Vedalam

Vedalam
Release poster
Directed by Siva
Produced by A. M. Rathnam (presenter)
S. Aishwarya
Screenplay by Siva
Story by Siva
Aadhi Narayana
Starring
Music by Anirudh Ravichander
Cinematography Vetri
Edited by Ruben
Production
company
Sri Satya Sai Movies
Distributed by Sri Surya Movies
Release date
  • 10 November 2015 (2015-11-10) (India)
[1]
Running time
 154 minutes[2]
Country India
Language Tamil
Budget

₹61

crore[3]
Box office ₹103crore[4]

Vedalam (English: Phantom) is a 2015 Indian Tamil language action comedy film, written and directed by Siva, and produced by Aishwarya. An official remake of Sarath Kumar's 2004 action film Aai, and features Ajith Kumar, Shruti Haasan and Lakshmi Menon in the lead roles, with Ashwin Kakumanu, and Kabir Duhan Singh in supporting roles. Anirudh Ravichander composed the film's music and background score, while Vetri was the cinematographer, and Ruben was the editor. The film began production in April 2015 and was released on 10 November 2015, coinciding with Diwali. It was dubbed in Hindi under the same name by Goldmines Telefilms in 2016. It was remade in Bengali in 2018 as Sultan: The Saviour by Raja Chanda starring Jeet.[5]

Plot

Ganesh (Ajith Kumar) and his sister Thamizh (Lakshmi Menon) come to settle down in Kolkata where she has enrolled for a course to hone her artistic skills. Ganesh is an extremely peace loving soft-hearted person who makes even rowdies like Kolkata Kaali (Rajendran) like him instantly. Kolkata is the operating base of a high-profile international criminal syndicate run by three brothers Rahul (Rahul Dev), Abhinay (Kabir Duhan Singh) and Aniket (Aniket Chauhan). Ganesh advised by his new house owner (Mayilswamy) starts working under Laxmidas (Soori) who owns a taxi company.

Cops in Kolkata ask taxi and auto drivers for help in nabbing criminal members of Rahul's gang and prepare a suspect list. Ganesh identifies one of the suspects and informs the police about the whereabouts of the criminals which leads to a large haul of illegal weapons, drugs, and money, and to the arrest of many lower level gang members belonging to Rahul. Frustrated, Aniket finds Ganesh and brings him to his yacht to be killed, but is instead killed by Ganesh who becomes extremely violent during the altercation. Simultaneously Ganesh gets acquainted with Swetha (Shruti Hassan) and Swetha's brother Arjun (Ashwin) gets acquainted with Thamizh in two separate incidents. They are attracted to each other and Arjun gets his parents to meet and officially ask for Thamizh's hand in marriage.

Abhinay learns about Aniket's death, comes to Kolkata and tries to find the murderer using a highly sophisticated technical team who track the GPS of the mobile which were in the area. As the final trace emerges it is revealed that Ganesh has infiltrated the building where Abhinay had set up camp. Ganesh, after a violent fight with the mercenaries and Abhinay, kills everyone in the building. He receives Rahul's call and informs him about the deaths of Abhinay and Aniket, while all this has been witnessed by Swetha. Swetha rushes to stop the engagement of his brother, but is stopped by Ganesh, who reveals his history of being Vedalam, a notorious goon in Chennai, who was shown affection by Thamizh and her parents even though he evicted them from their own house for money. Thamizh gets entangled in a flesh trade kidnapping scandal under Abhinay and is rescued by Ganesh, but also incurs an injury which affects her memory. Her parents are also murdered during this incident. Ganesh brings her to Kolkata to take revenge and to enroll her in arts college.

Rahul, who coincidentally gets help from Thamizh to sketch out the suspect, kidnaps her and thus ensues a final takedown fight with Ganesh. Ganesh is able to hide his true violent self from Thamizh and also kill Rahul thus exacting his revenge and keeping his sister safe.

Cast

Production

Development

After the success of their previous collaboration Veeram (2014), Siva announced that he would direct[Ajith Kumar again in May 2014, with the planned venture announced to begin after the completion of Ajith Kumar's prior commitments with his ongoing film, Yennai Arindhaal (2015).[6][7] Siva worked on the script in Bangalore and approached corporate companies, including PVP Cinemas, to produce the film, though eventually A. M. Rathnam announced that he would finance the production.[8]

Production was briefly delayed because Ajith Kumar wanted to spend time with his pregnant wife following the completion of his other film.[9]

Anirudh Ravichander was signed to compose the film's music and background score, while Vetri and Ruben were announced as cinematographer and editor respectively. The film was developed without a title, before it was confirmed that it would be titled as Vedalam in September 2015.[10]

