Arasangam

Infobox_Film
name = Arasangam


starring = Vijayakanth
Navneet Kaur
Seril Brindo
Rahul Dev
Biju Menon
caption = "Arasangam" film poster
director = R. Madhesh
producer = L.K. Sudheesh
writer = R. Madhesh
music = Srikanth Deva
cinematography = Venkatesh
editing = Anthony
distributor = flagicon|World Pyramid Saimira
released = flagicon|World May 9, 2008
language = Tamil
country = India
budget =
followed_by =
imdb_id =

"Arasangam" is a Tamil film directed by R. Madhesh. The film is produced by L.K. Sudheesh and has Vijayakanth in the lead role, making this his 150th film. The film released in India and worldwide on May 9, 2008.

"Arasangam" is an adventure thriller film about a police officer who discovers and unravels the mystery behind a terrorist gang plotting to steal information about the growth of the Indian economy, set in Chennai and Toronto. In Tamil Nadu and worldwide, it opened big and has received much critical acclaim since its release.

Plot

Captain is back - saving India and its citizens from the vicious terrorists. Arasangam, however, tries to portray this nothing-so-new story by downplaying the usual supplements of a Vijayakanth movie, thereby proving to be watchable. Besides, it employs stylish camera angles and breathtaking sets and locations, setting itself a world apart from the other Vijayakanth movies.

The story, however, falls into the standard ‘Captain rescues India from the terrorist masterminds and master plans’ genre. Vijayakanth is an IPS officer with a specialization in criminology. When India’s top brains are serial-killed and officer Biju Menon, brought in to investigate the matter, goes missing during his flight, Vijayakanth becomes the unanimous choice to find the officer and nail the terrorists and foil their future plans.

He discovers about Operation "Brain Death" and "Blue Thunder", formulated by terrorists from developed countries to cripple India’s growth. The operation aims at executing the nerve system of India – scientists, directors of top research institutions, economists, and politicians. Now it is left to the Captain to nab the baddies and save the country.

Cast

*Vijayakanth as Arivarasu. Arivarasu is the protagonist. He tries to investigate the case of his missing brother in law, Manoj (Biju Menon). Later he discovers about a terrorist gang planning on executing all intellectuals of India and trying to get information about the Indian economy.
*Navneet Kaur as Aarthi. Aarthi is Manoj's sister who is also Arivarasu's love. When she discover's Arivarasu's profession of being a criminologist she rejects him, but later loves agrees to marry him after learning about his kind heart.
*Sheryl Brindo as Lara. Lara is a Toronto police officer in who plays a big role in the story, helping Arivarasu solve the case.
*Biju Menon as Manoj and Martin Jayapal. Manoj was a friend of Arivarasu and later became his brother-in-law who mysteriously goes missing in the film. His evil look-alike, Martin Jayapal, a mastermind and rich terrorist who lives in Canada is the main culprit behind Operation Blue Thunder.
*Riyaz Khan as Zaphyr. A new assistant commissioner who assists Arivarasu in solving the case.

Development

Casting

"Arasangam" marks Vijayakanth's 150th film in his acting career. The project was first brought up by director R. Madhesh in 2006, while Vijayakanth was busy with his previous two films, "Dharmapuri" and "Sabari". Shooting for "Arasangam" commenced in mid-2007.

Vijayakanth reported that he would not have any political dialogues in the film in a press meet. As per usual, many of Vijayakanth's film storylines would be related to some sort of socialogical or economical issue in Tamil Nadu. However, he stated that "Arasangam" would be much different without any of the usual themes he had before in his films, although he plays a cop, yet again.

Filming

Approximately three-quarters of the film was shot in Toronto, Ontario. A couple of Tamil films before, including Pancha Thanthiram have been shot in various locations in Toronto and the rest of Canada, however they were only for song sequences only. The "Arasangam" crew spent over a month in Toronto from September to November in 2007. Producer L.K. Sudheesh had managed to rent a helicopter for a special helicopter stunt scene along with many Toronto Police Service vehicles. It was said that the scene was taken under many restrictions, as the authorities would not normally allow such scenes to be taken, minding the skyscrapers in the downtown area of Toronto.

Glitches

* Many scenes have improper voice dubbing for actors. Some are intentional, while most scenes have dialogues which do not synchronize with the actors' mouths.
* The airline Manoj (Biju Menon) was supposed to be in while travelling from Mumbai to Chennai shown in the film was a Canadian West Jet airliner, which does not operate in India.

External links

* [http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/moviegallery/9464.html Movie Stills Gallery]
* [http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/review/9464.html Movie Review]