''Arasu'' ( ''Kingdom'') is a 2003 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

masala film Masala films of Indian cinema mix multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. They also tend to be ...

written and directed by

Suresh Suresh is an Indian masculine given name originating in the Sanskrit word ' (compound of ' and '). Its meaning is "Ruler of Gods" and it has been used an epithet for the Hindu gods Indra, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. People named Suresh include: *Sur ...

and produced by Babu Raaja. The film stars

Sarathkumar Sarathkumar Ramanathan (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, politician, filmmaker, and singer. He has acted in more than 130 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. He has won two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards S ...

Simran Simran (Gurmukhi: ਸਿਮਰਨ; hi, सिमरण, सिमरन ; from Sanskrit: , ''smaraṇa'', 'to remember, reminisce, recollect'), in spirituality, is a Sanskrit word referring to the continuous remembrance of the finest aspect of ...

, and

Roja Roja may refer to: * ''Roja'' (film), a 1992 Tamil-language film by director Mani Ratnam * ''Roja'' (soundtrack), a soundtrack album from the film * Roja Selvamani Roja Selvamani (born Sri Latha Reddy; 17 November 1972), also known as R. K. ...

, while Sai Kumar,

Vadivelu Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 12 September 1960), known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian actor, comedian and playback singer, having acted in supporting and lead roles in Tamil cinema. He gained widespread acclaim in Kollywood in the 2 ...

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

and

Riyaz Khan Riyaz Khan is an Indian actor and bodybuilder. He predominantly works in Malayalam and Tamil films and television series, besides acting in a few Telugu and Kannada films, as well as two Hindi films. Riyaz debuted in Malayalam through the 1994 ...

play supporting roles. The score and

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

was composed by

Mani Sharma Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina ...

. The film released on 14 April 2003 and was a commercial success.

Plot

The movie starts with Thirunavukkarasu(alias Arasu) murdering a person in Mumbai. Soon, the story shifts to Kumbakonam where Arasu is employed in a temple by Venu Shastri, and stays in Pichumani's house. Arasu's calm nature and responsible behaviour impresses everyone in the locality. Meera, Venu Shastri's daughter, falls in love with Arasu. One day, Arasu sees the news about the release of a criminal from jail and gets angered. He also kills the criminal with the help of a few men. The murder is witnessed by Meera and Venu Shastri. Everyone in Kumbakonam gets shocked upon knowing that Arasu is a murderer. Arasu meets Venu Shastri's family to disclose the truth. A flashback is shown where Arasu is the only son of Nataraj, who is fondly called Periyavar by his followers in Chennai. Periyavar is a good-natured don striving hard for the welfare of the poor and slum dwellers in Chennai. He is married to Sivagami and they lead a happy life with Arasu. Sabapathy is a rich business tycoon who goes to any extent for earning money. Trouble erupts between Sabapathy and Periyavar, following which Sabapathy is arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for his illegal activities which led to the deaths of a few young girls. As a means of revenge, Sabapathy's brother Gunashekharan and his henchmen kill Periyavar and Sivagami. Arasu is angered and vows revenge against Sabapathy and his men. Hearing this, Venu Shastri and Meera understand Arasu's position and decide to save him by not disclosing his whereabouts to policemen. Despite all the attempts by police to arrest Arasu, he successfully kills Sabapathy and Gunashekharan and surrenders to the police. He is sentenced to imprisonment and gets released after five years. In the end, he comes to meet Meera, and both get united.

Cast

Sarath Kumar Sarathkumar Ramanathan (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, politician, filmmaker, and singer. He has acted in more than 130 Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. He has won two Tamil Nadu State Film A ...

as Arasu (Thirunavukkarasu) and Periyavar Nataraj (dual role) *

as Meera, Arasu's love interest *

as Sivagami, Periyavar's wife and Arasu's mother * Sai Kumar as Sabapathy, the main villain *

as Pichumani *

as Venu Shastri, Meera's father * Bharat Murali as Police officer *

Bhanu Chander Bhanu Chander (Madduri Venkatasatya Subramanyeswara Bhanuchander Prasad; born 2 July 1952) is an Indian actor, director and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu and Tamil cinema. He is the son of veteran music composer Master Ven ...

