The score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman, while Ravi K. Chandran and Sreekar Prasad handled the cinematography and editing of the film. The film was simultaneously shot in Hindi as Yuva with an entirely different cast retaining Deol. Aayutha Ezhuthu was released on 21 May 2004, the same day as its Hindi version, and became a commercial success at the box office.
Plot
The film opens with Inbasekar (“Inba”) shooting Michael “Mike” Vasanth while he is riding his motorcycle across the Napier Bridge. Michael falls into the Cooum River, an incident witnessed by Arjun Balakrishnan. The narrative then shifts into a flashback, detailing the events leading up to the shooting.
Inba grows up to become a hired thug after being abandoned by his elder brother, Gunasekaran (“Guna”), and having limited means of livelihood. He marries Sashi, but their relationship is marked by domestic abuse. On Guna’s recommendation, Inba begins working as a contract killer and errand-runner for Selvanayagam, a powerful politician.
Michael is an influential student leader who actively opposes political interference in college elections, particularly from figures such as Selvanayagam. He is romantically involved with his neighbour Geetha, who lives with her aunt and uncle. Alarmed by the prospect of independent student candidates, Selvanayagam attempts to neutralise Michael by offering him a scholarship to study at a prestigious foreign university. When Michael rejects the offer, Selvanayagam orders Guna and Inba to intimidate the students. Although Inba assaults several students, he is met with strong resistance from Michael and his supporters. A direct confrontation follows between Michael, Inba, and Inba’s associate Dilli.
Arjun Balakrishnan is the carefree and privileged son of an IAS officer, aspiring to settle in the United States. He falls in love with Meera shortly after meeting her. During a playful exchange, Meera challenges Arjun to prove his love, prompting him to hitch a ride with Michael, who is travelling in the same direction. While crossing the Napier Bridge, Michael is shot multiple times by Inba and falls into the river. Despite Arjun’s initial hesitation, Meera insists on rescuing him. Michael is critically injured but survives after being rushed to hospital.
Arjun later follows Inba after learning of Michael’s survival, but is severely beaten and left with a broken arm. During his recovery, Arjun undergoes a transformation and decides to support Michael by contesting in the student elections. Meanwhile, Inba kills Guna after discovering that Selvanayagam had ordered Guna to have him eliminated for leaving behind an eyewitness to the bridge shooting. Selvanayagam manipulates Inba into continuing to work for him and instructs him to kidnap Arjun, Suchi, and Trilok. They manage to escape with the help of Dilli, who has a change of heart after realising the destructive impact of their criminal activities on their personal lives.
Sashi, hoping for Inba’s reform, waits for him at a railway station, but leaves for her hometown when he fails to arrive. Dilli later attempts to help Arjun escape, but is killed by Inba. Arjun contacts Michael for help while fleeing, but Inba catches up with him and attacks him. Michael intervenes at the Napier Bridge, leading to a final confrontation. Michael ultimately overpowers Inba but spares his life, leaving him to be arrested by the police.
Inba is imprisoned, while Michael, Arjun, Suchi, and Trilok successfully win the four seats they contest, marking their entry into the legislature.
The film began pre-production in April 2003 in a typical manner adapted by the director, Mani Ratnam, who keeps his projects under wraps until completion.[3] The director chose to make two different versions of the film as he did not want the film to be dubbed, explaining that the essence of the script would be lost if they had done so.[4] The project was named Aayutha Ezhuthu after the last letter of the Tamil script, which is denoted by three dots in a triangle and the director revealed that the film was about three individuals.[3] Early reports indicated that the film would be based on the 2000 neorealist Mexican film, Amores perros by Alejandro González Iñárritu, but eventually only the idea of hyperlink cinema was common in both films.[5][6] However, Ratnam revealed that the film was closer to Akira Kurosawa's 1950 Japanese film Rashomon as both films dealt with a cause-effect and a third-view called Rashomon effect.[3]
Casting
Suriya, who made his debut in the 1997 Mani Ratnam production Nerrukku Ner, revealed that he agreed "blindly" to star in the film without even listening to the story or his character. The actor revealed in an interview about Ratnam's choice that "when the master calls for the student you just say “yes”."[7] Suriya stated that his character was based on a real person George Reddy from Andhra Pradesh and to prepare, he read a lot of books and collected a lot of information before the shoot.[8]R. Madhavan was signed on to appear in Ratnam's fourth successive project after playing the lead roles in his Alai Payuthey (2000) and Kannathil Muthamittal (2002) as well as his 2001 production, Dumm Dumm Dumm. The actor bulked up and sported a shaven look for the first time in his career to resemble his character of a ruffian. For a third lead role, Mani Ratnam called Srikanth and requested him to audition for the project in December 2002. The actor had scored back-to-back successes in his first two films, Roja Kootam and April Maadhathil, and was subsequently selected to be a part of the film. However, the actor soon after suffered an injury and was unable to commit to the dates Ratnam suggested.