Rudhran

''Rudhran'' is an 2023 Indian Tamil-language action masala film produced and directed by S. Kathiresan (in his directorial debut) under his banner Five Star Creations LLP. The film stars Raghava Lawrence, R. Sarathkumar, and Priya Bhavani Shankar, while Nassar, Poornima Bhagyaraj, Kaali Venkat, Ilavarasu, Redin Kingsley and Sharath Lohitashwa appear in pivotal roles. The background score was composed by Sam C. S., while the music was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, Dharan Kumar and OfRo.

''Rudhran'' was released theatrically on 14 April 2023 where it received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and became a box office bomb.

Plot

Rudhran is an IT professional who lives happily with his parents Devaraj and Indhira in Chennai, where he falls in love with a lab technician named Ananya, who reciprocates his love at his friend Shakthi's wedding reception. They get married and give birth to their daughter Anya. Devaraj is a transport agency owner, who is helped by Das to get a loan of 6 crore from a moneylender. However, Devaraj dies after finding that Das cheated him by absconding with the loan. Rudhran leaves for London to settle the financial issues. Ananya and Anya spend short time with him in London where Ananya heads back to Chennai leaving Anya behind.

One day, Rudhran learns about Indhira's sudden death and Ananya's disappearance, where he travels to Chennai and carries out his mother's funeral rites. After investigating, Rudhran captures a motorcycle gang and their leader Varadha to the hideout at a factory. Rudhran tortures Varadha to reveal the truth. Varadha and his friend Bhoomi are recidivists-turned gangsters who run a crime network by targeting parents of abroad-settled people by making the parents to die from a stroke and usrup their properties. Due to a 100-crore business deal, Varadha and Bhoomi targeted Indhira, where Varadha and his gang entered the house and secretly killed her.

After learning this, Rudhran gets furious and kills Varadha. However, Rudhran gets attacked by Bhoomi and his men, where he hangs Shakthi to death. Bhoomi reveals that he and his gang had to kill Ananya after she arrived at Indhira's house. Bhoomi burns the factory, but a police constable named Narasimhan saves Rudhran. Distraught about his family's loss, Rudhran begins his violent crusade and targets every person involved in Bhoomi's crime network. Bhoomi realises that Rudhran is after him, where he tells his men to kill Rudhran and Anya in Tirukalukundram, but Rudhran manages to kill them.

Rudhran tells Bhoomi to arrive at Kala Bhairava temple in order to have a final duel. An intense fight ensues where Rudhran kills Bhoomi and his men, thus avenging his family's death. Few years later, Rudhran runs a charitable trust under Indhira's name and also helps abandoned senior citizens. Rudhran also finishes Das in Madurai to avenge Devaraj's death and continues his vigilante activities.

Cast

Production

''Rudhran'' marks the directorial debut for producer S. Kathiresan and the second collaboration between Raghava Lawrence and R. Sarathkumar after their first venture '' Kanchana''. The first look poster for the film was released on 23 June 2022. A promotional glimpse of the film was released on 29 October 2022. Shooting of the film was wrapped up on 5 March 2022. The trailer for the film was released on 5 April 2023.

Music

The songs of the film were composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, while the remix version of the song "Paadatha Pattellam" from ''Veera Thirumagan'' was recreated by Dharan Kumar, who also collaborated with singers Sathyaprakash and Nithyashree Venkataramanan previously for Carvaan Lounge Tamil segment. The song "Jorthaale" which was composed by OfRo and featuring lyrics from singer Asal Kolaar back in 2021, was re-used for this film and it was released to digital streaming platforms as fourth single of the film's album. Sam C. S. composed the background score for the film.

Release

The film was earlier schedule to release on 23 December 2022, but was postponed due to a delay in the VFX works. The film was released on 14 April 2023, coinciding with Puthandu.

Home media

The post-theatrical streaming rights of the film were bought by Netflix and Sun NXT, while the satellite rights of the film is sold to Sun TV.

Reception

''Rudhran'' received mixed to negative reviews from critics.

Critical response

''ABP News'' gave 3/5 stars and wrote mixture of reviews. Logesh Balachandran of ''The Times of India'' gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "While the film may somewhat satisfy fans of this genre, given that it has elements of romance, revenge, comedy, and emotion, those seeking something novel will be left disappointed." ''123Telugu'' gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Raghava Lawrence starrer Rudhra is just a mediocre action drama that works in parts. Lawrence’s performance, emotions, and the climax portion are good in the film. The movie may not appeal to all sections of audiences, but given its nature, it will end up just an okay watch for the mass audience this weekend."

Thinkal Menon of ''OTTplay'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Lawrence's acts in Rudhran are no different from what he portrays in the popular ''Kanchana'' franchise. With almost zero novelty in the screenplay and dull character sketches, one finds it difficult to sit through the whole movie. A message that appears in the end is relevant, but forced and hence, makes little impact." Shameena Parveen of ''Samayam'' gave 2/5 stars and criticized its length.

Janani. K of ''India Today'' gave 1/5 stars and wrote "The story deals with a conflict that has the potential to be developed into a full-fledged crime story. But, the filmmaker decided to do away with that and delve into melodrama instead. The final result is a film that hardly has anything new and interesting to offer." Bharathy Singaravel of ''The News Minute'' gave 1/5 stars and wrote "We’ll probably never get an answer to that, but to the question of whether you should watch Rudhran over this long weekend, I would say absolutely not." Navein Darshan of ''Cinema Express'' gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "How I wish the rest of the film too didn't take itself so seriously."

''Ananda Vikatan'' noted it as a "time pass film". Kalyani Pandiyan. S of ''Hindustan Times'' wrote "The film has all the features of a commercial film. Everything has worked out well except the action." Gopinath Rajendran of '' The Hindu'' wrote "Rudhran is an excruciating watch that brings nothing new to the table and tries to capitalise on the tropes that had worked for ages, only to fail because of the same reason."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=tt15303192

Films scored by Sam C. S.
2020s Tamil-language films
2023 directorial debut films
2023 films
Indian action thriller films
Films scored by G. V. Prakash Kumar