Mersal

<p>A series of abductions of medical staff occur at dawn: an ambulance driver, a medical broker, a hospital worker, and a surgeon. The abductions get traced to Maaran. Maaran is arrested and interrogated by Ratnavel “Randy”. A flashback opens up, in which it is revealed that Maaran is a doctor, who takes only 5 rupees for treatment, and has a huge support in his home city, , due to which he receives he an award in Paris from doctor Arjun Zachariah. During his days in , Maaran is also shown to be a magician. He meets Pallavi, a doctor from India and Arjun Zachariah’s assistant, and they soon fall in love. He soon conducts a magic show in Paris, in which he kills Arjun Zachariah. This case is being investigated by DCP Ratnavel “Randy”. Daniel Arokiaraj, another corrupt doctor arrives in the scene of murder, threatening Randy to find who killed his friend. Maaran comes back to Chennai. He soon meets Tara, a news reporter, and they fall in love. In the present, Maaran reveals the reasons for the abductions. Maaran explains that the four were responsible for the death of an auto driver’s daughter and the suicide of his wife due to their greed for money and negligence in providing proper healthcare. He then gives Randy the locations of his hostages but asserts that if they reach the hospital in time, then they will survive, like the auto driver’s daughter. Back to the past, Daniel sees Maaran’s inexpensive healthcare as a threat to his hospital business. He decides to kill Maaran using his goons. That night, Maaran is beaten up by goons, but is saved by his Vetri. It is then revealed that the crimes were committed by Vetri, thus revealing that the magician(Vetri) and the doctor(Maaran) are different persons. In the present, the person arrested is Vetri, who had kidnapped Maaran after rescuing him. He escapes using his , while Maaran is rescued at that same time. Vetri and Pallavi soon reconcile. Meanwhile, Maaran’s family and girlfriend Tara, are kidnapped by Daniel, who demands and asks him for Vetri. Randy and his assistant then interrogate Salim Ghosh, a famous magician, who is revealed to be Vetri’s father. Soon that same night, Maaran finds Vetri’s hideout and confronts both Vetri and Vadivu. He constantly demands to know who Vetri is, in which Vadivu intervenes and asks Maaran to know who he really is. : Maaran and Vetri are the sons of Aishwarya “Aisu” and Vetrimaaran, an altruistic village wrestler and chieftain in the 1970s. Vetrimaaran builds a temple in his area and holds a grand festive event. However, a fire breaks out, injuring many and killing two children. On the advice of Aishu, Vetrimaaran established a hospital in his village with Daniel, and Arjun made the chief doctors, presuming the doctors were good-hearted. However, it’s soon revealed that Daniel and Arjun are money-minded and perform a on Aishu when she is in labour with her second child (Vetri) to extract more money from Vetrimaaran, though the child could undergo a normal delivery With an of anaesthesia and loss of blood, Aishu dies while the child is declared stillborn. When Vetrimaaran learns about this, enraged that they deceived them, he confronts Daniel, but Daniel’s goons attack him. Vetrimaaran saved Maaran and placed him in a truck. He loses his memory after being struck by a glass bottle. Daniel reveals that he only caused the fire accident, and Vetrimaaran swears that he will pay for the misdeeds. Vetrimaaran fights the henchmen but gets stabbed to death. Daniel and Arjun embezzle money from the medical services to consolidate their dictatorship over the years. Soon, Vetri miraculously survives, and their paternal uncle, Vadivu, takes care of him. Salim Ghosh then adopts Vetri and Vadivu. Vetri soon learns all the magic tricks to exact vengeance. : Upon learning about his past, Maaran reconciles with Vetri, and they swap places. Vetri (who is Maaran) is in custody, and Daniel meets him in prison and contemplates misusing the medical industry for his gains. Meanwhile, Daniel’s nephew, Sesha, tries to make a deal with Maaran (revealed to be Vetri) to shut down his practice. However, when they both learn the truth, Vetri slits Sesha’s hand. Daniel rushes to Vetri’s hideout. Vetri defeats all of Daniel’s henchmen and injures Daniel. Vetri is hurt in the process and nearly dies. However, Maaran revives Vetri via . In a fight, Maaran kills Kasi, and Vetri brutally electrocutes Daniel, killing him. Later, the police arrest Vetri for his role in the murders. Before leaving, Vetri gives a press conference justifying his actions by exposing corrupt medical practices and the embezzlement of money in the field. In prison, Vetri watches a news report in which, despite his efforts, another young girl had died from . On hearing this, Vetri escapes using his magic tricks and continues his mission. Maaran becomes the head of the Indian Medical Council. Following the release of ‘s , with in the lead, the pair was signed by for another project together in September 2016. Initially, reports surfaced that Atlee will be directing after , and was developing the script for the past seven months which did not happen; Similarly, Vijay too being signed for produced by , but as the film demanded 250 days of the schedule which he could not afford, he politely declined the offer. It was reported that