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Aadukalam

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Aadukalam
Theatrical release poster
Directed byVetrimaran
Screenplay byVetrimaaran
Additional screenplay:
Vikram Sugumaran
Story byVetrimaaran
Dialogues byVetrimaaran
Vikram Sugumaran
Produced byS. Kathiresan
Starring
CinematographyVelraj
Edited byKishore Te.
Music byG. V. Prakash Kumar
Production
companies
  • Group Companys
  • Five Star Films
Distributed bySun Pictures
Release date
  • 14 January 2011 (2011-01-14)
[1]
Running time
160 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹10 crore[2]
Box office₹30 crore[3][a]

Aadukalam (pronunciationⓘ; transl. Playground) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language drama film[5] directed by Vetrimaran, produced by S. Kathiresan and distributed by Sun Pictures. The film stars Dhanush in the lead role, alongside Taapsee Pannu (in her Tamil debut), Kishore, V. I. S. Jayapalan, Naren Narayanan, and Murugadoss. G. V. Prakash Kumar composed the film score and soundtrack.

The film was released on 14 January 2011 to critical acclaim, with critics praising the screenplay, direction and performances (particularly of Dhanush, Jayapalan and Naren). The film won six awards at the 58th National Film Awards, including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor.[6] The film also won five awards at the 59th Filmfare Awards South – Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Music Director and Best Cinematography. Based on an online poll by The Times of India, Vetrimaran was chosen as the best director for Aadukalam.

Plot

[edit]

In Madurai, veteran rooster trainer Periyasamy aka "Pettaikaaran" and Madurai Central Police Inspector Rathnaswamy are tough competitors in cockfights, and it is often Pettai who wins because nobody knows his way of maintaining the quality of the birds. Rathnasamy and Pettai were once protegees of grand veteran Doraisamy, who has retired from active competition but is considered as the honorary overlord of rooster fighting in South Tamil Nadu.

K. P. Karuppu and Durai are the favourites in Pettai's team. Karuppu is very talented in breeding and training roosters, while Durai is very rich, owns three bars in the town of Thiruparankundram, and is talented in rooster training. One day, during an informal match in rural field area, local police raid the spot and arrest most of the involved, except Rathnaswamy and Durai who escapes. Everyone is released after stern warning from the local police, after intervention of Rathnasamy. Pettaikaran's roosters were abducted by the fleeing men from Rathnasamy's party, and Pettaikaran orders his guys to bring them back by any means. He also asks them to kill any fowl which has bred with his roosters, to prevent the strength of his roosters passing to Rathnasamy's flock. Karuppu goes to the railway colony at night, to retrieve their rooster, since an ally of Rathnasamy lives there. He kills the fowl which had mated with their rooster, and bumps into Anglo-Indian girl named Irene. He is smitted by her beauty, but silences her and leaves.

Having been defeated in all earlier bouts with Pettaikaran's roosters, Rathinasamy keeps insisting on having one last fight to win and satisfy his old mother's wish, but Pettai declines to have any more fights with him because he feels that Rathnaswamy has lost faith in his roosters and will be using nefarious methods to win, like the earlier raid.

Karuppu falls in love with Irene, who dislikes him. He does not recognize this initially and keeps following her. One day, the residents of Irene's colony confront him and ask Irene to tell who she is in love with – Karuppu or Dinesh, another man in the locality. She points her finger at Karuppu, and he goes into rapture. She explains later that she had to lie in order to avoid Dinesh, who has been bothering her for a long time. Later, Irene too falls in love with Karuppu.

Meanwhile, Rathnasamy tries to cajole Ayub, Pettai's veterinarian for roosters, to get Pettai to come for a competition against himself, in exchange for a heavy amount. Ayub refuses and insults Rathnasamy. The same night, Ayub is killed in a hit and run accident. Durai initially suspects Rathnaswamy and all of Pettai's gang wants revenge, but Pettai decides to conduct a state tournament in Ayub's name and provide his family with funds so that Ayub's poor daughters can be married. He asks permission from Rathnasamy as the police have to permit it, but Rathnaswamy refuses, manhandles, and berates Pettai as a thief. In a rage, Pettai, suspecting Rathnaswamy of the murder, agrees to the one-on-one rooster fight that Rathnaswamy has been asking for so long. He bets that he will field his roosters against every rooster that Rathnaswamy brings to the field in the following tournament, and even if one of Pettai's roosters loses against Rathnaswamy's, Pettai will tonsure his head and face, publicly apologize to him, and will quit rooster fights. If Rathnaswamy is not able to beat at least one of his roosters, the same conditions will be applied on him, at the end of the day. Finally getting his way, Rathnaswamy permits the tournament.

