Yennai Arindhaal
Yennai Arindhaal is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and produced by S. Aishwarya. The film stars Ajith Kumar, Trisha Krishnan, Anushka Shetty and Arun Vijay in the lead roles, while Vivek, Anikha, Parvathy Nair, Ashish Vidyarthi, Suman and Avinash Yelandur appear in supporting roles. It is also the final film of Menon's police trilogy after Kaakha Kaakha and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. The film revolves around a former police officer's battle to protect his step-daughter from his arch-enemy.
Menon decided to finalise the script in October 2013 with Shridhar Raghavan and Thiagarajan Kumararaja as the script consultants. Principal photography was launched on 9 April 2014, and its first schedule took place in Chennai on 11 April 2014 within 12 days. The second schedule of the film took place in May 2014, where the filming took place in Chennai, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Sikkim and a few parts of Malaysia. The music was composed by Harris Jayaraj, reuniting with Menon after Vaaranam Aayiram. Dan Macarthur handled the cinematography, while Anthony edited the film.
Yennai Arindhaal was released theatrically on 5 February 2015 to positive reviews from critics. At the 63rd Filmfare Awards South, the film was nominated under five categories including Best Actor for Ajith Kumar, Best Supporting Actor for Arun Vijay, Best Music Director for Harris Jayaraj and Best Lyricist for Thamarai. The film was nominated for six categories under the 5th South Indian International Movie Awards, in which Arun Vijay won the award for Best Actor in a Negative Role – Tamil.
Plot
In 2015, Thenmozhi, a carefree girl from Chennai, comes to Boston to meet her newborn niece. Three weeks later, while leaving for Chennai at the airport, Thenmozhi gets a free upgrade to first class. During the flight, she starts vomiting due to overeating, but she feels better with the help of her co-passenger, Sathyadev, and she develops a crush on him. The next day in Chennai, Sathyadev and Thenmozhi meet at a cafe. Victor Manoharan, a notorious gangster, arrives with his gang to abduct Thenmozhi, but Sathya's intervention causes Victor and his men to retreat.In 1989, Sathya's father gets killed by a gangster, after which the 14-year-old Sathya makes a decision. In 2002, Sathya is seen in prison with Victor, where he fights along with Victor in a botched attempt to kill the latter. They escape jail, and Sathya arranges Victor's marriage to his love interest, Elizabeth "Lisa". Sathya and Victor meet Matthew, an illegal organ dealer, and Sathya infiltrates the gang, revealing himself as an IPS of the T.N.P.D Crime Branch. Sathya kills Matthew and engages in combat with Victor, where Sathya brutally wounds Victor, who swears vengeance on Sathya.
Two years later, in an attempt to nab a gangster at Egmore Railway Station, Sathya helps a pregnant woman named Hemanika, who immediately needs to get to a hospital for delivery. Two years later, Sathya meets Hemanika and her child Isha again. After meeting and getting to know each other over 3 years, they plan to get married. On the eve of their marriage, Hemanika is brutally murdered, which leaves Sathya heartbroken, but Isha is saved as she was with him that night. Sathya meets and kills his adversary, Golden Raj and his men but was severely injured. He also know that Raj didn't killed Hemanika. Sathya hides the fact from Isha by telling her that Hemanika had left somewhere far away and that she wanted him to take care of her. Sathya decides to quit his job and travels with Isha around India, with his colleague DCP Richard's help.
Sathya returns to Chennai after 4 years, where he learns that his friend Saravanan's 15-year-old daughter Niranjana has gone missing. He discovers that Victor has resurfaced and is stealing organs illegally with foreign doctors to earn millions. Victor is trying to save his wealthy customer Muruganandham, who needs a heart transplant. Sathya finds the child and eventually the organ theft network's next target, Thenmozhi. Sathya is reinstated in the police department and leaves for Boston.
In the present, Sathya lets Thenmozhi stay in their house with Isha. In an attempt to get Thenmozhi, Victor and his team kidnap Isha, who is held captive by Lisa. Victor tells Sathya that he will release Isha only if he surrenders Thenmozhi, which Sathya accepts. When they arrive at the location, they kill Muruganandham. Sathya finds Thenmozhi's location and leaves to locate Isha, who is held at knifepoint by Lisa and attempts to stab Isha, which makes Sathya shoot and kill Lisa, leaving Victor heartbroken.
