Puli

<p>Marudheeran (half tiger-demon and half human) is the adopted son of a tribal village chief named Vembunathan. From a young age, he notices the atrocities regularly committed on the villagers by soldiers from the neighbouring kingdom of Vedhalapuram called the Vedhalams, who have supernatural powers. When he becomes an adult, Marudheeran starts to protect the villagers from the Vedhalams. As a result, the villagers respect him. Marudheeran falls in love with Pavalamalli. And they both get married secretly and tell and take blessings from Vembunathan. Vembunathan tells them to visit the temple before announcing their marriage to everyone. When Marudheeran is in the temple, Pavalamalli is kidnapped by a group of Vedhalams, who then ransack the village and also kill Vembunathan. Marudheera and his close friends Kodangi and Sama begin a journey to Vedhalapuram. During the voyage, Marudheeran rescues Manthagini, the princess of Vedhalapuram, from a . That time, Princess Manthagini falls in love with Marudheeran. Thalapathy Jalatharangan, the evil-minded demon, Commander-in-Chief of Vedhalapuram, notices this. On the pretext of being medicine makers, Marudheeran, Kodangi, and Sama enter the Vedhalapuram palace, where they meet Yavanarani, the cruel Queen of Vedhalapuram and a sorceress. She allows them to stay at the palace, and Marudheeran wins the support of the Queen and the love of Manthagini with his fighting prowess and resilience. Yavanarani announces the engagement between Marudheeran and Manthagini. Later, Marudheeran discovers he is a half-Vedhalam (half-demon). Marudheeran was the son of Pulivendhan (powerful tiger-demon) and Pushpa (human princess). Pulivendhan was the late prince of Vedhalapuram, Yavanarani’s younger brother and Manthagini’s uncle. When he stood up to Jalatharangan, who used to terrorise the citizens of Vedhalapuram with the help of his henchmen, Jalatharangan killed him and his wife, Pushpa. Marudheeran also discovers that Yavanarani is actually a puppet Queen under the influence of evil magical power emanating from Jalatharangan’s ring. Due to the evil magical influence, Yavanarani developed magical powers and her tyrannical behaviour. She performs yearly Kanya Puja to boost her magical powers. After Yavanarani performs the Kanya Puja for the 18th consecutive year (this time on Pavalamalli), Jalatharangan has planned to eliminate her and take over the throne. Marudheeran also discovers that he will transform into a Vedhalam (demon) if he stops taking the demon power suppression medicinal leaf that he was consuming from his childhood. Marudheeran transforms into a demon, fights Jalatharangan and kills him, avenging his father’s death. Still, before he dies, he opens his ring, releasing all the evil magical power so that Yavanarani can continue to rule Vedhalapuram as a tyrantess without his control after his death. Marudheeran realises that the Queen can be returned to normal only if her wand, which is the source of her magical power, is destroyed. Marudheeran and Manthagini find her performing the Kanya Puja on Pavalamalli. After a bitter sword fight with the Queen, he manages to smash the wand, thus restoring the Queen to herself. In gratitude for releasing her from the evil magical influence, Yavanarani makes Marudheeran heir to the throne of Vedhalapuram. Producer said that (2000) was an inspiration for the film, which is apparent in the scene where Marudheeran fights and proves that he is a Vedhalam. Chimbu Deven was reported to be working on a “fantasy film set in contemporary times” in January 2011 for UTV Motion Pictures, and was subsequently signed on to play the leading role. The film was titled as , with and Kathir signed on as composer and cinematographer respectively. At the same time, the team revealed filming would start in late 2011. was confirmed to play the leading female role in the film, while was also reported to be a part of the cast. However, in October 2011, UTV Motion Pictures left the project citing the escalating budget and replaced them as producers. The project later failed to take off, and the actor and director moved on to work on other ventures. During the production of his (2014) in late 2013, Chimbu Deven restarted preliminary work on the fantasy film and narrated the script to , who expressed interest in being a part of the project. Subsequently, the project found producers in , Vijay’s press relations officer, and Shibu of Thameen Films, who have previously distributed several of Vijay’s films across . The two producers came together to form a new production house, SKT Films and announced that production would begin after the completion of Vijay’s work in ‘s (2014). Although early reports suggested that would be the film’s music composer, the team later confirmed had been signed. chose to continue his work as a cinematographer with the film, despite his acting success in (2014), revealing he was excited to work alongside such an ensemble cast. T. Muthuraj was announced as the film’s art director and began work alongside his commitments in ‘s (2014), while lyricist also joined the crew. The team also picked five costume designers to take care of clothing for the actors, with , Deepali Noor, Chaitanya Rao, Siva and Sai all brought on board. Furthermore, four stunt choreographers were selected to take care of action scenes with international technicians Sang Lin and Pradit Seeluem, brought in to work alongside Sunil Rodrigues and Dilip Subbarayan. National Award winner, R.C Kamalakannan was signed on to be in charge of the film’s animations and special effects, PhantomFx, a Chennai-based VFX company known for the movie Indru Netru Naalai, handled most of the VFX shots, and the rest were split among several studios. Chimbu Deven subsequently worked on finalising the script of the film between January and August 2014. Chimbu Deven and Natty scouted locations in Kerala in August 2014, finalising schedules in and . In April 2014, reports suggested Kannada actor was approached to play a parallel leading role in the film, while contrasting reports noted he would play the lead antagonist. Sudeep later confirmed his participation in the film, adding it would see him in a “first of its kind” role. The team then successfully signed on actress to portray a supporting role of a princess in the film, with the actress appearing in a Tamil film for the first time in 29 years. This was her final Tamil film before her death in 2018. Another senior actor, , also signed on after being approached by the director to portray a character role. Chimbu Deven revealed that the film would feature two leading female roles to appear alongside Vijay. Initial reports had linked and to the roles, but high remuneration subsequently meant neither were signed. Shruti Haasan confirmed that she had signed the film in July 2014, making a comeback to Tamil films after a two-year hiatus following (2012). was added to the cast after pairing up with in . She portray a princess, the daughter of Sridevi’s character. and were also selected to portray roles in the film, while comedians , and joined the team in the first schedule. A press release in early January 2015 added actors , , , and to the film’s cast. In April 2015, joined the cast to play a small and pivotal role, after had turned down the offer. Gayathri Raman stated that she had portrayed Shruti’s mother in the film. The team began filming on 10 November 2014 at the Aditya Ram Studios on the , , where a song featuring Vijay and Hansika Motwani was shot in a set replicating a castle put up by art director, . The team then set up base in Pannaiyapuram for a forty-five-day stint, with hundreds of extras and technicians gathered from neighbouring states. A second schedule continued throughout December, after which it was reported that the film was twenty per cent complete. After a Christmas break, production restarted in early January 2015, and carried on in the outskirts of the city until mid-January. Reports which suggested that the team had secured permission to film at the was dismissed by the makers as speculation. The film had begun shoot without a title and had been widely referred to in the media as . Other titles such as , the script’s original name , and were also registered by the producers, while finalising on a title. The team consequently confirmed the title as in early January 2015, after having bought the rights from director . The film score and soundtrack was composed by collaborating with for the third time after (2005) and (2009). The audio rights of the film were sold to . The album features six tracks, all of them were written by lyricist . The song teaser of “Yendi Yendi” sung by and , was released on 24 July 2015. The audio launch event was held on 2 August 2015. The event was telecasted live in . All lyrics are written by . The first look poster was released on 21 June 2015, ahead of Vijay’s birthday; and on his birthday, the makers revealed the of the film. However, the teaser was leaked hours before the official release. Despite, its leak the teaser crossed 2 million views within 45 minutes of its release. The promo song teaser of “Yendi Yendi” was released on 24 July 2015, in order to promote the audio launch of the film. The trailer of this film is supposed to be released on 2 August 2015, during the film’s audio launch, but it was not confirmed by the makers. The first trailer of the film was released through YouTube on 19 August 2015. The trailer became the first Tamil film to hit 100k likes, and also became the most liked Indian trailer on , beating the previous record held by . The trailer also crossed 2 million views, within 49 minutes. In order to promote the film, the makers released a new promo song, featuring the music composer Devi Sri Prasad on 14 September 2015. The second trailer of the film was released on 23 September 2015. The teaser crossed 13 million views with 50k likes. The makers released an action 3D game for on Google Playstore, Windows Store and Apple Store. A 3D game titled was released based on the characters of . Puli was initially slated to release, coinciding with the festival on 17 September 2015. But the release was postponed due to heavy work of computer graphics in the film. The makers finally zeroed on 1 October 2015, as the release date, which also coincides veteran actor ‘s birthday and also announced that the film would be dubbed and released in and languages, both versions released on 1 October 2015 along with the Tamil version.