Arrambam

Arrambam
First look poster
Directed by	Vishnuvardhan
Written by	Vishnuvardhan Subha
Produced by	A. Raghuram
Starring	Ajith Kumar Arya Nayantara Taapsee Pannu
Cinematography	Om Prakash
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Music by	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production company	Sri Satya Sai Movies
Release date	31 October 2013 (2013-10-31)
Running time	157 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Arrambam ([Beginning] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a 2013 Indian Tamil action thriller film directed by Vishnuvardhan. Produced by A. Raghuram and co-written by Subha, the film will feature Ajith Kumar, Arya, Nayantara and Taapsee Pannu in lead roles. While the score and soundtrack of the film were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, the cinematography was handled jointly by P. S. Vinod and Om Prakash and editing by A. Sreekar Prasad.

Following pre-production works for six months and the official announcement of the project in May 2012, filming commenced in June 2012 and was held for the next 15 months. The majority of filming took place in Mumbai, where the story unfolds, while other shooting locations include Chennai, Bangalore, Dubai, Hyderabad, Mahabaleshwar, Jaisalmer, Leh and Ladakhs. The film was not titled until it entered post-production and was mostly referred to as Thala 53 or Valai, a supposed working title. Arrambam released on 31 October 2013, coinciding with the festival of Diwali.

Cast

• Ajith Kumar as Ashok
• Arya
• Nayantara
• Taapsee Pannu
• Rana Daggubati
• Mahesh Manjrekar
• Atul Kulkarni
• Suman Ranganathan as Ramya
• Kishore
• Akshara Gowda as Deeksha
• Krishna
• Prashant Nair
• Lee Whittaker

Production

In September 2011, producer A. M. Rathnam stated that he would produce Ajith Kumar's next film after Billa II, which was touted to begin by December 2011. Vishnuvardhan, whom Ajith Kumar had worked with in Billa, was the front-runner to direct the film, although certain media sections also suggested that Rathnam may rope in director Shankar to make a sequel to his 1996 vigilante film Indian. The claims were refuted by a source close to Ajith Kumar. In January 2012, Rathnam informed that he had signed Ajith Kumar and director Vishnuvardhan for his next film, while the director himself confirmed later that he was "undoubtedly directing Ajith’s next flick". A press release published by A. M. Rathnam in May 2012 officially announced the project and listed the cast and crew members. According to the press release, the film would be produced by A. Raghuram on behalf of Sri Satya Sai Movies, while Rathnam would supervise it.

Subsequently speculation arose that Vishnuvardhan may remake his own 2011 Telugu action thriller Panjaa, or the Bollywood action flick Race, but the director clarified that he would not remake either film. Writer-duo Subha joined the team and worked on the script and dialogues. According to a "close source from the production house", a remake of Race was planned initially, as there was not much time to write a fresh script, but after Subha's entry into the team, the idea was scrapped and work on an original script began, with the writers telling that they took "nearly three months to come out with the sketch". In an early interview during the scripting phase, Vishnuvardhan opened up about the film that he was planning to work "on a drama, more on family action drama". Upon completion of the film, he made clear that the film was not a gangster film, and labelled it as an "action drama", further adding that it was a "fictional story based on a real incident". Vishnuvardhan also said that work on the story began only after he was signed on to direct a film with Ajith Kumar. Ajith Kumar continued the "salt and pepper look" from Mankatha, as he would play a "mature guy", and underwent supervised weight-training, working out at the gym for six hours a day. The actor later disclosed that he played a "mean guy ... a politically incorrect character" while adding that the film would have a "strong social message". Vishuvardhan opened up that Ajith would play an officer in the cyber crime department of the country. Closer to the film's release, the director revealed that Ajith would have "two faces in the film".

The film was started without a title and remained untitled for over 15 months, during which it was widely referred to as Thala 53 in the media, denoting Ajith Kumar's 53rd film. A teaser trailer released in May 2013 on YouTube did not feature a title either. The makers had tossed with the idea of naming the film Thala, Ajith Kumar's nickname, which was refused by the actor, while Vishnuvardhan also requested fans to suggest a suitable title. Several false titles including Surangani, and Paravai went around in the media, and in January 2013 "A source in the know" stated that the title was Valai, after one of the writers, Suresh, had tweeted that the title begins with a 'V'. Although not officially confirmed, the film was henceforth referred to as Valai by the media. At Anna University’s Gateway 2013 Short Film Festival by the Department of Media Sciences in April 2013, Vishnuvardhan revealed that the film was not titled Valai, adding that two titles were under consideration. On 24 July 2013, Arrambam was unveiled as the film's official title. The dubbed Telugu version was titled Aata Arambham.

