Asuran (2019 film)
Asuran is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Vetrimaaran and produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu under his production banner V Creations. It is based on the novel Vekkai by Poomani. The film stars Dhanush and Manju Warrier in lead roles, where the latter makes her Tamil debut. G. V. Prakash Kumar scored the music for the film, rejoining back his association with Vetrimaaran. Cinematography was handled by Velraj, whereas editing was done by R. Ramar. Asuran was released on 4 October 2019. The film's plot is influenced by the real life Kilvenmani massacre that occurred in 1968. The film was a commercial success.
Plot
In 1980s Tamil Nadu, a man and a boy are trekking through a river in a rural village, carrying homemade bombs and hiding from the police. In another part of the village, a woman, man and a young child are also hiding from the police. The movie then moves into a flashback.A narrator reveals in the flashback that the man is Sivasaami and the boy is his son Chidambaram, while the woman, man and child are Sivasaami's wife Pachaiyamma, her brother Murugesan and young daughter Lakshmi. They also had an older son called Velmurugan. They are a family of farmers living in Thekkoor in Tirunelveli district. Sivasaami has a close, loving relationship with his older son but a distant, almost abusive relationship with Chidambaram. Sivasami's family, along with most residents of Thekkoor, are Dalits.
Vadakoor Narasimhan is the richest landlord from Vadakoor, who belongs to an upper caste and is buying the 1600 acres of farmland in Thekkoor under the name of his servant for a cement factory his brother Venkatesan will take control of. However, they need Sivasaami's 3 acres of land as well to complete their plan, to which the family are against, especially Velmurugan. One day, Pachaiyamma argues with one of Narasimhan's sons who was unjustly extracting water from the common well, and he hits her, to which Velmurugan retaliates by severely injuring him and his men. The latter gets arrested for this, for which Sivasaami bows and touches the feet of every single male member of the landlord's village in order to have him released after Narasimhan says so. Velmurugan comes back, bruised and battered, and finds out about what his father did. He corners Narasimhan in a bathroom cubicle and hits him multiple times using slippers, humiliating him. In revenge, Narasimhan's henchmen, led by a hunter Kariyan, ambush Velmurugan in the night and hack him to death, taking him away. Chidambaram witnesses this and tells his father and Murugesan, and they file a missing person case with the police.
The next day, Velmurugan's mutilated, beheaded body is found in a nearby field. The police refuses to help, as they can't confirm it's him as they can't find the head. Pachaiyamma suffers PTSD for a year after which she recovers, and holds one year death condolence for her son. Seeing the suffering caused to his family by his brother's murder, Chidambaram tails Narasimhan during one night and hacks him in his village, killing him, and escapes from his henchman using homemade bombs. The family is shocked on hearing about this from Sivasaami who witnessed Narasimhan's death and cut the lights when Chidambaram attacked, and when his son comes back that night, Murugesan tells the father and son to hide in the forest. The film switches back to the present.
One of Narasimhan's family members asks Kariyan and his men to find the two, to which they agree. Pachaiyamma, Murugesan and Lakshmi hide in a family friend, Maari's, house, and they move from there after some time as well and hide in various places. One day, Kariyan finally finds the two and tries to capture the son, but Sivasaami fights them all off, sparing their lives for unknown reasons. While the two recover near a river, Sivasaami narrates his past and explains why he no longer wants to kill anyone.
Contrary to what he told his sons, Sivasaami was actually a village-famous moonshine brewer. He worked under Viswanathan, a rich landlord, and the latter always trusted Sivasaami. One day, he asks if his boss could employ Pandiyan, a distant relative of Viswanathan who was currently in poverty, as an accountant, to which the boss agrees. Sivasaami's brother Murugan and Venugopal Seshadri, a Communist lawyer, is trying to obtain justice for the landless labourers by filing a case against the various landlords in their village who had seized their Panchami land, including Viswanathan. Sivasaami receives various wedding proposals but all are denied after they find out about his alcohol ventures, but his relative Maariyamma convinces him to marry her, to which he agrees and they fall in love. When Sivasaami gives her sandals, Pandiyan humiliates her by forcing her to put the sandals on her head. Sivasaami retaliates by hitting him with sandals. However, Viswanathan intervenes and supports Pandiyan as they're related, and Sivasaami is saddened at the loss of trust. One night, before a meeting conducted by Seshadri and Murugan with the local farmers, news arrives that Seshadri was arrested at the train station and Sivasaami is made to go to his house to obtain the authorised documents which allowed the meeting to occur after the police come and intervene. When he comes back, many people were killed in the meeting, including Murugan, and it's revealed that Viswanathan's armed men were hiding in the crowd. Their village was also burned down by Pandiyan and his men and many people died, including Maariyamma. Enraged, Sivasaami enters his boss' home and hacks many of the men there to death, including Pandiyan and Viswanathan.
