Mersal (film)

An ambulance driver, a broker, a hospital worker, and a surgeon are abducted at dawn, which are traced to Dr. Maaran, a doctor from Chennai known for providing treatment to all at just ₹5. Maaran is arrested and interrogated by Ratnavel "Randy", a police officer who is assigned the case. Maaran explains his motive for the abductions; the four were responsible for the death of the auto driver's daughter and subsequent suicide of his wife, Selvi, due to their greed for money and negligence in providing proper healthcare. He gives Randy the locations of his hostages but asserts that he had already killed them simultaneously using contraptions.

Maaran reveals that he is not Maaran but his doppelgänger Vetri, a magician. Vetri was also responsible for the death of Dr. Arjun Zachariah, a corrupt doctor who was killed during a stage performance in Paris two years earlier. Dr. Daniel Arokiaraj, another corrupt doctor and the head of the state's medical council, had been associated with Arjun who sees Maaran's inexpensive healthcare as a threat to his flourishing hospital business and decides to kill Maaran using his goons and one-armed henchman Kasi, but is saved in the nick of time by Vetri, who knocks Maaran unconscious and swaps places with him, providing clues to the police which led to his arrest. Maaran is rescued, while Vetri, manages to escape from Randy. Later, Maaran confronts Vetri, believing him to be the cause of all his problems. Vadivu, Maaran's compounder, and also Vetri's assistant intervenes and explains to Maaran why Vetri is targeting doctors indulging in corrupt medical practices in general and Daniel and Arjun in particular.

Maaran is the elder son of Vetrimaaran, a village wrestler and chieftain from the 1970s and Aishwarya "Aishu". Vetrimaaran, being referred to as "Thalapathy" by his villagers due to his altruistic nature, decides to build a temple in his area and holds a large scale event with a festive mode. However, a fire breaks out, injuring many and killing two children due to lack of mobility. By the advice of Aishu, Vetrimaaran had established a hospital with the help of a younger Daniel and Arjun in his village Manoor in Madurai district and made chief doctors, while Vetrimaaran managed the hospital. However, it soon turned out that Daniel and Arjun were money-minded misanthropists and performed a Caesarean section on Aishu when she was in labor with her second child, to extract more money from Vetrimaaran, even though she could deliver the child normally. Aishu lost a lot of blood during the operation, and along with an overdose of anesthesia she dies while the child was declared stillborn. When Vetrimaaran found out how Aishu had died, he went to confront Daniel, but was attacked by empty bottles. Vetrimaaran fights but in the end gets stabbed to death by Kasi, but just before he died, he amputated Kasi's arm and placed an unconscious Maaran (who had been struck on the head with a glass bottle) safely on a Chennai-bound lorry. Daniel admits that he was the one who set fire to the temple and ruthlessly killed those children so he could set up the hospital just to rob and kill everyone; thus Vetrimaaran swears that one day Daniel will pay for his misdeeds. Maaran lost his memory and was unable to recollect anything that happened before passing out due to the impact of the bottle on his head. After killing Vetrimaaran, Daniel and Arjun embezzled money in medical service to consolidate their dictatorship over the years, while creating a massive genocide from beyond.

Meanwhile, Vetrimaaran's second child was not stillborn; he miraculously survived and this child was Vetri and Vadivu, their paternal uncle (Vadivu is the younger brother of Vetrimaaran) took care of him. Both were adopted by a famous magician Salim Ghosh, and it was from him that Vetri learned all his magic tricks. Vadivu explains that by seeing both Vetri and Maaran, it reminded him of the qualities of his brother; Vetri had his anger and sense of justice and Maaran had his sense of selfless service. Upon hearing Vadivu's story, Maaran reconciles with him and Vetri and takes his place when the police arrive. With Vetri (who is actually Maaran) seemingly in custody, Daniel meets him in prison and expresses his hatred and contempt for all humans and contemplates on misusing medical industry for his personal gains. Meanwhile, Daniel's nephew Sesha tries to make a deal with Maaran (who is actually Vetri) to shut down his practice. However, when they both learn the truth, Vetri slits Sesha's hand. Daniel rushes to Vetri's hideout. Vetri defeats all of Daniel’s henchman and injures Daniel with a glass bottle but just then Kasi crashes a bus into Vetri making him faint. In the truck is a unconscious Maaran who got involved in a accident orchestrated by Daniel. Maaran wakes Vetri up but as Vetri is injured Maaran goes and kills Kasi by himself. Just before Daniel can strike Maaran, he and Vetri team up and kill Daniel.

