Sarvam

<p>The film opens with a fight between two individuals on a rainy night in a deep, dark for- In the opening scene, a title card is presented with an : “Death is just the beginning of another life”. Karthik is a carefree architect who comes across Sandhya, a pediatric doctor, in a . Karthik immediately falls in love with Sandhya and wants to convince her to marry him. Karthik finds out several pieces of information about Sandhya and arranges a meeting by pretending that she had caused a car accident and damaged his car. When that approach fails, he goes to the hospital where Sandhya works, becoming a regular visitor there and making efforts to woo her. Sandhya, however, has other interests and shows no signs of reciprocating his love. She believes that Karthik is too carefree and not serious about life. One day, Sandhya’s parents tell her about her to-be-fixed marriage. She finally recognizes that Karthik is the right match and slowly develops a deep love for him. She wholeheartedly agrees with the marriage. Simultaneously, a morose mysterious man, Eashwar, always moving around with his , goes to see Naushad, a software engineer who happily lives with his eight-year-old son Imaan. A few months ago, Naushad had accidentally hit and killed Eashwar’s wife Geetha and son Naveen in a car crash. Eashwar, apparently mentally disturbed, keeps murmuring that Naushad was solely responsible for their deaths. Eashwar keeps following Naushad, telling him that he will feel the same pain only when his own son dies. A workmate of Naushad informs him that Eashwar had visited him and requested information about Naushad and tells him to be aware. He and his son escape to his friend’s place near , . Meanwhile, Karthik and Sandhya, who happily spend time together, are ready for marriage and make plans for the future. Karthik then suddenly asks Sandhya to postpone their marriage for a year. However, Sandhya insists on marrying at the earliest possible date. To solve this problem, they decide to hold a cycling race across a road in Elliot’s Beach so that the winner may make the decision, which has to be accepted by the other person. At the same time, Imaan and his friend fly a kite on the terrace of Naushad’s friend. Suddenly, Imaan faints and falls, which distracts the boys, and they let the kite fly away. Sandhya, who is ahead of Karthik and leading the race, rides straight into the kite thread, which cuts her neck, fatally injuring her. She dies in the hospital from . Six months later, Sandhya’s father visits Karthik – who is under depression following her death – and informs him that even after death, Sandhya has saved the life of a child, since her heart has been transplanted into a boy, who happens to be Imaan. Karthik becomes emotional and is overjoyed that at least one part of his love is alive and goes to meet Naushad and Imaan. He finds out that they have left their home in Chennai and moved to in . He travels to Munnar to see them and feels happy again, while learning from a grateful Naushad that Imaan suffered from and Sandhya’s heart had saved his life. Meanwhile, Eashwar, who had followed Karthik, arrives in Munnar as well, where he meets a car mechanic Syed – who used to play professional football with Eashwar – and allows Eashwar to stay at his home. Karthik goes to see the father and son one last time before he returns to Chennai, when suddenly, a car hits Imaan. Karthik, who was just ready to go home, comes back and saves Imaan. Shocked by that incident, Karthik does not believe that it was merely an accident and wants the truth from Naushad, who has been admitted to the hospital after having been injured in the accident. Karthik then learns about Eashwar, who was the man in the car, and his intentions. Eashwar has bought the same car that killed his family and seeks revenge for their death by killing Imaan in return. Karthik decides to take Imaan to a nearby place where he had stayed before, promising Naushad that he will protect and look after Imaan. Subsequently, Karthik tries to befriend Imaan, who dislikes him and wants to stay with his father. When they later go by car, Karthik and Eashwar encounter each other and Karthik finds himself threatened by Eashwar. It follows a cat-and-mouse chase where Eashwar wants to dispose of Karthik to get to Imaan and kill him. Syed sees Eashwar chasing Karthik and offers to help after hiring some local goons, who will kill both silently without mentioning Eashwar’s and Syed’s names. One night, after mixing snake’s venom in their knife, the goons reach Imaan’s house, scratch Karthik’s waist with that knife and Karthik slightly faints due to the snake’s poison, however he summons his strength, fights the goons back and protects Imaan. Eashwar however finds the still-alive Karthik and Imman