaya of Naadodigal fame were selected to play minor supporting roles in the film. 

Influences

Sources claimed that the film drew inspirations from Christopher Nolan's Inception. However, the director dismissed the news, reasoning that he had begun shooting much before the release of Inception. Murugadoss further denied reports that the film was a remake of the Bollywood flick Chandni Chowk to China, as both were supposed to be set in China, and that the film's concept was similar to that of the Hollywood film Perfume, confirming the script as original.  After completing the film, he emphasised that he had not been inspired or remade any film, stating that Hollywood filmmakers can "feel free to remake 7aum Arivu".

Filming

The first schedule of the film was completed in China  and those fifteen minutes of the edited film reportedly cost 150 million.  Later, some shots were canned in Trichy and later at Ampa Skywalk,   followed by the song Oh Ringa Ringa in Besant Nagar,   for which 1000 junior artists were alloted,  and a stunt sequence in Perambur. In the process, Suriya had an ankle injury due to which the shot was postponed for a period of 3 days.  Suriya trained to get a Six pack abs for a Kung Fu sequence within 16 days, following cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran's request.  Shabina Khan designed the costumes for Suriya and Shruti, staying with the team throughout the filming process in Bangkok and Hong Kong.  The song "Mun Andhi" was shot in Thailand.  Though initial reports stated that the film would feature a time machine, they were later dismissed.
The visual effects of the film were done by Legacy effects at an approximate cost of 100 million, who had made an impact in Hollywood for their work in the Terminator series, the Jurassic Park series, Aliens, the Predator series, Iron Man, Edward Scissorhands, and Avatar.

Soundtrack

7aum Arivu
Original CD cover
Soundtrack album to 7aum Arivu by Harris Jayaraj
Recorded	2011
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	30:29
Language	Tamil
Label	Sony Music
Producer	Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Force (2011) 7aum Arivu (2011) Nanban (2011)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Behindwoods
Rediff

The soundtrack, composed by Harris Jayaraj, consists of six songs including a Chinese track, sung by Chinese singer Wang Hao.  It marks the second collaboration of Jayaraj and Murugadoss after the success of Ghajini. Lyrics were penned by Madhan Karky. The audio rights of the album were bagged by Sony Music reportedly for a whopping amount.  The composition of the soundtrack took place in Singapore.  The audio was released on 22 September 2011 in Chennai Trade Centre in a grand manner.  The event was hosted by Jai and Anjali, lead pair of Murugadoss' production Engeyum Eppodhum, while Bollywood actress Isha Sharvani, Lakshmi Rai and several international artists performed on stage,  which were choreographed by Shobi.  Actors Dhanush, Karthi, Jiiva, Jayam Ravi, Vishal Krishna and Ram Charan Teja attended the function,  with Dhanush releasing the trailer.  Though initial reports said that Shahrukh Khan would appear in the launch,  it was later dismissed. IBO Events & Media Co., owned by choreographer Shobi, were the event management partners of the function.

Track listing
No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Oh Ringa Ringa"	P. Vijay	Roshan, Jerry John, Benny Dayal & Suchitra	5:34
2.	"Mun Andhi"	Na. Muthukumar	Karthik & Megha	6:14
3.	"Yellae Lama"	Na. Muthukumar	Vijay Prakash, Karthik, Shalini & Shruti Hassan	5:21
4.	"Yamma Yamma"	Kabilan	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam & Swetha Mohan	6:06
5.	"Innum Enna Thozha"	P. Vijay	Balram, Naresh Iyer & Suchith Suresan	4:58
6.	"The Rise of Damo" (Chinese song)	Madhan Karky	Hao Wang	3:16
Total length:				30:29

Critical response

The soundtrack received positive reviews. P. G. Devi from Behindwoods gave 3.5/5 and commented: "The album promises a couple of big chart-busting hits like the peppy 'Ringa Ringa', the melodious 'Mun Andhi' and the pathos-ridden 'Yamma Yamma'. Though there is a déjà vu feel all around the album, its a sure shot commercial success".  Indiaglitz stated that "the unique stamp of Harris can be felt throughout the disc, and that makes songs [...] a treat to senses", recommending it for "those who love and appreciate good music".  Pavithra Srinivasan from Rediff.com provided 2.5/5, mentioning that "it looks like Harris Jeyaraj has run out of steam. While Yemma Yemma and The Rise of Damo are appealing, the rest sound like he remixed some of his own older numbers, or chose to be inspired by other classics [...] 7aum Arivu's music does have its moments, but these are few and far between."  Prakash Upadhyaya from Oneindia.in said that the album had "variety of songs. The soundtracks will have larger appeal when it is watched".

