Aadhi Bhagavan
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''Ameerin Aadhi-Bhagavan'' () previously known as ''Aadhi Bhagavan'', is a 2013 Indian
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
-language
action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
written and directed by Ameer. Produced by DMK politician
J. Anbazhagan Jayaraman Anbazhagan (10 June 1958 – 10 June 2020) was an Indian politician and a 3 times MLA (2001, 2011 & 2016), a Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from the Chepauk (State Assembly Constituency), Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constitue ...
, the film stars
Ravi Mohan Ravi Mohan (born 10 September 1980), better known by his former stage name Jayam Ravi, is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. The son of veteran film editor A. Mohan, Ravi made his lead acting debut in '' Jayam'' (2003), the success of ...
(credited as Jayam Ravi) in the titular
dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...
as the hero (Aadhi) and villain (Bhagavan) along with
Neetu Chandra Nitu Chandra (born Neetu Chandra Srivastava on June 20, 1984) is an Indian actress, model, film producer and theatre artist. She has worked in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films. She is also a classical dancer and a sportsperson, involved in the pr ...
,
Saiju Kurup Saiju Govinda Kurup (born 12 March 1979) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam and Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri ...
and
Sudha Chandran Sudha Chandran (born 27 September 1965) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer known for her works in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Marathi language films and television series, shows. Sudha Chandran is best known for h ...
. The film follows Aadhi, a Thailand-based gangster living separately from his mother and sister due to his criminal activities. His life changes when he rescues a young waitress from goons and soon finds himself drawn in a violent conspiracy hatched by Bhagavan, his Mumbai-based lookalike. The cinematography was handled by R. B. Gurudev and K. Devaraj, while Ram Sudharsan and S. P. Ahmed both edited the film. The film features a background score from the 2011
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
-language film ''
Panjaa ''Panjaa'' () is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film directed by Vishnuvardhan in his Telugu debut and produced by Arka Media Works and Sanghamitra Art Productions. The film stars Pawan Kalyan, Sarah-Jane Dias, Anjali Lavania, ...
'' composed by
Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja (born 31 August 1979), is an Indian composer and playback singer. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use o ...
, who composed the music for both the films. It also features a
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
-language song ''Agadam Bagadam'' sung by
Mohit Chauhan Mohit Chauhan (born 11 March 1966) is an Indian playback singer, known for his work in Hindi films. He was a part of the Silk Route (band), Silk Route band. Chauhan has received two Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer and three Zee Ci ...
. It is the second Asian film to make use of Auro 3D audio technology after ''
Vishwaroopam ''Vishwaroopam'' (titled ''Vishwaroop'' in Hindi; ) is a 2013 Indian action spy film co-written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan, who also enacts the lead role. The film also stars Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremia ...
''. Following a formal announcement in February 2010, the film was in production for a period of three years and filmed primarily across Thailand, in the Indian states of Rajasthan and
Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...
, as well as the locales of
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
,
Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
,
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, Ontario and Canada. The film had to undergo a title change following protests from
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
religious groups. The film also faced censorship issues as the
Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory Motion picture content rating system, film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of ...
gave it an A (adults only) certificate in spite of 24 cuts. The film was released theatrically on 22 February 2013 and received mixed reviews from critics. The action sequences and Ravi's performance were praised, but the writing was criticized. In spite of its moderate box office success, the director Ameer announced a sequel. In 2014, Neetu Chandra won the award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Tamil) at the
3rd South Indian International Movie Awards The nominations for the 3rd South Indian International Movie Awards were announced at a press conference held at a five star hotel in Hyderabad on July 17, 2014. Actors Rana Daggubati and Shriya Saran, who are the brand ambassadors of SIIMA, we ...
.


