''Gouravam'' () is a 2013 Indian
social thriller
A social thriller is a film genre using elements of suspense to augment instances of apparent oppression in society. The genre gained attention by audiences and critics around the late 2010s with the releases of Jordan Peele's ''Get Out'' and '' ...
film, written and directed by
Radha Mohan
Radha Mohan is an Indian film director and screenwriter of the South Indian film industry. He is known for his work in the films ''Mozhi (film), Mozhi'' (2007) with Jyothika, ''Abhiyum Naanum (film), Abhiyum Naanum'' (2008) with Prakash Raj, ...
. Simultaneously shot in
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 ...
and
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 ...
languages, the film was produced by
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English language, Engl ...
under the banner of
Duet Movies. It marks the acting debut of
Allu Sirish
Allu Sirish (born 30 May 1987) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu films. He is the younger brother of leading Telugu cinema actor Allu Arjun. He debuted as a lead actor with '' Gouravam'' (2013) and later went on to appear in f ...
, brother of
Allu Arjun
Allu Arjun (born 8 April 1982) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinemaand has been featured in ''Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2014. Allu Arjun's accolades include a Na ...
, and also stars
Yami Gautam
Yami Gautam Dhar ( Gautam; born 28 November 1988) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. A daughter of film director Mukesh Gautam, she began her career as a model, and starred in television soap operas such as '' Chand Ke Paar Chalo' ...
in her Tamil debut.
The film also features Prakash Raj,
Harish Uthaman
Harish Uthaman (born 5 April 1982) is an Indian actor who works in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films. He made his acting debut portraying the lead role in '' Tha'' (2010), before playing villains in '' Gouravam'' (2013), '' Pandiya Na ...
,
Nassar
Nassar (), is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer, or Nacer. People with the surname include:
People with th ...
,
Elango Kumaravel
Elango Kumaravel is an Indian actor and writer. He is also a co-founder of the Chennai based theatre group "Magic Lantern". He is an alumnus of Pondicherry University's Sankaradas Swamigal School of Performing Arts and the Chennai-based theatre ...
, Vignesh,
Sricharan
Sricharan Rangarajan (born 24 April 1981) is an Indian actor and a lawyer based in Chennai, India.
Career
;As an Actor
Having debuted in the 2008 Tamil film '' Mudhal Mudhal Mudhal Varai'', Sri Charan went on to make his break with Radha Moh ...
, and
Brahmaji
Brahmaji (born 25 April 1965) is an Indian who works in Telugu cinema. He is a regular actor in director Krishna Vamsi's films. Brahmaji appeared in an important role in Krishna Vamsi's debut film as a director, '' Gulabi''.
He appeared in Kri ...
in supporting roles. The film deals with the issue of
honour killing
An honor killing (American English), ''honour killing'' (Commonwealth English), or ''shame killing'' is a type of murder in which a person, usually a woman or girl, is killed by or at the behest of male members of their family or their male ...
. The music was composed by
S. Thaman
Ghantasala Sai Srinivas Sivakumar (born 16 November 1983), professionally credited as Thaman S, is an Indian composer and playback singer known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil cinema. He is the recipient of the National Film Award f ...
. The film released on 19 April 2013 with a linear narrative in Tamil and with a non-linear narrative in Telugu. The film received mixed reviews from critics and audience.
Plot
Arjun, a rich man, is sent by to meet a prostitute. On his way back to the airport he comes across a village called T. Vennure, which is his best friend Shanmugam's village. On landing in the village, Arjun learns that Shanmugam has eloped with Rajeshwari, the daughter of Pasupathy, a rich landlord in the village who is hell bent to save his family's prestige always, and is missing from the past six months. After meeting Shanmugam's father and finding out some bitter truths about Shanmugam, Arjun decides to stay in the village and find his missing friend. A young lawyer named Yazhini / Yamini assists him in his work. After finding a strong opposition from Pasupathy's son Saravanan / Jagapathi and Palani / Rambabu, Arjun, along with his friend Venky and Yazhini, assembles all their college friends as a group along with the neighbor village youths as a group to find the mystery behind Shanmugam and Rajeshwari's absence from the village, only to learn that they were killed and buried at the grounds of a damaged monument. Arjun stays back there to find out the reason behind the couple's death. After finding help from Pasupathy's wife and daughter-in-law, Arjun files a case with the help of Yazhini. The case, though interrupted many times due to Saravanan / Jagapathi's men, including the town's police, remains steady due to the efforts of Arjun and his friends. One fine day, on the request of Pasupathy's wife, Palani / Rambabu promises to help Arjun in the mystery. As promised, he helps them by narrating the incidents that actually happened.