Later, Vetri is arrested for his role in the murders of all six people killed and is sentenced to life in prison. Before leaving, he gives a press conference justifying his actions by exposing corrupt medical practices and embezzlement of money in the field; he adds that his endeavours will continue until the whole system is reformed. In prison, Vetri watches a news report in which despite his efforts, another young girl in Odisha had died from negligent medical treatment. On hearing this, Vetri escapes using his magic tricks and continues his mission. In a mid-credits scene, Maaran is conferred a statewide recognized medical counselor post, which he accepts.

The character Maaran (or ₹5 doctor), played by Vijay in the film, was inspired from Dr. Balasubramanian, a doctor who hails from Bodinayakkanur, Theni district, and charges ₹2 from patients. It is also known that Vijay's character Jeevanantham in Kaththi (2014), is inspired from a real-life social activist.[34]

Critics noted that the film has similarities related to Rajinikanth-starrer Moondru Mugam (1982),[35] and Kamal Haasan's Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989; Appu Raja in Hindi).[36]

A. R. Rahman composed the soundtrack album and background score of Mersal, teaming up with Vijay for the third time, after his films Udhaya (2004), and Azhagiya Tamizh Magan (2007), and his first collaboration with Atlee. The lyrics for the film were written by Vivek, who also teams up with Rahman for the first time. The audio rights of the film were acquired by Sony Music India, for a record price.[37]

"Aalaporaan Thamizhan", a song from the film was released as a single on 10 August 2017, sung by Kailash Kher,[38] Sathya Prakash, Deepak and Pooja Vaidyanath, portrays about the popularity of Tamil speaking men all over the world. The second single track "Neethanae" sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Rahman was released on 17 August 2017.[38] The album features other remaining songs "Maacho" sung by Sid Sriram and Shweta Mohan, and "Mersal Arasan" sung by G. V. Prakash Kumar, Naresh Iyer, Sharanya Srinivas, T. G. Vishwaprasad.[39]

The audio launch event was held on 20 August 2017, at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.[40][41] The event was telecasted live on the official YouTube channel of Sony Music South, Facebook and Twitter accounts of the production house. It was rumoured that the live telecast of the launch will be aired in three television channels,[42] however it was aired live on Sun TV.[43] The film's cast and crew and other celebrities such as Dhanush, Sundar. C, amongst others were attended at the event, which was hosted by R. Parthiban.[44] Rahman and his musical team gave a stage performance at the audio launch.[45][46]

Mersal
Mersal Album Artwork
Soundtrack album by A. R. Rahman
Released	20 August 2017
Recorded	2017
Studio	Panchathan Record Inn and AM Studios, Chennai
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	19:06
Language	Tamil
Label	Sony Music
Producer	A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman chronology
Viceroy's House (2017) Mersal (2017) 2.0 (2017)
Singles from Mersal
"Aalaporaan Thamizhan" Released: 10 August 2017 (2017-08-10) "Maacho" Released: 17 August 2017 (2017-08-17)

Mersal released worldwide on 18 October 2017, coinciding with the Diwali festival. Before its release, the film faced issues regarding the title issues,[59] and censorship because, the film denied approval from Animal Welfare Board of India, granting NoC, for their usage of a few animals without permission,[60] as a result of denying censorship from the Central Board of Film Certification. On 16 October 2017, the film received a U/A certificate from CBFC,[61] with few cuts after getting NoC from AWBI.

