''Vanamagan'' () is a 2017 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 adventure 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
A. L. Vijay. 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 ...
and
Sayyeshaa
Sayyeshaa Saigal (born 12 August 1997), known mononymously as Sayyeshaa, is an Indian actress who primarily works in Tamil cinema, Tamil films. She made her acting debut with the Telugu film ''Akhil (film), Akhil'' (2015), for which she receive ...
, with
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 ...
,
Thambi Ramaiah
Thambi Ramaiah is an Indian actor, director and comedian who works in the Tamil film industry. He has also worked occasionally as a lyricist. He directed three films, '' Manu Needhi'' (2000), '' Indiralohathil Na Azhagappan'' (2008) and '' Mani ...
, and
Varun in supporting roles. The music was composed by
Harris Jayaraj
J. Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil cinema, Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Cinema of Andhra Pradesh, Telugu and two films i ...
. with cinematography by
Tirru
S. Thirunavukarasu (born 21 July 1966), better known mononymously as Tirru, is an Indian cinematographer and screenwriter who has worked in multiple languages across India. Born in Mullukuruchi village, Tirru became interested in photography ...
and editing by
Anthony
Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...
. The venture began production in September 2016, and the film was released on 23 June 2017.
Plot
Kavya's parents died in an accident in her childhood. They leave her their industry on her name (Kavya Industries), which is run by her father's friend Rajasekhar (who is very much interested in her wealth). One day at work, Rajasekhar asks Kavya to sign an asset. He learns that Kavya and her friends planned to spend their New Year in
Bora Bora
Bora Bora (French language, French: ''Bora-Bora''; Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Pora Pora'') is an island group in the Leeward Islands (Society Islands), Leeward Islands in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific. The Leeward Islands comprise the we ...
, but they could not do so because their passports were on hold. Rajasekhar suggests that Kavya and her friends go to the
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a mari ...
.
While Kavya and her friends are in Andaman, they behave too notorious. While escaping from the police, they hit a tribal person with her car. No hospital in Andaman would treat the tribal person, so Kavya decides to bring him to
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 ...
. She and her friends go to the airport and dress the tribal person like a local. There, Kavya passes the tribal person's name off as "K. Vaasi". The friends manage to admit Vaasi at a Chennai hospital. Sometime later, Kavya arrives at the hospital to find Vaasi wildly beating up people. She then goes back home, where she learns from her cook Pandian that the hospital sedated Vaasi and dropped him at home. The morning afterwards, Kavya and her servants train Vaasi to act like a human.
Some time later, Kavya celebrates her birthday and Rajasekhar celebrates a 2,000-crore German project. Vicky finds Kavya and tells her that he cannot stand Vaasi. Vicky also tells her that he had told his father about the former's relationship with Kavya. Kavya then questions Vicky, and both start arguing. At that moment, Vaasi barges into the room and finds Vicky forcefully holding Kavya's hands. Vicky tries to attack Vaasi, but the latter gruesomely attacks him. Although Vaasi later comes to his senses, Rajasekhar calls the police, who encase Vaasi in a net and take him away.
At the hospital where Vicky gets treated, Rajasekhar is told that the former has a fractured bone in his neck and will have to wear a cervical collar for life. He is also told that the documents for the German project will need to be signed and dispatched. At the Andaman police station, the police orders to take Vaasi to the forest and finish him off. Kavya and Pandian arrive at the police station, where Vaasi breaks free and kills the police officers. The trio flees to the forest as they are being followed by the police. Vaasi beats the police up and is held at gunpoint by Shanmugam, who is surprised to see that he is alive. Shanmugam reveals to Kavya that Vaasi's real name is Jara. Vaasi then meets up with his people. Meanwhile, a young girl wanders into the forest and gets worried upon seeing a tiger. Jara saves the girl from the tiger but ends up cutting the tiger's body in the process. He manages to stitch the wound and then takes the girl with him to his tribe. Meanwhile, the German company asks the Andaman police to get the project cleared. Despite the efforts to evacuate the tribe, they refuse to relocate. Shanmugam orders the police to shoot the tribe, when he suddenly hears his daughter's voice. His daughter ended up being the person whom Vaasi saved from the tiger. At night, Vaasi is sleeping and hears people screaming. He goes out to find the shelters being set on fire. A violent battle breaks out between the tribe and the police, with many people getting killed. Vaasi is also taken by the police and gets knocked out.