Sivasaami then reveals that he had left that village and stumbled across Murugesan, who took pity on him and taught him how to become a farmer. He's also introduced to Pachaiyamma. No one is willing to marry her as Sivasaami is staying there, and so he feels guilty and tells them that he's ready to leave if they're not fine with him staying there. He narrates his story to the two, and Pachaiyamma admires what he did to defend his family, and so she agrees to marry Sivasaami. He surrenders to the court and luckily is given a light sentence as Seshadri stated he only killed in self-defence during a communal riot. Afterwards, he marries Pachaiyamma. Chidambaram is amazed at his father's past and starts to admire him. Sivasaami reconciles with his wife and daughter briefly, and he and his son go to Seshadri for help. Seshadri agrees to help them as long as they turn up to court the next day, to which they agree.
The next day, it is revealed that the police have been stationed outside the court to arrest the father and son when they come, and Narasimhan's men are in the court premises if they manage to get past the police. The two get into the premises but escape after the men find them. Seshadri becomes angry as they didn't turn up to court and Sivasaami tells him what happened, and also says he's ready to sell his land to them to stop any more violence. Narasimhan's family members agree, and they reluctantly sell the land in presence of the village council. Chidambaram stays near a temple. However, he gets abducted and taken to the village square by Narasimhan's family to be killed, violating the Panchayat's orders. Sivasaami comes in, armed with a sickle, and single-handedly takes out many of the henchmen, including some prominent family members, but he and Chidambaram sustain serious injuries. Murugesan and their village people arrive armed and defuse the situation.
In the end, it's revealed that the two villages agreed that the conflict should end and prevented a caste clash. Sivasaami's family has gathered in the court and he has agreed to go to jail instead of Chidambaram if that's needed. He tells his son to study hard to become a powerful man, and that unlike farmland and money, the landlords can't seize their education. The film ends with Sivasaami smiling at his family as he enters the court.
Cast
- Dhanush as Sivasaami Kudumban
- Manju Warrier as Pachaiyamal
- Ken Karunas as Chidambaram
- Teejay Arunasalam as Velmurugan "Murugan"
- Pasupathy as Murugesan
- Prakash Raj as Venugopal Seshadri
- Ammu Abirami as Maariyamal
- Balaji Sakthivel as Inspector
- Subramaniam Siva as Murugan, Sivasaami's brother
- Aadukalam Naren as Vaddakuran Narasimhan
- Pawan as Venkatesan, Vaddakuran's younger brother
- Bala Hasan. R as Rajesh Narasimman, Vaddakuran's son
- Venkatesh as Viswanathan
- Nitish Veera as Pandiyan
- Velraj as Panchayat Member
- Sendrayan as Pechimuthu
Production
Development
Post the success of Vada Chennai, Vetrimaaran announced about the plans for making the film's sequel, with Dhanush reprising his role from the original. However, Vetrimaaran and Dhanush agreed to do another film before working with the sequel of Vada Chennai. On 21 December 2018, Dhanush announced the film's title as Asuran, with a poster release, and makers planned to kickstart the shoot on January 2019. Later, G. V. Prakash Kumar was signed in to compose the film's soundtrack, collaborating with the director and actor, after Polladhavan and Aadukalam, except Vada Chennai which was composed by Santhosh Narayanan. The film was reported to be set in the period of 1960s to 1980s, with Dhanush playing a man of his mid-40s.Casting
actress Manju Warrier was selected as the film's female lead, which marked her acting debut in Tamil. Ken Karunas, son of actor Karunas and singer Teejay Arunachalam was roped in to essay the role of Dhanush's sons in the film, with the latter marking his acting debut. Director Balaji Sakthivel, also made his acting debut, essaying an important role in the film. Actor Pasupathy, was also cast in the film as a supporting role, where he joined the sets on February 2019. Later, Aadukalam Naren and Pawan were also cast in the film. It was rumoured that Vijay Sethupathi was approached to do a special cameo, however denied the reports, according to sources.Filming
The principal photography of the film was kickstarted on 26 January 2019, with the first schedule of the shoot being held at Tirunelveli. Dhanush was reported to play a dual role of father and son in the film as per sources. Initially, the actor was reported to play a dual role in another film directed by R. S. Durai Senthilkumar, which was titled Pattas. While, the film's shoot was progressing in full swing, Dhanush, was reported to kick start his shoot for Pattas, later he took a break and resumed shooting for the film on April 2019. The final schedule of the film was kickstarted on May 2019. It was revealed that the makers planned to wrap the film's shoot within June 2019, however, on the month end, it was reported that the makers planned to shoot for final 10 days, which was completed.Music
The soundtrack album and background score is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, collaborating with Dhanush and Vetrimaaran for the third time after Polladhavan and Aadukalam. The soundtrack album consists of seven songs, with lyrics written by Ekadesi, Yugabharathi, Eknath and Arunraja Kamaraj. During the pre-production phase of the film, G. V. Prakash Kumar has been working on the music composition of the film, along with Suriya-starrer Soorarai Pottru, directed by Sudha Kongara. He also stated that the film has two dance numbers in which Prakash stated that the film has content-oriented story, with space for commercial elements.In an interview with The Times of India, composer Prakash stated "Asuran's music will be rooted, with raw folk being the dominant element, with earthy songs. But the approach is international. The thought process was about mixing folk and world music; the voices will be folk, but the instrumentation will have an international flavor, like using an electric guitar with this raw folk. I have treated it like a Coke Studio project, which will be exciting for fans and listeners." Dhanush had crooned two songs for this film, one of the song was titled as a soothing raw number. The song was titled "Polladha Bhoomi" and was appreciated by fans upon release, although it was not featured in the film.
