Aayirathil Oruvan (2010 film)

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 sugumaran, 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.

Sugumaran, 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. Sugumaran 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 sugumaran 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 sugumaran 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. Sugumaran was able to escape and save the Chola Prince, giving hope that their civilisation can continue to survive despite the imperialist genocide at the hands of Anitha and the army.

• Karthi as sugumaran, 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 the prophesied messenger awaited by the enstranged Chola kingdom.[9][10]
• R. Parthiban 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,[11] and his performance won plaudits from critics.[2]
• Reema Sen as Anitha Pandiyan (Nambirattiyaar), 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.[2]
• 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.[12]
• 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

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.[27] Subsequently, G. V. Prakash Kumar was signed on and work for the soundtrack began again from scratch.[27] The number "Adada", the only song composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja for the film, was removed after his departure and instead used in Sarvam,.[28] As Selvaraghavan 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.[6]

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.[6] 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.[19]

The soundtrack to Aayirathil Oruvan was released on 4 November 2009 at a University Auditorium in Chennai, in a critically praised event.[29] 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.[29] 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.[30]

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,[31] which was bought from the original copyright holders of the song in December 2007.[7] The film's picturisation of the three exploring the ruins of the fallen kingdom in the song, were praised.[10]

All music is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, except the track "Un Mela Aasadhaan" was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and remixed and recorded by the former. The remix version of "Atho Andha Paravai" from the 1965 Tamil film Aayirathil Oruvan was not included in the soundtrack, despite featured in the film.

Aayirathil Oruvan is considered as one of the longest films in Tamil cinema, with an original running time of 181 minutes (3 hours, 1 minute). However, the film's runtime was reduced to 154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes), in order to avert difficulties faced during the theatrical release.[32] Towards the end of the year, the film began to announce release date of Christmas which was later further delayed to coincide with the Pongal festival.[33] A date clash occurred with Karthi's Paiyaa, with an eventual hearing leading to the Karthi's latter film being delayed.[34] Throughout December 2009, release work began with a trailer and promotional songs being released on 13 December.[35] The film was subsequently certified before the end of the year by the Central Board of Film Certification and settled with an adult rating, after Selvaraghavan refused to remove some gory scenes.[36] It received a 12A rating from British Board of Film Classification.[1] On 31 December, it was announced that the film was sold worldwide for ₹350 million (US$4.9 million) for theatrical, television and other rights.[36][37][38] The satellite rights were sold to Sun TV. Ayngaran International bought the distribution rights.

On 1 January 2021, Selvaraghavan released the first-look poster for the sequel Aayirathil Oruvan 2, confirming that it starred Dhanush. A character sketch of his role has released by Dhanush through his Facebook page .It is scheduled for release in 2024.[47]

• Aayirathil Oruvan at IMDb
• Aayirathil Oruvan at AllMovie
• Aayirathil Oruvan at Rotten Tomatoes