Release

The satellite rights of the film were bagged by Sun TV.  The film was given a "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board.  The film was scheduled for a Diwali release on 26 October 2011; with producer Udhayanidhi Stalin's intervention, it was brought forward by one day, opening ahead of the other films.  Divya Pictures acquired the Kerala theatrical rights for 24 million for release in more than 100 theatres,  while Bharat Creations bought the North American rights.  In Chennai, the film released in 51 screens.  The film was the largest release in Suriya's career, opening with 1000 prints worldwide, with 400 prints in Tamil Nadu alone. The Telugu dubbed version, 7th Sense had the second largest release in Andhra Pradesh for a dubbed film by opening up in 400 screens across the state.  A special screening was shown to actor Kamal Haasan.

Critical reception

The film received mixed to positive reviews. Indiaglitz claimed that Murugadoss had made a "bold attempt" and "succeeded in it with the help of Suriya and Udhayanidhi Stalin", lauding him for "conveying a bitter truth [...] in a sugar coating", and going on to claim it to be a "winner in all his invasions".  Behindwoods described it as "technical finesse catering to commercial compulsions", giving the film 3 out of 5.  Rediff.com gave 3 out of 5, noting that it was "worth a watch" and had "severals things working for it".  Sify called the film "average", writing that "the effort of Murugadoss to make a special kind of film is laudable but seems to lack the imagination required to pull off what he set out to achieve".  Nowrunning.com rated it 3/5 stating that "a hopeful beginning makes this routine fare an absolute disappointment. This is not a bad film. You just expect better from a director like Murugadoss".

Box office

The film's theatrical distribution rights of Tamil Nadu were sold for 600 million.  It did not get the 30 percent entertainment tax waiver.  The film still took a big opening on 25 October, a day prior to Diwali. In its six-day opening weekend, the film grossed 402.5 million worldwide.  In the UK, the film made on four screens.  In Chennai, the film grossed 90 million and was declared a "hit" in Chennai by Behindwoods,  while Sify declared the film an "average grosser" at the Chennai box office.
Bharath Creations bought the rights for the USA and Canada.  The film which was sold, all versions and territories, for 900 million to its distributors and having collected only 820 million domestically, resulted in bringing minor losses for its distributors. It however became the second highest grossing Tamil film of 2011. In Malaysia, the film was released in record 53 screens. In the US, the film was released in both Tamil and Telugu in 50 screens.

Controversies

The film had driven many controversies and sparked of various debates upon release, with the most notable one being the historical inaccuracies pertaining to the character Bodhidharma. According to experts, he had travelled from India to China with a main intention of propagating Buddhism and his portrayal as a man with "medicinal knowledge" and his expertise at "martial arts" were not well received by the viewers who claimed that the film gives too much emphasis on his identity as a Tamilian rather than highlighting the other facts. The film was compared by film historian S. Theodore Baskaran with other Tamil films about history and folklore which had been historically inaccurate like Veerapandiya Kattabomman and Parthiban Kanavu.  A man named Babu T. Raghu had pointed out in a press conference that the monk was 150 years old when he reached China, while in the film they had depicted him in his 20s. He expressed his desire to debate with the film-makers, and also said that he had material evidence to prove it, while sparking off a hunger strike across the country on Bodhidharma's followers.    Other sources also reported a similar issue.
Later reports claimed that the film was very similar to the game Assassin's Creed. Some were of the opinion that the film and the game were based on the same concept, despite being different in other aspects. The film Velayudham, which had released alongside 7aum Arivu was also compared with the game.
The film was sent for CBFC certification with dummy background score and the official re-recording happened thereafter triggering protests demanding re-certification.

