Aadukalam
File:Aadukalam.jpg Poster
Directed by	Vetrimaran
Produced by	Kathiresan
Written by	Vetrimaran
Starring	Dhanush Taapsee Pannu V. I. S.Jayabalan Kishore
Music by	G. V. Prakash Kumar
Cinematography	Velraj
Editing by	Kishore Te.
Distributed by	Sun Pictures
Release date(s)	14 January 2011 (2011-01-14)
Country	‹See Tfd› India
Language	Tamil
Budget	15 crore (US$2.99 million)[1]
Box office	30 crore (US$5.99 million)[2]

Aadukalam (Tamil: ஆடுகளம்; English: Playground) is a 2011 Tamil drama film written and directed by Vetrimaran. The film stars Dhanush, Taapsee Pannu, V. I. S. Jayabalan, and Kishore. The film was released on 14 January 2011 to highly positive reviews.^[3][4][5] It won six awards at the 58th National Film Awards, including the awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor.^[6]

Plot[link]

The film is set in the backdrop of Madurai, where rooster fights are common. Pettaikaaran and Rathnaswamy, a cop are tough competitors in these games and it is often Pettai who wins because nobody knows his way of maintaining the quality of the birds.

Karuppu (Dhanush) and Durai (Kishore) are also in Pettaikaran's team. Rathnasamy keeps insisting on having one last fight to win and satisfy his old mother’s wish but Pettaikaran declines to have any more fights with him because he feels Rathnasamy has lost faith in his roosters and will be using nefarious methods to win. Rathnasamy keeps insisting and tries to make him accept the challenge through cajoling, threatening, bribing and other vile acts.

Karuppu falls in love with an Anglo-Indian girl Irene (Taapsee) who dislikes him. He does not recognize this initially and keeps following her. One day the residents of Irene’s colony confront him and ask Irene to tell who she is in love with – Karuppu or Dinesh, another guy in the locality. She points her finger at Karuppu and he goes into raptures. She explains later that she had to lie in order to avoid Dinesh who has been bothering her for a long time. Later Irene too falls in love with Karuppu.

Meanwhile one of Pettai's associates is killed in a hit and run and in a rage Pettai suspecting Rathnasamy of the murder, agrees to the rooster fight and it is decided that the loser will go bald and will forever give up rooster fights. In the crucial fight, Rathnasamy brings high breed roosters from Bangalore. Karuppu asks Pettai to let his rooster fight against Rathnasamy's roosters but Pettai puts his rooster down and says he will choose the competing rooster himself. Karuppu surreptitiously enters the contest before Pettai can choose the rooster because he needs to repay Irene for the loan he took to prepare his rooster for the fight. Pettaikaran doesn't believe in Karuppu and his rooster and announces that Karuppu will not represent Pettai. The 'underdog' however emerges victorious in three consecutive rounds even when the opponent has spiked his rooster with drugs to scald the other rooster.

While initially Pettai is happy that Kuruppu won, he is overcome with anger and jealousy by the end of the day. His ego is wounded by the fact that Karuppu earns both popularity and money. Karuppu is not aware of the changes in his mentor's mind. Pettaikaran is so jealous of Karuppu that at first he refuses to speak to anyone and then starts scheming. The money from the competition that Karuppu gives to Pettai for safe keeping, that he plans to use to start a business, suddenly goes missing. Pettai also starts spinning stories about his associates and makes everyone suspicious of each other. He incites Karuppu and Durai into pitting their roosters in a rooster fight. Meanwhile Karuppu's mom dies of the shock of losing all the money. Pettaikaran meanwhile poisons all of Durai's roosters making him suspect Karuppu, who is arrested for this. Pettaikaran then lies to Irene that his wife was in an adulterous relationship with Karuppu. Irene's family also pressurize her to move to Chennai which pushes her into slitting her wrists. Pettakaran meanwhile calls Karuppu to a location near a temple and informs Durai about his whereabouts. When Irene gets better, she calls Karuppu and informs him that Pettai is badmouthing him. So Karuppu, who puts 2 and 2 together, goes to find Pettai to confront him. Pettai kills himself and Karuppu also finds that Pettai was the one who stole his money. Karuppu does not want to reveal the fact to the public that his mentor was the criminal who stole his money and schemed against him, so he flees with Irene to start a new life in another city.

Cast[link]

• Dhanush as Karuppu
• Kishore as Durai
• Taapsee Pannu as Irene Claude
• V. I. S. Jayabalan as Periyasami/Pettaikaran
• Meenal as Pettaikaran's wife
• Nareyn as Rathnasamy
• Periyakaruppu Thevar as Ayub
• Murugadoss
• Alva Vasu as the host of the tournament
• Munnar Ramesh as Ramesh

Production[link]

Development[link]

Following the success of their 2007 collaboration Polladhavan, the entire team including director Vetrimaaran and lead actor Dhanush were reported to come together for another venture. Shriya Saran was signed on for the project in February 2008 but eventually pulled out citing schedule clashes.^[7] In April 2008 it was reported that Dhanush's hectic schedules meant that Silambarasan was set to replace him, however Dhanush remained and continued with the film.^[8]

Vetrimaran spent almost a year on completing the screenplay, script and dialogues for the film and held a bounded script for the venture, which is considered rare in Tamil films.^[9]

Subsequently in June 2009, Trisha Krishnan was forced to opt out of the role of Irene after the Madurai schedule over ran into her allotted dates for her other films, Namo Venkatesa and Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya.^[10][11] Newcomer Taapsee Pannu was named as her replacement, with Vetrimaran claiming he wanted a fresh face in the role.^[12]

Filming[link]

The first schedule started in Madurai on 24 February 2009 with scenes featuring Dhanush being shot.^[9] During early stages of production, Dhanush revealed he would play the role of a local cockfighter, Karuppu, and described the venture as his "dream project".^[13] The film was completed in August 2010 and post-production was delayed after the film encountered problems with graphic works, with the original company delaying proceedings.^[14]

The first look of the film was released in February 2009 with a series of promotional posters depicting the characters played by Dhanush, Jayabalan and Kishore.^[15] Director Samuthirakani, Andrea Jeremiah and Radha Ravi rendered their voices for Kishore, Taapsee and Jayabalan, respectively.

Soundtrack[link]

The soundtrack consists of seven tracks including two rap numbers by G. V. Prakash Kumar. It was released by Sony Music and the audio was launched at a small function at Lady Aandal School auditorium in Chennai on November 10, 2010.^[16] The song Yathe Yathe topped the charts and remained in the No.1 position for nearly five weeks.^[2]

Accolades[link]

The film won six awards at the 58th National Film Awards^[6] Besides, the film was also screened at several film festivals such as Toronto Film Festival,^[17] Montreal Film Festival^[18][19] and Mumbai International Film Festival.^[20]

Vikatan Awards

• Vikatan Award For Best Director - Vetrimaaran
• Vikatan Award For Best Film - Aadukalam
• Vikatan Award For Best Music Director - G. V. Prakash Kumar
• Vikatan Award For Best Cinematography - Velraj
• Vikatan Award For Best Editor - Kishore Te.
• Vikatan Award For Best Story Writer - Vetrimaaran

References[link]