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 film directed by Gandhi Krishna and written by Sujatha originally slated to be released in 1999. Based on the true incidents revolving around the Sardar Sarovar Dam project, the film would have starred
Arvind Swamy
Arvind Swamy (born 18 June 1970) is an Indian actor, film director and entrepreneur known for his work in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi cinema, Telugu cinema and Malayalam cinema. He was introduced as an actor by Mani Ratnam with the blockbuste ...
and
Madhuri Dixit
Madhuri Dixit Nene (Maiden and married names, née Dixit, ; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress and television personality. She has appeared in Madhuri Dixit filmography, over 70 Hindi films. Praised by critics for her performances and danc ...
, with music composed by
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 cinema ...
and cinematography and editing being handled by Jeeva and K. Thanigachalam respectively.
It was originally filmed in Tamil with dubbed versions in Telugu and
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 ...
. The film was shelved after 80 percent of shooting was completed.
Plot
The original film was based on a dam being built across a village. The story of the film is set in a village that faces the threat of perishing if the dam is constructed. The engineer (played by Arvind Swamy) undertakes the project for corporate interests. The wife of the engineer (Madhuri Dixit), fights against insensitive authorities that do not seem to be concerned with villagers' woes. She is left numb when she learns that her husband is also a part of the dam project.
Cast
*
Arvind Swamy
Arvind Swamy (born 18 June 1970) is an Indian actor, film director and entrepreneur known for his work in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi cinema, Telugu cinema and Malayalam cinema. He was introduced as an actor by Mani Ratnam with the blockbuste ...
*
Madhuri Dixit
Madhuri Dixit Nene (Maiden and married names, née Dixit, ; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress and television personality. She has appeared in Madhuri Dixit filmography, over 70 Hindi films. Praised by critics for her performances and danc ...
Goundamani
Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil language, Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The p ...
*
Senthil
Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.Bala Singh
Production
The film was announced on 16 January 1997 with the film's shooting beginning a week later. Initially the production team had offered the film to
Madhuri Dixit
Madhuri Dixit Nene (Maiden and married names, née Dixit, ; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress and television personality. She has appeared in Madhuri Dixit filmography, over 70 Hindi films. Praised by critics for her performances and danc ...
, but she declined due to the controversial aspects of the subject. After the
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
order on the Sardar Sarovar dam project, Gandhi approached Dixit with renewed interest and she agreed to play the role, thus marking her debut in
Tamil cinema
Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...
. The costumes of the film were handled by fashion designer duo Anu-Aneez. Graphics artist Venky had worked in the film to multiply crowds, clone characters and serve up a 3-D song sequence.
The film ran into financial trouble after 80% of the film's shoot had been shot and has since remained unreleased. Director Shankar, mentor of Gandhi Krishna, attempted to revive the project through his production house, as well as producer Kalaippuli S. Thanu, but was unsuccessful in doing so. The film became one of three Arvind Swamy projects which ran into financial troubles in the mid-1990s, with only '' Sasanam'' being belatedly released in 2006. The other venture, Azhagam Perumal's ''Mudhal Mudhalaaga'' had also featured music by
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 ...
and a leading Hindi actress
Karisma Kapoor
Karisma Kapoor (; born 25 June 1974) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. One of the leading and highest-paid actresses of the 1990s and early 2000s, Kapoor is a recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Karisma Kapoor ...
, like ''Engineer''.
In 2002, the makers attempted to revive the project and agreed dates with Madhuri Dixit. However, the film did not restart production.