Subramaniapuram
Subramaniapuram is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language gangster action drama film written, produced, and directed by Sasikumar. Sasikumar cast then relatively new actors Jai, Swathi, Samuthirakani, Ganja Karuppu, and himself in pivotal roles. The film also marked Swathi's Tamil film debut. The music was composed by James Vasanthan with cinematography by S. R. Kathir and editing by Raja Mohammad.
The film released on 4 July 2008. Although the film was low-budget, it received critical acclaim for its original script, direction, screenplay, performances, editing, fresh music, accurate sets, and costumes to resurrect Madurai from the 1980s. Shot in 85 days, it became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year. The film was dubbed into Malayalam under the same name, into Telugu as Ananthapuram 1980, and remade in Kannada in 2012 as Prem Adda.
Plot
The story takes place in the Subramaniapuram area of Madurai city. A convict is released from prison in 2008 after serving 28 years, and an unknown person stabs him multiple times right outside the prison gates. The police are baffled at this as the convict had never spoken to anyone inside the prison and refused to meet anyone coming to visit him from the outside during his time in prison. They are shocked that someone who had a grudge against him for 28 years would stab him when he stepped outside the prison. A flashback to 1980 narrates the events that led to the stabbing.Azhagar, Paraman, Kasi, Dopa, and Dumka, a polio-stricken, physically challenged person, are part of a set of unemployed close friends. They pass their time drinking liquor, smoking and fooling around on the streets with Chiththan another friend of theirs opposite the house of an ex-councillor Somu and his brother Kanugu. Apart from them, the family consists of Somu's wife and their three children, including Thulasi, Thulasi's other uncle Chidambaram and Chidambaram's wife.
The five friends, particularly Paraman and Azhagar, often end up in prison due to frequent fighting. Cops get a call from someone complaining about their friends each time they do something wrong. Every time police arrest them, Kanugu and Somu bail them out immediately. In the meantime, Azhagar and Thulasi develop mutual feelings for each other. Paraman is against his friend developing feelings for a girl, and Azhagar, not heeding his friends' thoughts, throws up quite a few funny scenes.
There are signs of things to come when a local temple's committee especially the head Mokkaswamy does not select Somu for a function. Things suddenly turn for the worse when Somu fails to get people to elect him for his party's district chief post, and his wife ridicules him for being jobless. Kanugu locks himself up in a lodge and drinks all day. He makes sure his friends hear about him and come to visit. He requests that they murder the person Palaniswamy chosen for the district chief of party post ahead of his brother. Azhagar, Paraman, and Kasi hatch a plan and execute the person Palaniswamy almost perfectly with Azhagar striking the final blow. They run away after the murder, leaving a bicycle behind.
The second half begins with the cops discovering, with the help of the bicycle left behind, that Paraman and Azhagar have committed the murder. They surrender themselves to the court, hoping Kanagu will bail them out soon. But they come in for a rude shock when they learn through Kasi that Somu has been selected for the district chief of party post and is avoiding their contact. They confront reality and stay helpless in jail, where they befriend a fellow inmate Ravi. He learns about their situation and bails them out. Azhagar and Paraman immediately break into Kanugu's home after they get released despite Kasi warning them against doing so in hopes of finding Kanugu or his elder brothers and killing them for what they had done to then. In this scene it is revealed that it was Kanugu who was the person that has always been complaining them to the police, the duo stop searching for them when they find a distressed Thulasi crying and leave the house. Azhagar then explains the situation to Thulasi later and reconciles with her.
