Aadukalam

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Aadukalam

Poster

Directed by Vetrimaran

Produced by S. Kathiresan

 Vetrimaran
Written by
 (Dialogue)

 Vikram Sugumaran
(Additional Dialogue)

Screenplay by Vetrimaran
Additional screenplay:

Vikram Sugumaran
(uncredited)

Story by Vetrimaran

Starring  Dhanush
 Taapsee Pannu
 V. I. S. Jayapalan

Music by G. V. Prakash Kumar

 Cinematography Velraj

Edited by Kishore Te.

Production  Group Companys

company
 Five Star Films

Distributed by Sun Pictures

Release date  14 January 2011

[1]

Running time 156 minutes

Country India

Language Tamil

Budget ₹15 crore(US$2.2 million)–₹20

crore(US$2.9 million),[2]

Box office ₹30 crore (equivalent to ₹44 crore or

US$6.4 million in 2017)[3][a]

Aadukalam ( pronunciation (help·info)) (English: Playground) is a 2011 Indian Tamil

language gangster drama film written and directed by Vetrimaran. The film stars Dhanush, Taapsee
Pannu, V. I. S. Jayapalan and Kishore. The film was released on 14 January 2011 to positive critical
feedback. The film won six awards at the 58th National Film Awards, including Best Director, Best
Screenplay and Best Actor. The film was also felicitated with five awards in 59th Filmfare Awards
South – Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Music Director and Best Cinematography. Based on an
online poll by The Times of India, Vetri Maaran was chosen as the best director for Aadukalam. The
Telugu dubbed version Pandem Kollu was released on 30 January 2015.

Contents

 1Plot
 2Cast
 3Production
 4Soundtrack
 5Critical reception
 6Accolades
 7Notes
 8References
 9Sources
 10External links

