Aayirathil Oruvan (2010 film)
Aayirathil Oruvan is a 2010 Tamil-language action-adventure film written and directed by Selvaraghavan and produced by R. Ravindran. The film stars Karthi, Reemma Sen and Andrea Jeremiah in the lead with Parthiepan playing a pivotal role. It is the first instalment in the two-part series, followed by Aayirathil Oruvan 2. It revolves around three characters, Muthu, Anitha and Lavanya, who embark on an adventure to search for a missing archaeologist. It is inspired loosely by the historical decline of the Tamil Chola dynasty and the rise of the Tamil Pandya dynasty.
The film's principal photography commenced on July 2007, and continued till 2008; shooting of the film took place in various locations with 2,000 extras in areas including Chalakudy, Kerala and Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, and also filmed in Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. The title Aayirathil Oruvan is taken from the 1965 film of the same name. The cinematography was handled by Ramji and editing work is done by Kola Bhaskar. The film's background score and soundtrack album is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, replacing Selvaraghavan's usual collaborator Yuvan Shankar Raja, whom he composed for his earlier films. The soundtrack received rave critical acclaim and emerged as one of the composer's best works till date.
The film languished in development hell due to slow progress of the shoot and the extensive pre- and post-production works, evading release dates ranging one year, Aayirathil Oruvan was released during the Thai Pongal festival, on 14 January 2010. The distribution rights were bought by Ayngaran International. Though the original film length was 181 minutes, it was then trimmed to 154 minutes for the theatrical release. Upon release, the film garnered mixed reviews, but later developed a cult status over the following years. At the 58th Filmfare Awards South, the film won Best Supporting Actor award for R. Parthiepan.
Plot
In 1279 A.D., the downfall of the Chola dynasty seems imminent as the Pandyas drive the Chola people out of their kingdom in southern India. To escape them and save the life of his successor, the Chola emperor sends his son along with the Chola people to a secret territory. The refugees take along an idol sacred to the Pandyas, angering them. To capture the escaped Cholas and the stolen idol, the Pandyas extend their invasion to unexplored territories but cannot find them.Centuries later, in 2008, Indian archaeologists continue searching for the existence of the lost Chola group based on clues left by the ancient Pandyan warriors. All archaeologists who attempted to search for the secret land have disappeared. Archaeologist Chandramouli is the most recent person to have gone missing suddenly.
The Indian government organizes a search expedition led by the cruel and arrogant officer Anitha to find Chandramouli and the Chola empire; she is assisted by the Indian army led by Ravisekharan. They recruit the aloof and quiet archaeologist Lavanya, the estranged daughter of Chandramouli, because her insight is essential for the success of the expedition. She hands over crucial documents on the Chola dynasty, prepared by her father, with instructions on the route to reach the destination.
Along with the army, Anitha employs a group of porters headed by Muthu, who she and the army continually ill-treat and see as inferior, to transport the baggage during the journey. The crew embark on their voyage leading them to an island, Min-gua, near Vietnam. The island borders three countries: Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. They face seven traps set by the Cholas: sea creatures which they flee from, cannibals who cannot eat them as long as they don't look at their face, warriors whose land they invade and brutally kill, snakes, hunger, quicksand, and a village. Many porters and army men are killed by these traps, with Anitha forcing the porters to carry on despite their protests and emotionally manipulating Muthu into not retreating with his fellow porters by insulting his masculinity. She had not warned them of the dangers and treated the porters as expendable, with the army commander, approved by Anitha, forcing the porters to carry on under threat of being shot and refusing their rightful payment for services rendered.
Muthu, Anitha and Lavanya get separated from the others. They reach the ruins of a village where they are subjected to black magic and nearly go mad before reaching the secret hideout of the Chola. The three find an ethnic isolated primitive Tamil group, ruled by a Chola king. The king and his people are in hiding, awaiting the arrival of the fabled messenger who will bring glory and prosperity back to their land and lead them back to Thanjavur, their motherland. The king and the priest consult the gods for omens and order Muthu, Anitha and Lavanya to be burnt alive as sacrifices.
Anitha tells the king that she is the messenger sent from the homeland. Muthu and Lavanya are enslaved while Anitha is given a chance to prove herself. She tries to seduce and convince the Chola king to march towards the homeland in two days so he can be crowned properly as a king. He suspects her to be a false messenger since none of her actions match those described by the king's ancestors. The ancestors wrote that the messenger will be ill treated, even so he will console the destitute and finally it will rain.