the film will begin production only after the release of ‘s . In October 2016, Safwan Saleem, the chief executive officer of the production house, confirmed the project; and further announced that writer , who had earlier worked in films like the series and will be a part of the technical team. The film featured Vijay playing triple role for the first time in his career, as a doctor, magician and a head of in the film. A report from said that: “The actor’s comic timing will be brought on screen through the magician’s role. His portions are intended to evoke laughter and lighten up the mood.” The report further denied claims that Vijay will play a Sikh in the film. Vijay learnt a few magic tricks in preparation for his role as the magician. He learnt the magic tricks from three magicians: Gogo Requiem from the , Raman Sharma from Canada, and Dani Belev from . Hema Rukmani, of announced that the film would be the 100th production of the company, instead of ; On 21 April 2017, the producers announced that the film would be launched under their newly renamed banner and also announcing a release date of October 2017. At the first look launch of at the , Hema Rukmani said that “Most people look at Vijay as a ‘mass actor.’ But, I’ve seen him perform. He’s an outstanding actor”. She added, “I’ve noticed a lot of things during shooting. His sense of continuity is brilliant. He will know even the minutest details like where and how he kept his hand or leg during a particular shot. Whether the assistant director remembers or not, he will know. I had the great joy of watching him improvise”. The production of the film began without announcing a title; on 21 June 2017, the makers announced the title as and also released the first look poster of the film. In December 2016, actresses , and were announced as the female leads for the film. However, the production team later revealed that Jyothika opted out of the film due to unavoidable reasons and the role went to in her first collaboration with Vijay. In January 2017, was reported to compose the film’s background score and soundtrack album, collaborating with Vijay after ten years since (2007). Actors and also joined the cast as supporting actors, the former in a negative role with two looks in the film. who eventually wanted to act with Vijay in , missed the role due to unavoidable reasons. He was later announced as a part of this project. Other comedians , and also joined the film. Atlee’s usual cinematographer whom worked for and , was supposed to work in this film too, but failed due to date clashes with his other project. Later, newcomer , an erstwhile assistant of was signed on this project. The official cast and crew members working in the film, were announced by in January 2017, with as the action choreographer, who worked with Atlee in his previous projects were announced as the film’s editor, as the film’s production designer, and as dance choreographers, and as the costume designers. During the film’s production, , and joined the film’s cast. A launch event for the film was held at Adityaram Studios in on 1 February 2017 with production beginning thereafter. The shooting of the film took place at Panaiyur in , on the first day of the shoot, and went continuously for 20 days until 19 February. The team took a brief break after production and then started the second schedule in Chennai on 1 March 2017. On 15 March, one of the stills from the film unofficially released through the internet with Vijay in a twirled moustache and a , and went viral. Following the schedule’s completion, the team headed to on 31 March, despite being reported that filming may take place in Europe, after the second schedule. The team has decided to shoot with and in for a song (which was later titled as “Aalaporaan Thamizhan”), irrespective of the hot weather prevailing in the location. The steam engine named 7161WP AKBAR was used in this film while shooting in . An action sequence was also filmed at Rajasthan and within its completion, the team completed the Rajasthan schedule on 12 April 2017. Then, the team planned for a month-long schedule in Europe on 25 April, with Vijay, Kajal Aggarwal and other cast members being present. A song (titled “Maacho”) and few action sequences were filmed at Poland ( , and ‘s ), as well as filming being conducted in , Republic of Macedonia. Following the shooting in Europe, the team returned to Chennai in June 2017 and began the intermediate schedule on 5 June 2017, with Samantha being present and was filmed subsequently at the location. Scenes were shot with Vijay and Devadarshini, which were later edited out of the film. Later, shooting began at , and where scenes involving Vijay were shot. In mid-July 2017, sources had reported that the team had planned to complete the entire shooting within 130 working days, so that the team would have enough time to work on the film’s . However, the film’s shooting was affected following the indefinite strike announced by the (FEFSI) on 1 August, and another strike on 1 September. After FEFSI withdrew the strike on 13 September, work on the film’s production been resumed, with few scenes being shot at the in , leading to as the shoot went till 8:00 A.M. despite the officials gave permission to shoot till 6:00 A.M. The climax of the film was shot in . Following a song