in the heart of the forest, and a fight ensues, with Eashwar initially gaining the upper hand and beating Karthik, who becomes unconscious due to the snake venom and falls into a grave which Eashwar then fills after to kill him and hunts Imaan down in a derelict church. However, Karthik reemerges back from the grave and attacks Eashwar – this time overpowering him and breaking his arm and leg, paralyzing him for life albeit sparing him alive. A now-paralyzed Eashwar is sent to hospital and treated for his condition, while Karthik escorts both Imaan and Naushad back to Chennai from Munnar and makes them stay with himself in his new house, which he had constructed for Sandhya. In June 2006, and announced that they would co-produce the production of ‘s , which would have and . After the film was supposedly dropped, though it was already started in October 2006 with a photo shoot for the film, the project was revived just one week later. The restarted film was first to be produced by Surya’s cousin, K. E. Gnanavelraja, who earlier produced the Surya-starring and was producing the award-winning film , starring Surya’s brother, , at that time. However, he suddenly backed out of the project for unknown reasons and Vishnuvardhan, looking for another producer, approached and the Malaysian RJ, , who produced Vishnuvardhan’s and as well, and director to produce the film, who all opted out. Later, Surya also opted out of the project, and after Vishnuvardhan tried to cast in his film, which also failed for unknown reasons, the film was finally shelved in December 2006 and Vishnuvardhan instead started to film the remake of the 1980 -starring , titled as well, starring in the lead role. In August 2007, when Vishnuvardhan was still working on , it was reported, that he had not given up on and wanted to restart the film once is finished and released, with in the lead role. It was also rumored that composer would produce the film, which turned out be wrong, with K. Karunamoorthy and C. Arunpandian taking over the project and producing it under the banner of . Filming began in May 2008 with , and . The film was first reported to be a remake of the 1986 Hollywood thriller and later to be a remake of another Hollywood film, the 2003 drama . Initially, when Vishnuvardhan started the project in September 2006, he had signed up Surya to play the lead role, pairing up with the and former , who was to make her debut in the . Hansika Motwani was chosen after Vishnuvardhan had approached several actresses for that role, who ultimately refused to accept the offer for various reasons. First he tried to rope in Telugu actress , who reportedly demanded a remuneration of Rs 1 crore 75 lakhs, so she was dropped and and were approached and the latter got the role, since Nila demanded too much as well. The project started and even a photo shooting featuring both the actors was held, before Surya had to opt out of the project, because he had earlier signed to star in ‘s . By November 2006, was announced as the hero of the film, before the film was finally shelved in December 2006. In November 2007, after Vishnuvardhan had finished his , which was due to release, he restarted his shelved project and started to scout his cast for the film again and reports say that again Surya was considered for the role, before supposedly was confirmed for the leading role with playing the second lead. Reports indicated that the script has been changed several times to suit the lead actors; Vishnuvardhan, however, confirmed that the script did not change, stating that there are similarities between Surya and Arya and the script suited both and therefore change was not necessary. was Arya’s first film after , with which he was engaged for more than two years and for which he had grown a long, thick beard. In contrast to that, features him as a romantic lover hero, whereby he had to remove the beard and, hence, the “Old Arya returned”. Actually, Vishnuvardhan said, Arya’s transition from to was very difficult, since Naan Kadavul was a “lengthy process”, where Arya had “forgotten the real in him”. This was the third film in which Vishnuvardhan and Arya worked together after and , with Arya stating that Vishnuvardhan knows him “in and out” and that he was able to bring out the “best and finer aspects” of him, knowing his strengths and weaknesses, while Vishnuvardhan confessed that working with Arya was comfortable. Arya later also mentioned that the role of Karthik was the best role he had ever played in his film career, since the character had “many shades” as romantic, serious and emotional and there was “so much of variation”. Trisha eventually got the role of Sandhya after several actresses, including , , , and , were considered and opted out. This marked her first collaboration with . According to Vishnuvardhan, Trisha, though she is not a new entrant, looks “very fresh” in the film, which, he believes, is because of her co-star Arya. Besides, she has an “interesting quality”, which is her “innocent smile irrespective of her mischievousness”, Vishnuvardhan states, which was “very essential” for the character and the reason for giving her the role. The antagonist role was first offered to , who, fearing of his image, rejected the role, as later did “two leading actors” as well as Malayalam actor . Popular Hindi actor was also considered for the role, who, however, rejected as well, after which the role went to actor , who did a negative role in the at the same time. Eventually Vishnuvardhan roped in Telugu actor for the same role, replacing Upendra. Through , Chakravarthy came back to the nearly seven years after having starred in ‘s 2002 film . He got the role of Eashwar, replacing , who again was signed after , , and had refused the offer. Vishnuvardhan once mentioned that Chakravarthy has a “spaced out look about him” which was needed for his character in the film. Apart from these three actors, Malayalam actor , brother of well-known actor , who acts in his second direct Tamil film after (2002); a , Rohan Shiva, playing the 8-year-old Imaan; and a dog play important roles in the film. Rohan Shiva was signed for the role of Imaan after 100–150 boys were tested for eight months. Vishnuvardhan finally chose Imaan, citing that “he is not handsome, but there is something very cute about him”. Wasim was introduced by Vishnuvardhan in this film, who he cites as “so natural” as the other actors as well that you “tend to forget that it is cinema”. For the technical crew, Vishnuvardhan roped in mostly “his usual members”, who had worked with the director on his earlier projects, including as the , as the , as the , as the , Thiyagarajan as the and Vishnuvardhan’s wife, , as the . For , and Geetha joined Kalyan as the and Manu Jagadh replaced as Remiyan as the . Shooting for was held for nearly nine months in various locations, including exotic places never before seen on film. It started in June 2008 after Vishnuvardhan returned from the , where his film was screened, and after Arya had completed , for which filming was held for nearly one and a half years. The first half of the film was shot in and around , while the second half was shot in , mostly in deep forests, hence, the first half would be very “colourful”, while the mood in the second half completely changes, getting “rainy, misty and completely green and dark”. Before Vishnuvardhan left for Cannes, he had already shot a few scenes at in Chennai that did not involve Arya, who was still busy with . Afterwards, shooting was held at various places in and around the city, including the “Gemini Parsn Apartment” near the , in , the flyover at and at the in in Chennai, where scenes for the first half of the film as well as some song sequences were filmed. In August 2008, the crew shifted its base to , where major parts of the second half were filmed. In a romantic duet between Arya and Trisha was shot for which grand sets had been erected by art director Manu Jagadh. The team then moved to the “Dhoni forest” in in Kerala, where several crucial scenes, including the , were shot. For the climax scene, a 90-foot-tall church was built and made to look 150 years old, while the remaining part of the climax was shot back in Chennai at Prasad Studio, where again a huge set was erected by Manu Jagadh. Other filming locations in Kerala include , and . In June 2008, two people were killed in an accident at the shooting spot, which was located at an under-construction building near the in . A lift, which was installed to carry materials to the eighth floor of the building, where filming was to be held, collapsed suddenly, killing two technicians, who were working on the lift. After actor J. D. Chakravarthy, too, was injured in a stunt sequence, it was reported that Vishnuvardhan had decided to change the film title, but this did not happen. The songs were filmed at several places around India, including in , , and . A (“Sutta Suriyana”) was shot in a Chennai studio, choreographed by Dinesh and focusing on the lead couple, Arya and Trisha. Another song (“Neethane”), which was choreographed by Kalyan, was filmed on the new bridge at the , , and the base at Cholavaram. A fourth song (“Kaatrukulle”), focusing again on Arya and Trisha, was shot in late September and October at the beaches in and a lake in and was choreographed by Geetha, a student of the choreographer . In the first weeks of February, the last song, a romantic duet, choreographed by Dinesh, involving the lead couple once more (“Siragugal”), was shot at the , a saline clay desert in , close to the border, according