The grand state tournament is arranged by Pettai's team, getting heavy funds and official permission. In the initial 11 fights, Rathnasamy's roosters are defeated by Pettai's. Rathnasamy brings high-bred roosters from Bangalore and enters them into the tournament. Seeing the quality of the new roosters, Karuppu asks Pettai to let his rooster fight, but Pettai puts his rooster down and says that he will choose the best-competing rooster himself. Karuppu surreptitiously enters the contest as Pettai's team before Pettai can choose the rooster because he needs to repay Irene for the loan he took to prepare his rooster for the fight. Pettai does not believe in Karuppu and his rooster announces that Karuppu will not represent Pettai, and the result of Karuppu's match will not be acknowledged by his team. However, the 'underdog' emerges victorious in three consecutive rounds, despite facing roosters spiked with steroids. Karuppu gets the best coach award of the tournament and his bet money of ₹10 lakh (equivalent to ₹21 lakh or US$25,000 in 2023).

While initially happy that Karuppu won, Pettai is soon overcome with anger and jealousy. His ego is hurt by the fact that Karuppu earns both popularity and money, by refuting his judgement. Karuppu is not aware of the changes in Pettai's mind. Pettai is at first refusing to speak to anyone and then starts scheming. Karuppu gives Pettai the money from the competition for safekeeping, which he plans to use to start a business, but it goes missing. Pettai also starts spinning stories about his associates and makes everyone suspicious of each other. He incites Karuppu and Durai into pitting their roosters in a fight. Meanwhile, Karuppu's mother dies from the shock of losing all the money. Pettai poisons Durai's roosters, making him suspect Karuppu, who is arrested for this. Pettai then lies to Irene that his wife was in an adulterous relationship with Karuppu. Irene's family also pressures her to move to Chennai, which pushes her into attempting suicide. Pettai, meanwhile, calls Karuppu to a location near a temple and informs Durai about his whereabouts. When Irene recovers, she calls Karuppu and informs him that Pettai is badmouthing him, so Karuppu goes to find Pettai and confront him. Karuppu finds that Pettai was the one who stole his money, and a guilt-ridden Pettai kills himself. Karuppu does not wish to reveal the fact to the public that Pettai stole his money and schemed against him, so he flees with Irene to start a new life in another city, leaving the money with his friend.

Cast

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Production

[edit]

Development

[edit]

A lot of research has gone into the script. I was born and brought up in Chennai and to learn new things, I had to unlearn many. I went to Madurai with a script in mind, but I had to change the script to accommodate reality. To make my film authentic, we have cast people who belong to the sub-cult. I even share credits for scriptwriting with Vikram Sukumaran [sic], who hails from Madurai.

— Vetrimaaran in an interview with V. Lakshmi of The Times of India.[9]

Following the success of their 2007 collaboration Polladhavan, the entire team of that film — director Vetrimaaran, lead actor Dhanush, producer S. Kathiresan, and music director G. V. Prakash Kumar — collaborated again for Aadukalam.[10] Vetrimaaran spent a period of two years in Madurai to understand the local dialect and lifestyle of the people living there. Aadukalam was the first film of Vetrimaaran to have a production office set up outside of Chennai.[9] Vetrimaaran took a year to complete the screenplay, script, and dialogues for Aadukalam and held a bounded script for the venture, which is considered rare in Tamil films.[10][11] Vetrimaaran narrated only half of the film's script to Dhanush before the latter was impressed with it and agreed to act in the film.[10] The film was initially titled Seval, but since the rights to the title were already taken by director Hari for his project with Bharath, Vetrimaaran decided to rename his film as Aadukalam.[12] Vetrimaaran revealed that the idea of the story was inspired from several international films such as, Caché, Amores perros, Babel, Tamil films Thevar Magan, Virumaandi, Paruthiveeran and novels Roots: The Saga of an American Family and Shantaram, which mentioned during the end credits.[13][14]

Casting

[edit]