Maattrraan (English: The Alternate) is a 2012 Tamil action thriller film directed and co-written by K. V. Anand and produced by Kalpathi S. Aghoram. It stars Suriya who portrays conjoined twins, along with Kajal Aggarwal in lead roles while Sachin Khedekar and Tara play supporting roles.  Maattrraan released worldwide on 12 October 2012 along with a dubbed Telugu version titled Brothers, receiving positive to mixed reviews from critics.  The film was an Average at the box office because of mixed reactions from the general audience.   It has also been dubbed in Hindi under the title No. 1 Judwa.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Soundtrack
• 5 Release
• 6 Controversies
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Plot

Ramachandran (Sachin Khedekar) is a genetic scientist who doesn't get due credit and funds for his research. He tries creating a human with several talents through baby designing, which thus leads to the birth of his sons, who are conjoined together above the waist. Since they share a common heart, doctors suggest a sacrificial surgery, to which their mother Sudha (Tara) objects. They begin raising their children, Vimalan and Akhilan (both played by Suriya). In the following years, Ramachandran makes it big with the help of Sudha. His company, Locus Lacto Products, makes huge profit through their product “Energion”, the top-selling children’s powdered milk energy drink in the market.
Vimalan and Akhilan are poles apart in character, the former being decent and good at studies while the latter is care-free and poor at studies. Anjali (Kajal Aggarwal) joins their company as a translator. Both Vimalan and Akhilan fall for her. She, along with her Russian friend Volga, a journalist, spend their time with the brothers. Meanwhile, Anjali falls for Vimalan and Akhilan is happy for them. Volga is then revealed to be a spy who tries to steal the trade secrets of Energion. She is exposed and sent out by Ramachandran. She then takes the brothers to their cattle farm under the pretext of an interview where she takes pictures and even collects a milk sample from their farm. When Vimalan questions her, he is warned by her that Energion was an adulterated product and could lead to the death of thousands of children. She also exposes their father of killing the head of their R & D department and setting the lab on fire, thereby destroying evidence. Consequently, she is murdered, but, she swallows a pen-drive containing evidences of the foul-play before dying. Anjali acquires it from the person who performs Volga’s autopsy. She hands the pen-drive over to Vimalan. Following this, Vimalan and Akhilan are confronted by goons who try to get the pen-drive from him. Akhilan is convinced that the attack was only meant for robbing them. During this fight, Vimalan suffers a huge blow on the head.
Vimalan is declared brain-dead and his heart is transplanted into Akhilan. After the twins are separated through a surgery, Anjali grows closer to Akhilan. Sudha is warned that Energion is adulterated and she confronts her husband who asks the food safety department to raid their company. But to her surprise, Energion is declared safe and hygienic. Meanwhile, Akhilan discovers that his father is behind Vimalan’s death by tracking his assistant, Dinesh (Ravi Prakash). He gets hold of the pen-drive that contains several photos, where ingredients used as cattle feed at their farm are declared as no feed. The beginning of the scheme is traced back to the fictional republic of Ukvania.
Accompanied by Anjali, Akhilan sets out to solve the mystery. They get her friend Ashok’s help, but he is subsequently killed. The photos are revealed to be athletes who were competing as Unified team under the olympic flag in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The athletes were declared dead in a plane crash. The investigation leads them to the army medical research centre. The truth is then revealed that Energion was originally an undetectable steroid invented by Ramachandran to improve the performance of the athletes at the world games. Though the country performed well, some of the athletes began suffering from similar health problems leading to their deaths and that their death from a plane crash was faked to avoid national shame. They also learn that the adulterant in Energion could be detected only with the addition of ionization enhancer. After being assaulted by a local mafia led by Dinesh, Akhilan manages to kill him and takes the remedial ingredients back to India.
Once they are in India, Ramachandran is exposed and is about to be arrested. Akhilan requests his father to surrender but however, he discovers his father’s ugly side and finds out that he and his brother are just a result of their father’s failed experiment. Ramachandran also states that he used the whole society as his research lab, through Energion. His leg is then crushed by a rock after being unsuccessful in killing his son. Akhilan then leaves his father to die at the hands of rats which chew on his flesh.
Akhilan gets National recognition for bravery. He later gets married to Anjali, and the couple subsequently become parents to conjoined twins.