Meanwhile, Anitha drugs the priest and cruelly poisons the water sources. She catches a glimpse of the Pandyas' sacred idol and leaves, finally exposing her identity as a descendant of the Pandya Dynasty. The central minister, who sponsors the expedition and Ravishekaran are also shown to be Pandyan. The Chola king is shattered for having believed in Anitha. Ravishekaran, who has escaped the traps and is the sole survivor, gets backup and a larger army after getting an information from a hypnotized follower of Anitha from the Chola kingdom. The king discovers that Muthu is the true messenger who would save the Cholas from the evil clutches of Anitha and the army. The priest gives all of his magical powers, such as invisibility and invulnerability, to Muthu and dies.
The Cholas fight bravely but eventually lose to technology and are taken prisoners. Their women are molested and raped by the army. The king is killed, and the men drown in the seas with his body. Muthu was able to escape and save the Chola Prince, giving hope that their civilisation can continue to survive despite the racist genocide at the hands of Anitha and the army.
Cast
- Karthi as Muthu, a chief coolie working at Chennai Port leading a very low-class life alongside his fellow workers. Muthu, a die-hard fan of actor M. G. Ramachandran, is taken on the journey, and is one of the final trio who are taken into the Chola kingdom.
- Reema Sen as Anitha Pandiyan, an intelligence officer who gathers a team to investigate Chandramouli's disappearance. Anitha is strong-minded, ruthless and determined but nurtures a soft feeling for Muthu during the course of the journey. The film became Reemma Sen's first attempt at parallel cinema following a series of roles in commercial projects, and her portrayal was highly appreciated by film critics.
- Andrea Jeremiah as Lavanya Chandramouli, Chandramouli's estranged daughter who also embarks on the journey to find her father. An archaeologist by profession, Lavanya becomes the quiet, tactical leader of the journey through her knowledge of the culture and the history of the Chola dynasty. She also becomes a love interest for Muthu. Andrea Jeremiah, like Karthi, appears in her second major role for the film, also singing parts of two songs which appear in the soundtrack. During the making of the film news websites linked Andrea with the director, Selvaraghavan, albeit to the pair's displeasure.
- R. Parthiepan as Chola King, successor and last of the Chola dynasty after escaping an attack from the Pandyas. The city that the Cholas lived in perished, resulting in the city becoming haunted with the Chola King, the head of the people. The images for the Chola King, not dated or named in the film, were kept under wraps prior to the movie's release. Parthiepan signed for the role after much speculation that Dhanush would be selected, and his performance won plaudits from critics.
- Pratap K. Pothen as Chandramouli, an archaeologist who went missing during a search for the Chola kingdom, prompting a manhunt. Chandramouli earlier walked out on his daughter Lavanya and is later found trapped in the Chola kingdom.
- Azhagam Perumal as Ravisekharan, who leads the army brigade in the search for Chandramouli. Known for his exploitative and violent ways, Ravisekharan develops a mutual foe in Muthu and his fellow workers.
- Crane Manohar as Muthu's uncle
Production
Development
After the reception to his 2006 gangster film, Pudhupettai, Selvaraghavan took a sabbatical to plan future projects and set up a production company, White Elephants, whose first project Idhu Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam started in November 2006. The film was co-produced by new producer R. Ravindran, and the first schedule began with Karthi, whose first film, Paruthiveeran, was awaiting release, and Sandhya. The film was stalled in early 2007 due to cinematographer Arvind Krishna's decision to leave White Elephants and the project was eventually shelved. In July 2007, Selvaraghavan announced a new film with a new team of Karthi and Reemma Sen in the cast, with Ramji replacing regular Arvind Krishna as the cinematographer. Erum Ali, wife of actor Abbas, became the team's head costume designer, whilst, Selvaraghavan's sister-in-law and Rajinikanth's daughter, Aishwarya Dhanush, was signed on as an associate director. The film was named after a popular M. G. Ramachandran film, Aayirathil Oruvan. The producer was announced to be R. Ravindran whilst Yuvan Shankar Raja was appointed as music director following five previous successful soundtracks in Selvaraghavan films. Despite early indications that the director's brother Dhanush was going to play a guest role, it became evident that the role was subsequently given to R. Parthiepan. Andrea Jeremiah was also signed for a role in the film in October 2007, in her second film after Pachaikili Muthucharam and director-actor Azhagam Perumal followed suit in November 2007.Nearly six months after filming began, Yuvan Shankar Raja left the project, because he could not spend as much time on this film as Selvaraghavan wanted. Subsequently, the role of the music director was handed to G. V. Prakash Kumar, for whom Aayirathil Oruvan became his biggest project to that point. Rambo Rajkumar, the film's stunt director, died in April 2009 and was posthumously praised for his action choreography. The film's music released two months later to much appraisal in a well-held audio release function. Soon after the filming finished, the lead actors moved onto other projects as did Selvaraghavan whilst post-production continued. In August 2009, Selvaraghavan divorced his wife, Sonia Agarwal with his close proximity to Andrea being a speculated cause. During the period, G. V. Prakash Kumar and Selva also worked on the music in Mumbai whilst re-recording was also held in Austria and London.