Plot

Posing as a CBI official, Aadhi Shanmugham robs a Hyderabad politician with the help of his team and flees away from the country as the politician orders his men to hunt him down. Aadhi is a Bangkok-based gangster who is despised by his mother and sister due to his criminal activities. They reject all his offered help despite his attempts to mend their relations. Aadhi comes across a waitress named Karishma and one night sees her getting kidnapped. He fights off the kidnappers, pays them to free her the next day and allows her to stay with him. During a drug deal, Aadhi and the dealer get attacked. The ensuing shootout leaves Aadhi nearly dead, only to be rescued by Karishma, who treats him. Aadhi confesses his love for her, and they plan to depart for Mumbai. At the airport, Karishma is found talking to the man Aadhi paid to get her freed, and it is revealed they've been working together to trap Aadhi. In the meanwhile, it is revealed that Aadhi has a lookalike named Bhagavan, a gangster with slightly feminine behavior. Once Aadhi and Karishma land in Mumbai, she gives him a drink that puts him to sleep. He's taken to a place where his hair is shortened, mustache and beard are shaved. ACP Ranadev Patel, a corrupt officer, publicly announces the capture of Bhagavan. When a politician tries to kill Aadhi, mistaking him for Bhagavan, due to his brother's death, Ranadev stops him, and Aadhi is left alone with an inmate who reveals Karishma is actually Bhagavan's girlfriend, and her real name is Rani. When told by the politician to deal with a Tamil Nadu MP, Bhagavan fought off rowdies who told him about the MP's location, following which he killed him and got invited to a party by the politician along with Rani. There, he found out that the politician's brother Sushil was attracted to Rani, and later even tried to force himself on her while drunk. The politician offered Bhagavan money to spare Sushil, but he set the money on fire and killed Sushil for his behavior. The politician enlisted police help to find Bhagavan, who had gone into hiding with Karishma. When Ranadev informed them about the same, Karishma received pictures of Aadhi, clicked by a partner and decided to trap Aadhi in order to get him framed for Bhagavan's crimes. Learning this, Aadhi is shocked and is taken away by the police before Rani personally meets and explains how she trapped him. Ranadev gets paid by the politicians: Sushil's brother and the Hyderabad politician, to kill Aadhi. Despite being wounded, Aadhi fights off the goons and escapes with his inmate. Believing Ranadev to have sold out Aadhi due to greed for money, Bhagavan kills him. Aadhi and his inmate meet a man who arranges a Malaysian passport for Aadhi to flee and also informs him Bhagavan and Rani are still in Mumbai. Aadhi decides to seek revenge and pursues Rani after learning of her location through a source. A shootout ensues, followed by a chase and resulting in a fight between Aadhi and Rani in which both are equally matched but Aadhi manages to get the upper hand and stabs Rani to death. Bhagavan enters and witnesses Aadhi murdering Rani and is heartbroken to see Rani's corpse. Aadhi challenges Bhagavan to a fight. An infuriated Bhagavan brutally beats up Aadhi. But after a lengthy battle Aadhi brutally stabs Bhagavan and tells him that 2 people in a world can't exist with the same face and leaves as a bloodied Bhagavan drags himself near Rani's corpse. After Aadhi leaves, Bhagavan is no longer near Rani's corpse implying that he escaped.


Cast


Production


Development

Ameer, after giving a hat-trick of hits, was expected to commence a project titled ''Kannabiran'' featuring
Jayam Ravi Ravi Mohan (born 10 September 1980), better known by his former stage name Jayam Ravi, is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. The son of veteran film editor A. Mohan, Ravi made his lead acting debut in ''Jayam (2003 film), Jayam'' (2003) ...
, which was initially to start in 2007. In February 2010, Ameer officially announced his new project at a press meet, stating that he had shelved ''Kannabiran'' for the time being, and instead began working on a different script for a film with Jayam Ravi, which was titled as ''Aadhi Bhagavan''. He, furthermore, disclosed that for the first time, he had written a script, after the lead actor had been finalized, while usually only after completing his script he selects the most suitable actors for the characters.


Casting

Early reports suggested that Jayam Ravi would enact the role of a gangster; later he was many-times reported to be playing double roles in the film, one of them being a
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
, however Ameer refuted these allegations and clarified that he would be playing a single role, that of a CBI officer, who would appear in various get-ups. During the official announcement, it was reported, that the lead female actress had not been chosen yet, and Ameer, like for his previous directorials, was searching and struggling to find a suitable actress. Talks were held with
Priyamani Priya Mani Raj (née Iyer; born 4 June 1984 ), known professionally as Priyamani, is an Indian actress who works in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi films. She is the recipient of a National Film Award, three Filmfare Awards Sout ...
, and
Mamta Mohandas Mamta Mohandas (born 14 November 1984) is an Indian actress, producer and playback singer who primarily works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. Mamta is a recipient of several awards including a Kerala State Film Award and two Filmfare Awa ...
to play the role of a modern NRI, with the latter even confirming in May/June 2010 to be part of the film, despite
call sheet Daily call sheet is a filmmaking term for the schedule supervised by the assistant director and crafted by the assistant director, using the director's shot list, the production schedule and other logistics considerations. It is issued to the cas ...
and date complications. However, one month later, she once for all opted out of the project as she was not willing to give almost a year of her dates. She was eventually replaced by
Neetu Chandra Nitu Chandra (born Neetu Chandra Srivastava on June 20, 1984) is an Indian actress, model, film producer and theatre artist. She has worked in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films. She is also a classical dancer and a sportsperson, involved in the pr ...
, who was approached by Ameer, while working with him in Myshkin's ''
Yuddham Sei ''Yuddham Sei'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by Mysskin. It stars Cheran and debutant Dipa Shah alongside an ensemble cast including Y. G. Mahendra, Lakshmi Ramakrishnan, Jayaprakash ...
''. Being a black belt holder in
taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...
, Chandra performed her own stunts in the film. For a pivotal role as the lead character's mother, television actress
Sudha Chandran Sudha Chandran (born 27 September 1965) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer known for her works in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Marathi language films and television series, shows. Sudha Chandran is best known for h ...
was signed up in May 2010. Malayalam actor
Saiju Kurup Saiju Govinda Kurup (born 12 March 1979) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam and Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri ...
was roped in to essay the role of the main antagonist; he would portray a Mumbai-based Assistant Police Commissioner.
Sakshi Shivanand Sakshi Shivanand is an Indian actress, who has appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films. Her most notable work is '' Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai'' which was directed by Anubhav Sinha and co-starred Priyanshu Chatter ...
was selected to perform an
item number In Indian cinema, an item number or special 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 ( Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu c ...
alongside 150 foreign dancers at specially erected set in April 2011. Upon completion of filming, director Ameer revealed to the media that he, too, had played an important role, although he had stated earlier that he would not act in the film.


