Abhay

<p>Vijay Kumar, a commando, leads a team to rescue tourists held hostage by terrorists in . After the mission, Vijay meets his girlfriend, Tejaswini “Teju,” a , and they plan to marry. Teju reveals she is pregnant, sharing her report with Vijay. Meanwhile, Vijay decides to visit his twin brother Nanda Kumar, also known as Nandu, who has been confined to a for murdering their stepmother, Jayanthi. Nandu, a with , has spent most of his life in the asylum. Despite Vijay’s care for his brother, the doctor warns that Nandu poses a danger to society. Vijay and Teju visit Nandu to inform him of their wedding, but Nandu begins to perceive Teju as Jayanthi. Believing he must save Vijay, Nandu escapes the asylum after killing two inmates, Sulthan and Paasha, leaving no evidence of his whereabouts. Nandu later confronts his maternal uncle, who had a role in his incarceration, causing the man to choke and die from the shock. Vijay and Teju marry but soon learn of Nandu’s escape. Nandu’s doctor initially denies the possibility but is convinced when postmortem evidence on Sulthan reveals , a trait shared by Nandu. Nandu begins his quest to kill Teju, leaving a threatening message at Vijay’s home. He hallucinates his deceased mother and spirals further into violence. Nandu becomes infatuated with Sharmilee, a socialite, after seeing her posters. They meet by chance, and Sharmilee, charmed by Nandu’s antics, becomes close to him. However, a drug-induced playfulness triggers Nandu’s memories of Jayanthi’s abuse, leading him to brutally murder Sharmilee. Regretful, Nandu burns her body but leaves evidence that helps Vijay identify him as the culprit. Vijay and Teju retreat to his ancestral home in to escape Nandu, who secretly follows them. There, they discover Nandu’s diary, revealing their troubled past. Their mother, Priya, died by suicide after learning about their father Santhosh’s affair with Jayanthi, who became their stepmother. Vijay and Nandu despised Jayanthi, leading to conflicts at home. When a teacher complained about Nandu’s behavior, he blamed the toxic home environment, angering Santhosh, who punished them. Later, Vijay found out about Jayanthi’s affair with another man, and Nandu’s attempt to inform their father was dismissed, resulting in a beating. The twins begged their uncle to take them away, but his illness left him unable to help. Their father decided one son must stay and, after a coin toss, Vijay went to with their uncle, while Nandu stayed behind. The situation gets worse at home with Nandu and Jayanthi turning violent. Santhosh has another heart attack. Nandu overhears a conversation between Jayanthi and a lawyer and realises that she is only after his father’s wealth. Seeing them break into a fight, Santhosh dies due to his heart attack. Nandu starts to see his deceased parents in his hallucinations, as a result of the trauma from Jayanthi’s cruel antics. Nandu’s mother gives him a mission of killing Jayanthi, granting him a . Nandu stabs Jayanthi with the knife, but before dying, she vows to return. Nandu stays with Jayanthi’s corpse in the house for days before being incarcerated at the asylum. In the present, Nandu tracks Vijay and Teju to Ooty. Vijay learns of Nandu’s presence and manages to save Teju during an encounter. Nandu chases them, causing chaos, but Vijay pushes his car into an abyss, assuming him dead. However, Nandu survives and continues his pursuit. Vijay, with his commandos, attempts to apprehend Nandu, but he evades capture, killing several in the process. A final confrontation ensues between the brothers. Nandu overpowers Vijay and corners Teju, who defends herself with a belt, triggering his traumatic memories of Jayanthi’s punishments. Nandu visualises his mother asking him to join her as Jayanthi is torturing her , leading him to apologise to Vijay and Teju for his actions. To end his torment and “kill” Jayanthi, Nandu ignites gas cylinders, causing a massive explosion that kills him. Months later, Teju is revealed to be carrying twins. She expresses concern about their children’s future, fearing a traumatic childhood similar to Vijay and Nandu’s. Vijay reassures her that their children will have a loving and supportive upbringing. was a novel written by [Kamal] for a magazine long back, and it talked about a pair of twin brothers, one being an ‘animal’ (Nandhu) and the other a ‘trained animal’ (Vijay). We wanted this contrast and started off from there. The ‘animal’ had to literally look the part, and that’s why Kamal sir went bald and bulked up like never before […] The ‘trained animal’ was a dashing commando with a logical approach. Usually, most twin films fail to show the real difference between both brothers. To bring out this contrast, Kamal shot for Vijay first and then took on the Nandhu