Garudan

<p>Karuna and Aadhi are close childhood friends living in , . During their childhood, Sokkan, an orphan, saves Karuna from danger, and Karuna takes in Sokkan as a form of gratitude. Sokkan became loyal to Karuna. The three of them grew up in the care of Karuna’s grandmother, Sellayee, the head of the trustee committee of the temple. Being a zamin heir, Karuna lives in poverty with a meagre income from his brick kiln, while Aadhi owns a few lorries. Karuna and Aadhi remain powerful in Kombai while presiding and managing as temple trustees. Meanwhile, Thangapandi, the , plans to usurp unclaimed land worth 330 crores near and learns that the land belongs to the Kombai Amman temple while the original deed is in a jewellery box in the temple. After Sellayee’s death, Nagaraj, Thangapandi’s relative, plans to become the temple committee head at Thangapandi’s instruction. However, Sokkan becomes the temple committee head with the support of Aadhi and Karuna. To somehow redeem the bond, Nagaraj provokes Karuna’s wife, Angayarkanni, and his brother-in-law, Vairavel, by kindling their greed for money. Thangapandi forces Muthuvel to join his coercion to aid Nagaraj in his plan. Vairavel, angry with Aadhi for forcing him to marry Parveen, whom he had cheated, stirs up trouble between Aadhi and Karuna. After discovering fake jewels in the temple’s jewellery box and Karuna’s involvement with it, Aadhi hands him over to the police, thinking of bailing him out using his property. Nagaraj and Vairavel stop him, who brings the actual jewellery. The conflict deepens as Karuna feels betrayed. On the day of the temple festival, they plan to attack the jewellery box-carrying van during transport from the bank to the temple, but Aadhi thwarts them. At the festival, a fight unfolds between Aadhi and Nagaraj’s henchmen. Karuna pretends to fight the thieves. Sokkan, , chops off Vairavel’s hand and saves Aadhi. Realising that he cannot take the deed as long as Aadhi is alive, Karuna takes Sokkan to Kodaikanal, leaves him there and returns along with Nagaraj and his henchmen to kill Aadhi. Aadhi’s wife, Katyayini, advises handing over the bond so they can use a portion of the land’s 20 crores for Kombai’s development works. Aadhi accepts, but Karuna and Vairavel brutally kill Aadhi. Sokkan follows Karuna from Kodaikanal only to get called to Aadhi’s house for lunch. Sokkan finds Aadhi dead but does not betray Karuna due to his loyalty towards him. Karuna informs Sokkan that he killed Aadhi only in self-defence. Karuna escapes the punishment as Katyaini tries but fails to find any witness. Aadhi’s son Samaran, who wanted to avenge his father’s death, tries to kill Karuna, but Sokkan stops him, who protects him from Karuna, but he catches Vinnarasi with Karuna. Sokkan takes him to protect Samaran to a different town. Nagaraj spots the duo and tries to kill Samaran, but Sokkan kills Nagaraj and surrenders to the police station. When Karuna comes and inquires, Sokkan confesses that he killed Nagaraj and Vairavel. At the police station lock-up, Karuna’s former business partner informs that Karuna was behind Sellayee’s death as she resisted Karuna from substituting the temple jewels with the fake ones. The business partner had recorded Karuna’s plan of adding the poison to Sellayee’s toddy and later showed the videos to Aadhi, who went to question Karuna, resulting in his death. On his way to appear before the magistrate, Sokkan escapes and goes to Karuna’s brick kiln to seek justice. Realising that Sokkan knows the truth, Karuna brutally attacks Sokkan. Meanwhile, Katyayini and Samaran arrive in search of Vinnarasi, but Karuna brutally thrashes them. Sokkan discovers Vinnarasi in the kiln’s chamber, prepared to be cremated alive, and decides to fight back. Sokkan saves Vinnarasi, Katyayini and Samaran by ultimately killing Karuna. Muthuvel provides this information to his superior officer as a detailed report along with his resignation. The police officer secretly tells Thangapandi that if Sokkan is convicted, the law will punish him and his associates for the murders and the temple land theft. Without another choice, Sokkan is released and reunites with Vinnarasi. In the end credits, Thangapandi gets fatally injured in a road accident. After the success of in 2023, it was announced that would begin his next project as the lead actor, after completing filming pending portions for . The project would be directed by , reportedly written by and produced by K. Kumar’s Lark Studios, who had been associating with Soori for a long time. The company made a public announcement on 11 September, confirming the project, which was tentatively titled . A puja was held the same day at in with the film’s cast and crew. The film’s official title, , was revealed on 19 January 2024. , , Revathi Sharma, and would play prominent roles. Roshini would make her film debut with this film. All of their inclusions were confirmed during their presence at the muhurat puja. Music composer , editor and cinematographer were chosen for the technical crew. began in September 2023, and in early January 2024. Although the film’s story was marketed as Vetrimaaran’s story, Senthilkumar stated during the promotions that the story actually came from Soori himself. The music and background score is composed by , in his maiden collaboration with Sasikumar and Soori (in leading roles) and Senthilkumar. The first single, “Panjavarna Kiliye”, released on 10 February 2024. The complete soundtrack was released on 21 May 2024. The original background score of Garudan, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, was officially released by on 12 July 2024. Volume 2 was released on 27 August 2024. All tracks are written by Yuvan Shankar Raja. was released worldwide on 31 May 2024 in theatres. began streaming on from 3 July 2024. received positive reviews from critics, who praised the lead cast performances (especially Soori, Sasikumar, Mukundan), Yuvan’s background score and Senthilkumar’s screenplay and direction. Abhinav Subramanian of rated 3.5/5 stars and noted that “Garuden will appeal to those who like an emotional rural action flick.” Writing for , Anusha Sundar rated the film 3/5 with praise for Soori’s performance noting ” is a solid film that perfectly suits Soori as a follow-up, after playing the lead in .” In his review for , Gopinath Rajendran praised the film writing,”With a neatly woven script that has enough brawn to overcome its minor shortcomings, director RS Durai Senthilkumar makes a splendid comeback with this raw and intense rural drama.” In his review for , Kirubakhar Purushottaman praised the writing of Vetrimaaran, Senthilkumar’s direction and Soori’s performance. Writing for , Sudhir Srinivasan remarked, “Soori, like he did in , fills up the character with so much innocence, and this means that when he does fight back, when he even utters a word of protest, it feels heroic, for this isn’t a man enjoying his heroism.”</p>