The official track list of the film featured seven songs in the film, while composer G. V. Prakash revealed that there are four songs in the album. One of the song is a reprised version sung by Prakash Kumar. The film's album was launched on 2 September 2019, coinciding with the occasion of Ganesh Chathurthi at a launch event held at Prasad Studios in Chennai, where Dhanush, Manju Warrier, Ammu Abirami, Ken Karunas, singer-turned-actor Teejay Arunachalam director Vetrimaaran, composer G. V. Prakash Kumar, and producer S. Thanu were in attendance, and the album was released in all streaming platforms and on YouTube, the same day.
The film's music, including the background score received positive responses from both audiences as well as critics, with songs "Kathari Poovazhagi", "Yen Minukki" and "Ellu Vaya Pookalaye" were well received by audiences, benefiting to the success of the film. A reviewer from Moviecrow rated 3.5 out of 5 to the soundtrack stating "Vetri Maaran's, Asuran's soundtrack composed by G. V. Prakash, is intense, cinematic and drives the listener to witness the rawness of the lands and times where the story is set in!"
Release
While, the makers are planning to release the film on 2 October 2019, which coincides the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi and also coincided the weekend of Dusshera festival. On 8 August, the makers officially announced the release date as 4 October 2019.Marketing
The first look poster was unveiled by Dhanush through his Twitter account on 21 December 2018. The second look poster of the film was released on 10 January 2019. The official trailer of the film was unveiled on 8 September 2019.Home media
The satellite rights were bagged by Star Vijay and Amazon Prime Video acquired the digital rights.Reception
Critical reception
The Times of India, rated 3.5 out of 5 stars, stating that "Vetri Maaran delivers yet another solid action drama that keeps us engrossed from start to finish."Behindwoods rated 3.25/5, stating that "Asuran is an engaging watch with strong performances, interesting plot and an amazing emotional connect with the audience throughout."
S. Subhakeerthana from The Indian Express rated the film 4 out of 5, and reviewed it as "With this Dhanush starrer, Vetrimaaran proves he's one of the finest directors in Indian cinema, yet again. Only a few filmmakers like him can pull off a mainstream cinema, balancing ‘realism’ and commercial elements."
Sify rated the film 4.5 out of 5, summarising that "Asuran is a must-watch. Dhanush-Vetrimaaran combo who has once again delivered a raw, rustic and riveting revenge drama. Don't miss this one!"
Janani K from India Today, rated the film 3.5 out of 5 and stated that "Director Vetri Maaran’s Asuran is a thrilling revenge drama of an oppressed family in a village. With solid writing backed by brilliant performances, Asuran is a classic film."
Sreedhar Pillai from Firstpost rated the film 4 out of 5 and posted a verdict " Asuran is one of the best films of the year, and a must-watch. Vetrimaran keeps the flag of good cinema flying high."
Krupa Ge from Silverscreen said, "Asuran is a bloody revenge saga, that’s also weirdly enough about the futility of violence... Watching the film, after reading the book , feels like dipping in and out of the novel, to wander off to the sides of the pages, filled with detours and notes. It starts where the novel starts, but goes back and forth, imagining what could have been."
Gauthaman Baskaran from News18, gave contrary reviews by rating the film 2 out of 5, stating that "Coming at a time when graphic and lurid on-screen violence are being questioned and even condemned, Asuran would appear needlessly falling back to the old formula."
Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "None of the characters feel fully formed, because the timelines feel rushed. We don’t feel time and lives weigh down on us the way it did in Vada Chennai or Visaranai. Maybe it’s the on/off voiceovers, which feel like hastily applied band-aids over sore spots in the storytelling. But the bigger absence is the lack of set pieces. Vetri Maaran seems to be holding back almost deliberately, as though mirroring his leading man".