Cast

• Surya as Akhilan and Vimalan
• Kajal Agarwal as Anjali
• Sachin Khedekar as Ramachandran
• Tara as Sudha
• Ravi Prakash as Dinesh
• Shankar Krishnamurthy as Varadharajan
• Irina Maleeva as Volga
• Ajay Ratnam as Ajay Ratnam
• Julia Bliss as Nadia
• Isha Sharvani in a Special appearance

Production

Development

During the post-production stage of Ko, K. V. Anand announced that he would direct Suriya again after the success of Ayan, further noting that it would be produced by AGS Entertainment and would begin once Suriya finished shooting for A. R. Murugadoss' sci-fi thriller 7aum Arivu. Anand had supposedly narrated the script of Maatraan to Suriya in 2009, but the project failed to launch then, due to the lack of technology. In an interview he stated that the film was an inspired from the true story of Thailand based Siamese twins Ying and Sang. "I read an article about them, which inspired me to come up with a similar story. I imagined how would it be if two people, who are physically conjoined, completely differ in their ideologies," expressed KV Anand.

Casting

Several actresses were considered for the lead female role including Taapsee Pannu, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Sonakshi Sinha and Anushka Sharma,  with Kajal Aggarwal eventually grabbing the role.  Kannada actress Tara was signed on to play the mother to Suriya's character.  Prakash Raj was dropped from the film and was replaced by Sachin Khedekar who had played notable roles in Yaavarum Nalam and Deiva Thirumagal.  Daniel Balaji was said to be a part of the cast but he denied that he was a part of the crew.  Hindi actor Milind Soman was also wrongly reported to be working for the film.

Filming

Maattrraan was officially launched on 22 July 2011 in Chennai.   The first schedule was held near the Pakistan border. In November 2011, the crew filmed a song in Latvia.  A major portion of the film was shot in the Balkan region in countries like Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia and especially a large chunk in Latvia.   Another large portion was filmed in sets erected at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad.  In February 2012, the team left for the United States to do special facial scanning led by VFX Supervisor V. Srinivas Mohan. Maattrraan thus became the first Indian film to use performance capture technology.  Isha Sharvani performed an item number for a song titled "Theeyae Theeyae" which was shot at AVM Studios.  Furthermore, a duet song featuring Kajal and Suriya was shot at Wai, a village near Pune in Maharashtra.  Moreover, many CG scenes were shot at Balu Mahendra studios.  A song featuring over 500 junior artists and Suriya was shot in Jodhpur, touted to be the last phase of canning songs.  Next, filming for an important talkie portion was held at Bhuj in Gujarat near the safe zone along the Indo-Pakistani border that lasted for five days. K. V. Anand and cinematographer Sounder Rajan subsequently were in Madagascar, hunting for a forest location to shoot a song for the film. However, since Suriya could not afford filming there due to his other commitments, Anand decided to erect a similar set in India to create the same look as in Madagascar.  The shooting which was to be held in the US, was cancelled in June 2012.  The entire filming was wrapped up in Norway by completing the "Naani Koni" song in outdoor scenes shot at Trollstigen, Geiranger, Atlanterhavsveien, Måløy and Aurlandsfjorden. 

Soundtrack

Maattrraan
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Released	August 9, 2012
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	26:47
Language	Tamil
Label	Sony Music
Producer	Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Oru Kal Oru Kannadi (2012) Maattrraan (2012) Thuppakki (2012)

Harris Jayaraj composed the music; the soundtrack features five tracks that belong to varied genres.  As per K. V. Anand's idea, he and Jayaraj sailed on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea where most of the songs were roughly composed.
The audio rights of the film were acquired by Sony Music for 2.25 crore.  The album was launched in a grand manner on August 9, 2012 at Singapore Expo in Singapore.  The event was attended by several noted personalities from the film industry along with the technical crew and cast of the film. A live performance was given by Harris Jayaraj and singers Karthik, MK Balaji, Vijay Prakash Krish and Charulatha Mani. The event's satellite rights was bagged by Jaya TV for an undisclosed price.
The soundtrack got positive reviews from critics.IndiaGlitz wrote: "Harris Jayaraj has not disappointed, one has to say, for the music composer has equipped 'Maattrraan' with songs that make an instant impact", and called the album "an interesting treat to the fans".  In contrast, BehindWoods said "On screen, KV Anand's magic might do the trick but the songs as such aren't special. Most of them fall under the heard before category...", and gave it 2 out of 5 stars.