Plot[edit]
In Madurai, veteran rooster trainer Periyasamy (60) aka "Pettaikaaran" (V. I. S. Jayapalan) and Madurai
Central Police Inspector Rathnaswamy (40) (Naren) are tough competitors in cockfights, and it is often
Pettai who wins because nobody knows his way of maintaining the quality of the birds. Rathnasamy and
Pettaikaran were once proteegees of grand veteran Doraisamy, who has retired from active competition,
but is the overlord of rooster fighting in South Tamilnadu.
Karuppu (Dhanush) (26) and Durai (30) (Kishore) are the favourites in Pettai's team. Karuppu is very
talented in breeding and training roosters, while Durai is very rich, owns three bars in the town of
Thiruparangundram, and is also talented in cock training. Rathnaswamy keeps insisting on having one last
fight to win and satisfy his old mother’s wish, but Pettai declines to have any more fights with him because
he feels Rathnaswamy has lost faith in his roosters and will be using nefarious methods to win.
Rathnaswamy keeps insisting and tries to make him accept the challenge through cajoling, threatening,
bribing and other vile acts.
Karuppu falls in love with an Anglo-Indian girl, Irene (Taapsee), who dislikes him. He does not recognise
this initially and keeps following her. One day, the residents of Irene's colony confront him and ask Irene
to tell who she is in love with – Karuppu or Dinesh (Dinesh Ravi), another man in the locality. She points
her finger at Karuppu and he goes into rapture. She explains later that she had to lie in order to avoid
Dinesh who has been bothering her for a long time. Later, Irene too falls in love with Karuppu.
Meanwhile, Rathinasamy tries to cajole Ayubh, Pettaikaran's veterinarian for roosters, to get Pettaikaran to
come for a competition against himself, in exchange for a heavy amount. Ayubh refuses and insults
Rathnasamy. The same night, Ayubh is killed in a hit and run accident. Durai initially suspects
Rathnaswamy, and all of Pettai's gang wants revenge. But, Pettai decides to conduct a state tournament in
Ayubh's name and provide his family with funds, so that Ayubh's poor daughters can be married. He asks
permission from Rathnasamy, as the police have to permit it, but Rathnaswamy refuses, manhandles and
berates Pettai as a thief. In a rage Pettai, suspecting Rathnaswamy of the murder, agrees to the one-on-one
rooster fight Rathnaswamy has been asking for so long. He bets that, he will field his roosters against
every rooster Rathnaswamy's brings to the field in the following tournament and even if one of Pettai's
roosters loose against Rathnaswamy's, Pettaikaran will tonsure his head and face, publicly apologise to
him, and will quit rooster fights. But, if Rathnaswamy is not able to beat at least one of his roosters, the
same conditions will be applied on him, at the end of the day. Finally getting his way, Rathnaswamy
permits the tournament.
The grand state tournament is arranged by Pettai's team, getting heavy funds and an official permission. In
the initial 11 fights, Rathnasamy's roosters are defeated soundly by Pettaikaran's. Rathnasamy brings high
breed roosters from Bangalore, and enters them into the tournament. Seeing the quality of new roosters,
Karuppu asks Pettai to let his rooster fight, but Pettai puts his rooster down and says he will choose the
best competing rooster himself. Karuppu surreptitiously enters the contest as Pettai's team before Pettai can
choose the rooster because he needs to repay Irene for the loan he took to prepare his rooster for the fight.
Pettai does not believe in Karuppu and his rooster, announces that Karuppu will not represent Pettai, and
the result of Karuppu's match will not be acknowledged by his team. The 'underdog' however emerges
victorious in three consecutive rounds despite facing roosters spiked with steroids. Karuppu gets the best
coach award of the tournament and his bet money of 3 lakh 10 thousand₹10 lakh (equivalent to ₹15 lakh or
US$21,000 in 2017).
While initially happy that Karuppu won, Pettai is soon overcome with anger and jealousy. His ego is hurt
by the fact that Karuppu earns both popularity and money, by refuting his judgement. Karuppu is not
aware of the changes in Pettai's mind. Pettai is at first refusing to speak to anyone and then starts scheming.
Karuppu gives to Pettai the money from the competition for safe keeping, in which he plans to use to start
a business. But it suddenly goes missing. Pettai also starts spinning stories about his associates and makes
everyone suspicious of each other. He incites Karuppu and Durai into pitting their roosters in a fight.
Meanwhile, Karuppu's mother dies from the shock of losing all the money. Meanwhile, Pettai poisons all
of Durai's roosters making him suspect Karuppu, who is arrested for this. Pettai then lies to Irene that his
wife was in an adulterous relationship with Karuppu. Irene's family also pressure her to move
to Chennai which pushes her into attempting to commit suicide. Pettai meanwhile calls Karuppu to a
location near a temple and informs Durai about his whereabouts. When Irene gets better, she calls Karuppu
and informs him that Pettai is badmouthing him. So, Karuppu goes to find Pettai and confront him.
Karuppu finds that Pettai was the one who stole his money, and a guilt-ridden Pettai kills himself. Karuppu
does not wish to reveal the fact to the public that Pettai stole his money and schemed against him, so he
flees with Irene to start a new life in another city leaving the money with his friend.
Cast[edit]
 Dhanush as Karuppu[1]
 Kishore as Durai[1] (Voice-over by Samuthirakani)
 Taapsee Pannu as Irene[1] (Voice-over by Andrea Jeremiah)
 V. I. S. Jayapalan as Periyasamy/Pettaikaran[1] (Voice-
over by Radharavi)
 Naren as Rathnasamy[1]
 Meenal as Meena[1]
 Murugadoss as Oole[1]
 Sentrayan as Nicholas[1]
 Periya Karuppu Thevar as Ayub[1]
 Dinesh Ravi as Dinesh[1]
 Jayaprakash
 Velraj as Police Inspector (special appearance)

Production[edit]
A lot of research has gone into the script. I was born and brought up in Chennai and to learn new things, I had to unlearn
many. I went to Madurai with a script in mind, but I had to change the script to accommodate reality. To make my film
authentic, we have cast people who belong to the sub-cult. I even share credits for scriptwriting with Vikram Sukumaran
[sic], who hails from Madurai.
— Vetrimaaran in an interview with V. Lakshmi of The Times of India.[5]