The film opened on more than 3,300 screens worldwide which is highest for a Tamil film.[62] In Malaysia, the film released on 800 screens,[63] and more than 350 screens in Kerala.[64] In Karnataka, the film was released in 100 screens, and in Andhra Pradesh, it accounted 400 screens.[65] The film was screened at Grand Rex, France, which is the largest cinema theatre in Europe, due to the high demand of the film.[10] The film's dubbed Telugu version Adirindhi was released on 9 November 2017.[66]

Mersal was released in Japan in four major cities Tokyo, Ebino, Osaka and Nakayama, which is the highest for a Tamil film.[67] The film was released in China by HGC Entertainment on 6 December 2018, through 10,000 screens, which Mersal becomes the first Tamil film to be released in this country.[68][69] The film was screened at the Hainan International Film Festival in Hainan, China in March 2019,[11] and at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in Bucheon, South Korea at 29 July 2018.[12]

Goldmines Telefilms bought the Hindi dubbing rights of the film in 2017 and dubbing was completed within the mid 2018. Dimension Pictures, a distribution company agreed to distribute the film in Hindi on Diwali 2018 but it got cancelled due to unavailability of enough theaters. Again, it was supposed to release in 2019, but the plan was dropped again. The Hindi version remained unreleased.

North Star Entertainment along with SN Techs Film Distribution Company have secured the distribution rights for the film in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana; Global United Media has secured the distribution for the film in Kerala;[70] Horizon Studios acquired the Karnataka rights; MKS Talkies has secured the distribution rights for the film in Australia and New Zealand, ATMUS Entertainment has secured the distribution rights for the film in United States.[71]

The film is the first South-Indian film to get a Twitter emoji of its first look.[72][73]

The television broadcast rights were sold to Zee Tamil for ₹30 crore in July 2017.[74][75] The film had its global television premiere on 14 January 2018 on occasion of the Thai Pongal Festival,[76] The satellite rights of the dubbed Telugu and Malayalam versions were acquired by Star Maa and Asianet. Later, Udaya TV acquired and dubbed for Kannada at their own. It is available in OTT-through Zee5 and Netflix.[77]

Mersal opened to positive reviews from critics.[78] The Times of India rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and said "With Mersal, we have got this year's most engaging mass masala movie. When you have a mass hero in full form like Vijay is in the film, how can things go wrong?".[79] The Indian Express also gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating: "Atlee has not just exploited Vijay's stardom to deliver a flamboyant crowd-pleaser (which he did in Theri already) but has fleshed out an interesting script that plays up the best onscreen traits of the actor.[80] Sify rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and said "Thalapathy Vijay's Mersal is a formulaic mass masala action film with a strong social message, whistle worthy moments, eye candy heroines and grand visuals. This film relies squarely on the charm of its leading man to pull off its over-the-top tone".[81] Hindustan Times said "For Vijay and his fans, Atlee has delivered a celebratory film" and gave the film 3 out of 5 stars.[82] Behindwoods.com stated there are triple Vijay in the movie and it had created triple positive impact and rated it 2.75 out of 5 stars.[83]

Upon release, several notions expressed in the film were opposed by various organisations. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling political party of Government of India, and the ruling AIADMK had objected to scenes in which the protagonist, played by Vijay, criticises the recently introduced Goods and Services Tax,[84][85] and also a scene in which a character ridicules Digital India, an initiative promoted by the BJP.[86][87] The party demanded that those scenes be cut from the film for future viewership.[88] These acts were seen as an attack on freedom of expression by opposing political parties and various other celebrities working in Tamil cinema.[89][90]

Several medical associations such as the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association, condemned the film for the alleged cynical portrayal of doctors working in government-operated hospitals.[91] Doctors working with the Indian Medical Association, shared links of the film on pirated websites online, in the hope that it would cause monetary losses to the makers of the film.[92]

• Mersal at IMDb
• Mersal at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mersal at Box Office Mojo