''Adhisaya Ulagam'' () is a 2012 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

-language

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

film written and directed by Shakthi Scott and produced by R. Banuchitra. The film stars

J. Livingston Philip Livingston Jones, commonly credited by his mononym Livingston is an Indian actor, comedian and screenwriter who usually plays in supporting and comedy roles in Tamil films. He is credited as Ranjan in his earlier films such as '' Captain ...

, Sreelakshmy N. Nair, and Mannan Prithivraj. This project, combining animation with live action, is marked as India's first

3D film 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion pict ...

that featured dinosaurs. In the film, Neelakantan, an Indian scientist, invents a time machine through which he and his grandchildren are accidentally transported to the prehistoric world. There they encounter numerous now-extinct animals, including dinosaurs. The film was released on 10 August 2012 in India. In the director's words, the film received mostly negative reviews majorly because the critics failed to recognize the fact it was made on a zero budget.

Plot

Professor Neelakantan (

) is an maverick Indian scientist and inventor who develops and constructs a

time machine Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

and begins experimenting with it. He realizes that his machine requires a recognized "object" to work, and he therefore seeks to locate such an object that can be transported in time through his machine. He jokingly tells his pet dog that he would use it as the "object". Varsha (Sreelakshmy N. Nair) and Vikas (Mannan Prithivraj) are Neelakantan's mischievous grandchildren who live with their parents and are very fond of their grandfather. While on a visit, the two children enter Neelakantan's laboratory in his absence and start playing with the dog. Varsha throws a ball that strikes the time machine's control screen and accidentally turns on the device, which recognizes Varsha and Vikas as transferable "objects". Neelakantan enters the room and is shocked to see the machine's condition, but it is too late. As he tries to save the kids, he too is recognized as an "object" by the machine, and he and his grandchildren are accidentally transported to the age of

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s. In the prehistoric world, Neelakantan and his grandchildren encounter animals that are now extinct, including several species of dangerous dinosaurs. At first, they are afraid and struggle to understand what to do. But gradually, they try to be friends with the dinosaurs. They wish to return to the modern times, but in order to do this, they would need a source of electricity, which does not exist in the prehistoric times they have been transported to. How they survive their circumstances and finally manage to return to their own age is the main plot of the film.

Cast

as Neelakantan * Sreelakshmy N. Nair as Varsha * Mannan Prithivraj as Vikas *

George Vishnu George Vishnu is an Indian actor who has worked on Tamil-language films and in television dramas. Career George Vishnu, the son of Tamil Malaysians, Malaysian Tamil actor Ravichandran (Tamil actor), Ravichandran and Malayalam actress Sheela, w ...

Anandha Kannan Anandha Kannan (23 March 1973 – 16 August 2021) was an Indian Singaporean actor and television host, popularly known for his theatre works and shows broadcast in Singapore and Sun Network. Early life and family Anandha Kannan was born on ...

* Latha Rao * Mannan Prithivraj * Lena Mohan

Production

''Adhisaya Ulagam 3D'' was the first Indian

that featured dinosaurs. The film was shot using a Dual Lens Panasonic 3D Camera. The dinosaurs shown in this film were created using computer animation and graphics, and a total of 15 species of dinosaurs were depicted. The film was produced under the banners of Tittu Productions – Dreamgate Animation. Shakti Scott, who directed of the film, also composed its music, wrote its screenplay, and handled editing and graphics. Before working on the film, Scott had worked on visual effects in a few films, including ''

Eeram ''Eeram'' () is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language supernatural crime thriller film written and directed by Arivazhagan in his directorial debut and produced by S. Shankar. The film stars Aadhi, Nandha, Sindhu Menon, and Saranya Mohan, while Srinath, ...

'' and ''Arundathi''.

Release and reception

The film was released on 10 August 2012 in India. Before its release, Shakthi Scott promised "surprise elements" in the film. Upon release, ''Adhisaya Ulagam 3D'' received negative reviews from critics. ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave the film one out of five stars, saying the director failed as a storyteller and calling it "a bland Jurassic adventure". They described the film plot as a mix of those from ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...

'' and ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...

'' and found the storytelling and graphic works unimpressive. They wrote, "But when even the five-year-old kids in the theatre get restless, it is a clear sign that the filmmaker has failed as a storyteller." ''NowRunning'' criticized the director's filmmaking and the movie's storyline and graphics. They found the works of the VFX artists "amateurish" and wrote that the film "looks like an unfinished product." Overall, they rated the film "poor" and gave it half out of five stars, Shakthi Scott participated in a short filmmaking contest conducted by

Star World Star World (formerly known as Star Plus) is an English language entertainment television channel originally launched on 15 December 1991 as Star Entertainment () by STAR TV in Hong Kong as the old iteration of Star Plus. On 30 March 1996, the ...

and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

in the year 2007. ''

On the Lot ''On the Lot'' is a single season reality show and online competition for filmmaking, produced by Steven Spielberg, Mark Burnett and David Goffin. The show, which aired on Fox, featured filmmakers competing in weekly elimination competitions, wit ...

'' was a single season reality show and online competition for filmmaking, produced by Spielberg,

Mark Burnett Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a television producer who is the former Chairman of MGM Television, MGM Worldwide Television Group. He is best known for creating and producing the reality shows The Apprentice (American TV series), ''The Ap ...

and David Goffin. Shakthi Scott was selected among 12,000 entries and was the only person to be selected from Asia.

Box office

The film had a poor opening at the box office and was a commercial flop. According to Behindwoods, in its

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

theatrical run from 6 to 12 August 2012, the film collected only and had only 10% theatre occupancy on weekdays.

References