Tracklist
No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Rettai Kathirae"	Na. Muthukumar	Krish, MK Balaji, Mili Nair & Sharmila	4:50
2.	"Nani Koni"	Viveka	Vijay Prakash, Karthik & Shreya Ghoshal	5:26
3.	"Theeye Theeye"	Pa. Vijay	Franco, Charulatha Mani, Sathyan, Aalap Raju, & Suchitra	5:23
4.	"Yaaro Yaaro"	Thamarai	Karthik & Priya Himesh	5:35
5.	"Kaal Mulaitha Poovae"	Madhan Karky	Javed Ali & Mahalakshmi Iyer	5:31
Total length:				26:47

Release

Maattrraan was touted to become Suriya's biggest release till date. The distribution rights of the Tamil version were sold to Eros International for 60 crore (US$10 million).  Telugu distribution rights were bagged by Bellamkonda Suresh's Multi Dimensional Films for 17 crore (US$2.8 million). The rights of Karnataka and Kerala regions were acquired by Mandya Srikanth for 4 crore (US$670,000) and 3 crore (US$500,000) respectively.  The movie's overseas rights were sold for 12 crore (US$2.0 million) to Gemini Film Circuit. In France, the film was released by Aanaa Films in 14 different screens across the country.  In the US ATMUS distributed the film in 63 centers, making it the widest release of a Tamil film in the country.  The satellite rights of the film were bagged by Jaya TV. The film opened in over 1200 screens across the globe with 32 screens in Chennai city alone on 12 October 2012.
Maattrraan's official teaser was released in Chennai and simultaneously uploaded to YouTube on July 12, 2012.  The second official teaser trailer was released on August 9, 2012. During the late production stage the title was slightly changed from Maatraan to Maattrraan.  The film was censored on 3 October 2012 and it was given a clean "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board without cuts.

Critical Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Times of India
Indiaglitz
Sify
Behindwoods
OneIndia
Rediff
Nowrunning	"
Review Raja

Maattraan received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The Times of India gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, commenting that it had a "running time of close to three hours, and editor Anthony should have persevered with the director to reduce it as a lot of time is expended on scenes that could have been easily sacrificed to make it a much more compact package. Or maybe Anand also needed a Maattrraan (alternate) to step in when he lost his way".  IndiaGlitz rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars, saying that it was "worth a watch for Suriya's acting and some great groundwork done by K. V. Anand", further adding that "the second half does a shabby job of wrapping things up, but it still gives you an unique experience overall".  Sify's critic commented: "If you are looking at a time pass entertainer, walk into K. V. Anand’s Maattrraan. It is a fun ride till interval and in the second half there is a neat message told with lot of cinematic liberties. Suriya holds the film together as the script tends to waver towards the climax".  BehindWoods.com gave it 2 out of 5 stars, while stating: "There is a pattern in K. V. Anand’s films. There is a definite social message which he masquerades with commercial components and packages it interestingly. Maattrraan also follows the route and it delivers what it promises- a rich and stylish entertainer with an interesting story".  Oneindia rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, stating that it had "rare characters of conjoined twins but has a predictable story and appears like a second part of Suriya's last movie 7aum Arivu directed by A. R. Murugadoss" and that it was "good, not brilliant".
Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, concluding that it had a "great premise, great characters and actors who could have pulled off a complicated story. Sadly, the movie never capitalises on its strengths".  S. Viswanath from Deccan Herald cited that "despite its interesting theme, the film is, however, done in by its rather long running time as also painfully sluggish first half seeking to establish the plot but brimming with comic capers", summing up that it was "an ensemble entertainer but could have been much better".  Haricharan Pudipeddi of NowRunning gave the film 1.5/5 stars, stating that it "only promises the potential of Suriya, but fails to arouse interest due to its stretched second half and lacklustre narration."  The New Indian Express' critic Malini Mannath claimed that the film "with its whimsical screenplay and lackadaisical narration, turns out to be a huge disappointment", going on to add that it "smacks of overconfidence, and an utter disregard for the sense and sensibility of a viewer".  J Hurtado of Twitch Film said, "Maatraan is two decent films split down the middle with little connective tissue to bind them, not unlike its protagonists" and concluded, "See it at your own risk."
In response to most of the reviews which mainly criticized the "film being very long and dragging towards the climax", Maattrraan was re-edited to make itself "more slick and racy, to appeal to a larger section of the audience". 1 minute and 23 seconds of the first half and 19 minutes and 30 seconds of the second half were trimmed from the film. The trimmed version earned favorable response from fans, who called it "more racy and entertaining".