<br /> Tamil Nadu theatrical rights for the film were bought by . purchased the overseas rights while Thameens purchased the Kerala distribution rights. The Karnataka distribution rights were purchased by the Producer and director . Telugu rights were bought by SVR Cinema. North India release rights were acquired by . The film was also released in and . On the first day, it collected 10.75 crore in Tamil Nadu. It grossed 28.6 crore worldwide on its opening day Thursday. In the second day the film grossed 27.5 crore worldwide. It collected 3.87 crore in four days in Kerala. In the first weekend, the film collected 64 crore worldwide, with 2.84 gross in Chennai city alone beating S.S Rajamouli’s , as the latter collected only 1.64 crore; The film received mixed reviews and poor ratings from film critics. On the website , of 9 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.3/10. rated the film 2.5/5, stating “Puli (Tiger) is your Indian cinema version of Gulliver and the Lilliput’s fairy tale. A lavishly mounted fantasy adventure, at the core it is basically a love story.” Latha Srinivasan of gave the film 2.5/5 stars, deeming the film a “visual treat” with a disappointing screenplay. She praised the cinematography, visual effects and performances of the cast, but criticised the story, noting that the genre might be new for Tamil cinema, but “the story is not something new and it moves at such a slow pace that it gets tiring to watch in places.” rated the film 2/5, writing, “On the whole, PULI is a strictly average fare. Watch it if you are a Sridevi or a Vijay fan. Otherwise, this fantasy is a bore fest.” Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV rated the film 2/5, writing that “Puli gets two stars for ambition and scale, but none for execution.” Raja Sen rated the film 1.5/5, writing, “Clearly Puli needs you to make (or carry) your own entertainment.” rated the film 1.5/5, writing, “Fantasy films allow defying logic, physics and biology, as long as it fascinates. This one makes a jaded attempt to recreate tested ideas and wages a war against one’s brain cells.” rated the film 1.5/5, writing, “The bigger the film doesn’t always mean the greater it is, and there can’t be a better example of this than Vijay’s big-budget fantasy drama “Puli”, which isn’t a bad film, but worse.” rated the film 1.5/5, stating “Vijay’s fantasy film tries hard to roar but ends up squeaking.” rated the film 1.5/5, writing, “Not fair to compare, maybe, but one cannot help it. ‘Puli’, at best, looks like the poor, underfed cousin of ‘Bahubali’, the other fantasy film that we were treated to not so long ago. The setting is almost the same. Kings, queens, waterfalls and forests and a newborn child being found in the ocean, but Puli proves that director Chimbu Deven doesn’t even remotely share the grand vision of SS Rajamouli’s.” Gautaman Bhaskaran of gave the film 1/5 stars saying, “Chimbu Deven could have thought of something better than this juvenile romp into fantasy land.” Both of and S Saraswathi of gave negative reviews. Both critics also stated that several dialogues of Vijay were meant as declarations of political intent. Rangan wrote, “Put differently, Chimbu Deven has forgotten to make a movie for adults.” Comparing with , another film, he said that there was “a sustained commitment to storytelling” in the latter, which was missing in . IBNLive rated the film 1/5, writing “If adventure is your genre, and Sridevi your fantasy, I’ll wholeheartedly recommend K. Raghavendra Rao’s ‘Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari’ in which Sridevi is joined by Chiranjeevi on a whirlwind tour of fantasy, games, childish humor, action, and terrific music by Ilaiyaraaja. Coming to , it’s clearly a case of a misguided shot.” regarded that the film’s weaponry, armour, costumes and fighting skills were inspired from , whereas Vijay and Sudeep’s characterisations had resemblances to Jon Snow and Stannis Baratheon. The film attracted fandom among the younger audience. Baradwaj Rangan of writes, “Put differently, Chimbu Deven has forgotten to make a movie for adults. His inventions surprise us, delight us for a second or two – and then we’re back to the turgid story.”</p>