Varalaru - History of Godfather

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Varalaru
Directed by	K.S. Ravikumar
Produced by	S.S. Chakravarthy
Written by	Screenplay: K. S. Ravikumar Story: K. S. Ravikumar Dialogue: Sujatha
Starring	Ajith Kumar, Asin Thottumkal, Kanika Subramaniam, Ramesh Khanna Suman Shetty Vijayan Ponnambalam Mansoor Ali Khan Sujatha M. S. Baskar
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Distributed by	NIC Arts Ayngaran Ayngaran Ayngaran Ayngaran
Release date(s)	October 22, 2006 October 23, 2006 October 23, 2006 October 23, 2006 October 23, 2006
Running time	158 mins
Language	Tamil
IMDb profile

Varalaru - History of Godfather (Tamil: வரலாறு) is a Tamil film released during Diwali of 2006. The film stars Ajith, Kanika Subramaniam and Asin, and was directed by K.S. Ravikumar. Ajith plays three roles in the movie: a father and his two sons. The female lead is played by Kanika. Ramesh Khanna and Suman Shetty are featured in supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman.

The film's release was originally scheduled for May 1, 2005, Ajith's birthday, but was delayed; it opened November 14, 2006 in India. It was successful at the box office in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Pondicherry and Andhra Pradesh.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cast 3 Crew 4 Soundtrack 5 Production 6 Publicity and Release 7 Themes 8 Development 9 Influences 10 Box Office 11 Trivia 12 References 13 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Shivshankar (Ajith Kumar) is bound to a wheelchair and has a son, Vishnu (also played by Kumar), who is playful, spoiled, irresponsible, and young. To teach him a lesson, Shivshankar sends Vishnu to Thottapuram to help the poor. Vishnu doesn't want to go, but the owner of a pizzeria tells him and his friends that the village is one big brothel, so they go. However, Thottampuram is really a very sacred village and the pizzeria owner wants Vishnu and his friends to be beaten up there. Also arriving in Thottapuram is Dviya (Asin Thottumkal), along with her college class. They are there for their social activity course: they want to improve hygiene in the village.

The village head wants Divya and friends to stay with poor families, instead of at the large village building, because the building is reserved for six rich guests. Divya decides to woo these six newcomers and drop them afterwards, so she and her friends can get the building.

Vishnu and his five friends arrive, are greeted by the village and start to woo Divya and the girls, whom they mistake for Thottapuram's prostitutes. When Divya finds out, they decide to teach Vishnu and his friends a lesson and ensure they leave the large building so Divya and her friends can occupy it.

A large feast is celebrated, Divya and the other girls woo Vishnu and his friends and finally lead them to the bedrooms. Vishnu's friends are injected a substance called "Monkey Blood", which makes them itch all over and they leave, screaming and scratching. Vishnu himself refuses to sleep with Divya (who desperately tries to give him the "Monkey Blood", but he evades her attempts), since he says he has committed lots of small mistakes and doesn't want to make a big one by sleeping with her. He asks her to leave her profession and Divya lies to him, saying she can't, as she has to support a family that is crippled with various diseases. Vishnu, moved, leaves.

Vishnu wants to give Divya money so she can start a new life, but Divya refuses once again, saying she doesn't need a new life, she has to restore her honour - so Vishnu agrees to marry her in the village temple. Divya doesn't believe him, but Vishnu says he will be there to marry her the next day. However, Divya doesn't come, and Vishnu and his friends see her bus leaving. The bus bears the name of the girls' college; Vishnu and his friends now know they have been tricked and the girls weren't really prostitutes.

Back at home, Shivshankar notices that Vishnua has fallen in love. He makes sure, and Vishnu and Divya get engaged.

However, during the night, Jeeva (the third role played by Ajith Kumar) turns up. He is a bank robber and deposits money under Vishnu's bed, so Vishnu is suspected to have robbed the bank. Shivshankar believes him.

Vishnu gets drunk at a party and Jeeva uses a spray to knock him out. The he drives to Divya's house to see her, however her father and brothers won't let him in. A fight ensues, where Divya's father, Vijayan, tries to shoot Jeeva, who finally drives away. Vijayan ends the engagement between his daughter and Vishnu, because of the latter's behaviour who has no idea what's going on.

Vishnu visits Divya's cousin, but Jeeva's already there, knocks him out, takes over and tries to rape her. When Shivshankar hears of this, he whips his son, who does not know what happened. They send Vishnu to a therapist, however Jeeva again takes over and stabs Shivshankar's assistant. It is revealed that Jeeva hates Shivshankar since he has left his mother (Kanika) and she has become mad because of this.