In late 2014, Hansika Motwani denied reports that she had also signed on to appear in the film.[11] The producers entered discussions to finalise the cast and crew of the film during early 2015, with Shruti Haasan and Kabir Duhan Singh signed on in March to portray the leading actress and antagonist, respectively.[12] The role of Ajith's sister in the film took considerably longer to finalise, with several actresses approached to portray the character. Actresses Sri Divya, Nithya Menen and Bindu Madhavi all turned down the opportunity, with the latter saying she was only interested in playing the lead actress opposite Ajith.[13][14] After further unsuccessful negotiations with Parvathy Nair, actress Lakshmi Menon was signed on to play the role of Ajith's sister in the film in April 2015.[15] Soori joined the cast soon after production began, after replacing Santhanam in the film who became busy with his own productions. Ashwin was also added to the cast to portray a supporting role in late May 2015.[16]

Filming

An official launch was held on 9 April 2015, with scenes intermittently shot for the rest of the month.[17] The first official schedule began shooting in Navalur, Chennai with scenes featuring Ajith and Lakshmi Menon entering a college.[18] Subsequent scenes were shot around sets in Chennai throughout June 2015, with Kabir Duhan Singh joining the shoot, while a song resembling a 'pooja bhajan' was shot featuring Ajith, Lakshmi and actor Mayilswamy.[19] The team then moved to Kolkata and scenes were shot featuring Shruti Haasan as a lawyer and Ajith as a taxi driver, with images from the shoot being leaked on social networking sites.[20] The unit then moved to shoot a song sequence in Milan, Italy featuring Ajith and Shruti Haasan.[21]

The team returned to Chennai in August 2015 to film night scenes and action sequences, with actor Rahul Dev joining the team for the shoot, while scenes were also shot at Ramee Mall.[22][23] A final schedule was held at Mohan Studios in Chennai, with Ajith Kumar with cropped hair, resembling his look from his earlier film, Red (2002).[24] The team finished production in mid-October 2015 after completing patch-up work on a song. Ajith was injured during the final day of the shoot, causing a minor delay.[25] Despite his injury, Ajith began dubbing for the film immediately, in order to ensure that it would release to coincide with the festival of Diwali in November 2015.[26]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Anirudh Ravichander collaborating for the first time with Ajith Kumar and Siva.

Vedalam
Soundtrack album by Anirudh Ravichander
Released 16 October 2015 (2015-10-16)
Recorded 2015
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Label Sony Music India
Producer Shri Sai Raam Creations
Anirudh Ravichander chronology
Naanum Rowdy Dhaan
(2015)Naanum Rowdy Dhaan2015		 Vedalam
(2015)		 Thanga Magan
(2015)Thanga Magan2015
Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Singer(s)Length
1."Veera Vinayaka"VivekaAnirudh Ravichander, Vishal Dadlani4:23
2."Don't You Mess With Me"Madhan KarkyShruti Haasan, Shakthisree Gopalan4:58
3."Uyir Nadhi Kalangudhey"VivekaRavi Shankar3:05
4."The Theri Theme"SivaAnirudh Ravichander1:52
5."Aaluma Doluma"RokeshAnirudh Ravichander, Badshah4:20

Marketing

The film's title and first look poster were reported to be revealed in September 2015, on Ganesh Chaturthi, which didn't happen. On 23 September, Ajith's manager Suresh Chandraa officially confirmed via Twitter that the title and the first look would release that night. At 12:00 am, the film's first look and title were released, which confirmed the title Vedalam. Behindwoods commented on the first look, "Ajith wears a super cool red kurta with short trimmed hair, a trim stubble, to go with a metal bracelet in one of the hands and a big stud in his left ear. A look that takes us back to his 'Red' days".[27]

The film's teaser was released on 8 October 2015. By amassing 50,000 likes in one hour from the time it was made public, it created a new record in the history of YouTube set previously by Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood".[28]

Release

Vedalam acquired a "U" certificate without any cuts from the Censor Board officials.[29]

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Jaya TV.[30] Vedalam's Tamil Nadu rights were sold to Jazz Cinemas for 33 crore.[31] The film yielded a distributor share of ₹40 crore in Tamil Nadu.[32]

Vedalam sold 1 crore tickets worldwide during its lifetime.

Critical reception

Sify described the film as average, noting, "Vedhalam is Ajith's one man show and it might enthrall his ardent fans for others..." also calling it "a formulaic film with lot of enjoyable moments."[33] Indiaglitz rated the film 3 out of 5, calling it an "enjoyable mass entertainer."[34] Avinash Gopinath of Filmibeat gave the film 3.5/5 stars and concluded, "Though this movie suffers from logical loopholes and melodramatic sequences, it gets saved by Ajith and director Siva's propaganda that puts human values before money, which makes Vedalam watchable."[35] Behindwoods rated the film 2.5 out of 5, stating, "Vedalam – Sparks do fly but not frequently enough."[36] M. Suganth of The Times of India rated the film 3/5 and called it "a packaged mass entertainer for Ajith fans and family audiences".[37]

References

  1. ↑ "'Vedalam' (Vedhalam) opening day box office collection: Ajith's film beats 'Dheena' on first day". 11 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "VEDALAM (12A) (!)". British Board of Film Classification. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Vedalam (Vedhalam) box office collection: Ajith's film heavily affected by Chennai flood". International Business Times. 7 December 2015.
  4. ↑ "Vedalam Hit the Box office Worldwide and passes 100 cr". India Today. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  5. ↑ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movie-reviews/sultan-the-saviour/movie-review/64683966.cms
  6. ↑ "Hot news on Ajith — Siruthai Siva's next". behindwoods.com. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Janani Karthik (14 July 2014). "Siruthai Siva to direct Ajith's next". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Director Siva confirms Ajith project". Sify. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  9. ↑ "Ajith's 'Thala 56' Update: GV Prakash Bags Siruthai Siva's Movie". International Business Times, India Edition. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  10. ↑ "Ajith's new film titled 'Vedalam'". The Hindu. Indo-Asian News Service. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "I am not doing Ajith-Siva film:Hansika". Sify. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  12. ↑ "Shruti Haasan in Ajith's next movie". The Hindu. Indo-Asian News Service. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "Reason why Bindhu Madhavi Rejected 'Thala 56' offer". indiaglitz.com. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "Ajith Okays 'Yennai Arindhaal' Girl for 'Thala 56'?". indiaglitz.com. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  15. ↑ "Meet Ajith's reel sister". The Hindu. Indo-Asian News Service. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  16. ↑ Kaushik L M. "Ashwin Kakumanu to share the screen space with Thala Ajith in director Siva's Thala 56". Behindwoods. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  17. ↑ "Ajith's upcoming 'Thala 56' with director Siva begins with a formal pooja on April 9th, 2015". behindwoods.com. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  18. ↑ "`Thala` Ajith spotted in Navalur". Sify. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  19. ↑ Kaushik L M. "Thala 56 intro song with Ajith's stunning dance moves shot recently". Behindwoods. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  20. ↑ "Shruti dons a lawyer role in Thala 56?". Sify. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  21. ↑ "Shruti is Ajith's 'photo subject'". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  22. ↑ "Thala 56 shoot at a popular mall in Chennai!". Sify. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  23. ↑ "One more villain in `Thala 56`!". Sify. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  24. ↑ "`Thala` Ajith goes back to `Red` days?". Sify. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  25. ↑ "Ajith injured in `Vedhalam` last day shoot!". Sify. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  26. ↑ "Ajith starts dubbing for 'Vedhalam'". Sify. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  27. ↑ Avinash Pandian. "Ajith Kumar's Thala 56 has been titled as Vedhalam". Behindwoods. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  28. ↑ "Ajith's Vedalam Teaser Creates A New Record By Smashing The One Set By Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood'". filmibeat.com. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  29. ↑ Ajith's Vedalam Censor details are here – Tamil Movie News. Indiaglitz.com (30 October 2015). Retrieved on 2015-11-20.
  30. ↑ "VEDALAM SOLD FOR A WHOPPING PRICE!". Behindwoods. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  31. ↑ CB on Twitter: "#Vedalam TN rights bought by Jazz Cinemas for 3cr (excluding P&P). Highest for Ajith. Tax Free Sure". Twitter.com (5 November 2015). Retrieved on 2015-11-20.
  32. ↑ Vedalam distributor share 40 crore
  33. ↑ Review: Vedhalam. Sify.com. Retrieved on 20 November 2015.
  34. ↑ Vedalam (aka) Vedhalam Tamil movie review, story, rating – IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved on 20 November 2015.
  35. ↑ Gopinath, Avinash (10 November 2015). "Vedalam Movie Review & Rating: The Triumph Of Human Values Over Money!". Filmibeat. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  36. ↑ Vedalam (aka) Vedhalam review. Behindwoods.com (10 November 2015). Retrieved on 2015-11-20.
  37. ↑ Suganth, M. (11 November 2015). "Vedalam Movie Review". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
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