Box office

Maattrraan had a good opening at the domestic box office, collecting 19.15 crore (US$3.2 million) in Tamil Nadu,  with 2.27 crore (US$380,000) in Chennai alone in its opening weekend.  The film also collected 2.86 crore (US$480,000) in Kerala in the opening weekend.  The film stayed in the first position for three consecutive weeks in Chennai but was later overtaken by horror film Pizza at the box office.  The film was declared as an Above average by Behindwoods. The film is reported to have completed a 50 day run in a few theaters across Tamil Nadu.   Maattrraan collected about 90 crore (US$15 million) after 50 days, and is the second highest grossing Tamil film of 2012.  In its financial results for the quarter ending 31 December 2012, Eros also announced a domestic net of 90 crore for the film. 
Maattrraan had a good opening at the Overseas box office,  collecting 69.20 lakh (US$120,000) in the UK and 92.52 lakh (US$150,000) in the USA in the opening weekend.   The film overall collected 1.08 crore (US$180,000),  and 1 crore (US$170,000) in UK and the USA, respectively.

Accolades

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
Vijay Awards	Best Actor	Suriya	Nominated
	Best Art Director	Rajeevan	Nominated
	Best Stunt Director	Peter Hein	Nominated
	Favorite Hero	Suriya	Nominated
CineMAA Awards	CineMAA Award for Best Actor - Male (Tamil)	Suriya	Won
2nd South Indian International Movie Awards	Best Director	K. V. Anand	Nominated
	Best Actor	Suriya	Nominated
	Best Actor in a Negative Role	Sachin Khedekar	Nominated
	Best Fight Choreographer	Peter Hein	Nominated
	Best Dance Choreographer	Brinda - "Rettai Kathire"	Nominated

Maattrraan won the EME (Excellence in Media & Entertainment) award for the Best VFX in an Indian feature film category for 2012, recognized as the highest honor for Visual Effect works.

Controversies

When Maattrraan was touted to be the first Indian film based on conjoined twins, it created a stir after two other films with the same concept -Charulatha and Iruvan, were launched later. It was reported to have shared the same storyline as Charulatha, but director K. V. Anand however denied the reports and said, “After reading such reports, I watched the original version (Charulatha was based on 2007 Thai movie Alone). There isn’t any connection between the two movies, except for the fact that the protagonists are conjoined twins.”
Later reports claimed that the film was inspired by another conjoined twins-themed American film Stuck on You,  with the posters of both films also being described as similar to each other. Lead actor Suriya however denied this and said, "I have been seeing comments and links on social networking sites saying that Maattrraan is based on some world movie. Only after seeing those links, I came to know that such a film even exists!"
The film was banned in the state of Karnataka due to tension between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the Kaveri River water dispute. However, its Telugu dubbed version Brothers was allowed to be released in the state.

Singam II is a 2013 Tamil action-masala film written and directed by Hari.  A sequel to the successful 2010 film Singam, the film stars Suriya who reprises his title role along with Anushka Shetty, Hansika Motwani, Vivek and Santhanam in supporting roles. Produced by S. Lakshman Kumar, it has music and background score by Devi Sri Prasad. The film was released on 5 July 2013 along with a Telugu dubbed version titled Yamudu II to mixed reviews.   A Hindi version entitled Main Hoon Surya Singham II released later on 2 August.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Development
• 4 Soundtrack
• 5 Release
• 6 See also
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Plot

This section requires expansion. (November 2013)

The plot of the film connects with the predecessor. For more information on the predecessor's plot, see Singam