At the same time, Divya manages to sneak into Vishnu's hospital and tells him that she thinks he's innocent. She leaves and shortly afterwards, Jeeva appears, smuggles Vishnu out of the hospital, dumps him somewhere, takes over his identity and goes to kill Shivshankar. The father notices that it's not his son and gets out of his wheelchair in order to defend himself. Vishnu arrives at the scene, surprised that his father is able to walk and demands an explanation.

Shivshankar tells him that he wanted to become a dancer - however dancing is not seen as a "masculine" trait, especially by his mother, who thinks that dancing is as bad as having a disorder. She also wants Shivshankar to marry Jeeva's mother; which he does, however it's not a happy wedding, since Jeeva's mother rejects Shivshankar, as he is too demine. Shivshankar, enraged, rapes Jeeva's mother - a deed that results in a pregnancy. The doctor refuses to give a contraception to Jeeva's mother and so Jeeva is born, because Jeeva's grandmother wanted the child. Despite wanting to go back to Shivshankar, Jeeva's mother slowly goes mad.

Jeeva escapes and now threatens the wedding between Vishnu and Divya. He wants to blow up the entire ceremony, and Shivshankar tries to stop him. Finally, Jeeva's grandmother comes out of hospital, explains the entire affair and Jeeva realizes what he has done. He wants Shivshankar to shoot him, but instead of Jeeva, his father gets shot and dies.

In the end, Jeeva is taken into custody. Jeeva's mother does not accept food from anyone, until Vishnu comes dressed up as Jeeva and feeds her. It ends with stating that Shivshankar is their godfather.

[edit] Cast

• Ajith Kumar playing three roles: Shivshankar (an old man in a wheelchair living with his son Vishnu) / Vishnu (first son of Shivshankar and Kanika) / Jeeva (second son of Shivshankar and Kanika).
• Kanika Subramaniam as Shivshankar's wife.
• Asin Thottumkal as Divya: A pretty young college girl who comes to the village of Thottapuram as a part of her education.
• Ramesh Khanna as Ramesh: A friend of Vishnu.
• Suman Shetty as Oorundai: Another friend of Vishnu.
• Vijayan as Divya's father
• Ponnambalam as Divya's brother
• Mansoor Ali Khan as Divya's brother
• K. S. Ravikumar as the family doctor
• M. S. Baskar as Disguised Dean
• Sujatha as Kanika's mother
• Mathan Bob as Shop owner
• Citi Babu as Police Officer
• Sivashankar as Dance Master
• Santhana Bharathi as Jeeva's Uncle

[edit] Crew

The crew for the film is another key element; the film was able to unite Ajith with K. S. Ravikumar and A. R. Rahman. All three were looking to get their careers back on track with the film. The production house and distributors were also able to make this happen and revive a few careers in Kollywood.

Profession	Name	Effect
Actor	Ajithkumar	Ajith works hard throughout the film and the final product has definitely not disappointed him, he has donned the triple role to perfection.
Actress	AsinKanika Subramaniam	Asin although has little time in front of the camera impresses with her style and lovable atitude. Even though Asin was heroine, all the credit went to Kanika, who played role of Ajith's mother.
Director	K. S. Ravikumar	The director started filming quite a long time ago although the film turned out to be good, some scenes seemed to just stop.
Screenplay	K. S. Ravikumar	The screenplay was pretty smooth throughout the entire piece of the story.
Story	K. S. Ravikumar	The story was one of the key elements that Varalaru was a hit, it was well done and well executed.
Dialogue	Sujatha	The dialogue as normal was well done, although improvement could have been made here and there.
Script	K. S. Ravikumar	The script written was also on an average scale but however well executed.
Producer	NIC Arts	The production house was able to provide money for such a project and they will not be disappointed.
Music	A. R. Rahman	Another classical album from the genius himself, with Innisai being a favourite.
Choreography	Raju Sundaram	The choreography was well done and worked out by Raju Sundaram.
Editor	A. Sreekar Prasad	The editor had work to do to cut the film down into a sizeable and good movie.
Director of Photography	Nirav Shah	Held the camera very well some of the scenes marked a new style which was very promising.

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack features nine songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu. This soundtrack was released before the movie had even come out. Some of the songs themselves had been released a very long time before the release of the film itself, as the film had to face a number of obstacles before getting released. But however A. R. Rahman has been able to deliver the goods once again with his songs in Varalaru. A singer that was much talked about after the release of Varalaru was none other than Naresh Iyer, his two songs became huge hits with the fans. He and A. R. Rahman teamed up once again for Sillunu Oru Kaadhal, producing another super hit song. The Varalaru songs have taken time to come out just as the film, but however has pleased us as it marks the return of the King of Music.