Shriya Saran was signed on for the project in February 2008 but eventually pulled out citing schedule conflicts.[10][15] In April 2008, it was reported that Dhanush too had walked out of the project due to schedule issues, and that Silambarasan was set to replace him.[16] However, Dhanush remained and continued with the film.[10] Subsequently, in June 2009, Trisha Krishnan, who was selected to replace Saran for the role of Irene, was forced to opt out of the project after her schedule clashed with the allotted dates for her other films, Namo Venkatesa (2010) and Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010).[10][17][18] Newcomer Taapsee Pannu, a Punjabi software engineer, was named as her replacement.[10][19] Sri Lankan Tamil writer and political commentator V. I. S. Jayapalan portrayed the role of Karuppu's mentor, Pettaikaran, thereby making his debut in Tamil cinema.[20] Attakathi Dinesh makes a small cameo in the film as Dinesh, Karuppu's nemesis when it comes to winning Irene's love.[21] Murugadoss plays Karuppu's friend Oole while Naren appears as Rathnasamy who is also Pettaikaran's rival in cockfighting.[1]

Filming

[edit]

Principal photography began in Madurai in February 2009 with scenes featuring Dhanush being shot.[10][11] The first look of the film was released shortly after the commencement of filming. It featured a series of promotional posters depicting the characters played by Dhanush, Jayapalan and Kishore.[22] During early stages of production, Dhanush revealed he would play the role of a local cockfighter named K. P. Karuppu, and described the venture as his "dream project".[23] The cockfight sequences that take place before intermission was filmed for 26 days in a set created by art director Jacki.[12] Filming was completed in August 2010.[10] In addition to being shot in Madurai, some portions were also filmed in Thiruparankundram. The cockfights were filmed using computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Post production

[edit]

The post-production works on the cockfight sequences delayed the film's release.[10] The voices for Kishore, Taapsee, and Jayapalan were dubbed by Samuthirakani, Andrea Jeremiah and Radha Ravi respectively.[12]

Music

[edit]
Main article: Aadukalam (soundtrack)

G. V. Prakash Kumar's soundtrack consists of seven tracks including two rap numbers performed by Malaysian Tamil rapper Yogi B. It was released by Sony Music and the audio was launched at a small function at Lady Aandal School auditorium in Chennai on 1 December 2010.[24] The song Yathe Yathe topped the charts and remained in the No.1 position for nearly five weeks.[3]

Reception

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Critical reception

[edit]

The film received critical acclaim from critics and audiences, praising the direction, screenplay and performances (particularly Dhanush, Jayapalan and Naren) and music. Sify called it "a gutsy and brilliant film" and mentioned that it " lives up to the expectation that the film carried and the credit goes to Vetrimaran whose research and hard work shows on screen".[25] Behindwoods wrote "Aadukalam is an attempt that requires appreciation where the director has hacked his way through the path less trodden with aplomb".[26] Karthik Subramanian of The Hindu praised the film stating that "The detailing of every characters in the story is intricate. The narrative moves like a good novel where the first few chapters are all about etching and detailing the players, and the plot and the action unfold much later".[27] Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com called it "one of Dhanush's best works to date".[28] Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan rated the film with 44 marks and mentioned that "This arena is new for presenting cultural nuances of a region and changes in human emotions beautifully".[12]

Box office

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Made on a budget of ₹10 crore (equivalent to ₹21 crore or US$2.5 million in 2023) including the promotional costs,[29] the film collected around ₹30 crore (equivalent to ₹62 crore or US$7.4 million in 2023) at the box-office and was declared a "hit".[12] At the Chennai city box office, the film ran for more than eight weeks in theatres and had collected over ₹3.43 crore (equivalent to ₹7.1 crore or US$850,000 in 2023) in Chennai.[30] The film had a theatrical run of 50 weeks in 4 theatre centres.[31]

Accolades

[edit]
Main article: List of accolades received by Aadukalam

Aadukalam won six awards at the 58th National Film Awards ceremony, thereby sharing the record with Kannathil Muthamittal (2002) for the most National Film Awards won by a Tamil film.[32] It won awards under the Best Direction (Vetrimaaran), Best Actor (Dhanush), Best Screenplay (Original) (Vetrimaaran), Best Editing (Kishore Te) and Best Choreography (Dinesh Kumar) categories with a Special Jury Award being presented to V. I. S Jayapalan.[33] The film was nominated in seven categories at the 59th Filmfare Awards South, winning Best Film – Tamil (S. Kathiresan), Best Director – Tamil (Vetrimaaran), Best Actor – Tamil (Dhanush), Best Music Director – Tamil (G. V. Prakash Kumar), and Best Cinematographer (Velraj).[34][35] At the 6th Vijay Awards, it was nominated in twenty-two categories and won in five, including Entertainer of the Year (Dhanush), Best Director (Vetrimaaran) and Best Music Director (G. V. Prakash Kumar).[36][37] Among other wins, the film received seven Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards,[38] four South Indian International Movie Awards,[39][40] three Mirchi Music Awards,[41][42][43] and one Norway Tamil Film Festival Award, Chennai International Film Festival Award, and Chennai Times Film Award each.[44][45][46][47]