After having killed the notorious extortionist Mayil Vaaganam, Duraisingam (Suriya) has gone undercover after meeting the Home Minister and is working as an NCC officer in a school in Thoothukudi. The only people who know about this operation are the Chief Minister and Home Minister apart from himself. Sathya (Hansika Motwani) is a student who falls for Duraisingam though he is waiting to marry Kavya (Anushka Shetty), his love interest from the previous film. Susai (Santhanam), a local who works in the same school shows Duraisingam parts of Thoothukudi and also tells him about the rouge elements dominating the area helping him in his surveillance. He requests the Home Minister to transfer Erimalai (Vivek) and another cop for assisting him. Sathya's moves are frequently repulsed by Duraisingam who learns that Sathya is the niece of Thangaraj (Rahman). Bhai (Mukesh Rishi) and Thangaraj, are two criminals who control the area. Bhai and Thangaraj have connections with an international gangster and drug lord Danny (Danny Sapani).
Though they are partners in their smuggling business, they conceal their partnership to the outside world and pretend like arch rivals when they are out in the public. How Duraisingam overcomes the criminals, brings down their empire and finally unites with Kavya forms the crux of the story.

Cast

• Suriya as Durai Singam
• Anushka Shetty as Kavya
• Hansika Motwani as Sathya
• Vivek as Erimalai
• Santhanam as Susai
• Danny Sapani as Danny
• Radha Ravi as Duraisingam's father
• Nassar as Mahalingam
• Vijayakumar as The Home Minister
• Rahman as Thangaraj
• Mukesh Rishi as Bhai
• Rajendran as Saghayam
• Mansoor Ali Khan as Karim
• Thalaivasal Vijay as Sathya's father
• Manorama as Kavya's grandmother
• Sumithra as Durai Singam's mother
• Janaki Sabesh as Kavya's mother
• Anjali in the item number "Vaale Vaale"

Development

Production

Reprising their roles from the original film are Vivek, Vijayakumar, Nassar, Anushka Shetty and Radha Ravi. Hansika Motwani plays one of the female leads.  British actor Danny Sapani plays the antagonist.  The actress Anjali is also featured in an item number.  Prakash Raj did not return for the sequel, but he can be seen in clips from Singam that are intermittently featured during Singam II. The film was shot mainly in Kerala, Tuticorin, Chennai, Hyderabad, Tirunelveli and Karaikudi. The director has also filmed some of the key songs, stunts and talkie portions in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa, Malaysia as well as Kenya. Primary production began in September 2012 and lasted for seven months. It was wrapped up on 30 April 2013.

Marketing

The film's first look was officially released on 26 January 2013. The first teaser was released on 16 May on YouTube and fetched over 1 million views within three days. A second teaser was released on 5 June.  The satellite rights were sold to Sun TV for an undisclosed price. The film was premiered on Tamil television during Diwali 2013.

Soundtrack

Singam II
Soundtrack album by Devi Sri Prasad
Released	2 June 2013
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Language	Tamil
Label	Gemini Audio
Producer	Devi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad chronology
Iddarammayilatho (2013) Singam II (2013) Yevadu (2013)

Devi Sri Prasad, who had also worked on the score of Singam, returned for Singam II, marking his fourth project with both Suriya and director Hari. Bollywood singer Baba Sehgal had recorded a song in the film following the success of his "Kadhal Vandhale" number from the original.   The soundtrack was released on 2 June 2013, a day after its originally scheduled launch in a grand event attended by several celebrities.  

Reception

The soundtrack of Singam II received a tepid response from critics yet topped the charts. The song, Puriyavillai was the critical favorite.^{[citation needed]} Times of India gave the album 3/5 stars and stated that "DSP gets a foot-tapping album in Singam 2, though it sounds uncomfortably very similar to Singam."  BehindWoods gave the album 2.5 stars out of 5, stating that it is "a straight forward, nothing fancy, DSP album."  IndiaGlitz also gave it 2.5 stars in a scale of 5, concluding that the album is "strictly for the masses, targeting the masala aspect."
All lyrics written by Viveka.