Song	Singer(s)	Review
Ilamai (Remix)	Suresh Peters, Blaaze	A song to indicate Jeeva's youth at the start. Suresh Peters sings well.
Kamma Karaiyil	Naresh Iyer, Sowmiya	The combination of singers leads this to being a singalong.
Innisai (Remix)	Mahathi, Saindhavi	A nice Carnatic music themed song, showing the peaceful essence.
Kaatril Oru Vaarthai	SP Balasubramanyam, Sadhana Sargam, Reena Bharathwaj	A calm and classic song, Sadhana Sargam sings well and SPB provides great backup.
Ilamai	Aslam, Thambi, Shalini	A quick paced song to show Jeeva's youth at the start of the movie. Well sung by Aslam and Shalini.
Thottapuram	Kalpana, Sonu Kakar, Leon James, Peer Mohamad, Ranjith	The combination of singers leads this to being a singalong. Rajith shows his depth whilst singing.
Innisai	Naresh Iyer, Mahathi	A wonderful song constructed by A. R. Rahman, very well sung by Naresh Iyer.
Theeyil Vizhundha	A. R. Rahman	A song sung by A. R. Rahman himself, shows a lot of mother and son sentiments throughout the song.
Innisai (Remix 2)	Mahathi, Saindhavi	Yet another fine remix of the same song, this one gives it an extra edge with the voice of Saindhavi.

[edit] Production

The producer of the film S.S. Chakravarthy and NIC Arts were key to the success of Varalaru. The production of the film allowed for great stars to come together initially for the film. However there was a major twist as the film was delayed for a long time due to trouble in the production. At the end Ajith himself paid a considerable amount of money for the film to be released so it would not collide with his later acting plans.

The original cast was to consist of Kamal, then Rajini was considered, but he also had other commitments at the time. The third choice for the film was Ajith, who finally accepted.

[edit] Publicity and Release

Ratings
France:	15A
India:	U
United Kingdom:	15A
United States:	15A

The publicity of the film was initially created when K. S. Ravikumar picked Ajith to star in the movie and hence named the movie Godfather. People thought it will be as great as the Marlon Brando film The Godfather, which was arguably the best film series of all time. The name of the film was however changed to Varalaru, but the hype still did not tone down, as people were eagerly awaiting it.

When the cast showed Asin opposite Ajith, for Asin fans it marked her claim to fame, as initially she had signed up for Godfather before she had signed up for Ghajini opposite Suriya. The film eventually put the hero and the heroine very high up the pecking order in Kollywood.

[edit] Themes

Varalaru - History of the Godfather
Studio album by A. R. Rahman
Released	September 01, 2006 (India)
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Aditya Music
Producer(s)	A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman chronology
Sillunu Oru Kaadhal (2006)	Varalaru - History of Godfather (2006)	Guru (2007)

The film covers many different themes within it like love, the love between Divya and Vishnu at the start is quite corrupt as he is looked upon by Vishnu as a sex maniac. However he still loves her, this tells us that Vishnu is a very nice person and feels sorry for Divya. So therefore his love is true love, Divya's is also true love as when Vishnu is found out to be a murderer she still comes back to him and tells him that she still does love him. Another issue within the story is homosexuality as Shivshankar is thought to be homosexual by his society and even his future wife Kanika, this causes great controversy and he goes on to prove that he is not by having sex with Kanika so hence raping her in order to do so.

There are also many other assumptions and explorations that can be made into the film such as evil in the form of Jeeva, if it was the way that he was brought up and had no one really to care for him as he had to care for his mother so eventually his anger grew an grew to an extent that he wanted to kill. We can also talk about the demise of Shivshankar as he was shot twice at the end of the story, this links in that it is an tragic end as the eventual hero of the whole story dies.