Following the success of their 2007 collaboration Polladhavan, the entire team of that film —
director Vetrimaaran, lead actor Dhanush, producer S. Kathiresan, and music director G. V. Prakash
Kumar — collaborated again for Aadukalam.[6] Vetrimaaran spent a period of two years in Madurai to
understand the local dialect and lifestyle of the people living there. Aadukalam was the first film of
Vetrimaaran to have a production office set up outside of Chennai.[5] Vetrimaaran took a year to complete
the screenplay, script, and dialogues for Aadukalam and held a bounded script for the venture, which is
considered rare in Tamil films.[6][7] Vetrimaaran narrated only half of the film's script to Dhanush before the
latter was impressed with it and agreed to act in the film.[6] The film was initially titled Seval, but since the
rights to the title were already taken by director Hari for his project with Bharath, Vetrimaaran decided to
rename his film as Aadukalam.[8]
Shriya Saran was signed on for the project in February 2008 but eventually pulled out citing schedule
conflicts.[6][9] In April 2008, it was reported that Dhanush too had walked out of the project due to schedule
issues, and that Silambarasan was set to replace him.[10] However, Dhanush remained and continued with
the film.[6] Subsequently, in June 2009, Trisha Krishnan, who was selected to replace Saran for the role of
Irene, was forced to opt out of the project after her schedule clashed with the allotted dates for her other
films, Namo Venkatesa (2010) and Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010).[6][11][12]Newcomer Taapsee Pannu,
a Punjabi software engineer, was named as her replacement.[6][13] Sri Lankan Tamil writer and political
commentator V. I. S. Jayapalan portrayed the role of Karuppu's mentor, Pettaikaran, thereby making his
debut in Tamil cinema.[14] Attakathi Dinesh makes a small cameo in the film as Dinesh, Karuppu's nemesis
when it comes to winning Irene's love.[15] Murugadoss plays Karuppu's friend Oole while Naren appears as
Rathnasamy who is also Pettaikaran's rival in cockfighting.[1]
Principal photography began in Madurai in February 2009 with scenes featuring Dhanush being
shot.[6][7] The first look of the film was released shortly after the commencement of filming. It featured a
series of promotional posters depicting the characters played by Dhanush, Jayapalan
and Kishore.[16] During early stages of production, Dhanush revealed he would play the role of a
local cockfighter named K. P. Karuppu, and described the venture as his "dream project".[17] The cockfight
sequences that take place before intermission was filmed for 26 days in a set created by art
director Jacki.[8] Filming was completed in August 2010.[6] In addition to being shot in Madurai, some
portions were also filmed in Thiruparankundram. The cockfights were filmed using Computer-generated
imagery (CGI). The post-production works on the cockfight sequences delayed the film's release.[6] The
voices for Kishore, Taapsee, and Jayapalan were dubbed by Samuthirakani, Andrea Jeremiah, and Radha
Ravi respectively.[8]

Soundtrack[edit]

Aadukalam

Soundtrack album by G. V. Prakash Kumar

Released 2011

Genre Feature film soundtrack

Label Sony Music

G. V. Prakash Kumar chronology

Va Aadukalam Narthagi
(2010) (2011) (2011)

G. V. Prakash Kumar's soundtrack consists of seven tracks including two rap numbers performed by
Malaysian Tamil rapper Yogi B. It was released by Sony Music and the audio was launched at a small
function at Lady Aandal School auditorium in Chennai on 10 November 2010.[18] The song Yathe
Yathe topped the charts and remained in the No.1 position for nearly five weeks.[3]

Original track list[19]

No. Title Lyrics Singer(s) Length
1. "Yathe Yathe" Snehan G. V. Prakash Kumar 5:44
2. "Otha Sollaala" Yegathasi Velmurugan 3:58
3. "Porkkalam" (Tamil Rap) Yugabharathi Alwa Vasu, Yogi B 4:20
4. "En Vennilave" V. I. S. Jayapalan KK 7:17
5. "Ayyayo" Snehan S. P. Balasubramanyam, S. P. 5:24
B. Charan, Prashanthini
6. "Warriors" (English Rap) Yogi B Alwa Vasu, Yogi B 4:20
7. "A Love Blossoms" Navin Iyer 1:28
Total length: 32:31

