Annakodi

<p>Goatherd Kodiveeran falls in love with Annakodi, a village beauty. Their romance faces opposition from Sadayan, the village moneylender’s son, who also desires Annakodi. As love blossoms between Kodiveeran and Annakodi, societal pressures and caste differences lead to Kodiveeran’s imprisonment and Annakodi’s forced marriage to Sadayan after her mother’s death. In August 2011, Bharathiraja revealed that the film would be titled and would have a village centric theme similar to films such as and . was signed on to play the title dual roles of father and son and subsequently completed a photo shoot for the film. In November 2011, was announced as the leading female role of Annakodi, more than two decades after Bharathiraja had cast her mother in her debut film. was also cast in a major role. In a turn of events, the day before the shoot began, Parthiepan was replaced by to portray the title roles, with Parthiepan admitting he was left in the dark about the decision. When the issue precipitated, Bharathiraja suspended the shooting of the film and sent his Kerala-born heroines home until the issue had died down. The film ran into further trouble when the tussle between the producers and FEFSI created disputes between the lead actor and director. Ameer made remarks against the producers council and backed the FEFSI, and was Ameer replaced by Bharathiraja’s son . Iniya was also reported to have left the project due to the delay, but she denied such claims. But her role was eventually not incorporated in the film. The was composed by , while the songs were by . The audio released on 20 January 2013 at Railway grounds, Arasaradi, Madurai. S. Saraswathi of wrote the film “lacks depth and fails to ignite the passion needed for such an emotionally compelling story”. Malini Mannath of wrote, “Long and dreary, and testing one’s patience at times, it’s a disappointing fare from the ace director”. Vivek Ramz of wrote, “Overall, Annakodi is typical Bharathiraja style village story but it lacks the intensity and soul seen in the director’s earlier ones”. wrote for , “This material, stuffed with class and caste politics, is perfect for melodrama, with juicy twists and turns at every point. But, here, there’s no emotional core. The leads strike no sparks together – they could be siblings…and the drama doesn’t explode. A strange kind of listlessness settles over the proceedings, and we see a lot of things happening without being affected by any of it.”</p>