Casting

Vishnuvardhan told that he was looking for an actress who could speak Tamil properly to be cast for the lead female role, with Anushka Shetty and Amala Paul being among the considered candidates. Although he wanted a "fresh pairing for Ajith", the director eventually selected Nayantara, who had earlier worked with both Ajith Kumar and Vishnuvardhan in Billa. Several media sections carried reports that Vishnuvardhan's brother Kreshna would be signed for a parallel role in the film, but the role went to Arya, who had been part of four Vishnuvardhan directorials. Several sources claimed that Arya may play an antagonistic role, which Vishnuvardhan did not comment on but he informed that Arya's role in the film was that of a hacker.

Bengali actress Richa Gangopadhyay was supposed to play the second female lead, but was replaced with Taapsee Pannu, who stated that she played a journalist, a "very lively character, who is always on the go". It was then reported that Arvind Swamy and Prithviraj Sukumaran would play pivotal roles, and that Telugu actors Akkineni Nagarjuna, Ravi Teja and Jagapathi Babu would have cameo appearances in the film; however none of the actors had any roles in the film. By late May, Hindi actor Mahesh Manjrekar was finalized for the role of a villain in the film, stating that he would be shooting for it from August onwards. The next month, Suman Ranganathan was cast for the role of Ramya, a "hard-nosed reporter", making a comeback to Tamil cinema after 17 years. Telugu actor Rana Daggubati was signed to do a "special appearance" in the film, and took part in the shooting in Mumbai; he completed his part in June 2013. It was reported that the 2008 Mumbai attacks would be part of the storyline, which would feature Rana's portion. Kishore joined the cast in July 2012 to enact an Anti-terrorist squad member, claimed to be a prominent role in the film. Akshara Gowda stated that she was also part of the film, while Prashant Nair informed that he had a small role in Valai.

Vishnuvardhan's norm composer Yuvan Shankar Raja was roped in to compose the film score. Stephen Richter who was one of the stunt coordinators in Ajith Kumar's Billa II was hired to choreograph stunts in this film, too. Besides Richter, Lee Whittaker, who has worked in Hollywood films, and Kecha designed several stunts sequences. Sunil Babu was initially called in as the art director but opted out later, with Ilaiyaraja taking his place. Vishnuvardhan's wife Anu Vardhan, who had worked on all of her husband's film, was in charge of costume designing in this film as well. Nirav Shah was approached to work as the cinematographer, but as he was busy with other commitments, P. S. Vinod, who had filmed the director's previous film Panjaa, was recruited. Vinod was later replaced by Om Prakash.

Filming

Principal photography of the film was to begin on Chennai on 31 May 2012, but started with a slight delay on 2 June 2012 with portions involving Nayantara and Arya, while Ajith Kumar joined them a day later. The filming was expected to proceed until the end of the month in Mumbai, but was later cancelled due to monsoon and the location was shifted to Bangalore. and later in Hyderabad. On 7 September, during the second schedule, Taapsee Pannu joined the crew and began shooting her portions. For a fight scene, which was shot between 8 pm and 8 am the next day, Ajith spent several hours hanging upside down. During the next schedule that started on 2 November 2012, filming was held in Mumbai and its suburban locations. While shooting an action sequence, Ajith Kumar injured his leg while jumping from one car to another, suffering an ligament tear. Despite his injuries, Ajith Kumar continued shooting. Vishnuvardhan later revealed that it was Arya who drove the car when Ajith hurted his legs during the stunt scene. In late December a short shooting schedule was held in Chennai, during which a fight sequence featuring Ajith and Arya was shot.