Ravi who aided these guys expects a favour from them — to kill his brother-in-law Munish for murdering his sister. Accomplishing this task when Paraman manages to stab Munish in the clavicle and this impresses Ravi who gives them additional weapons and money even though Paraman and Azhagar initially refuse to take it but do so at the request of Kasi and Ravi. These guys then look out for killing Kanugu, who cheated them. In the meantime, Thulasi and Azhagar continue to meet. Munish's men then attempt to kill Azhagar and Kasi to avenge Munish's death but they fail. Azhagar and Paraman strike back, killing those men later in the day. A few days later, Azhagar with the help of Paraman hurts Thulasi's elder uncle Chidambaram when he steps in the way as Azhagar was trying to stab Kanugu but the duo's plan fails and Chidambaram is then taken to the hospital where he recovers from his wounds caused by Azhagar. Kanugu then emotionally manipulates unwilling Thulasi into betraying Azhagar for their family honor in order to save his own life from the clutches of these buddies. Kanugu then sets a trap for Azhagar using the grieving Thulasi as bait and has his henchmen brutally kill him. Kanugu then informs Chidambaram in the hospital about what happened and that Thulasi had saved their family honor, he also informs him that he will bring another good news eventually. Unbeknownst to him, Paraman had been waiting in an auto rickshaw to take his revenge. Once Kanugu leaves the hospital Paraman forcefully kidnaps Kanugu into the auto rickshaw. Paraman then avenges his friend's death by brutally and slowly decapitating the helpless Kanugu who screams in pain as he is dying inside the auto rickshaw. After killing Kanugu, he lays his head at his friend's murder site. Paraman then calls up Kasi and reminds him about the friendship they shared with Azhagar. He even reveals to him how he killed Kanugu and that he is also planning on killing rest of the men in his family, during which he sees Somu's henchmen rushing behind Kasi. Kasi betrays Paraman and leaves him at the mercy of the henchmen who kill him. Kasi then walks towards a car in which Somu is in and receives a large amount of money from him, it is also revealed in this scene that Kasi had betrayed Paraman in exchange for the money and begins to smoke a cigarette.
Present: The scene then shifts to the present in the hospital, where it is revealed Kasi was the victim of the stabbing outside the prison walls. He lies in the hospital in critical condition, with a policeman interrogating him. The doctor intervenes and asks him to leave, after which Dumka comes in and reveals that it was Dopa who stabbed him. He proceeds to kill him by removing his air supply after reminding him of his betrayal finally avenging Paraman's death. Dumka then leaves the dying Kasi who starts crying leaving the audience to interpret whether it is out of remorse or the pain from not being able to breath and dies with no one by his side. The camera then panels at Dumka as he walks out of the hospital.
Cast
Production
It was during the initial phases of Ameer's Paruthiveeran that Sasikumar began his groundwork for Subramaniapuram and left the production to focus on his film. Sasikumar started collecting old photos, banners and boards of shops to imitate the style of writing from that period and also searched the Internet extensively for photographs of the 1980s. He especially researched photographs of wedding processions along the streets for a clear picture of how the roads looked and the kind of vehicles in use. The team relied on this visual information to construct the sets for the film.Shanthanu Bhagyaraj was approached to play the lead role and Sasikumar began discussions with his father K. Bhagyaraj over Shanthanu's availability. Bhagyaraj had been keen to ensure that Sakkarakatti was his son's first release, as the team had brought in a prominent producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu and musician A. R. Rahman. Sasikumar stated that he was unable to wait for Sakkarakatti release as he had loans to pay and moved ahead without the actor. Jai, who earlier appeared in Chennai 600028 was then selected to play the role after Sasikumar had seen him at Deva's residence and Jai signed up for the film without hearing the script under the basis that it was to be produced by Ameer.
Music
Subramaniapuram has five songs composed by newcomer James Vasanthan. This is the first time a Tamil film featured a promotional song.. Sasikumar spoke of his apprehension to approach an established music director as he was a debut director himself: "I was not sure whether they would listen to me and give me what I wanted". Vasanthan had been Sasikumar's music teacher at St. Peter's boarding school in Kodaikkanal. Sasikumar approached James with the project and the music became a remarkable success. The film brought Vasanthan into prominence with the film's songs and background score gaining fame and being praised and the song "Kangal Irandal" topping the charts. The song is based on Reetigowla raga. Vasanthan composed all the songs in his home. Sasikumar revealed for the song "Kadhal Siluvayil", Vasanthan composed "almost 15 tunes before the director was satisfied" and this song was recorded by Shankar Mahadevan within 30 minutes.| Song | Singers | Lyrics |
| "Kangal Irandal" | Bellie Raj, Deepa Miriam | Thamarai |
| "Kadhal Siluvayil Araindhaal Ennai" | Shankar Mahadevan | Yugabharathi |
| "Madura Kulunga Kulunga" | Velmurugan, Surmukhi Raman | Yugabharathi / James Vasanthan |
| "Theneeril Snegitham" | Benny Dayal | Yugabharathi |
| "Subramaniapuram Theme" | Bellie Raj |