character. In the early 1980s, Kamal Haasan wrote a story titled that was serialised in the magazine journal, . He had discussed making the story into a film with during the period, but felt that the story was ahead of its time. In 2000, he picked up the story again and agreed to make the film with director , a former assistant of Balachander, and producer . When Thanu had agreed to produce a film for Haasan, he had initially rejected the storylines of and . This prompted the pair to begin work on instead, and the film was revealed to be called in Tamil and in Hindi. was distributed by reputed Shringar Films. was signed on to compose the background music, was selected to be the cinematographer and Sameer Chanda was picked to be the art director. Actor also worked on the film as an assistant director. The film was first announced with Haasan and and Bollywood actress in a special appearance. Both actresses left the project for its delay in start, being replaced by and . Producer Dhanu had initially tried to cast in the film, but the actress did not sign the project. Composer was first approached by the producer to do music for the film, and he assured to introduce him as a music composer before . But Harris refused as he owed to do his first movie with . Later, music trio was signed as music composers. The film featured Haasan in two distinct roles, for one of which he had his head shaved bald and gained ten kilograms. To play the other in the film, he went to the for a crash course and also consulted his co-actor , who was a former officer in the . Stunt choreographer Grant Page, who had worked in the American film , was assigned to compose stunt sequences in Kashmir. Another fight sequence was shot in Delhi for 15 days using 39 cars with 3 cameras with a machine called Airramp brought from abroad for jumping scenes. The soundtrack of the movie was composed by the music trio making their debut in Tamil, and the film score is composed by . The film features six tracks in both Tamil and Hindi versions with lyrics written by and respectively. The album of the film was released on 24 September 2001, and it created a record by selling over 2,00,000 copies in less than eight hours of its release. However, according to Rediff, it “did not live up to expectations.” All tracks are written by . All tracks are written by . All tracks are written by . Started on a budget of 7 crore, the costs associated with tripled by the time of release. The film was released on 16 November 2001, during . The Hindi version was bought over in Maharashtra by the reputed Shringar Films. The number of prints in Tamil Nadu had been increased by almost 5 times the average. Both and got A (adults only) certificate from the . Later, both were re-examined upon request to get a UA certificate. The film was the top opener of the Diwali weekend at the box office but was not successful. According to , collected 2.02 crore at the box office. Initial reviews at the time of the film’s release were mixed. Malathi Rangarajan of said, “Too much publicity can sometimes affect a film adversely, because of the great expectations triggered. In the case of , the hype and hoopla built up for months seems justified — to a certain extent”. Visual Dasan of praised the acting of Haasan, music, visual effects, flashback, cinematography and editing. Reviewing the Hindi version , said, “On the whole, has nothing to offer to the masses or the classes. Poor”. author R. Swaminathan said, “What happens when an exceptionally talented actor develops an inexplicable urge to delve into the dark side of the human psyche, and worse, decides to paint the town red about it? Well, for one, you get a film called .” Vijay Ramanan of rated the film 5.5 out of 10, saying, “The film falls flat on its face because of its failure in the two most important departments of filmmaking – scriptwriting, and direction […] It almost seems as if Kamal Haasan and Suresh Krishna were high on drugs while making this film.” Smriti Kashyap of said “The movie is a huge letdown. It lacks the pop, snap and crackle to fill you with enough guts to potter down to the theater and watch it. Catch it on the CD, it’s easier on the brains.” Following the film’s positive response at the 2016 Fantastic Fest, a digitally restored version was announced. On 25 January 2023, it was announced that the film would release in over 1000 screens, although no release date was provided. In November 2023, Thanu announced that the film is released on December 8, 2023. In April 2021, Thanu announced that he would release a re-edited version of . The song “Kadavul Paathi Mirugam Paathi” inspired a 2015 film of directed by Raaj Menon. According to director , the American filmmaker told him the animated sequence in inspired a similar sequence of his film (2003).</p>