Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu

Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu
Directed by	Gautham Menon
Produced by	Manickam Narayanan
Written by	Gautham Menon
Starring	Kamal Haasan Jyothika Prakash Raj Daniel Balaji
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography	Ravi Varman
Editing by	Anthony
Studio	Photon Kathaas
Release date(s)	August 25, 2006
Running time	174 minutes
Language	Tamil
Budget	24 crore (US$4.79 million)
Box office	50 crore (US$9.98 million)

Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (Tamil: வேட்டையாடு விளையாடு; English: Hunt and Play) is a 2006 Tamil crime-thriller film written and directed by Gautham Menon. Starring Kamal Haasan, Jyothika, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Prakash Raj and Daniel Balaji in prominent roles, the film featured music composed by Harris Jayaraj. It was one of the first Indian films to make use of Super 35mm technology. The film was dubbed in Telugu as Raghavan and released on August 17, 2007.

It is expected that the film will be remade in Hindi with actor Shahrukh Khan or Salman Khan in the lead role.

Plot

The film starts with a girl named Rani, the daughter of Arokyaraj (Prakashraj), talking to her father saying that she will back home in 20mins. Rani does not return home the next morning. Arokyaraj, being afraid, goes out of his house. There he sees a finger hanging at his door. He is astonished and he confirms that it is his daughter Rani's finger. He calls Raghavan (Kamal Hassan), his old friend, for investigation. Raghavan handles the case and they'll find the body of Rani in a forest-like area. The doctor's report will say that Rani's body was bisected by the killer with a surgical knife. Then Arokyaraj and Mrs. Arokyaraj after finishing the rituals for her daughter go to New York, selling all their properties in India. After a week Raghavan gets the news that Mr. & Mrs. Arokyaraj have been murdered in New York. They create a link between Indian police and American police and start the investigation. Raghavan goes to New York. On his way in he thinks about his dear ones who have left him. There he thinks about his wife Kayalvizhi (Kamalini Mugharjee) who had been killed by a gangster who hates Raghavan. He reaches New York. There he starts his investigation with Anderson. Raghavan stays in a hotel. Next to his room stays Aradhana (Jyothika). Once he sees Aradhana trying to commit suicide. Raghavan finds it out and saves her. Then they both introduce themselves and Aradhana says that her husband had divorced her and that's why she attempted suicide. Raghavan starts investigating. They'll also handle a case of an Indian-American girl, Chandana, whose finger also was hanged in her boyfriend's car. By going through lots of difficulties they find the body of Chandana and three more American ladies. They suspect two Indian medical students who are in New York - Amudhan (Daniel Balaji) and Ilamaaran (Salim Baigg). Raghavan and Anderson try to get into their room where Amudhan shoots Anderson. Amudhan tells Raghavan that he misbehaved with Rani and Rani told that to her father Arokyaraj. Arokyaraj had kept him in the police station for a night and tortured him and so he wanted to kill her whole family. Then they both escape from there. Raghavan is admitted to the hospital. Aradhana takes care of him. Raghavan and Aradhana return to India. There Raghavan tells Aradhana that he has fallen in love with her, but she is not ready for another life and she has to take care of her 11 month old daughter Maya. The rest of the film goes with how they kill Amudhan and Illamaran. At the climax Aradhana accepts his love and they both marry and decide to have Maya as their only daughter.

Cast

• Kamal Haasan as Raghavan
• Jyothika as Aradhana
• Prakash Raj as Arokiya Raj
• Kamalinee Mukherjee as Kayalvizhi Raghavan
• Daniel Balaji as Amudhan
• Salim Baig as Ilamaran
• Lev Gorn as Anderson
• Ajay Naidu as Arun

Production

Gautham Menon was signed on to direct a venture starring Kamal Haasan and produced by Kaja Mohideen, and initially suggested a one-line story which went on to become Pachaikili Muthucharam for the collaboration. Kamal Haasan wanted a different story and thus the investigative thriller film, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, was written with Jyothika, Kamalinee Mukerji, Prakash Raj, Daniel Balaji and Saleem Baig added to the cast. The film told another episode from a police officer's life, with an Indian cop moved to America to investigate the case of psychotic serial killers before returning to pursue the chase in India. During the shooting, the unit ran into problems after the producer had attempted suicide and as a result, Kamal Haasan wanted to quit the project. Menon subsequently convinced him to stay on as they had taken advance payments. He has since revealed that unlike Kamal Haasan's other films, he did not take particular control of the script or production of the film. The film however had gone through change from the original script with less emphasis on the antagonists than Menon had hoped and he also revealed that scenes for songs were forced him and shot without him. Actresses Rohini and Andrea Jeremiah dubbed for the voices of female leads Jyothika and Kamalinee Mukherjee respectively.

Soundtrack

Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu
Original CD cover
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Released	5 March 2006 (5 March 2006)
Language	Tamil
Producer	Harris Jayaraj

The soundtrack of the film consists of 5 songs composed by Harris Jayaraj, and written by Thamarai.

Tracklist
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Karka Karka"	Devan Ekambaram, Tippu, Nakul	4:54
2.	"Partha Mudhal"	Bombay Jayashree, Unni Menon	6:06
3.	"Manjal Veyil"	Hariharan, Vijay, Nakul	5:54
4.	"Uyirile"	Mahalakshmi Iyer, Srinivas	5:13
5.	"Neruppe"	Franko, Solar Sai, Sowmya Raoh	4:50
Total length:			26:57

Critical Response

Behindwoods wrote a positive review, stating: "The album has not let down expectations. It is the usual mix by Harris. However, Bombay Jeyashree’s contribution and the beautiful lyrics by poetess Thamarai are the greatest assets to the album. Harris once again proves his mastery in orchestration and the audio will surely be a hit like Minnale or Kaakha Kaakha."

Release

Reception

The film garnered largely positive reviews from critics. National Award winning crtic Baradwaj Rangan summarised it in his review: "The story of a police investigation is detailed in a smart, grown-up movie that gets most things right." He praised the film for "giving us a sense of a day in the life of a cop, as if an invisible crew followed him around as he went about his job." He lavished heavy praise on Gautham Menon for mature handling of the relationship between the lead pair, saying, "Gautham continues to dream up for Jyotika parts that no one's imagined her in before, and she contributes to the kind of mature romantic angle we’ve rarely seen before. It’s not just about boy meeting girl and falling in love; it's about boy with baggage meeting girl with bigger baggage and tentatively exploring the practicality of a new relationship after their respective old ones have faded away."

Box Office

Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, made on a budget of 24 crore (US$4.79 million), collected totally 50 crore (US$9.98 million) worldwide. It was declared a "major hit", and was the second highest grossing Tamil film of the year.

External links

• Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu at the Internet Movie Database