[edit] Development

Varalaru was made by many of the same filmmakers involved in another Ajith Kumar and K. S. Ravikumar starrer, Villain which won several awards. In 2002 after the success of Villain, NIC Arts revealed their interests in working with K. S. Ravikumar again. The casting of the film was left to Ravi Kumar after he had finalized the story. He selected the title, Godfather at first, hinting a possible remake of an episode of the Hollywood trilogy The Godfather, but he then denied the rumours claiming it was a brand new script. The original idea of the roles of Shivshankar, Jeeva and Vishnu were written for Rajanikanth, who shared a great friendship with Ravi Kumar after their double success at the box-office with, Muthu and Padayappa, however Rajanikanth, despite liking the script, claimed he wanted a sabbatical after the debacle of his home production, Baba had suffered. Kamal Haasan was also approached for the film, but he also rejected the opportunity citing his timetable for the years 2003 and 2004 were booked up due to Anbe Sivam, Vasool Raja MBBS and his home venture, Virumaandi. After consideration, the roles of Shivshankar, Jeeva and Vishnu finally were offered to Ajith Kumar, who was high on the success of Villain, produced by the same banner. Ajith Kumar accepted the offer in May 2003, ready to start the work after his, Anjaneya was completed. Asin Thottumkal who was yet to appear in a Tamil film, despite having signed two projects at the time, signed up during the pre-production stages in November 2003. Kanika Subramaniam, who had worked with K. S. Ravikumar in Aethiree, was added to the project in March 2004. Other regular actors in Ravi Kumar's films such as Ramesh Khanna, Ponnambalam, Sujatha and Santhana Bharathi were added to the casting in early 2004.

The film's Puja, a popular trend in Indian movies, was held at the AVM Studios in Vadapalani, Chennai. K. S. Ravikumar began Varalaru with a presentation different from his previous other films. A star-studded guest line-up arrived for the puja ceremonies held in April 2006. Vijay, Bhagyaraj and Rajinikanth all attended the ceremony as chief guests. Directors K. Balachandar, Shankar, A. R. Murugadoss, R. C. Sakthi, Pandiyarajan and many others made it a point to come to the function to check out the Tamil film puja in 2006. Actress Asin lit the Kuthu Valakku, a flame holder, as Rajinikanth presented Ravikumar with the clapboard for the movie. Actors Sivakumar, Surya, Madhavan, Prabhu Deva and Senthil, were all in attendance as well. Asin, Ajith, Sujatha, K. S. Ravikumar and just about anyone else associated with the shooting of the film, gave speeches on how the film was going on and the whereabouts and happening in the shoots.

[edit] Influences

Influences from K.S. Ravikumar's other popular films like Avvai Shanmugi^[1] and Villain have been noted. The use of the time-slice method in the film, as with The Matrix films and earlier used by Shankar in his film Anniyan, as well as the Farah Khan directed Main Hoon Na, proved popular with the audience. The Special Effects are to be provided by Big Freeze, a department based in London. Art Direction for the film was provided by Thotta Tharani. K.S. Ravikumar has also gained experience from previous hits of recent times such as Ghajini, Anniyan and even the Rajinikanth starer Chandramukhi. The film as a whole shows Ajith in a triple role. One of the roles as a dancer is influenced by the dance master of the film himself, Shivshankar. Although this may be deemed to be not very welcoming, the dance master allowed K. S. Ravikumar to use his name and continue with the script. His dance was key to the film as Ajith represented as Shivshankar.

[edit] Box Office

• The film opened on over 300 screens worldwide including 23 screens in Chennai district,^[2] 16 screens in the USA and 16 screens in Bangalore.
• The film grossed Rs.102 million in Tamil Nadu within the first two days beating Chandramukhi's record.^[3]
• The film opened at No. 24 in U.K. box-office collecting Rs. 1.2 million in its opening weekend.^[4] Overall gross in U.K. was Rs.2.4 million.^[5]
• The film was declared a blockbuster within a couple of weeks of its release.^[6]
• The film turned out to be the biggest blockbuster in Ajith's career grossing almost Rs.500 million, reported India Today.^[7]
• The film is also the biggest grosser of 2006 beating Kamal's Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, reports India Today.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}
• This is the first Ajith film to gross Rs.100 million in Chennai district.
• The film completed 13 weeks successfully before being replaced by the next Ajith film Aalwar.^[15]
• The film is remade in Telugu by Pawan Kalyan.^[16]

[edit] Trivia

• It was originally titled Godfather (Tamil: காட்ஃபாதர்) but due the State Government’s order to grant entertainment tax exemption to movies titled in Tamil, prompted producer NIC Arts Chakravarthy and director K. S. Ravikumar to opt for a Tamil title for Godfather was then titled as Varalaru (meaning History).^[17]
• Rajinikanth invited Ajith and Shalini and had a family dinner with him to appreciate Ajith's performance in this film.^[18]
• During the process of this film Ajith grew his hair for Naan Kadavul for Bala but eventually he was forced out of the project and replaced by Arya.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Varalaru at the Internet Movie Database
• Varalaaru Photo Gallery
• Video Songs