Maattrraan

Maattrraan
Release poster
Directed by	K. V. Anand
Written by	K. V. Anand Subha
Produced by	Kalpathi S. Aghoram
Starring	Suriya Kajal Aggarwal Sachin Khedekar Tara
Cinematography	S. Sounder Rajan
Edited by	Anthony
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Production company	AGS Entertainment
Distributed by	Eros International Thameen Movies (Kerala) Gemini Film Circuit (Overseas)
Release date	12 October 2012 (2012-10-12)
Running time	168 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹60 crore (US$7.2 million)

Maattrraan (English: The Alternate) is a 2012 Tamil action thriller film directed and co-written by K. V. Anand and produced by Kalpathi S. Aghoram, starring Suriya portraying conjoined twins, along with Kajal Aggarwal in lead roles. It also features Sachin Khedekar, Tara, Ajay Ratnam, Ravi Prakash and Shankar Krishnamurthy in supporting roles with Isha Sharvani making a special appearance. Maattrraan released worldwide on 12 October 2012 along with a dubbed Telugu version titled Brothers, receiving mixed to positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Ramachandran (Sachin Khedekar) is a genetic scientist who doesn't get due credit and funds for his research. He tries creating a human with several talents through baby designing, which thus leads to the birth of his sons, who are conjoined together above the waist. Since they share a common heart, doctors suggest a sacrificial surgery, to which their mother, Sudha (Tara), objects. They begin raising their children, Vimalan (Suriya) and Akhilan (Suriya).In the following years, Ramachandran makes it big with the help of Sudha. His company, Locus Lacto Products, makes huge profit through their product “Energion”, the top-selling children’s powdered milk energy drink in the market.

Vimalan and Akhilan are poles apart in character, the former being decent and good at studies while the latter is care-free and poor at studies. Anjali (Kajal Aggarwal) joins their company as a translator. Both Vimalan and Akhilan fall for her. She, along with her Russian friend Volga, a journalist, spend their time with the brothers. Meanwhile, Anjali falls for Vimalan and Akhilan is happy for them.

Volga is then revealed to be a spy who tries to steal the trade secrets of Energion. She is exposed and sent out by Ramachandran. She then takes the brothers to their cattle farm under the pretext of an interview where she takes pictures and even collects a milk sample from their farm. When Vimalan questions her, he is warned by her that Energion was an adulterated product and could lead to the death of thousands of children. She also exposes their father of killing the head of their R & D department and setting the lab on fire, thereby destroying evidence. Consequently, she is murdered, but, she swallows a pen-drive containing evidences of the foul-play before dying. Anjali acquires it from the person who performs Volga’s autopsy. She hands the pen-drive over to Vimalan. Following this, Vimalan and Akhilan are confronted by goons who try to get the pen-drive from him. Akhilan is convinced that the attack was only meant for robbing them. During this fight, Vimalan suffers a huge blow on the head.

Vimalan is declared brain-dead and his heart is transplanted into Akhilan. Anjali grows closer to Akhilan after Vimalan’s death. Sudha is warned that Energion is adulterated and she confronts her husband who asks the food safety department to raid their company. Energion is declared safe and hygienic. Meanwhile, Akhilan discovers that his father is behind Vimalan’s death by tracking his assistant, Dinesh (Ravi Prakash). He gets hold of the pen-drive that contains several photos, where ingredients used as cattle feed at their farm are declared as no feed. The beginning of the scheme is traced back to Ukraine.

Accompanied by Anjali, Akhilan sets out to solve the mystery. They get her friend, Ashok’s help but he is subsequently killed. The photos are revealed to be athletes who were competing for the Unified Nations in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The athletes are declared dead in a plane crash. The investigation leads them to the army medical research centre. The truth is then revealed that Energion was originally an undetectable steroid invented by Ramachandran to improve the performance of the athletes at the world games. Though the country performed well, some of the athletes began suffering from similar health problems leading to their deaths and that their death from a plane crash was faked to avoid national shame. They also learn that the adulterant in Energion could be detected only with the addition of ionization enhancer. After being assaulted by a local mafia led by Dinesh, Akhilan takes the remedial ingredients back to India.

Once they are in India, Ramachandran is exposed and is about to be arrested. Akhilan requests his father to surrender but however, he discovers his father’s ugly side and finds out that he and his brother are just a result their father’s failed experiment. His father states that he used the whole society as his research lab, through Energion. His leg is then crushed by a rock when he tries killing his own son. Akhilan leaves his father to die at the hands of rats which chew on his flesh.

Akhilan receives national recognition for bravery. The film ends on a happy note as Akhilan and Anjali are married and give birth to conjoined twins.

