''Kuthiraivaal'' also spelt as ''Kuthirai Vaal'' () is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language

psychological drama Psychological drama or psychodrama is a sub-genre of drama that places emphasis on psychological elements. It often overlaps with other genres such as crime, fantasy, black comedy, and science fiction, and it is closely related with the psychologi ...

film written by G. Rajesh and co-directed by Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder on their directorial debuts. The film's background score has been composed by Martin Visser and the songs composed by Pradeep Kumar. The film stars

Kalaiyarasan Kalaiyarasan Harikrishnan is an Indian actor, who works in the Tamil film industry. He has collaborated with directors Myshkin and Pa. Ranjith, with whom he worked in ''Madras'' (2014) for which he received acclaim for his performance. Career ...

Anjali Patil Anjali Patil is an Indian actress and film director who works in multiple languages. She has earned rave reviews for her work in ''Delhi in a Day'', '' Chakravyuh'', '' Newton'' and Sri Lankan film '' With You Without You''. She received the ...

, Sowmya Jaganmurthy,

Anand Sami Anandsami is an Indian film and stage actor who has worked on Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi productions. In films, Anandsami had a career breakthrough with appearances in ''Lens'' (2016) and ''Odu Raja Odu'' (2018). Career In 2001, Anandsami was ...

and Chetan in the lead roles. The film consists of

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...

elements such as man with a horse tail, horse without a tail and a sky with both sun and moon appearing simultaneously at the same time. The film is deemed as one of only few Tamil films to have used the concept of magical realism besides ''

Aalavandhan ''Aalavandhan'' () is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Suresh Krissna and produced by S. Thanu. An adaptation of the novel ''Dhayam'' that was written by Kamal Haasan in 1984, The film stars Haasan in dual roles, ...

''. It became the first Indian film to have been nominated for international premiere at the Berlin critics film festival. The film is loosely inspired from

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

's novel ''

The Metamorphosis ''Metamorphosis'' (german: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himsel ...

''. The film was scheduled to be released in theatres on 4 March 2022,but got postponed to 18 March 2022. The film received mixed reviews from critics and audience.

Plot

Saravanan (Kalaiyarasan) who calls himself as Freud works as a cashier in a bank. One day he wakes up after having a dream where he sees a horse without a tail, and a sky with both the sun and moon at the same time. He soon realizes that he has grown a horse's tail mysteriously after waking up. His quest to find the meaning behind this mysterious tail forms the rest of the film.

Cast

as Saravanan aka Freud *

as Vaanavil aka Van Gogh * Chetan as Babu *

Anandsami Anandsami is an Indian film and stage actor who has worked on Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi productions. In films, Anandsami had a career breakthrough with appearances in ''Lens'' (2016) and ''Odu Raja Odu'' (2018). Career In 2001, Anandsami was ...

as Ramu's Grandfather

Production

It was revealed that the writer of the film G. Rajesh came on board voluntarily approached both Shyam and Manoj and narrated the script to them. The filmmakers felt impressed with the script after listening to it and began to work on the film production. It took over a year and a half for both Shyam and Manoj to find the right producer for the film. Prior to this film project, both Shyam and Manoj attempted to make a feature film in 2015 but it was shelved due to financial issues. Director Pa. Ranjith came on board as producer of the film and bankrolled under his production banner Neelam Productions. Vignesh came on board as co-producer of the film. According to few sources, it was initially reported that the film would be made as an anthology with 5 stories and it was also speculated that Pa. Ranjith would direct one of the 5 stories in the film. However, in 2019, Pa. Ranjith refuted the speculations and clarified that ''Kuthiraivaal'' would be one of the five films that he decided to produce under his production banner Neelam Productions. The

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

of the film began in 2018 and the post-production works began in 2019 mainly focusing on the

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

. The tail which was used in the film was created by combining both

prosthetics In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

and

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

Soundtrack

The songs were composed by

Pradeep Kumar Pradeep Kumar (born Sital Batabyal; 4 January 1925 – 3 November 2001) was an Indian actor who is recognized for his work in Hindi, Bengali and English-language films. Career When Kumar was 17 years old, he decided to take up acting. He sta ...

and Martin Visser while the latter did the

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

Premiere

The filmmakers initially planned to screen the film in festival circuits before theatrical release. However, the plans were affected due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The filmmakers opted not to release the film via virtual online film festivals due to piracy concerns and instead opted for physical film festival premieres. It was officially selected to be premiered as one of the films under India Story section for the 2020 MAMI (

Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) is a public trust that organises the annual international film festival in Mumbai famously known as the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Actor, producer and author Priyanka Chopra, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is ...

) Mumbai Film Festival. The festival was pushed back to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also selected for premiere at the

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

on 12 February 2021 and opened to positive reviews from critics. The film was also screened at the Berlin critics week on 27 February 2021.

Baradwaj Rangan Baradwaj Rangan is an Indian film critic, writer, and formerly the deputy editor of ''The Hindu''. He later became a senior editor of Film Companion. Rangan won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2006. Before joining ''The Hindu'' ...

wrote for ''

Film Companion South Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

'', "''Kuthiraivaal'' works best when it relies on the sound (Anthony Ruban) and score (Maarten Visser and Pradeep Kumar), which distort and amplify these strange happenings."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=tt13022626 2020s psychological drama films 2020s Tamil-language films 2021 3D films 2021 directorial debut films 2021 films Indian psychological drama films Magic realism films