Critical reception[edit]
Aadukalam received positive reviews from critics. Sify called it "a gutsy and brilliant film" and mentioned
that it " lives up to the expectation that the film carried and the credit goes to Vetrimaran whose research
and hard work shows on screen".[20] Behindwoods wrote "Aadukalam is an attempt that requires
appreciation where the director has hacked his way through the path less trodden with aplomb".[21] Karthik
Subramanian of The Hindu praised the film stating that "The detailing of every characters in the story is
intricate. The narrative moves like a good novel where the first few chapters are all about etching and
detailing the players, and the plot and the action unfold much later".[22] Pavithra Srinivasan
of Rediff.com called it "one of Dhanush's best works to date".[23] Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan rated the
film with 44 marks and mentioned that "This arena is new for presenting cultural nuances of a region and
changes in human emotions beautifully".[8]

Accolades[edit]
Main article: List of accolades received by Aadukalam
Aadukalam won six awards at the 58th National Film Awards ceremony, thereby sharing the record
with Kannathil Muthamittal (2002) for the most number of National Film Awards won by a Tamil
film.[24] It won awards under the Best Direction (Vetrimaaran), Best Actor (Dhanush), Best Screenplay
(Original) (Vetrimaaran), Best Editing (Kishore Te) and Best Choreography (Dinesh Kumar) categories
with a Special Jury Award being presented to V. I. S Jayapalan.[25]The film was nominated in seven
categories at the 59th Filmfare Awards South, winning Best Film – Tamil (S. Kathiresan), Best Director –
Tamil (Vetrimaaran), Best Actor – Tamil (Dhanush), Best Music Director – Tamil (G. V. Prakash Kumar),
and Best Cinematographer (Velraj).[26][27] At the 6th Vijay Awards, it was nominated in twenty-two
categories and won in five, including Entertainer of the Year (Dhanush), Best Director (Vetrimaaran)
and Best Music Director (G. V. Prakash Kumar).[28][29] Among other wins, the film received seven Ananda
Vikatan Cinema Awards,[30] four South Indian International Movie Awards,[31][32] three Mirchi Music
Awards,[33][34][35] and one Norway Tamil Film Festival Award, Chennai International Film Festival Award,
and Chennai Times Film Award each.[36][37][38][39]

Notes[edit]
1. Jump up^ The average exchange rate in 2011 was 51.10 Indian rupees
(₹) per 1 US dollar (US$).[4]