The film goes back to the beginning, where Shanmugam warns Vaasi about the police. Vaasi then runs away, and later, Kavya and her friends accidentally hit him with their car after escaping from the police (when they were out for Vaasi). Meanwhile, Rajasekhar, who has returned from the US, arrives at Andaman. Kavya tries to get a signal to call him, but to no avail. At the police station, Rajasekhar orders that Kavya be back within 24 hours. At the forest office, the police officer introduces Suryaprakash, a forest operations commando who introduces a plan called Project Zero: there are three ways to enter the forest, and if they use full force to cover the zones, the radius of 50 kilometers will gradually reduce to zero. Meanwhile, as Vaasi, Kavya, and Pandian are walking, Pandian sees a bird and throws it. The bird turns out to be a spy camera monitored by the commandos. Vaasi, Kavya, and Pandian flee yet again as the commandos are monitoring their movements. As they are running, Vaasi suddenly gets tied to a tree. Suryaprakash and the officers plan to shoot Vaasi, but everyone hears a tiger growling, and the animal gruesomely kills the commandos.
The next morning, Rajasekhar admonishes Kavya for eloping with Vaasi even though he almost killed Vicky. Kavya reminds Rajasekhar that Vaasi and his people are in trouble as a big company is trying to snatch her land. Rajasekhar reveals that it is Kavya who has done this and shows her the documents that she signed (at the beginning of the film). As Rajasekhar abducts Kavya, they see Vaasi, and Rajasekhar hits him with his car. Kavya runs to him, only for Rajasekhar to shoot him. The police then beats up Vaasi badly, but he manages to fight them. Afterwards, Vaasi beats Rajasekhar up but stops after being told to do so by Kavya. Rajasekhar spares Vaasi's life and asks Kavya to come with him. She declines and says that she does not want any more of her industries. She orders Rajasekhar to leave, to which he does so without punishing anyone.
Cast
Production
After the success of ''
Madarasapattinam'',
A. L. Vijay planned to cast
Suriya in the lead role. Suriya liked the script, but the role did not materialise due to budget constraints.
Later in November 2015, it was reported that
A. L. Vijay would direct a film starring
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 ...
in the lead role. The actor confirmed that the duo would begin work on the project in the middle of 2016, following the completion of his other films.
The film was reported to be about a man who escapes from the lost kingdom of
Kumari Kandam
Kumari Kandam () is a mythical continent, believed to be lost with an ancient Tamil civilization, supposedly located south of the Indian subcontinent in the Indian Ocean. Alternative names and spellings include ''Kumarikkandam'' and ''Kumari Nad ...
.
In May 2016, Vijay confirmed that the project would begin later in the year and revealed that the film would be shot extensively in the
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a mari ...
. Music composer
Harris Jayaraj
J. Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil cinema, Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Cinema of Andhra Pradesh, Telugu and two films i ...
and cinematographer
Tirru
S. Thirunavukarasu (born 21 July 1966), better known mononymously as Tirru, is an Indian cinematographer and screenwriter who has worked in multiple languages across India. Born in Mullukuruchi village, Tirru became interested in photography ...
were also brought in for the project.
The film was subsequently launched in September 2016 with production beginning thereafter in Chennai.
Sayyeshaa
Sayyeshaa Saigal (born 12 August 1997), known mononymously as Sayyeshaa, is an Indian actress who primarily works in Tamil cinema, Tamil films. She made her acting debut with the Telugu film ''Akhil (film), Akhil'' (2015), for which she receive ...
was signed on to portray the leading female role in the film, marking her debut in Tamil films.
Sanjay Bharathi and
Varun also signed on to work on the film, with the latter revealing that he would play the heroine's love interest and that Ravi would portray a tribal man who finds himself in the city.
The film teaser was officially released on 6 February 2017.
Release
Initially, the film had its release date fixed on 19 May 2017. Due to the announcement of the film industry strike on 30 May 2017, the producer has postponed the theatrical release to 23 June 2017. The satellite rights of the film were sold to
Zee Tamil
Zee Tamil is an Indian Tamil language pay television general entertainment channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel started broadcasting on 2008 and is available internationally. The channel broadcasts from Guindy, Chennai, ...
. Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote "Vanamagan gradually becomes terribly serious, and a comic adventure turns into a tiresomely earnest drama
."
Soundtrack
The film's original soundtrack is scored by
Harris Jayaraj
J. Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil cinema, Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Cinema of Andhra Pradesh, Telugu and two films i ...
, his first collaboration with director A. L. Vijay and third film with actor Ravi after ''
Dhaam Dhoom
''Dhaam Dhoom'' is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film based on the 1997 American film '' Red Corner''. Written, filmed and directed by Jeeva shortly before his death and produced by Sunanda Murali Manohar, it stars Ravi Moha ...
'' and ''
Engeyum Kaadhal''. This is Jayaraj's 50th film as a composer. The complete album was released on 22 April 2017.
References
External links
*
{{A. L. Vijay
2017 films
2017 action adventure films
2010s Tamil-language films
2010s Indian films
Films directed by A. L. Vijay
Films scored by Harris Jayaraj
Indian action adventure films
Films set in forests
Tarzan films
Films shot in India
Films shot in Thailand
Films set in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands