Sethu

<p>The film centers around Sethu, a tough college student known as Chiyaan, who leads the Student Union and has a violent temper. He lives with his older brother Vasudevan, a magistrate, and often clashes with him. Only his sister-in-law seems to truly understand him. Sethu wins the Student Union election and gets into a fight during the celebrations. Though aggressive, he begins to change after meeting Abitha, a timid Brahmin girl. Initially teasing her, he grows fond of her innocence and falls in love. Even his friends notice a positive change in him. He uses his position to help Abitha take an exam she had been denied. Meanwhile, Abitha’s sister returns home after facing dowry abuse from her husband. She struggles to repay a loan and rebuild her life. Around the same time, Sethu awkwardly confesses his love to Abitha. She is stunned and doesn’t respond, but Sethu assumes she reciprocates. He later learns she is engaged to a quiet, submissive priest, who steps away from the engagement out of fear. When Sethu tries to gift Abitha something, she openly rejects him. Hurt, he lashes out, prompting her to scold him. His friends confront him about his behavior, and though he apologizes, he remains heartbroken. Later, Sethu discovers and busts a local brothel, unknowingly rescuing Abitha’s sister who had been tricked into it. Grateful, she tells Sethu about her dowry abuse. Her fiancé, who witnesses Sethu’s act, realizes his true character and explains it to Abitha, admitting he isn’t the right man for her. Abitha realizes that Sethu, despite his roughness, has a good heart. However, Sethu, desperate and impulsive, kidnaps Abitha to an abandoned building and expresses his deep feelings. Understanding the depth of his love, Abitha finally accepts him. Just when things seem to turn in Sethu’s favor, he is attacked by the brothel goons seeking revenge on him for trying to ruin their business. They brutally assault him and brutalized him without giving him a chance of fight back.Sethu is completely overpowered in the fight and is crippled. They then smash his head on a rock and throw him on a cliff leaving him in a bloody and gruesome condition. His family then admits him in a mental institution where his condition worsen. Believing he is beyond recovery, Sethu is sent to a remote mental asylum where he undergoes ayurvedic treatment. At the ashram, Sethu is barely recognizable—bald, emaciated, and chained. Over time, he begins to recover, but the staff refuses to believe he’s sane. His attempt to escape backfires as a serious injury. Abitha visits secretly, but leaves without hearing him call out due to the noise in the asylum. Convinced Sethu will never return to normal, Abitha’s father and Vasudevan persuade her to marry her former fiancé. Sethu, determined, escapes again and limps to Abitha’s house. But there, he finds marriage decorations and a crowd. To his horror, he sees Abitha lying dead, adorned with garlands—she has taken her own life. Devastated, Sethu limps away in silence. His friends and family run after him in tears, but he doesn’t respond. The ashram wardens arrive and take him back. The film ends with Sethu stepping into the van, broken and without reason to live after losing his true love. After working as an assistant director under for seven years, decided to make his directorial debut and wrote a script loosely based on an incident involving of one of his friends who had fallen in love, lost his mind and ended up at a mental asylum. The film, produced by A. Kandasamy, was initially titled but eventually retitled . Cinematography was handled by , and editing by Raghu Babu. Bala offered the lead role of Sethu to his then roommate , who did not accept. was also considered, but the role ultimately went to . was initially signed on as the lead actress, but was later replaced by Rajshri and then subsequently . To prepare for the character, Vikram shaved his head, thinned down to half his size by losing 21 kilograms and grew out his nails and even exposed himself under the sun for hours for skin darkening as the script demanded it. Vikram lived off fruit juice for six months, and once he lost the desired weight, he maintained the look by subsisting on a scanty diet: an egg white, one glass of beetroot or carrot juice and a single dry through the day. Bala dissuaded Vikram from accepting other film offers during this period and also asked him to cease working as a dubbing artist. lent his voice for S. S. Raman who appeared as a temple pri- The film’s launch was held in April 1997, and production lasted close to two years as the film languished in . The halted filming across the Tamil film industry from June to December 1997, and as a small budget film, was unable to progress during the period. When the strike was called off, the producer left the project. Vikram and Bala’s then assistant, , pled with the producer to return, with filming resuming in January 1998. After further slow progression, the film was finally completed by June 1999. Cinematographer said he gave the asylum scenes a predominantly green tone for the intense psychological impact. The filming was primarily held at where scenes were shot at Vishnupuram, , Udayalur and Thyagarajapuram while scenes in the asylum were shot at and Thiruvidaimarudhur Maha Lingasamy temple. To film the scenes of the title character’s college, the makers checked at least 60 colleges before finalising one in Kumbakonam. They were unable to secure permission to film in mental institutions, and could not afford to create sets resembling those places, so they filmed in temples instead. The music was composed by . The film struggled to find a distributor and only after sixty-seven screenings did the film manage to find a buyer, with most refusing the film due to its tragic climax. At that time, Bala and Vikram used money from Vikram’s wife, Shailaja, to organise press previews. Despite garnering good reviews, no one was interested in purchasing the film and it remained finished but unreleased. The film ultimately released on 10 December 1999, and initially began running at a single noon show in a suburban theatre, but gradually built up audiences through word-of-mouth publicity, becoming a . The film ran over 100 days at several cinema halls across , with Vikram being mobbed by people on the streets as a result of the film’s success. received positive reviews from critics. Malathi Rangarajan of wrote, “AN AWARD winning performance by Vikram, a clear storyline, taut screenplay, powerful dialogues, crisp direction, superb background score – offers all these and much more”. K. N. Vijayan from the described the film as an “unforgettable experience” and described Vikram’s performance as “praise-worthy”. Kanchana Prakash Rao of praised the first half but felt the film loses credibility after Sethu gets hurt, panning the film’s second half and the ending. Thamarai Manalan of wrote, “Bala, who has directed this film, having himself written the story, screenplay and dialogue, has given a complete, perhaps more than complete, film that throbs with poetic eloquence and thus has uniformly stunned the audiences”. won the , while also securing wins in the category at and the . Bala won the and the . The performance also drew accolades for Vikram who won the and the for his portrayal of the title character. He was reportedly a strong contender for the but lost to . Bala won the Dinakaran Cinema Award for Best Newface Director. was a milestone in Vikram’s career. The film’s success made Bala one of the most sought after directors in Tamil cinema. It continued the trend of films with themes that focused on realism and nativity. K. Jeshi, a journalist for , placed it in the category of films which propagates social issues, like (2004), (2006), (2007) and (2007). Post- , Vikram has said that the film would always remain close to him regardless of its commercial success and that it put him on the “right path”, with Vikram choosing to adapt the prefix of Chiyaan to his screen name. Owing to its success, the film was remade in as (2001), in as (2002), and in as (2003).</p>