Filming

The first schedule, primarily featuring Jayam Ravi, was held in May 2010 in
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
, Thailand. After the lead actress had been finalized, the film crew returned to Thailand in September that year for the subsequent schedule that took place at the beach resort
Pattaya Pattaya is a city in Eastern Thailand, the second-largest city in Chonburi province and the List of municipalities in Thailand, eighth-largest city in Thailand. It is on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about southeast of Bangkok, and h ...
which was decorated as hero's office by art director Jacki, following which couple of scenes were canned in
Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
and
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
. Ameer started the third schedule in early February 2011 with shoots being held in
Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed ''The Golden city'', is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur, in the heart of the Thar Desert. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer district ...
,
Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...
and
Bhuj Bhuj () is a city and the headquarters of Kutch district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Etymology According to legend, Kutch (Kachchh) was ruled by the Nāga chieftains in the past. Sagai, a queen of Sheshapattana, who was married to King B ...
,
Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...
. Jayam Ravi then moved on to finish his other ongoing project, ''
Engeyum Kadhal ''Engeyum Kadhal'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Prabhu Deva that stars Ravi Mohan (credited as Jayam Ravi) and Hansika Motwani. Featuring music by Harris Jayaraj, it was produced by Kalpathi S. ...
'' for that he also sported a different look, as a result of which the filming of ''Aadhi Bhagavan'' came to a halt; it recommenced in December 2011. In April 2012, filming was carried out in
Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...
. Although filming was supposed to be completed with the Goa schedule, the crew moved to Rajasthan by early July 2012 to shoot a couple of climax action sequences in the deserts of
Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed ''The Golden city'', is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur, in the heart of the Thar Desert. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer district ...
and
Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...
, which could not be shot during the previous schedule due to Neetu Chandra's absence, who had left to shoot for an international project. A fight sequence between two Jayam Ravis was shot in Bhojpur district during a 15-day schedule, seven cameras were said to have been used for the scene. Neetu Chandra finished shooting her portion on 25 July, while the entire filming was eventually completed on 31 July 2012, following its final schedule in
Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the States and territories of India, state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. It is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Fo ...
, Rajasthan. Post-production works commenced by early 2012, while filming was still carried out, and the first look posters were published in July 2012. A press statement in June 2012 announced that ''Aadhi Bhagavan'' would become the first Tamil film to feature
7.1 surround sound 7.1 surround sound is the common name for an eight-channel surround audio system commonly used in home theatre configurations. It adds two additional speakers to the more conventional six-channel ( 5.1) audio configuration. As with 5.1 surround ...
at standard resolution. The film was recorded at composer
A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...
's AM Studios,
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
, India.


Music

As with Ameer's previous directorials, the film score and soundtrack were composed by
Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja (born 31 August 1979), is an Indian composer and playback singer. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use o ...
and lyrics were written by
Snehan Snehan (born Sivaselvam) is the 1st executive committee member of Makkal Needhi Maiam party. In the year 2018 he entered politics with Makkal Needhi Maiam and contested in the Lok Sabha election. In 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly electi ...
. Music compositions began in July 2010 at Singapore, and took nearly two years to curate the album. The background score from the film was re-used from Yuvan's compositions for his Telugu film ''
Panjaa ''Panjaa'' () is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film directed by Vishnuvardhan in his Telugu debut and produced by Arka Media Works and Sanghamitra Art Productions. The film stars Pawan Kalyan, Sarah-Jane Dias, Anjali Lavania, ...
'' (2011). The soundtrack album was unveiled at a grand event on 6 October 2012 at the
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in
Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, the first ever Tamil audio launch event held in North America.