Tamil-language ending
Palani starts telling the truths to Arjun, Yazhini, Venky, and their group. The night Rajeshwari eloped with Shanmugam, Pasupathy orders Saravanan and Palani to bring her back home. They find her with Shanmugam in a bus and take them to a rice godown. There, while Saravanan mercilessly thrashes Shanmugam, Rajeshwari stops him, holds Shanmugam's hand, and tells Saravanan that she cannot live without him. In a fit of rage, Saravanan cuts Rajeshwari's hand with a sword. While Palani could know what was happening, the couple is killed by Saravanan. Palani confesses the same in front of the magistrate, which leads her to issue an arrest warrant on Saravanan as well as Pasupathy, who was aware of the happenings. Saravanan, frustrated, goes on a killing spree to kill Arjun and his friend, only to be thrashed mercilessly by Arjun. Saravanan surrenders himself to the police, whereas Pasupathy shoots himself before the police reach him. The movie thus ends on a happy note with Arjun's friends returning to home and an injured Arjun talking to the media about the honor killing that took place there.
Telugu-language ending
After knowing the truth from Rambabu, Arjun and Venky rush to the court along with him, only to be attacked by Jagapathi midway. A combat takes place between Arjun and Jagapathi, and while both were almost exhausted, Arjun's friends rush to the spot, thus making Jagapathi and his men escape from there. Now, Rambabu and a blood-stained Arjun go to Pasupathy's home to tell the truth. Rambabu starts narrating what happened. The night Rajeshwari eloped with Shankar, Pasupathy orders Jagapathi and Rambabu to bring her back home. They find her with Shankar in a bus and take them to a cold storage. There, while Jagapathi mercilessly thrashes Shankar, Rajeshwari stops him, holds Shankar's hand, and tells Jagapathi that she cannot live without him. In a fit of rage, Jagapathi cuts Rajeshwari's hand with a sword. While Rambabu could know what was happening, the couple is killed by Jagapathi. Pasupathy and his family, who were not at all aware about this, experience a bitter shock. Later on, Jagapathi arrives and confesses the truth, saying that he did it to save their family's prestige. A completely changed Pasupathy kills Jagapathi by shooting him after realizing his mistake. He then surrenders to the police voluntarily. Arjun, depressed by the events, is solaced by Shankar's father. This incident brings a change in the dominant caste people and thus integrating themselves with the oppressed-caste people.
Cast
Production
The film was first reported in August 2011, when it was announced that
Naga Chaitanya
Akkineni Naga Chaitanya (; born 23 November 1986) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu cinema. Chaitanya is a recipient of several accolades including one Filmfare Awards South, Filmfare Award South and one Nandi Award for his work.
Born in ...
would come together with director
Radha Mohan
Radha Mohan is an Indian film director and screenwriter of the South Indian film industry. He is known for his work in the films ''Mozhi (film), Mozhi'' (2007) with Jyothika, ''Abhiyum Naanum (film), Abhiyum Naanum'' (2008) with Prakash Raj, ...
to make his debut in Tamil cinema by starring in a bilingual venture. The film was titled ''Gouravam'' and touted to be a "family-entertainer" with
Thaman
Ghantasala Sai Srinivas Sivakumar (born 16 November 1983), professionally credited as Thaman S, is an Indian composer and playback singer known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil cinema. He is the recipient of the National Film Award for ...
signed on as music composer and Preetha as cinematographer. In early 2012, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar was selected to play the lead female role, even before the release of her debut venture ''
Podaa Podi
''Podaa Podi'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language musical romantic comedy film written and directed by debutant Vignesh Shivan, starring Silambarasan and debutant Varalakshmi. The score and soundtrack of the film were composed by Dharan Kumar, ...
'', mentioning that the bilingual would be an "important film in her career". A photoshoot was subsequently held, while Chaitanya's father
Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna (Sanskrit: नागार्जुन, ''Nāgārjuna''; ) was an Indian monk and Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy, philosopher of the Madhyamaka (Centrism, Middle Way) school. He is widely considered one of the most importa ...
agreed to finance the film under their home production house, Annapoorna Studios.
However, in a turn of events, Naga Chaitanya opted out of the project and the lead role was handed to Allu Sirish, the third son of producer
Allu Aravind
Allu Aravind (born 10 January 1949) is an Indian film producer, film distributor, and businessman. He is regarded as one of the most successful producers in Cinema of South India, South Indian cinema. He is the founder of Geetha Arts, a majo ...
, who would make his debut as an actor.
Varalaxmi also subsequently opted out and was reported to be replaced by
Tamannaah
Tamanna Bhatia (born 21 December 1989), known professionally as Tamannaah Bhatia, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. Having appeared in 88 films, she has received several awards, including two Sa ...
, but this proved untrue. Furthermore,
Amala Paul
Amala Paul (born 26 October 1991) is an Indian actress and producer who is primarily working in Tamil and Malayalam films, in addition to some Telugu and Hindi films. She is a recipient of a Tamil Nadu State Film Award, a Filmfare Award Sou ...
was approached for the role, while
Nithya Menen
N. S. Nithya (born 8 April 1990), known professionally as Nithya Menen is an Indian actress and singer who works predominantly in Malayalam, Tamil language, Tamil, and Telugu language, Telugu films . She has also acted in few Kannada langua ...
,
Priya Anand
Priya Anand (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears in Tamil language, Tamil films. She has also appeared in a few Telugu language, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam films.
After pursuing higher s ...
,
Aindrita Ray
Aindrita Ray (born 19 April) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Cinema of Karnataka, Kannada also appeared in Bengali language, Bengali and Bollywood, Hindi films. Ray is a recipient of two South Indian International Movie Awards, alon ...
and
Nidhi Subbaiah
Nidhi Subbaiah (born 16 February 1985) is an Indian actress and model, who has appeared in various television advertisements and films, she is known for her performance in successful Kannada movies such as ''Pancharangi'' (2010) and ''Krishnan ...
were all also considered. Finally,
Yami Gautam
Yami Gautam Dhar ( Gautam; born 28 November 1988) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. A daughter of film director Mukesh Gautam, she began her career as a model, and starred in television soap operas such as '' Chand Ke Paar Chalo' ...
, known for her role in Bollywood film ''
Vicky Donor
''Vicky Donor'' is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Shoojit Sircar and produced by actor John Abraham in his maiden production venture with Sunil Lulla under Eros International and Ronnie Lahiri under Rising Sun Fi ...
'', was chosen as the heroine of the film, opposite Sirish.
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English language, Engl ...
, who had produced most of
Radha Mohan
Radha Mohan is an Indian film director and screenwriter of the South Indian film industry. He is known for his work in the films ''Mozhi (film), Mozhi'' (2007) with Jyothika, ''Abhiyum Naanum (film), Abhiyum Naanum'' (2008) with Prakash Raj, ...
's films with the exception of
''Ponniyin Selvan'', had it announced that the film would be produced under the banner of
Duet Movies.
Harish will be seen in a pivotal role in Radha Mohan's ''Gauravam''.
Filming for ''Gouravam'' started in Chennai on 25 June 2012 and continued in
Mysore
Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...
.
Soundtrack
''Gouravam''s soundtrack comprises four tracks composed by
S. Thaman
Ghantasala Sai Srinivas Sivakumar (born 16 November 1983), professionally credited as Thaman S, is an Indian composer and playback singer known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil cinema. He is the recipient of the National Film Award f ...
. The album was released on 31 March 2013.
;Tamil
;Telugu
Release
The first look of the film was released in June 2012, after commencement of filming.
The Tamil audio release was held in a special
Neeya Naana TV show on inter-caste marriages. The Telugu audio release function was held at the
IPL cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad Team and Pune Warriors India in Hyderabad on 5 April 2013. Prakash Raj, Allu Sirish, Yami Gautam, Radha Mohan, Singer Geeta Madhuri and Allu Aravind graced the event The distribution rights were acquired by
Vendhar Movies
Vendhar Movies is an Indian film production and distribution company based in Chennai.
History
In 2012 The company first started as proprietary by B.Balagurunathan and become partnership with S.Madhan in 2013 August. The company first distrib ...
. The satellite rights of the film were sold to
STAR Vijay
Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. The channel telecasts programmes such as serials, reality shows & Tamil films.
History
T ...
.
Controversies
Based on the theatrical trailer of the film a local leader in Tamil Nadu, Pongular Manigandan, accused the producers that the movie will provoke people to indulge in incidents like
Dharmapuri caste violence and is supportive of
honour killing
An honor killing (American English), ''honour killing'' (Commonwealth English), or ''shame killing'' is a type of murder in which a person, usually a woman or girl, is killed by or at the behest of male members of their family or their male ...
, which was subsequently denied by director Radha Mohan.
Reception
''Gouravam'' opened to mixed response from the critics. While the underlining points of the film are content, performances of the young and senior actors and the message, the main drawback is lack of entertainment values. Nonetheless, people have praised Allu Sirish for choosing an off-beat film to make his debut as an actor rather than opting for commercial potboiler.
''The Times of India'' gave a review stating "Gouravam is proof that you need more than good intentions to make a movie about a social evil. The film is a social drama that unfolds as a mystery but the catch is that unless you have been living under a rock, you would know its revelations even as its sets up its plot. And, what could have been a suspenseful drama, a whodunit of sorts, becomes a very predictable film that is only fitfully entertaining."
Baradwaj Rangan
Baradwaj Rangan () is an Indian film critic and writer. A chemical engineering graduate with no formal training in filmmaking or cinema writing, he has a diverse career in advertising, IT consulting, and cinema writing. He has authored two boo ...
of ''The Hindu'' wrote, "For a plot strewn with internecine caste rivalries, petrol-bomb attacks, a procedural-type investigative set-up and a simmering Prakash Raj (he plays the village’s ''periyavar''
lder, Gouravam never really gets going." Regarding the Telugu version, Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of ''The Hindu'' gave a review stating "A good premise, but the film fails to build it up to give us a riveting watch".
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Radha Mohan
2013 films
2010s Telugu-language films
Indian multilingual films
Films about the caste system in India
2010s Tamil-language films
2010s Indian films
Films scored by Thaman S
Films about honor killing
2013 multilingual films
Films directed by Radha Mohan
Honour killing in India