Track listing
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Puriyavillai"	Swetha Mohan	4:28
2.	"Vaale Vaale"	Shankar Mahadevan	4:32
3.	"Achchamillai"	Devi Sri Prasad	3:11
4.	"Singam Dance"	Devi Sri Prasad, Baba Sehgal, Sharmila	4:19
5.	"Vidhai Pola"	Hariharan	4:48
6.	"Kannukkulle"	Javed Ali, Priya Himesh, Simon	4:19
Total length:			25:37

Release

Singam II was submitted to the Central Board of Film Certification by 26 June 2013 to receive its censorship rating  and was passed with a 'U' certificate.  The release date of the movie was confirmed as 5 July 2013.  The movie released on about 2400 screens worldwide, one of the largest releases for a Tamil film.  The movie released in a record 151 screens in Kerala  and 63 screens in USA.  The film's Telugu version was distributed by K. E. Gnanavel Raja's Studio Green.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Times of India
Indiaglitz
Sify
Behindwoods
Hindustan Times
Rediff
Rotten tomatoes
Review Raja

Singam II received mixed reviews with praise for Suriya's portrayal of Durai Singam and it's story line, and criticism towards the film's length and over-commercialism. Oneindia reviewed, "Singam 2 is a typical Hari style movie, which is routine, loud, long and racy. But he has made it an enjoyable action entertainer."  Indiaglitz gave 3 of 5 stars and wrote, "Singam 2 is everything you would look for, love, masala, sentiment, raw Action and so on, however adding a slight overdose to every single element mentioned, as a whole it almost topples over...yet watch it for Suriya."  Rediff also rated it 3 out of 5, agreeing; "the film has a lot of power-packed action sequences and the story races along with a tremendous pace keeping you engaged throughout. In spite of the number of characters in the film, the screenplay is extremely clear cut, with every role outlined beautifully. The only negative would be the length – the movie runs for almost three hours. A slightly shorter version would have created a greater impact".
Behindwoods gave a 3.25 out of 5 rating and agreed; "From the word go, Singam 2 clearly establishes that it’s fulcrum is only action and the quantity of romance, sentiment and comedy that occupied equal proportion in Singam is less here. Yet, Suriya shoulders the film big time. The sincerity and dedication of this artist is something that needs to be lauded."  Deccan Chronicle gave it the verdict: "Even if you are not a Suriya fan, Singam 2 is worth a watch. The film roars rather well."  The reviewer from MovieCrow gave the movie 2.5 out of 5 stars; "Suriya's earnestness as a doting lover, teacher, son, and cop deserves applause" but the "camera incessantly zooms, hovers, pans and never takes a break for even a moment."  Zee News commented, "the movie was directed without a soul. Suriya is the only character that makes you feel satisfied in the entire movie."  Times of India rated it 3.5 out of 5 and wrote; "If Singam was mass masala, then Singam-2 is doubly so. Hari is clear about what entertainment he wants to dole out to his audiences, and goes about delivering it unapologetically."  The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 69% approval rating from the audience with an average score of 3.8/5, based on an aggregation of 195 reviews.

Box office

Singam II had a sold-out opening with as much as 95–100% occupancy.  The movie collected 92.5 million (US$1.5 million) on its opening day in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, while the Telugu dubbed version Yamudu II collected 37.5 million (US$630,000).  The film grossed a record 500 million (US$8.4 million) on its first weekend worldwide.
It collected 200 million (US$3.3 million) in Tamil Nadu, with 27 million (US$450,000) in Chennai alone on the three-day weekend. In the UK and USA, it earned 5960000 (US$100,000) and 16 million (US$270,000) respectively on its opening weekend.  The film was declared a "Blockbuster" in Chennai by the fourth week where it earned 118 million (US$2.0 million).   And after seven weeks, the amount totalled at 133 million (US$2.2 million).   The film completed a 50 days theatrical run on 23 August 2013.
The film's Telugu version Yamudu II was an unusual success and earned 140 million in just 10 days from Andhra Pradesh.  According to Sify.com, the film ruled the Chennai Box office in the 'Top 5' position continuously for 8 weeks after its release and was declared a 'Superhit'.  It was a box-office "Hit" in Kerala as well with final earnings of about 85 million according to trade sources in the state.
It performed exceptionally well in the Malaysian market, earning around 99.8 million (US$1.7 million) within four weeks.  The film became the 3rd highest grosser in Malaysia after Enthiran and Sivaji.   The film's total business in UK after a one month run was pegged at 17.9 million.  Singam II completed 100 days in several screens across Tamil Nadu on 12 October 2013.

See also

• List of highest-grossing Indian films worldwide

Sources from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suriya