shoot and patchwork sequences the principal photography was wrapped up. The character Maaran (or doctor), played by Vijay in the film, was inspired from Dr. Balasubramanian, a doctor who hails from , district, and charges from patients. It is also known that Vijay’s character Jeevanantham in (2014), is inspired by a real-life social activist. Critics noted that the film has similarities related to -starrers (1968) and (1971), where he played dual roles, -starrer (1982), and ‘s (1989; in ), which had the actors playing triple roles. Shyam Gowtham in his review for the magazine The Week has stated about the references of M. G. Ramachandran in the film saying “Vijay is doing what , did in the 1950s; the in Tamil Nadu did what did in ’s Germany—use cinema to propagate its ideology. Thus, it changed the way films were made. There are four instances in the film where Vijay is compared with MGR—in fact, his introduction scene starts with an MGR song.” composed the soundtrack album and background score of , teaming up with for the third time, after his films (2004), and (2007), and his first collaboration with . The lyrics for the film were written by , who also teams up with Rahman for the first time. It marked the first release of Vijay and Rahman in the year. The audio rights of the film were acquired by , for a record price. The tracks “Aalaporaan Thamizhan” and “Neethanae” were released as singles on 10 and 17 August 2017. The audio launch event was held on 20 August 2017, at in , which was touted to be the “biggest Kollywood event of the year”, and it saw the attendance of prominent celebrities from the Tamil film Industry being present at the event, which also featured a live music performance by Rahman and his team. The album crossed 100 million streams, within 10 days, setting a streaming record for a Tamil album. The first look posters released on 21 June 2017 became the highest retweeted first look in , close to 50,000 people. As an innovative approach, Hema Rukmani teamed up with ICONICbot, an Indo-Austrian Venture, powered by actor , to launch an artificial intelligence based chat-bot for the production house through . This is a first-of-a-kind initiative in the South Indian film industry, in which an artificial intelligence technology is used to connect with all movie goers personally, where chat-bots are used in Hindi cinema by top stars for promoting their films. Hema Rukmani had stated that “though we share the information about the film through the official Twitter handle of the production house, there must be false news prevailing all around. So, we had planned for launching TSL chatbot where fans can share the relevant information with them exclusively.” The film is the first South-Indian film to get a of its first look and also to trademark its title. Few sources from the production house stated that “if one uses the term for commercial purposes, a part of their revenue should be paid to the team as royalty”. The of the film unveiled on 21 September 2017 (coinciding Atlee’s birthday) and became the most-viewed Indian movie teaser with 34.6 million views, surpassing (2016) and (2017), and became the first Indian movie teaser to get 1 million likes. Two were premiered during the of (Tamil dubbed version) on 8 October 2017. Sources claimed that the innovative marketing strategies of the film contributed to the film’s success. Exchange4Media, an advertising company commented that was one of the South Indian films that disrupted the digital marketing space. was earlier scheduled for theatrical release on 29 September 2017, however as ‘s which was scheduled for release on (18 October 2017) got delayed due to extensive ; the producers decided to release the film on that date. On 16 October 2017, the film received a from CBFC, with few cuts after getting NOC from AWBI. The film opened on more than 3,300 screens worldwide which is highest for a Tamil film. In , the film released on 800 screens, and more than 275 screens in . In , the film was released in 100 screens, and in , it accounted 400 screens. The film was later screened in and on 24 October 2017, following their strike against the double taxation row which held on 3 October. The film was re-released again in March 2018, following the producer council’s strike against digital service providers over the increase of charges. was screened at , France, which is the largest cinema theatre in Europe, due to the high demand of the film. It was further released in Japan in four major cities , , and , which is the highest for a Tamil film. The film was released in China by HGC Entertainment on 6 December 2018, through 10,000 screens, which becomes the first Tamil film to be released in this country. The film was screened at the in , China in March 2019, and at the in , at 29 July 2018. North Star Entertainment along with SN Techs Film Distribution Company have secured the distribution rights for the film in and ; has secured the distribution for the film in ; Horizon Studios acquired the Karnataka rights; MKS Talkies has secured the distribution rights for the film in Australia and New Zealand, ATMUS Entertainment has secured the distribution rights for the film in United States. The overall pre-release revenue of is reported to be in the region of (US$18 million), which includes the Tamil Nadu theatrical