| Vaaranam Aayiram | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Gautham Menon |
| Produced by | Venu Ravichandran |
| Written by | Gautham Menon |
| Starring | Surya Sivakumar Simran Bagga Sameera Reddy Divya Spandana Babloo Prithviraj |
| Music by | Harris Jayaraj |
| Cinematography | R. Rathnavelu |
| Editing by | Anthony Gonsalves |
| Distributed by | Aascar Films (India) Cloud Nine Movies (worldwide) Bharat Creations (US) |
| Release date(s) | November 14, 2008 |
| Running time | 168 min |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | 14 crore (US$2.66 million)[1] |
Vaaranam Aayiram (Tamil: வாரணம் ஆயிரம்; English: Thousand Elephants) is a 2008 Tamil romantic drama film written and directed by Gautham Menon. Surya Sivakumar acts in dual lead roles, with Sameera Reddy, Divya Spandana and Simran Bagga. 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.
Vaaranam Aayiram 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.
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The film begins with elderly Krishnan (Surya Sivakumar) 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 Bagga), daughter Shreya, and daughter-in-law Priya (Divya Spandana). This news is informed to his son Surya (Surya Sivakumar) who is on a military mission traveling in a helicopter. 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 National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli. He soon proposes to her. She rejects him, saying that they have known each other for a very short period and its not possible to fall in love without taking time to understand him. Surya then tells her that wherever she goes, he will meet her.
Surya is disturbed constantly by Meghna's thoughts and consequently ends up going to her house. There she tells him that she is going to University of California, Berkeley in a week to pursue higher education. During that period Krishnan, Surya's father, gets his first mild heart attack and is admitted to the hospital. Then on, an inspired 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. After some days Meghna proposes to him, and they stay happily for a few days. They both feel very happy about their future especially Meghna: She is very sure Surya was very sweet and surely he will be accepted by her father. Surya tells Meghna that he'll marry her within five years. Then she goes to Oklahoma City for a project. Their happiness couple doesn't last for long. Surya decides to join her, traveling by the Greyhound bus. When he reaches there, he witnesses the Oklahoma City bombing and realises that Meghna is amongst those injured. She dies on her way to the hospital. A heartbroken Surya returns to to India. He meets Shankar Menon at the airport who tries to console him with words and offers him encouragement. Surya still can't take the situation.
He once again and 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 and her 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 Hindu prayer. The film ends on a happy note as the four walk away smiling.
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 due to Gautham's personal problems.[2] 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[3] and Udal Porul Aavi[4] were considered for the project, but Gautham announced the title was Vaaranam Aayiram, with the literal meaning of "the strength of a thousand elephants".[5]
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, due to safety concerns.[6]
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 and the team recovered their loss.[7] The film finished its shoot in August 2008.[8]
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. It is also said that the assistant suffered severe head injuries and was admitted to a hospital. The shot resumed a day later with a similar camera.[9]
Vaaranam Aayiram was believed to be based on the Dutch film by Mike van Diem, Character; others have claimed that it is a remake of the 1994 Hollywood film, Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks. Gautham has stated the film will draw inspirations from Forrest Gump but will be fixed to suit the Indian audience.[10] Furthermore Gautham 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 been delayed for a 14 November 2008 release.[11] The audio of Vaaranam Aayiram was released on 24 September 2008.
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 film, Om Shanti Om instead.[12] Soon after, another confirmed heroine, Andrea Jeremiah, was dropped from the film for unknown reasons.[13] 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.[14]
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.[15] Soon after the start of the shoot, Genelia decided to walk out, after Gautham 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,[11][16] after Tabu had rejected the role.[17]
| 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 | ||||
|
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Behindwoods | *[18] |
| Rediff | *[19] |
The film has seven songs composed by Harris Jayaraj. The songs from the albums were released to four leading radio stations in Chennai, with one song per station, in attempt to popularize it five days before the official launch. The move by Sony BMG was the first of its kind in Indian cinema.[20]
| 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, 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 college 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 thoughts of Meghna. |
| "Annal Mele Panithuli" | Sudha Raghunathan | 5:22 | Filmed on Suriya and Divya. Depicts the moment when Surya finally falls in love with Priya. |
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."[21] 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."[18] Pavithra Srinivasan from Rediff gave a 3/5 rating and said "Put together, you definitely feel that Harris Jayaraj has broken out of a self-imposed mould of recent times, and has set out to provide some quality music with a difference."[19]
Varanam Aayiram emerged as the second biggest Tamil hit of the year 2008, grossing a record 5.66 crores in Chennai alone. It was declared as Blockbuster by trade pundits from Behindwoods.[22] In overseas market, the film grossed $921,007 from both United Kingdom and Malaysia.[23][24][25]
Varanam Aayiram received extremely positive reviews. Sify stated that it is a "film straight from the heart" rating the film 4/5. 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 that it was a moving story.
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 | Won |
| Best Director | Gautham Menon | Nominated | |
| Best Film | Venu Ravichandran | ||
| 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 | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Simran | ||
| 2008 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards | Special Award for Best Actor | Surya | Won |
| Best Art Director | Rajeevan | ||
| Best Audiographer | Ravi | ||
| 2008 International Tamil Film Awards | Best Music Director | Harris Jayaraj | Won |
| 2008 Vijay Awards | Best Actor | Surya | Won |
| 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 | ||
| Favourite Hero | Surya | ||
| Best Female Playback Singer | Sudha Raghunathan (Anal Mele) |
||
| Best Film | Oscar Ravichandran | ||
| Favourite Film | Oscar 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) |
||
| Best Supporting Actress | Simran | ||
| 2008 Meera Isaiaruvi Tamil Music Awards | Rising Star Singer - Female | Shruti Haasan | Won |
| 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 |
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