Release


Theatrical

''Aadhi Bhagavan'' was filmed around a span of two years. It was speculated that the film was scheduled to release on the eve of Pongal festival, which falls on 10 January 2013. Later, the film was scheduled to be released on 24 January 2013, to avoid clashing with another delayed film ''
Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...
''. then postponed to avoid clashing with ''
Vishwaroopam ''Vishwaroopam'' (titled ''Vishwaroop'' in Hindi; ) is a 2013 Indian action spy film co-written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan, who also enacts the lead role. The film also stars Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremia ...
'' (2013), which was scheduled on the same date. Moreover, the sudden postponement and the uncertainty prevailing over the release of ''Vishwaroopam'', affected the film's release by pushing towards the end of February. It was also speculated that the film would be scheduled for a
Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...
release, on 14 February 2013. But, the makers confirmed that the film will be released on 22 February 2013. The film was awarded an
A certificate The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provisio ...
by the censor board, citing the action sequences and violence, with 24 cuts. Before its release, the censor board officials requested to change its title, by adding a prefix ''Ameerin'', which was named as ''Ameerin Aadhi-Bhagavan''. Reservations for the film were started three days before the release, on 19 February 2013. The film was released in 1200 screens worldwide clashing with G. N. R. Kumaravelan's '' Haridas'' (2013). This film was also dubbed in
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
as ''Main Shareef Tu Badmash''.


Marketing

As a part of the film's promotions, director Ameer launched an official website and official
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
page for the film. The trailer of the film was released at a grand launch event held in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
on 8 November 2012, with the presence of the film's cast and crew. The making video of the film's shooting in
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
was released in December 2012. A new trailer was launched on 17 January 2013.


Home media

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV. A censored version of the film was released digitally on
Sun NXT Sun NXT (read as "Sun Next") is an Indian subscription video on demand over-the-top streaming service run by Sun TV Network. It was launched in June 2017 and has content in six languages - Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi a ...
.


Reception


Box office

The film raked 50% - 70% occupancy on first day collected 5.85 crore. The film got a decent opening the first weekend, collected 23.6 crore at the box office. The film first week collection worldwide 37.9 crore at the box office. The film worldwide gross around 85 crore at the box office. The film declared ''hit'' by traders analyst.


Critical response

''Ameerin Aadhi-Bhagavan'' received mixed reviews from critics. The praise was aimed at the performances and action sequences, while the writing and pacing drew criticism. Writing for ''
Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...
'', S. Saraswathi praised the performances and action sequences but felt the film might not appeal to everyone due to the heavy amount of violence and "every second scene being a fight scene". ''Behindwoods.com'' similarly gave the film 3 stars out of 5 and praised the performances and action sequences. Although Chandra's lip sync for Tamil dialogues, the quick and abrupt cuts in the action scenes and the overdose of Hindi dialogues were criticized, the reviewer felt the film was watchable due to Ravi and the action set-pieces, further recommending it to fans of raw action films. ''Kollywood Today'' gave the film 2.5 stars of 5 stars, praising the lead stars, music, cinematography and Chandra's efforts in the climactic fight sequence but criticizing the slow pace and the '' Scarface'' inspirations in the first half, and also feeling the characters were half baked. Writing for ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'', Malathi Rangarajan praised Ravi's performance and Chandra's martial arts skills showcased in the action scenes, but found the characters and situations predictable. She also criticized the placement of voice-overs translating the Hindi dialogues into Tamil, as they gave the feel of a dubbed film.


Controversies

The film faced criticisms from
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
groups, as the film, as well as its former title, ''Aadhi Bhagavan'', was mentioned as offensive to their religion. Later Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), filed a petition against the film, seeking a ban on it, as the title was meant objectionable to the group, and they also demanded a statewide protest. This forced the makers to change its title to ''Ameerin Aadhi-Bhagavan''. Ameer criticised the censor board officials, regarding that the film was given A certificate, unnecessarily. A member from the censor board registered a complaint against Ameer, to the city police commissioner citing that, the officials had asked him for a bribe amount to receive a U/A or U certificate to the film. The officials claimed that post the release of ''
Vishwaroopam ''Vishwaroopam'' (titled ''Vishwaroop'' in Hindi; ) is a 2013 Indian action spy film co-written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan, who also enacts the lead role. The film also stars Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremia ...
'', the censor board tightened the rules and the film was given an A certificate for the mafia storyline.


References


External links

* * {{Ameer (director) 2013 films 2013 action thriller films Indian action thriller films Indian crime action films Gun fu films Films about criminals Films about lookalikes Indian films about revenge Films shot in Thailand Films set in Mumbai Films shot in Goa Films shot in Rajasthan Films scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja Films directed by Ameer Sultan 2010s Tamil-language films Twins in Indian films Tamil-language Indian films Hinduism-related controversies in film Religious controversies in India 2013 controversies