[9][10]Karthi, the brother of Suriya, was then offered the role but declined the offer to make his debut and worked as an assistant director on the film because he wanted to become a film director and preferred directing to acting.[11]Siddharth, who had previously apprenticed as an assistant director under Mani Ratnam in Kannathil Muthamittal before his making his acting debut in Shankar's Boys, was subsequently signed on for the film. Prior to release, Siddharth felt he was cast as he "looked, talked and behaved like Arjun" and mentioned that the sync sound technique used worked in favour of him as he was an experienced theatre actor.[12] Kannada actor Sudeep was also initially slated to form a part of the cast after meeting Mani Ratnam for the script discussion, but was ultimately discarded from the film.[13]
Malayalam actress Meera Jasmine was signed on to play a slum dweller in the film portraying Madhavan's wife and it was reported that she spent hours perfecting her Tamil for the film, trying to get rid of her native Malayalam accent to adapt to the sound sync technique used.[3] Relatively newcomer Trisha was also signed on to play a youngster in the film and dubbed for her own voice for the first time.[3] Initially Simran was signed on to play the roles of Geetanjali in both versions, but opted out after she began to have problems speaking Tamil as the sound for the film was recorded live.[14][15]Esha Deol, daughter of actress Hema Malini, was then selected to play the role in the Tamil version of the film after Suhasini enquired whether she could speak Tamil. After finishing her work in Aaytha Ezhuthu, Deol was signed on for the Hindi version of the film too after Simran also opted out of that role and thus Deol became the only common leading actor between the versions. To prepare for her role, Deol worked on certain pronunciations of Iyer Tamil with Mani Ratnam's assistant Kannan mentoring her progress.[16] It was also reported that actress Nadhiya had signed the film and would make a comeback to films after a ten-year sabbatical but did not eventually form a part of the final cast.[17]
The director initially opted against using songs in the film but wanted to create an album with A. R. Rahman for the project. However, after the songs were recorded, Mani Ratnam had a change of heart and chose to include them. For the art direction in the film, Sabu Cyril studied each character in-depth, giving them a distinct colour, mood, and background to suit their temperament. For Michael's house in the film, Cyril followed the arrangement in his own house and used some of his own photographs for decorations. He also expressed that he had great difficulty in re-creating the streets of Kolkata for the Hindi version of the film in Chennai.[18] G. Ramesh was selected to be the hairdresser for the three lead actors in the film.[19]
Filming
The scene filmed at Napier Bridge in Chennai was canned in early December 2003, the same time during which Suriya changed his getup and started filming for his another 2004 release, Perazhagan, but the schedule caused severe traffic and congestion in that area.[20] Mani Ratnam began the Tamil version after Vivek Oberoi suffered an injury during the making of Yuva, giving him time to extract more out his actors in the Tamil version.[3] Production work for the film began in September 2003, with the technical crew who were mostly from the Tamil film industry including the production house were part of the Hindi version and were retained for the Tamil scenes.[21] The Tamil version finished subsequently much earlier than the Hindi version. Some scenes featuring Suriya were also shot at the University of Madras, Mani Ratnam's alma mater.[22] The scene where Suriya and Madhavan confront each other was shot at Broken Bridge, Chennai.[23]
Aayutha Ezhuthu was released in theatres on 21 May 2004.[25] It had its television premiere on 16 September 2007 on Kalaignar TV.[26]
Critical reception
Sify wrote "Aayitha Ezhuthu is a bold and daring move by Mani Ratnam to change the staid style of our commercial cinema."[27] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote "Every frame of Madras Talkies' "Aayudha Ezhuthu" bears the Mani Ratnam stamp and that's what matters. Tamil cinema is in dire need of more such makers as Mani Ratnam."[28] Visual Dasan of Kalki wrote that the usual exuberance that permeates Mani Ratnam's films is also present in the film, but there is no intensity in the flood; only the murmur of the stream.[29] G. Ulaganathan of Deccan Herald wrote "Mani etches his characters well and deglamourises his heroines all of whom resemble the girl next door. Though the screenplay is taut and slick with brilliant camera by Ravi K Chandran, the meticulously crafted sets of Sabu Cyril, background score of A R Rahman, a major part of the credit should go to two heroes — Madhavan and Surya. The overdose of politics in the climax is a handicap. Nevertheless, Ayutha Ezhuthu is a film worth going miles to watch".[30]
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