Filming
After extensive development and pre-production which took four months for scripting, the film started the first schedule in the forests of Chalakudy in Kerala with Karthi, Reemma Sen and Andrea during October 2007. The project developed a reputation for its gruelling shoots, a novel concept in Tamil films, at an early stage of production. Thirty-five days into the shoot, Selvaraghavan gave a statement that the film was forty percent over and the film should release by May 2008 whilst also mentioning that rains in Kerala led to the budget going over expectations two months into the project. In January 2008, the unit moved to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to shoot in the deserts in the region, however they were delayed again by unseasonal rains. Missing its original release date, the film's progress carried on through 2008, with shooting occurring towards the end of the year inside sets at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. In the studios, choreographer Shivshankar composed a classical dance for Reemma Sen and Parthiepan, and the sequence was shot over twenty days. Shooting carried on in sets for three more months with second half scenes being recorded. Shoots in all regions were tough and demanding for the crew as the film featured more than three thousand junior artistes from a variety of unions across India, with the language barrier becoming a problem. The project, eighteen months into shoot, soon began to face questions about its progress, with the producer, Ravindran, having to complain to the Tamil Film Producers Council that Karthi was trying to change his look for his next film, Paiyaa, following the long period he had spent with Aayirathil Oruvan. In February 2009, filming was completed after 263 days of shooting; therefore the producers signaled for a summer release but it was postponed by six months.When inquired by the media in regard to the long periods of shoot, whilst in production, the lead actor expressed that they were also unaware of how long the film's shoot was going to carry on. Reemma Sen originally signed for forty days whilst Andrea signed for three months, without knowing that the film would eventually take 263 days of filming. Furthermore, Parthiepan claimed to have been signed for forty days, whilst his segment lasted up to 140 days.
Aayirathil Oruvan languished in development hell due to slow progress of the shoot and the extensive pre- and post-production works, evading release dates ranging one year. Shooting began in July 2007, and took place in various locations with 2,000 extras in areas including Chalakudy, Kerala and Jaisalmer, Rajasthan amongst other regions throughout India.
Music
The film was announced in 2007 with Selvaraghavan's regular music director, Yuvan Shankar Raja, following five successive successful albums together. However, Yuvan Shankar Raja was ousted from the project in March 2008 due to differences of opinion. Subsequently, G. V. Prakash Kumar was signed on and work for the soundtrack began again from scratch. The number "Adada", the only song composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja for the film, was removed after his departure and instead used in Sarvam,. AsSelvaraghavan had already filmed the visuals for that song, Prakash Kumar had to match the visuals and the choreography."Un Mela Aasadhan", composed by Prakash Kumar, as a replacement for "Adada" was noted for sounding similar to "Adada" from the movie Sarvam.
The album features ten tunes; six songs, two alternate versions and another two theme songs. The album featured vocals from singers Karthik, Vijay Yesudas, Bombay Jayashri, Nithyasree Mahadevan and P. B. Sreenivas, who made a comeback to playback singing with his song. Moreover, Dhanush and Aishwarya sung for the album along with the composer, Prakash Kumar and Andrea Jeremiah. Lyrics for the songs were written by Vairamuthu, Veturi Sundararama Murthy, Selvaraghavan and Andrea Jeremiah. For a song set in the thirteenth century, research was carried out to find instruments used during that period. A Yaazh, a melodic instrument used in the Sangam Period, and a horn, a brass instrument made from animal horns from Bhutan, were used.
The soundtrack to Aayirathil Oruvan was released on 4 November 2009 at a University Auditorium in Chennai, in a critically praised event. Prominent film personalities across the South Indian film industry attended the launch, which became one of the first films to play live music at the audio launch. It featured live performances from G. V. Prakash Kumar and Andrea Jeremiah for several songs, as well as songs from Dhanush and Aishwarya Dhanush. Furthermore, the night featured a fashion show from Erum Ali, a Kalari performance, Chenda Melam by women from Kerala, a classical dance performance by actress Poorna and choreographed by Sivashankar. The soundtrack garnered critical acclaim and was considered Prakash Kumar's finest work to date. Furthermore, shortly after the music release, an album success meet was held on 20 November 2009.
In the film, only five songs from the album are used in their entirety. Moreover, one song in the film, not included in the soundtrack, is the original version of "Atho Andha Paravai" from the 1965 film Aayirathil Oruvan, which was bought from the original copyright holders of the song in December 2007. The film's picturisation of the three exploring the ruins of the fallen kingdom in the song, were praised.