to Vishnuvardhan, a location that was never before used or seen in a Tamil film. With this song, the shooting was wrapped up in February 2009 and post-production works began. The album comprises five tracks, lyrics for which were written by Vishnuvardhan’s “usual lyricist”, . Out of the five tracks, two were sung by composer Yuvan Shankar Raja himself and one by his father . According to the director, two of the songs (“Neethane” and “Sutta Suriyana”) were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja even before Vishnuvardhan’s previous venture, , had started, when was first announced in October 2006, nearly two years earlier. The song “Adada Vaa” was originally composed for the film , for which Yuvan Shankar Raja was first signed to score the music, but which he left in the midst, after he had a fall out with director . The film’s release had been postponed several times due to various reasons, before it was eventually released on 15 May 2009 worldwide by Films along with , another Ayngaran production, following the , though it was reported that the film would not release until June 2009, following the , which would end on 24 May 2009. The had certified the film on 21 April 2009, giving it a without any cuts. The film had an average gross in the box office but was praised by some critics. Nearly one year later, the film was dubbed to be released in Telugu under the same title and was also dubbed in Hindi as Wardaat – The Revenge. After a muted publicity campaign, Films finally released a in January 2009 that showed the five main characters, Karthik, Sandhya, Imaan, Naushad and Eashwar, on their website along with some other images. The trailer of the film was screened during the of the -starring , which was released during on 12 January 2009 and was an production as well. On 19 January Ayngaran released the trailer exclusively on their website, after which the trailer was screened on various Tamil . In February 2009, an official website was launched by Ayngaran International and later launched a special site about the film on their respective website. Just before the Sarvam soundtrack was launched, Ayngaran released promotional audio clips of the songs of a duration of nearly four minutes overall, following which another one-minute that features video clippings of three of the songs (“Adada Vaa”, “Siragugal” and “Sutta Suriyana”) was released by Ayngaran one month after the audio launch. A few days before the film was released, the delivered a “Sarvam special edition”, dedicating its to . Upon release, gained mixed reviews by critics, with the majority claiming that the film failed to live up to the expectations. Generally, the film was described as “stylish” and “visually attractive” and its (snail-paced) screenplay as the sore point. labelled the film as a “visual treat”, stating that the film is good in parts, has a “wafer thin storyline” and “banks heavily on style and gloss”. Praise was addressed to director for trying to make a “different film” and for reworking the “Kollywood commercial formula”. Technical aspects of the film were immensely lauded, especially ‘s cinematography, which “works big-time for the film”, as well as ‘s music and background score, and Manu Jagadh’s art work, while Thyagaran’s “close combat action scenes” were cited as “spellbinding”. Overall, the film was described as a “decent thriller”. Malathi Rangarajan from gave the film an average review, stating that “the recipe is perfect but the dish isn’t wholly delicious” and that the film has “the ingredients of a potential hit except the most essential, a gripping screenplay”. Like , Rangarajan, too, praised the technicians, describing Nirav Shah’s camera works as “excellent” and Yuvan Shankar Raja’s melodies as “lilting” and the score as “foot-tapping”, while the lead pair, consisting of and , was cited as “attractive”. Pavithra Srinivasan from gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, citing to be “lacklustre” and that “it does not stand up to the hype”. According to Srinivasan, the first half of the film is the “best part”, criticizing the screenplay, which takes a “nosedive post the intermission”, and claiming that the second half has “lacklustre performances” and “logicless scenes”. She, too, praised the technical crew of the film, labelling Yuvan Shankar Raja’s background score as “marvellous”, which “just proves how good he can be”, Nirav Shah’s cinematography as “scintillating”, the visuals as “astonishing” and Anu Vardhan’s costumes as “excellent”, while Manu Jagadh has done “wonders with his sets” and ‘s editing “fits the bill”. Overall, she states that the film is worth a watch for the “stunning visuals”, “musical score” and “Trisha’s sequence”, who she says is “perhaps the only shining part of the movie itself”.</p>