Arul

Arul
Official VCD Cover
Directed by	Hari
Produced by	T. Rama Rao (Presenter) T. Ajay Kumar
Written by	Hari
Starring	Vikram Jyothika Pasupathy Vadivelu Sarath Babu K. S. Ravikumar Aarthi Saranya Ponvannan Rekha Kollam Thulasi
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography	Priyan
Edited by	V. T. Vijayan
Production company	Lakshmi Productions[P].LTD
Distributed by	Lakshmi Productions [P].LTD
Release dates	1 May 2004
Running time	163 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	9.7 crore

Arul (English: Grace) is a 2004 Indian Tamil action family drama film written and directed by Hari starring Vikram, Jyothika, Pasupathy, Vadivelu, Sarath Babu, Vinu Chakravarthy and Vaiyapuri. The music is composed by Harris Jayaraj. The story tells how a man is rejected by his family but then finds his way back. The film opened to mixed reviews from both critics as well as audience.

The film was dubbed in Telugu as Akhandudu and in Hindi as Main Balwaan.

Plot

Arul (Vikram), who works in a mill, is the third son of four brothers in a family of goldsmiths. Once, Arul's brother steals a chain due to financial circumstances. As Arul had taken the blame for it, he was labelled as a "thief" and seen as a black sheep by his father Bala Aasari (Vinu Chakravarthy). Thus, he vows never to make a gold ornament ever again, takes up a job and pays for his expenses. Kanmani (Jyothika), who moves into the opposite house, begins by playing tricks on him, but eventually falls for his character. Arul doesn't believe in love, and keeps his distance from her. One day, when Arul's father scolds him in the temple, Kanmani stands up for him. Arul's father insults her by telling her, "Arul's siblings are keeping quiet. Why are you making noise as though you have slept with him?" In a fit of anger, Arul marries Kanmani. Arul then realizes his love for her. The setting up of the party office of the ruling party forces Arul to lock horns with Gajapathy (Pasupathy), the local MLA, and his brother Sethupathy (Kollam Thulasi), the party leader. How Arul defeats the bad guys form the rest of the story.

Cast

• Vikram as Arulkumaran/Arul
• Jyothika as Kanmani Arulkumaran
• Pasupathy as MLA Gajapathy
• Kollam Thulasi as Minister Sethupathy
• Vadivelu as Thangam
• Aarthi as Neelaveni
• Manobala
• Ponnambalam
• Vinu Chakravarthy as Bala Aasari (Arulkumaran's Father)
• Sujatha as Arulkumaran's Mother
• Saranya Ponvannan as Arulkumaran's sister
• K. S. Ravikumar
• Thalaivasal Vijay
• Sathyan as Senthil
• Sarath Babu as Doctor
• Charan Raj as Police Inspector
• Rekha as Gajapathy's wife
• "Minnal" Deepa
• Chaya Singh as Ponni (Cameo)
• Sivanarayana Moorthy as Textiles shop owner

Production

After the success of Saamy, Hari decided to renew the collaboration with Vikram for second time with Arul. Jyothika was selected as heroine pairing with Vikram for second time after Dhool.^[1] Vivek was originally a part of the cast but fell out with the director and was subsequently replaced by Vadivelu in the film.^[2]

A 45 days' shooting schedule took place at Karaikudi, where Vikram, Jyotika and Vadivelu took part. A song sequence was also picturised on Vikram and Chaya Singh who's been roped in to do the single dance number. Fifty dancers took part in the dance number choreographed by Dinesh. The dance picturisation took six days to be completed.^[3]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album and background score were composed by Harris Jayaraj collaborating with Hari and Vikram for the third time. Lyrics were written by Vairamuthu & Na. Muthukumar.

Release

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews.^[4] Nowrunning stated the film as "long, stale, tedious and drab".^[5] Sify wrote:"If you like Rambo style of films, Arul is worth investing".^[6]

References

External links

• Arul at the Internet Movie Database