* Sudha as Meera's mother *

as Gunashekharan, Sabapathy's brother *

Manivannan S. Manivannan Rajagopal (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013), better known by his mononym Manivannan, was an Indian film director, actor and activist who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and also worked in a few Telugu & Malayalam films. In a care ...

as Rahim Bhai * Bharathi as Meera's friend *Minnal Deepa as Thenmozhi *Kottachi as Photographer * Chitti Babu as Lawyer *

Sampath Ram Sampath Ram is an Indian actor who works primarily in Tamil-language films. He is known for his villainous roles. Career Ram started his acting career with the television series '' Ethanai Manithargal'' that aired on Doordarshan as a thug. He ...

Kiran Rathod Kiran Rathod (born 11 January 1981) is an Indian actress. She has acted in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. Early life Rathod was born on 11 January 1981 in Jaipur. She is a cousin of actress Raveena Tandon. Rathod graduated ...

in an

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and Be ...

Soundtrack

These five songs in ''Arasu'' were composed by

. Sharma later reused "Malligai Malligai" as "Chinnaga Chinnaga" for Telugu film ''Tagore''.

Production

The film marked the debut of Suresh who had worked with directors like

N. Maharajan N. Maharajan is an Indian film director who directed Tamil and Hindi films. He made his debut with '' Vallarasu'' and directed other films ''Anjaneya'' and ''Arasatchi''. He had provided scripts for Hindi films '' Zor'' and Champion Career Maha ...

(''

Vallarasu ''Vallarasu'' () is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by N. Maharajan in his film debut. The film stars Vijayakanth and Devayani. The music is by Deva. It was released on 14 April to positive reviews and became a Blockbuster. T ...

''),

Dharani Dharanis (IAST: ), also known as ''Parittas'', are Buddhist chants, mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, usually the mantras consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases. Believed to be protective and with powers to generate merit for the Bud ...

, and Lingusamy. Most of the shooting took place at

Kumbakonam Kumbakonam (formerly spelt as Coombaconum or Combaconum) or Kudanthai is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district in the States of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Chennai and is the headq ...

, in and around the temple areas. Other locations were

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and Kolkata. A fight scene was picturised at the Kumbakonam market area. Five cameras were used and it took ten days to shoot the fight scene. The scene choreographed by Peter Hayen and canned by cinematographer Y. N. Murali, was shot amidst a large crowd including the hero, some stuntmen, character artistes and the locals. Close-up shots of the fight scene was shot again in Chennai Studio where a set resembling the market place was erected.

Release

After this film, Suresh again collaborated with Sarath Kumar for films like ''

Gambeeram ''Gambeeram'' () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Suresh, starring Sarath Kumar and Laila. Cast Soundtrack Soundtrack was composed by Mani Sharma and lyrics were written by Pa. Vijay and Kabilan. Reception The ...

'' and '' Nam Naadu''.

Critical reception

Sify wrote:"the narration is told in a gripping fashion with all the essential ‘masalas’ like punchy dialogues, action, song ‘n’ dance and item numbers". Balaji wrote: "The movie presents the revenge tale in the style of

Rajnikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

's ''

Baashha ''Baashha'' is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language gangster action film written and directed by Suresh Krissna. The film stars Rajinikanth, Nagma and Raghuvaran, with Janagaraj, Devan, Shashi Kumar, Vijayakumar, Anandaraj, Charan Raj, Kitty, Sath ...

'' and is quite entertaining".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt1479670 2003 films Tamil films remade in other languages 2000s Tamil-language films Films scored by Mani Sharma Indian films about revenge