rights about (US$8.3 million), Karnataka distribution rights about (US$650,000), Kerala rights about (US$780,000), Andhra Pradesh and Nizam rights about (US$540,000), Rest of India, for (US$95,000), and Overseas rights about (US$3.1 million). The worldwide theatrical rights accounted to (US$13 million), while the satellite rights, sold to (US$3.3 million), music rights for (US$410,000), home video rights for (US$180,000), and Hindi dubbing rights for (US$1.3 million). The television broadcast rights were sold to for 30 crore in July 2017. The film had its global television premiere on 14 January 2018 on occasion of the festival. The satellite rights of the Telugu, Kannada and the Malayalam dubbed versions were acquired by , and respectively. It is available in through and (in Tamil), and (in Telugu), (in Kannada), and (in Malayalam). The film’s Hindi dubbed version was directly premiered on Dhinchaak TV channel (now renamed to Goldmines) on 13 March 2022. In the opening day of its release the film earned 31.3 crore in domestic region and 47.1 crore worldwide. At the city box office, the film collected 1.50 crore and became the highest opening day grosser, beating ‘s . The film became the biggest opener in at that point, grossing 24.8 crore and yielded a share of 14.1 crore to its distributors. It eventually broke the record of ‘s which earlier collected 21.5 crore. The film collected 1.7 crore from the premiere shows held at United States and 2.5 crore the following day, totalling up to 3.08 crore. The film earned A$133,057 ( 68.01 lakh) from 25 locations, upon its release in Australia and earned £94,311 (₹81.08 lakhs) upon its release in United Kingdom in 37 locations, according to trade analyst . The film collected ₹90.31 lakhs from its opening day in Malaysia around 800 theatres. In its five-day opening weekend, the film collected 140 (1.4 billion Indian rupees) worldwide and 170 crore its first week. In 12 days, the film grossed 200 crore worldwide, including 130 crore . It became the highest-grossing film of Vijay’s career, and the first of his films to enter the . At the end of its fifth week, the film had reportedly collected 120 crore in Tamil Nadu, 16 crore in Kerala, 13 crore in Karnataka and 15 crore from the rest of India, tallying 164 crore (1.6 billion rupees) domestically and 260 crore (2.6 billion rupees) . According to article published in January 2018, the movie has raked in 244.8 crores by the end of its run. However, according to the articles by , and , one of the leading distributors, Ramanathan, owner of the , said that the numbers reported by Mersal are highly inflated and the movie has not raked in 200 crore as reports claim. received positive reviews from critics. M. Suganth, editor-in-chief of rated the film three-and-a-half out of five and said, “With Mersal, we have got this year’s most engaging mass masala movie. When you have a mass hero in full form like Vijay is in the film, how can things go wrong?”. Manoj Kumar R. of also gave three-and-a-half out of five stars stating “Atlee has not just exploited Vijay’s stardom to deliver a flamboyant crowd-pleaser (which he did in already) but has fleshed out an interesting script that plays up the best onscreen traits of the actor.” rated the film three out of five stars and said the film as a “formulaic mass masala action film with a strong social message, whistle worthy moments, eye candy heroines and grand visuals”. It further added that the film “relies squarely on the charm of its leading man (Vijay) to pull off its over-the-top tone”. Priyanka Sundar of said that the film “is not about the story, but the way it is delivered; the emotions, sentiment and social message formed the crux of the story”, but criticised the length of the second half and the manner in which Samantha’s character’s arc is resolved. stated there are triple Vijay in the movie and it had created triple positive impact and rated it 2.75 out of five stars. of called the film as “gigantic, but deflavoured take of “. He added that “the lack of newness is compensated for by rich production values”, but praised Vijay’s performance saying “Vijay is one actor who seems to be getting younger on screen. He moves beautifully in the dance sequences. He even manages an effective dramatic bit. But he’s let down by the writing”. Anupama Subramanian of gave two-and-a-half out of five stars and added “Though the storyline is not new, Atlee cleverly uses the terrific screen presence of Vijay and presents it in an engaging way”. Vishal Menon of had opined that the film had “references to yesteryear blockbusters; but that could not be determined as dislikeable; it is quite enjoyable”. Sreedhar Pillai of called that “the perfect film for the larger-than-life image of its superstar Vijay, has something in it to satiate viewers with varied tastes”, giving a rating of three out of five stars. -based critic Daniel Thimmayya called the film as “ultimate commercial entertainer that rides on Vijay’s solid performance and Atlee’s slick storytelling”. Srivatsan S of gave three out of five saying “one could say that is nothing but the rise of a matinee idol”. Poornima Murali of called the film “as good in parts: during the evocative flashbacks”; but pointed out a few lame dialogues, logical contradictions and frequent song sequences. Vikram