Cast

• Suriya as Vimalan and Akhilan
• Kajal Aggarwal as Anjali
• Sachin Khedekar as Ramachandran
• Tara as Sudha
• Ajay Ratnam
• Ravi Prakash as Dinesh
• Shankar Krishnamurthy
• Irina Maleva as Volga
• Isha Sharvani (Special appearance)

Production

Casting

During the post-production stage of Ko, K. V. Anand announced that he would direct Suriya again after the success of Ayan, further noting that it would be produced by AGS Entertainment and would begin once Suriya finished shooting for A. R. Murugadoss' sci-fi thriller 7aum Arivu. Several actresses were considered including Taapsee Pannu, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Sonakshi Sinha and Anushka Sharma, with Kajal Aggarwal eventually grabbing the role. National Award winning Kannada actress Tara was signed on to play Suriya's mother. Prakash Raj was dropped out of the film and he was replaced by Sachin Khedekar who played Amala Paul's father in Deiva Thirumagal. Daniel Balaji was said to be a part of the cast but he denied that he was apart of the crew. Hindi actor Milind Soman was also wrongly reported to be working for the film.

Filming

It was officially launched on 22 July 2011 in Chennai. The first schedule was held near the Pakistan border. In November 2011, the crew filmed a song in Latvia. A major portion of the film was shot in the Balkan region in countries like Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia and especially a large chunk in Russia. Another large portion was filmed in sets erected at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. In February 2012, the team left for the United States to do special facial scanning led by VFX Supervisor V. Srinivas Mohan. Maattrraan thus became the first Indian film to use performance capture technology. Isha Sharvani performed an item number for a song titled "Theeyae Theeyae" which was shot at AVM Studios. Furthermore, a duet song featuring Kajal and Suriya was shot at Wai, a village near Pune in Maharashtra. Moreover, many CG scenes were shot at Balu Mahendra studios. A song featuring over 500 junior artists and Suriya was shot in Jodhpur, touted to be the last phase of canning songs. Next, filming for an important talkie portion was held at Bhuj in Gujarat near the safe zone along the Indo-Pakistani border that lasted for five days. K. V. Anand and cinematographer Sounder Rajan subsequently were in Madagascar, hunting for a forest location to shoot a song for the film. However, since Suriya could not afford filming there due to his other commitments, K. V. Anand decided to erect a similar set in India to create the same look as in Madagascar. The shooting which was to be held in the US, was cancelled in June 2012. The entire filming was wrapped up in Norway by completing the "Naani Koni" song.

Soundtrack

Untitled

Harris Jayaraj composed the music; the soundtrack features five tracks that belong to varied genres. As per K. V. Anand's idea, he and Jayaraj sailed on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea where most of the songs were roughly composed.

The audio rights of the film were acquired by Sony Music for ₹ 2.25 crores. The album was launched in a grand manner on August 9, 2012 at Singapore Expo in Singapore. The event was attended by several noted personalities from the film industry along with the technical crew and cast of the film. A live performance was given by Harris Jayaraj and singers Karthik, MK Balaji, Vijay Prakash Krish and Charulatha Mani. The event's satellite rights was bagged by Jaya TV for an undisclosed price. The soundtrack received mixed critical reception.

Tracklist

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Rettai Kathirae"	Na. Muthukumar	Krish, MK Balaji, Mili Nair & Sharmila	4:50
2.	"Naani Koni"	Viveka	Vijay Prakash, Karthik & Shreya Ghoshal	5:26
3.	"Theeyae Theeyae"	Pa. Vijay	Franco, Charulatha Mani, Sathyan, Aalap Raju, & Suchitra	5:23
4.	"Yaaro Yaaro"	Thamarai	Karthik & Priya Himesh	5:35
5.	"Kaal Mulaitha Poovae"	Madhan Karky	Javed Ali & Mahalakshmi Iyer	5:31
Total length:				26:47

Release

Maattrraan was touted to become Suriya's biggest release till date. The distribution rights of the Tamil version were sold to Eros International for ₹80 crore (US$9.6 million). Telugu distribution rights were bagged by Bellamkonda Suresh's Multi Dimensional Films for a record price of ₹17 crore (US$2.0 million). The rights of Karnataka and Kerala regions were acquired by Mandya Srikanth for ₹4 crore (US$480,000) and ₹3 crore (US$360,000) respectively. The film's overseas rights were sold for a whopping sum of ₹12 crore (US$1.4 million) to Gemini Film Circuit. One of the biggest international releases will be in France, where the film will be released by Aanaa films in 14 different screens across the country. ATMUS, the US distributors of Maattrraan beats their own record of maximum number of screens in the USA of Ajith's Billa II, releasing the film in 63 centers.

