Amarkalam

''Amarkalam'' () () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film written and directed by Saran and produced by V. Sudhir Kumar. The film stars Ajith Kumar and Shalini, with Raghuvaran, Raadhika and Nassar in supporting roles.

''Amarkalam'' was Ajith's 25th film. The film released on 13 August 1999 to positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success. The film was dubbed in Telugu as ''Adbutham''. It was also remade in Telugu as ''Leela Mahal Center'' and in Kannada as ''Asura''.

Plot

Vasu is a ruthless hooligan who lives in a cinema theater owned by Aarumugam. He had a tortured childhood and wastes his days by drinking, fighting, and sleeping. It all starts when Vasu's friend, Thilak, loses an ''Annaamalai'' movie reel to Mohana. Vasu and Mohana clash when he attempts to retrieve the reel. Mohana's family are members of the police, headed by Birla Bose, Mohana's father. At this point, Tulasi Das, an ex-mafia "dada" who spent many years in jail because of Bose, comes to the theater. He does not like Bose and hires Vasu to kidnap Mohana. Vasu later cries out his childhood pain in the song "Satham Illatha." Mohana falls in love with Vasu after hearing his pain. When Tulasi realizes that Mohana loves Vasu, he hires Vasu to pretend that he loves her back. At first, it is just pretended, but then he too begins to love her. Tulasi visits Bose to inform him of his daughter's love for a gangster and realizes that Mohana is indeed his daughter. A flashback showing the parted friendship between the two men, and Ganga, Tulasi's wife, abandons him and their child when she discovers that her husband is a don. Knowing that Mohana is his daughter, Tulasi instructs Vasu to give up his love. When Vasu refuses, Tulasi visits Mohana and tells her about his ploy and that Vasu's love for her was fake. Eventually, Vasu proves to Mohana that his love was true and unites with her after a clash between the cops and some goons of the locality.

Cast

* Ajith Kumar as Vasu
* Shalini as Mohana
* Raghuvaran as Tulasi Das, Mohana's father
* Nassar as Commissioner Birla Bose, Mohana's adoptive father
* Raadhika as Ganga, Mohana's mother
* Ambika as Sharadha, Mohana's adoptive mother
* Vinu Chakravarthy as Aarumugam, cinema theatre owner
* Dhamu as Thilak, Vasu's friend
* Ramesh Khanna as Singampuli, Vasu's friend
* Charle as Thomas, Mohana's friend
* Poovilangu Mohan as DCP Ranjith Bose, Birla Bose's brother
* Ponnambalam as Aasairaj
* Ramji as Kutty
* Mahanadi Shankar as Kasi, Aasairaj's assistant
* Vaiyapuri as Mani
* Manish Borundia as a kidnapped man
* Karnaa Radha
* Raghava Lawrence in a special appearance in the song "Kaalam Kalikalam"

Production

Development

The producers of the previous collaboration of Ajith Kumar and Saran during ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (1998), Venkateswaralayam had lost a lot of money on that film so Ajith Kumar insisted on doing another film for the studio. The film initially began production without a script but only title ''Amarkalam'' being revealed.

Saran initially came up with a script revolving around a gangster who loses his eyesight and makes a lot of enemies; however he changed the script when his friends told him that several films on a similar subject were made at that time. He built a story around a setup of "a father meets his daughter without she releasing that he was her dad" based on a film he had seen and made this script completely into "a hero-centric film".

Casting

Jyothika was the first choice for the lead actress but couldn't accept it due to scheduling conflicts. Saran initially approached Shalini, who was studying at the time, and she refused, but after a three-month pursuit, he finally got her to sign on as well. Saran wanted Shalini because he found her "eyes to be arresting" and she gained "image of 'everybody’s adorable daughter' after Kadhalukku Mariyadhai", which he felt would be right for this role. The role of Tulasi Das was initially offered to Amitabh Bachchan who accepted before later pulling out of the film. Raghuvaran was Saran's next choice for the role who agreed because Saran felt "he’d understand this complex character, who wasn’t a violent one or routine villain character. Also, I was particular that no one should be able to guess the film’s turning point".

Filming

The film began production in January 1999 and during the production of the film, the lead pair Ajith Kumar and Shalini fell in love and eventually got married in April 2000. For the lead protagonist's staying place, Saran decided to use film theatre as a backdrop, he found Srinivasa Theatre after looking at its infrastructure.

Soundtrack

The film's score and the soundtrack were composed by Bharathwaj, with lyrics written by Vairamuthu. Shalini sang a song in the film, with Saran recommending her after he had heard her humming to a tune. Saran did not want the song "Satham Illamal" to be cinematic for that he created a sad past of Ajith Kumar's character to justify the presence of the song in the film. The song's lyrics were based on a poem written by Vairamuthu where every line ended with the word "vendum" (I want). Bharathwaj suggested that "instead of 'vendum', we should use 'kaetaen' (I asked), so that the song would convey that the hero asked for everything, but ultimately didn’t get any, including death". S. P. Balasubrahmanyam performed this song in an breathless manner.

Release

The film released on 13 August 1999. The reviewer from ''Indolink'' wrote, "There are no compelling performances to give sheen to the fairly complex plot cooked up by director Charan in ''Amarkalam''. The director's screenplay also loses steam midway resulting in a lukewarm payoff to a good premise. The end product plays out like a dull rehash of '' Puthiya pathai'' and numerous other gangster movies". ''Kalki'' wrote "Director creates huge expectations, love element which was barely touched became a main focal point in second half, what could have been a first class film became an average film".

The film went on to become a large success at the box office, extending Ajith Kumar's success after his previous film '' Vaali''. Ajith went on to purchase Saran a car as a token of gratitude for the success.

Re-release

A digitally restored version of ''Amarkalam'' was released in May 2014 celebrating the 43rd birthday of Ajith.

Remakes

Due to the success of the film, it was subsequently dubbed into the Telugu language with title ''Adbhutam'' and produced by V. Sathyanarayana. It was later remade in Kannada as ''Asura'' starring Shiva Rajkumar and Raghuvaran, who reprised his role. Despite the release of dubbed version there was a 2004 remake version in Telugu titled ''Leela Mahal Center'' with Aryan Rajesh.

References

External links

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{{Saran (director)

1999 films
Films set in Chennai
1990s romantic action films
Films scored by Bharadwaj (composer)
Tamil films remade in other languages
1990s Tamil-language films
Films directed by Saran
Indian romantic action films