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l Dhananjayan 2014, p. 512.
2. Jump up^ Bhavanishankar, Jyothsna (21 December 2010). "Vetrimaran
Interview". Behindwoods. Archivedfrom the original on 14 August 2015.
Retrieved 14 August 2015.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b "After Bollywood, Sony Music taps Tamil movie
market". The Economic Times. 9 February 2011. Archived from the
original on 13 February 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
4. Jump up^ "Rupee vs dollar: From 1990 to 2012". Rediff.com. 18 May
2012. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 14
August 2015.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b Lakshmi, V. (16 November 2010). "'Aadukalam is a
contemporary film'". The Times of India. Archivedfrom the original on 21
August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j Dhananjayan 2014, p. 513.
7. ^ Jump up to:a b "Dhanush starts work on Aadukalam". Sify. 24 February
2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10
September 2011.
8. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Dhananjayan 2014, p. 514.
9. Jump up^ "Dhanush & Shriya team up!". Sify. 1 February
2008. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10
September 2011.
10. Jump up^ "Simbu in arch rival Dhanush's
shoes". OneindiaEntertainment. 18 April 2008. Archived from the
original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September2011.
11. Jump up^ "Will Trisha do Aadukalam?". Sify. 27 June
2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10
September 2011.
12. Jump up^ Pillai, Sreedhar (28 June 2009). "Has Trisha opted out of
Aadukalam?". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 21
August 2015. Retrieved 10 September2011.
13. Jump up^ "Dhanush gets a Punjabi kudi as heroine". Sify. 30 September
2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10
September 2011.
14. Jump up^ "Jayabalan debuts in Kollywood". The Times of India. 26
February 2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015.
Retrieved 21 August 2015.
15. Jump up^ S., Venkadesan (16 August 2012). "'Theatre made me an
actor'". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 21
August 2015. Retrieved 21 August2015.
16. Jump up^ "Aadukalam". Sify. Archived from the original on 19 August
2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
17. Jump up^ Pillai, Sreedhar (28 July 2009). "Yatra is my lucky mascot:
Dhanush". The Times of India. Archivedfrom the original on 19 August
2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
18. Jump up^ "Aadukalam audio launch on Nov 10". Sify. 10 November
2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 10
September 2011.
19. Jump up^ "Aadukalam (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes.
8 November 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015.
Retrieved 22 August 2015.
20. Jump up^ "Aadukalam-Review". Sify. Archived from the original on 14
August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
21. Jump up^ "Aadukalam Movie Review". Behindwoods. Archived from the
original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
22. Jump up^ Subramanian, Karthik (22 January 2011). "'Aadukalam':
Fascinating shades of grey". The Hindu. Archived from the original on
22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
23. Jump up^ Srinivasan, Pavithra (14 January 2011). "Aadukalam is
impressive". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015.
Retrieved 10 September 2011.
24. Jump up^ Dhananjayan 2014, p. xvi, introduction.
25. Jump up^ "58th National Film Awards for 2010
announced". Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original on
30 December 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
26. Jump up^ "59th Idea Filmfare Awards South (Winners list)". Filmfare.
9 July 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11
August 2015.
27. Jump up^ "The 59th Idea Filmfare Awards 2011(South)". The Times of
India. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015.
Retrieved 11 August 2015.
28. Jump up^ "6th Annual Vijay Awards: Complete list of winners". CNN-
IBN. 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015.
Retrieved 11 August 2015.
29. Jump up^ Vijay Awards 06/30/12. Chennai: YouTube. 30 June 2012.
Retrieved 11 August 2015.
30. Jump up^ "Vikatan Awards 2011". Ananda Vikatan. India Malaysia
Online. Archived from the original on 16 May 2017. Retrieved 16
May 2017.
31. Jump up^ Manigandan, K. R. (28 June 2012). "The South Shines". The
Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11
August 2015.
32. Jump up^ "SIIMA Awards: 2011 Winners". South Indian International
Movie Awards. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015.
Retrieved 11 August 2015.
33. Jump up^ "Mirchi Music Awards Background". Radio
Mirchi. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11
August 2015.
34. Jump up^ "Mirchi Music Awards Winners". Radio
Mirchi. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11
August 2015.
 35. Jump up^ "Mirchi Music Awards Listener's Choice". Radio
Mirchi. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11
August 2015.
36. Jump up^ Srinivasan, Meera (23 December 2011). "Spotlight on pen-
camera relationship". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16
August 2015. Retrieved 16 August2015.
37. Jump up^ "The Chennai Times Film Awards 2011". The Times of India.
22 June 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015.
Retrieved 11 August 2015.
38. Jump up^ "NTFF 2011: Festival Program 20th-25th April". Norway
Tamil Film Festival Awards. 1 April 2011. Archived from the original on
12 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
39. Jump up^ "Tamilar Awards 2011 – Winners of the year". Norway Tamil
Film Festival Awards. 25 April 2011. Archived from the original on 12
August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.

Sources[edit]
 Dhananjayan, G. (2014). Pride of Tamil Cinema: 1931 to 2013.
Chennai: Blue Ocean Publishers. ISBN 978-93-84301-05-7.

External links[edit]
 Aadukalam on IMDb

show

Filmography of Vetrimaaran

show

Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Film

Categories:
 2011 films
 Tamil-language films
 Indian films
 2010s action films
 2010s romantic drama films
 Indian action films
 Indian drama films
 Indian sports films
 Films featuring a Best Actor National Award-winning performance
 Films whose director won the Best Director National Film Award
 Films shot in Madurai
  Cockfighting
 Tamil film scores by G. V. Prakash Kumar
 2010s Tamil-language films
 Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing National Award
 Tamil-language films dubbed in Telugu
 Films featuring a Best Choreography National Film Award-winning
choreography
 Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay National Film Award
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