The team returned to Mumbai a third time for a 15-day schedule on 1 January 2013, with scenes involving Arya, Nayantara and Taapsee being filmed in the Bandra area of Mumbai in the first week and Ajith Kumar's part in the latter part of the schedule. The crew left for Dubai on 11 February 2013, where Ajith filmed a boat sequence for the film, which was choreographed by Hollywood stuntman Lee Whittaker. After finishing the boat scene, he tweeted, "Finished amazing boat sequence here in Dubai! Ajith was absolutely amazing! Couldn't have done it without his skills!" Stills of Ajith Kumar riding a Ducati Diavel in Dubai also circulated in the Internet. In March 2013, Ajith, Arya and Nayantara shot a holi song featuring both Tamil and Hindi lyrics at a studio in Mumbai, which was choreographed by Dinesh. The crew will be shooting the last schedule in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan from 1 May onwards, after which the unit was reported to be moving to Orissa, where a song and a few scenes were to be shot. It was followed by filming in Madhya Pradesh, Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra. The climax scenes were filmed by mid-May in Kullu Manali in Himachal Pradesh. The schedules were finished in July 2013, following which patch work remained. On 20 August 2013, another schedule was started in Chennai. The entire filming was completed in early October 2013 with the last day shoot held in a Mumbai mall featuring Ajith and Arya.

Cinematographer Om Prakash stated that he wanted to give the visuals a "green tint because the colour ‘green’ is commonly associated with prosperity and knowledge". He also added that some scenes featuring Ajith were intendedly shot so that the audience would see both him and his reflection and that hand-held cameras were used to shoot those scenes from close "not because it would look fancy, but the script demanded such an approach". He described the speed boat stunt where Ajith Kumar performed a 180 degree turn at high speed as risky and "scary" as he filmed the entire scene seated at the front of the boat.

Post-production works on the film started by mid 2013, and were carried out simultanesouly with the shoot. Rekhs worked on the subtitles of the film. By September 2013, the actors were dubbing for their roles in Mumbai. In October 2013, Yuvan Shankar Raja was working on the re-recording, while Digital intermediate works were in the "final stages".

Music

Main article: Arrambam (soundtrack)

Yuvan Shankar Raja was signed on to compose the film's soundtrack and score, continuing his association with director Vishnuvardhan and actor Ajith Kumar. The soundtrack album consists of five tracks; notably a theme music track was not included, which was composed only later during the re-recording. Pa. Vijay penned the lyrics for all songs. It was released directly to stores on 19 September 2013 and opened at number one on iTunes India after its release at midnight, which, according to Sify, "no Tamil album has done before". It also received positive reviews from critics.

Marketing

On 1 May 2013, coinciding with Ajith Kumar's birthday, a 42-second teaser trailer was uploaded on YouTube, which indicated that the film was untitled. The teaser crossed 1 million hits within 2 days' time. Making-of clips of the film were telecast on Jaya TV on 15 August 2013, during which the official logo design of Arrambam was also revealed.

The film's theatrical trailer was released along with the music album on 19 September 2013. The video received a positive response and reached the 1 million hits mark on YouTube within two days.

Release

In early September 2013, producer A. M. Ratnam officially announced that the film would release for the Diwali festival. It was advanced by two days as the makers wanted the film to release on a Thursday. On October 18, 2013 the film received a U (Universal) rating by the Censor Board. The British Board of Film Classification issued an uncut 15 certificate with an advice that it "contains strong threat and violence". At the request of the distributor, cuts of five minutes length were made, obtaining a 12A certificate for the cut version.

The theatrical rights for the film in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Ooty and Erode areas were purchased by Cosmo Pictures' Siva for ₹ 6.9 crores, while the rights for Madurai-Ramnad area were sold to Alagar for an undisclosed amount. Ayngaran International bought the rights of the NSC (North Arcot-South Arcot–Chengalpet) area from the producer. Director and distributor Rama Narayanan purchased the Chengalpet area. The Kerala theatrical rights of were sold for ₹ 1.45 crores to Sree Kaleeshwary, while the Karnataka theatrical rights of were purchased by Sri Lakshmi Swami Enterprise for over ₹ 3 crores. The US distribution were acquired by GK Media, which planned to release the film in 78 locations in the USA.

By mid-October 2013, a petition was filed in the Madras High Court by B. Rajeswari alleging that that Arrambam producer A. M. Rathnam had not returned money borrowed from the financier and remanding the film's release to be stalled until the dues were met. Rathnam however clarified that the film was not produced by him but by A Raghuram's Sri Sathya Sai Movies. A day prior to the planned release, film producer K. Kannan filed a suit in the City Civil Court seeking to restrain the film from releasing as he had already commenced the production of a film with a similar title, Ini Dhan Arambam that had been registered with Film and Television Producers Guild of South of India.

External links

• Arrambam at IMDb