Venkateshwaran of wrote “It’s got three whole Vijays, with intersecting plot lines, great fight scenes and twelve murders, that will either squeeze your heart, or make you cheer along, all in the name of entertainment”. Writing for , Prem Udhayabhanu gave the film three out of five stars saying “The film charms the fans with an elaborate canvas spun for the hero and a social message weaved into it”. Shyam Goutham, in his review for the magazine wrote “through the film which is packaged with heavy drama and action sequences, Atlee tries to convey a message. For a Vijay fan, there are enough wow moments—slow-motion scenes, ‘Ilayathalapathy’ saving people and punch dialogues. In fact, a scene showing Vijay talking to the media about the problems in the country has become mandatory”. rated the film 43 out of 100. The film was subjected to several criticisms with the first being, the interim ban issued against the film producers by , for using the title for promotions. In a lawsuit filed by Rajendran of AR Film Factory, he registered the title at the in 2014, and claimed that the use of the title will affect the business of his film. The high court later dismissed the plea on 6 October 2017. The Tamil Film Producers Council strike from 6–13 October over double taxation row, and the denial of from (AWBI) were rumoured to affect the plans release; however, it was resolved later. Upon release, several notions expressed in the film were opposed by various organisations. The (BJP), the ruling political party of , and the then ruling had objected to scenes in which the protagonist, played by Vijay, criticises the recently introduced , and also a scene in which a character ridicules , an initiative promoted by the Government of India. The ruling BJP demanded that those scenes be cut from the film for future viewership. Several medical associations such as the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association, condemned the film for the alleged cynical portrayal of doctors working in government-operated hospitals. Doctors working with the planned to boycott the film and shared links of the film on pirated websites online, in the hope that it would cause monetary losses to the makers of the film. These acts were seen as an attack on by opposing political parties and various other celebrities working in . condemned BJP’s acts against , similar to infringement of democratic rights. The film was touted to have an approximate organic collection of 100-150 crore, the production house had to file for bankruptcy due to the high production costs involved. The social media propaganda loss of this film amounts to an approximate 60 crore, with references citing Atlee asked a salary hike of more than 300% and exceeding the production budget. However, opined that the film was considered profitable to all distributors across Tamil Nadu region, as was, the film’s producer Murali Ramaswamy. In November 2018, the Canada-based magician Raman Sharma, who worked in the project accused of non-payment of dues and slammed the company for their unprofessional behaviour. In August, Sharma’s team sent a legal notice to the makers, demanding the rest of his payment under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The financial tussles surrounding over the production house led the makers shelve all of their upcoming projects: notably the company’s big-budget film , ‘s untitled project with and his directorial film, ‘s virtual reality film , and other productions; furthermore, their completed projects and remained unreleased. At the , received eleven nominations including those for (Atlee), (Vijay) and (S. J. Surya). It won in two categories – (Menen) and (Rahman). At the , the film received eight nominations and won three awards: , and . received twelve nominations at the ceremony and won five awards, including Best Director for Atlee, Best Actor in a Negative Role for Surya and Best Music Director for Rahman. Among other wins, the film received ten , seven , five and two . At the international ceremonies, the film won one award for Best Foreign Film at the . and Best International actor award for at International Achievement Recognition Award UK. Prior to the film’s release, Hollywood stuntman Serge Crozon Cazin, who starred in ‘s , and expressed their anticipations on the film, with the latter calling it as “a fantastic film to look forward to”. Following the criticism towards the and -scenes levied by , , , , , and , extended his support towards and praised Vijay and the team for “bravely addressing social issues in the film”. As criticised the officials over the film’s certification after watching the film online, demanding that they should be removed from posts, , the member of CBFC who watched a screening of the film on 22 October, claimed that “Mersal has been given a fair censor certificate. There was no foul in the film’s dialogues with reference to GST, and asking the scenes to be lifted off the film is a direct threat to freedom of speech.” The South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to , the Information and Broadcasting minister, seeking action against H. Raja for watching the pirated version of the film online. In a positive note, emerged as the most tweeted hashtag of 2017 in the entertainment section, according to a survey report by Twitter.</p>