Maattrraan's official teaser was released in Chennai and simultaneously uploaded to YouTube on July 12, 2012. The second official teaser trailer was released on August 9, 2012. During the late production stage the title was slightly changed from Maattrraan to Maattrraan. The film was censored on 3 October 2012 and it was given a clean "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board without cuts. The movie opened in over 1200 screens across the globe with 32 screens in Chennai city alone on 12 October 2012.

Critical Reception

Maattraan received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, commenting that it had a "running time of close to three hours, and editor Anthony should have persevered with the director to reduce it as a lot of time is expended on scenes that could have been easily sacrificed to make it a much more compact package. Or maybe Anand also needed a Maattrraan (alternate) to step in when he lost his way". IndiaGlitz.com rated it 3.5 out of 5 stars, saying that it was "worth a watch for Suriya's acting and some great groundwork done by K. V. Anand", further adding that "the second half does a shabby job of wrapping things up, but it still gives you an unique experience overall". Sify's critic commented: "If you are looking at a time pass entertainer, walk into K. V. Anand’s Maattrraan. It is a fun ride till interval and in the second half there is a neat message told with lot of cinematic liberties. Suriya holds the film together as the script tends to waver towards the climax". BehindWoods.com gave it 3 out of 5 stars, while stating: "There is a pattern in K. V. Anand’s films. There is a definite social message which he masquerades with commercial components and packages it interestingly. Maattrraan also follows the route and it delivers what it promises- a rich and stylish entertainer with an interesting story. Maattrraan is a rich and grandeur entertainer". Oneindia rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, stating that it had "rare characters of conjoined twins but has a predictable story and appears like a second part of Suriya's last movie 7aum Arivu directed by A. R. Murugadoss" and that it was "good, not brilliant".

Rediff's Pavithra Srinivasan gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, concluding that it had a "great premise, great characters and actors who could have pulled off a complicated story. Sadly, the movie never capitalises on its strengths". S. Viswanath from Deccan Herald cited that "despite its interesting theme, the film is, however, done in by its rather long running time as also painfully sluggish first half seeking to establish the plot but brimming with comic capers", summing up that it was "an ensemble entertainer but could have been much better". The New Indian Express' critic Malini Mannath claimed that the film "with its whimsical screenplay and lackadaisical narration, turns out to be a huge disappointment", going on to add that it "smacks of overconfidence, and an utter disregard for the sense and sensibility of a viewer".

Box office

Maattraan was released in more than 1200 screens worldwide on October 12th 2012. In Tamil Nadu, as per the latest trade reports, Maattrraan has been released in over 500 screens and in Chennai alone, it has been released in 32 screens. Maattrraan has reportedly collected ₹19.15 crore (US$2.3 million) in the first weekend in Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, it has garnered ₹2.86 crore (US$340,000) in the first weekend. Maattrraan has raked in £81,253 (Rs 69.20 lacs) on 20 screens in the UK in the first weekend with per screen average of £4,063 (Rs 3.45 lakhs). In the US, Maattrraan has collected $1,62,422 (Rs 86.11 lakhs) on 38 screens in the first weekend with per screen average of $4,274 (Rs 2.25 lacs). However, Sify declared the film as "average" at the Chennai box office from its second week. Behindwoods stated that After a good opening, Maattrraan is showing signs of giving way to other releases from its second week, while the Theatre Owners Association Joint Secretary Sridhar has confirmed that Maattraan has failed at the box office.

Controversies

When Maattrraan was touted to be the first Indian film based on conjoined twins, it created a stir after two other films with the same concept - Charulatha and Iruvan, were launched later. It was reported to have shared the same storyline as Charulatha, but director K. V. Anand however denied the reports and said, “After reading such reports, I watched the original version (Charulatha was based on 2007 Thai movie Alone). There isn’t any connection between the two movies, except for the fact that the protagonists are conjoined twins.”

Later reports claimed that the film was inspired by another conjoined twins-themed American film Stuck on You, with the posters of both films also being described as similar to each other. Lead actor Suriya however denied this and said, "I have been seeing comments and links on social networking sites saying that Maattrraan is based on some world movie. Only after seeing those links, I came to know that such a film even exists!"

Maattrraan was eventually banned in the state of Karnataka, due to a dispute between Tamil and the Kannada film industries. This dismayed several of Suriya's fans, causing them to travel to the nearby region Hosur to see the film. However, Maattrraan's Telugu dubbed version Brothers was allowed for the "state-wide release".

External links

• Maattrraan at IMDb