Notes

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  1. ^ The average exchange rate in 2011 was 51.10 Indian rupees (₹) per 1 US dollar (US$).[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Dhananjayan 2014, p. 512.
  2. ^ Bhavanishankar, Jyothsna (21 December 2010). "Vetrimaran Interview". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 14 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  3. ^ a b "After Bollywood, Sony Music taps Tamil movie market". The Economic Times. 9 February 2011. Archived from the original on 13 February 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  4. ^ "Rupee vs dollar: From 1990 to 2012". Rediff.com. 18 May 2012. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Aadukalam". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 22 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022. AADUKALAM is a Tamil language drama set in a rural town with a long and thriving tradition of rooster fighting.
  6. ^ "'Aadukalam sees Dhanush in his best performance'". 31 May 2011. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  7. ^ Bhaskaran, Gautaman (3 February 2011). "Gautaman Bhaskaran's review: Aadukalam". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  8. ^ "ஆட்டுக்குட்டியை ஆட்டை போட்டவர் இவர்தான்! - Kungumam Tamil Weekly Magazine". Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  9. ^ a b Lakshmi, V. (16 November 2010). "'Aadukalam is a contemporary film'". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Dhananjayan 2014, p. 513.
  11. ^ a b "Dhanush starts work on Aadukalam". Sify. 24 February 2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  12. ^ a b c d e Dhananjayan 2014, p. 514.
  13. ^ George, Liza (28 July 2011). "Journey of the mind". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Inspiration vs Copies in Tamil Cinema". www.moviecrow.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Dhanush & Shriya team up!". Sify. 1 February 2008. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  16. ^ "Simbu in arch rival Dhanush's shoes". Oneindia Entertainment. 18 April 2008. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  17. ^ "Will Trisha do Aadukalam?". Sify. 27 June 2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  18. ^ Pillai, Sreedhar (28 June 2009). "Has Trisha opted out of Aadukalam?". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  19. ^ "Dhanush gets a Punjabi kudi as heroine". Sify. 30 September 2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  20. ^ "Jayabalan debuts in Kollywood". The Times of India. 26 February 2009. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  21. ^ S., Venkadesan (16 August 2012). "'Theatre made me an actor'". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  22. ^ "Aadukalam". Sify. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  23. ^ Pillai, Sreedhar (28 July 2009). "Yatra is my lucky mascot: Dhanush". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  24. ^ "Aadukalam audio launch on Dec 1". Sify. 29 November 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  25. ^ "Aadukalam-Review". Sify. Archived from the original on 14 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  26. ^ "Aadukalam Movie Review". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  27. ^ Subramanian, Karthik (22 January 2011). "'Aadukalam': Fascinating shades of grey". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  28. ^ Srinivasan, Pavithra (14 January 2011). "Aadukalam is impressive". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  29. ^ G, Sai Shyam (19 January 2011). "Script's a winner". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  30. ^ "Aadukalam box office collection". www.behindwoods.com. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  31. ^ "Aadukalam hits a century!". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  32. ^ Dhananjayan 2014, p. xvi, introduction.
  33. ^ "58th National Film Awards for 2010 announced". Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  34. ^ "59th Idea Filmfare Awards South (Winners list)". Filmfare. 9 July 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  35. ^ "The 59th Idea Filmfare Awards 2011(South)". The Times of India. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  36. ^ "6th Annual Vijay Awards: Complete list of winners". CNN-IBN. 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  37. ^ Vijay Awards 06/30/12. Chennai: YouTube. 30 June 2012. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  38. ^ "Vikatan Awards 2011". Ananda Vikatan. India Malaysia Online. Archived from the original on 16 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  39. ^ Manigandan, K. R. (28 June 2012). "The South Shines". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  40. ^ "SIIMA Awards: 2011 Winners". South Indian International Movie Awards. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  41. ^ "Mirchi Music Awards Background". Radio Mirchi. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  42. ^ "Mirchi Music Awards Winners". Radio Mirchi. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  43. ^ "Mirchi Music Awards Listener's Choice". Radio Mirchi. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  44. ^ Srinivasan, Meera (23 December 2011). "Spotlight on pen-camera relationship". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  45. ^ "The Chennai Times Film Awards 2011". The Times of India. 22 June 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  46. ^ "NTFF 2011: Festival Program 20th-25th April". Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards. 1 April 2011. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  47. ^ "Tamilar Awards 2011 – Winners of the year". Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards. 25 April 2011. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.

Sources

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