Rajapattai

<p>‘Anul’ Murugan, a gym boy who dreams of becoming a successful villain in films, lives along with Shanmugham and his gym co-boys. He bumps into an old man Dakshinamoorthy who is under pressure from his son Chidambaram to sell his orphanage to a scheming lady politician Ranganayaki, who is majorly into land grabbing along with her hatchet man ‘Vaappa’ Abdul Kadhir. Murugan eventually falls in love with Dharshini. Murugan becomes Dakshinamoorthy’s savior as Ranganayaki and her men are after them. How Murugan single-handedly fights Ranganayaki and brings her to light forms the rest of the story. In early 2007, it was reported that director would direct a film written by his assistant, Seenu Vasan, with expected to play the lead role. The film was briefly postponed as Ajith had to complete his remaining projects and soon Boopathy Pandian confirmed otherwise and revealed that the film would actually be made by Rajakaliamman Films with and in the lead roles. However Vikram’s commitment to and resulted in the film eventually becoming shelved. In late 2010, Vikram was forced to pull out of his film with director after the project was shelved too and gave dates to a new venture produced by the same studio, for a film to be directed by . Reports emerged that the film would be titled , but this was dismissed by the director. The director initially wanted to experiment with a new script but to make use of the actor’s tight schedules he chose to use Seenu’s original script. The new title of the film, ” ” was eventually released in May 2011, with the first schedule planned to begin in early June. A first press meet was held on 6 June 2011 with the entire crew being present. Kanakaratna Ramesh was to produce the film, however his teenage sons Pratish and Santosh were eventually revealed to be producers, launching their own banner named SP Creations. Suseenthiran disclosed that the film would be a “full-fledged commercial” , with action, comedy and romance, further adding that the dialogues would be penned by Bhaskar Sakthi. By September 2011, reports confirmed that the film had been taken over by Prasad V. Potluri’s PVP Cinemas, after Ramesh faced financial restraints. Reports suggested that the film would depict the relationship between a grandfather, played by and his grandson played by Vikram. Furthermore, the film was supposed to feature Vikram in dual roles as father and son, however the news was denied by sources, which confirmed that Vikram was to essay dual roles initially, but since the script had been reworked, he would play only one character. Vikram was revealed to play a who aspires to become a noted in the film industry, with the makers adding that his character had negative shades. In March 2011, confirmed her presence in the film, citing that she would portray the leading female role of an . For a parallel lead female role, was signed on, but was forced to pull out due to schedule problems. Sources reported that was then signed on for the film for her second big Tamil venture after , after discussions with were unsuccessful. However, the reports turned out to be false. , best known for his performance in , was selected to play the main in the film. Actresses and , who had both worked together with Vikram earlier, were roped in to perform an together, after attempts to sign , who was reportedly offered 12 million for the role, had failed. In late October, -winner as well as cinematographer-turned-actor Aruldass, who had also played a pivotal role in the director’s , were roped in for other supporting roles. Suseenthiran also confirmed that he would rejoin with the crew, with , and Mu. Kasi Viswanathan taking care of the music, cinematography and editing, respectively. Filming began in June 2011, with the first schedule, during which filming was held in and around Chennai, lasting for 60 days. In August 2011, the first song was shot for five days in , with Vikram, Deeksha Seth and fifty back-up dancers participating. The team subsequently shot scenes in a set worth 4 million that was erected at Senthil Studios in Saligramam, Chennai, while the next schedule was to be shot in and . In October 2011, filming was held near the in . Few days later, the crew was shooting a song and several stunt sequences near , and later in . The scene that was canned for eight days at the Binny Mills in Chennai, had reportedly cost approximately 30 million. During the last week of October and early November, , who had previously starred in , was shooting for the song “Villadhi Villain” along with Vikram at the , Chennai. The , featuring and , was initially to be filmed in Japan, however, since Suseenthiran was not satisfied with the locations, he decided to can it in , Italy. Other locations in Italy where filming was held include , and . score and soundtrack are composed by , becoming his first work for a -starrer. The album’s Telugu version was launched first on 21 November 2011 at Taj Deccan in , . The original Tamil version was released two days later at the in , . In early November 2011, reports confirmed that had bought the domestic distribution rights of the film. However two weeks later, Sun Pictures cancelled the deal and opted out. Subsequently, acquired the theatrical release rights, confirming the film’ release for the Christmas weekend on 23 December 2011. The Telugu version would be released one week later, distributed by Suresh Movies. The film released about 500+ screens worldwide. The film accounted for 64% of the takings in Chennai box office in its second weekend. gave the film 2.5 out of 5 and wrote that it was “only for Vikram’s fans and action lovers” and also stated ‘Rajapattai is popcorn in its flavor’. Pavithra Srinivasan from described the film as bland, adding that it was “just an actor’s quest for superstardom, and is a disappointing fare”, giving it 2 out of 5. wrote: “This old-fashioned masala entertainer is enjoyable in parts. It is vintage Vikram coupled with rich production values that makes watchable, despite its obvious flaws”. CNN-IBN rated 2 out of 5 and wrote that it was a “road unfit to travel”. Chennaionline noted: “Had Suseenthiran managed to keep an element of suspense somewhere in the script, the film could have been more watchable”.</p>