Victor sneaks into Sathya's house, kills all the officers positioned in Sathya's house, and reveals himself as Hemanika's killer. The duo engages in a bloody fight, where Sathya mortally wounds Victor in the same way Hemanika was killed. Sathya drags a wounded Victor outside and leaves his colleagues to kill him. Isha and Thenmozhi plan out the former's birthday. Thenmozhi promises to be with Isha throughout the day. Before taking Isha home, Sathya reminds Thenmozhi of the pending coffee that Thenmozhi wants to have with Sathya, indicating that Sathya is ready to move on with Thenmozhi.
Cast
- Ajith Kumar as DCP Sathyadev IPS
- Arun Vijay as Victor Manoharan
- Trisha Krishnan as Hemanika
- Anushka Shetty as Thenmozhi
- Vivek as "Revolver" Richard IPS, DCP, Intelligence
- Anikha Surendran as Isha, Sathyadev and Hemanika's daughter
- Parvathy Nair as Elizabeth "Lisa"
- Ashish Vidyarthi as Golden Raj
- Suman as Muruganandham
- Nassar as Sathyadev's father
- Avinash as Hemanika's father
- R. N. R. Manohar as Sathya's uncle
- Stunt Silva as Father Matthew
- Amit Bhargav as Thenmozhi's proposed groom
- Besant Ravi as Victor's friend
- Bhawana Aneja as Thenmozhi's sister
- Rajasimman as Kandha
- Mona Kakade as Heart Patient's mother
- Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan as Saravanan
- Rekha Suresh as a brothel owner
- K. P. Sekar as a police officer
- Cell Murugan as police officer
- Pondy Ravi as police constable
- Osthe J. Ram as a henchman
- Aathma Patrick as a henchman
- Daniel Balaji as a gangster
- Rajeevan as Danny
- Gautham Vasudev Menon as a police Officer
- Ramjee as a reporter
Production
Pre-production
In October 2013, producer A. M. Rathnam signed up Ajith Kumar for another film following their collaboration in Arrambam. Initially, the producers approached director Gautham Vasudev Menon to direct the Tamil remake of Race 2 but Menon was not interested in the remake and came up with an original storyline which later became Yennai Arindhaal.Development
Shridhar Raghavan, who wrote the script for the Bollywood film, Dum Maaro Dum, was also signed by the team to assist Gautham Menon with film's script. Thiagarajan Kumararaja is also credited for the screenplay. Harris Jayaraj was signed on as composer, despite early speculations that A. R. Rahman would work on the film.Anirudh Ravichander had hinted about himself working in the film, but his inclusion remained unconfirmed and ultimately proved to be untrue. Australia-based cinematographer Dan Macarthur was selected to do the film's cinematography. On 29 October 2014, Suresh Chandra, Ajith's agent, confirmed the title for the film to be Yennai Arindhaal. The title of the dubbed Telugu version was announced as Entha Vaadu Gani along with a few poster designs on 23 November 2014.
Casting
was signed on by the team to play the main lead, despite early suggestions that Amy Jackson had been selected for the film. Prior to the official announcement of the cast, several actors were linked to portray the role of the antagonist in the film, including Karthik and Prashanth. Actors Aadhi, Arun Vijay, and Arvind Swamy were also reported to be part of the cast, though the latter denied signing the film. Aadhi also clarified on not acting in the film. In mid-April 2014, Arun Vijay was confirmed to portray the film's antagonist and had started filming his portions.On 18 April 2014, comedian Vivek joined the cast, collaborating with Gautham Menon after the director's first venture Minnale. Bangalore-based Amit Bhargav was selected to play the role of Anushka's beau in the film.
Trisha was officially cast as another lead of the film, collaborating with Gautham Menon for the second time after Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. Her role was later confirmed as the love interest of Ajith's character. Actor Arun Vijay was chosen to play a supporting role. Ajith's salary was reported to be around for the film. Parvathy Nair was cast in a role paired opposite Arun Vijay, making this film the second she signed in Tamil, after the later-released Uttama Villain. Daniel Balaji played a cameo, thus becoming a part of all films in Gautham Menon's cop trilogy. Nassar made a cameo appearance as the father of Ajith's character.