Deiva Thirumagal

Deiva Thirumagal (English translation: God's Daughter) is a 2011 Indian Tamil legal drama film written and directed by A. L. Vijay and produced by M. Chinthamani and Ronnie Screwvala that features Vikram in the lead role as a mentally challenged adult with the maturity of a six-year-old boy, while Baby Sarah, Anushka Shetty, Amala Paul and Nassar portray other pivotal roles. The film comprises director Vijay's 'regular' technical crew with G. V. Prakash Kumar as music composer, Nirav Shah as cinematographer and Anthony as editor. Audiography was done by M. R. Rajakrishnan. The film has its basic plot and lead character inspired from the 2001 American film I Am Sam written and directed by Jessie Nelson, and starring Sean Penn as a father with a developmental disability and Dakota Fanning as daughter The film released on 15 July 2011 along with a dubbed version in Telugu titled Nanna.

Plot

Krishna (Vikram) is intellectually disabled and has the mental ability of a six-year old. He lives a peaceful life in the hill station of Ooty. He is cared for by Victor (Krishna Kumar), the owner of a chocolate factory where Krishna works. One day he excitedly announces to the village that he will become a father. That night, his daughter is born, but his wife Banumathy dies during childbirth. Unable to grasp the concept of death, he simply accepts that his wife has "gone to God" and starts life as a father. He names his daughter Nila, and raises her with love and care. She soon grows into a happy young girl (Sara). With the help of Victor and his other mentally challenged friends, Krishna enrolls Nila in school.

Anushka Shetty

Anushka Shetty (born 7 November 1981) is an Indian film actress, who works mainly in the Telugu and Tamil film industries. Born in Mangalore, Anushka started her career as a yoga instructor. It was while teaching yoga, she got an offer to act in films.

She made her acting debut through the 2005 Telugu film Super. She went on to star in a number of Telugu films such as Vikramarkudu (2006), Arundhati (2009) and Vedam (2010). After starring in a series of high-budget productions, she established herself as one of the leading actresses in Telugu cinema. She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of the titular character in Arundhati (2009), and as Saroja in Vedam (2010), which fetched her two Filmfare, one Nandi and two CineMAA Awards. In the 2010s, Anushka also achieved success in Tamil cinema with the action films Singam (2010), and its sequel Singam II (2013). Both were big commercial successes, while her performances in Vaanam (2011) and Deiva Thirumagal (2011) won her critical praise.

Amala Paul

Amala Paul is an Indian film actress, who works in the South Indian film industries. After appearing in supporting roles in the Malayalam film Neelathamara and Veerasekaran in Tamil, she received critical acclaim for the portrayal of a controversial character in the film, Sindhu Samaveli. Despite the failure of that film, Amala became noted after playing the title role in Mynaa, receiving critical acclaim for her work.

Career

Early career

Sara Arjun

Sara Arjun is an Indian child actress who has appeared in films and commercials. Born in Mumbai, India, Sara had appeared in a series of commercials and a short Hindi film before the age of six. In 2010, she was signed on to portray a lead role in A. L. Vijay's Tamil drama film Deiva Thirumagal, portraying the role of a six-year-old daughter whose father was a mentally challenged adult with the maturity of a six-year-old boy. The film opened to critical and commercial acclaim, with Sara's performance receiving unanimous praise from film critics. She has since worked on Tamil and Hindi films, winning positive reviews for her portrayals, particularly for her role in Vijay's Saivam (2014).

Career

Tamil cinema

The cinema of Tamil Nadu is a part of Indian cinema, producing films in the Tamil language. Based in the Kodambakkam district of Chennai, India, the industry is colloquially referred to as Kollywood, the term being a portmanteau of the words Kodambakkam and Hollywood.

The first silent film in Tamil, Keechaka Vadham, was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1916. The first talkie was a multi-lingual, Kalidas, which released on 31 October 1931, barely 7 months after India's first talking picture Alam Ara By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Madras passed the Entertainment Tax Act of 1939. Tamil cinema later had a profound effect on other filmmaking industries of India, establishing Chennai as a secondary hub for Bollywood, other regional film industries in South India, as well as Sri Lankan cinema. In its modern era, Tamil films from Chennai have been distributed to various overseas theaters in Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia, Japan, Oceania, the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America. The industry also inspired independent filmmaking in Tamil diaspora populations in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Western Hemisphere.