57-402: Grass Root Film Company is an Indian film production and distribution company. Established by Indian director Vetrimaaran in 2012, it debuted with Udhayam NH4 , produced in collaboration with Meeka Entertainment. The company has collaborated with Wunderbar Films on several other films. Committed in 2012, it has since gone to produce several Tamil language films. This article about
114-537: A brilliant gangster film." Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "Dhanush's ascent to stardom has come alongside his growth as an actor, and there’s not one scene where he makes us doubt his character's actions. With his outstanding cinematographer Velraj, Vetrimaaran unleashes one flamboyant scene after another." Vada Chennai earned ₹ 50 crore (US$ 6.0 million) at the worldwide box office, and Dhanush received numerous accolades for his role. Producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu signed Vetrimaaran and Dhanush to
171-420: A critic from India Today gave a rating of 4/5 stars and said that " Vada Chennai has everything you look for in a gangster thriller. But Vetri Maaran's display of twists and turns will win you over." Sowmya Rajendran , editor-in-chief of The News Minute wrote "From the colourful curses of the street to each of the characters, the film gives us a very real glimpse of gang wars. Vetrimaaran-Dhanush delivers
228-562: A dealer service. Prabhu comes into conflict with the underworld when he witnesses a brutal murder planned by a gang in Kasimedu in North Chennai by a smuggling don named Selvam and his accomplices. Prabhu finds out that his bike was stolen by a petty bike thief who turns out to be in connection with Selvam's egoistical younger brother Ravi. Prabhu traces down the culprit and hands him over to the local police station. A formal complaint
285-669: A film studio is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Vetrimaaran Vetrimaaran (born 4 September 1975) is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who primarily works in Tamil cinema . He is known for his unique filmography with major commercial success and high critical acclaim works. He has won five National Film Awards , three Filmfare South Awards and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award . Vetrimaaran made his directorial debut with Polladhavan (2007). His second feature film Aadukalam (2011) won six National Film Awards . His 2016 directorial Visaranai
342-407: A gang war between two rival gangsters. Like Aadukalam , the film went through production and development hell over a period of nine years with huge changes in cast and crew and much scouting and research, yet Vetrimaaran made sure it was not shelved. The film ran into controversy from the fisherfolk community, because of a love-making scene between Ameer and Andrea Jeremiah filmed in a boat, which
399-561: A lower class farmer who has to protect his family when his youngest son murders a rich upper class landlord and would be seen in two looks: one as a young man in a flashback and the second as a middle-aged man in the present. Upon release in October 2019, it received critical acclaim. The Times of India , rated 3.5 out of 5 stars, stating that "Vetri Maaran delivers yet another solid action drama that keeps us engrossed from start to finish." S. Subhakeerthana from The Indian Express rated
456-418: A new film, Asuran which saw the duo reunite with music director G. V. Prakash Kumar, cinematographer Velraj and actors Naren, Pawan and Munnar Ramesh (who has featured in all of Vetrimaaran's feature films from Polladhavan onwards). The film's plot is based on Poomani's novel Vekkai ( transl. Heat ) and is influenced by the real-life Kilvenmani massacre that occurred in 1968. Dhanush plays
513-538: A police constable, with him playing the lead role for the first time in his career, while Vijay Sethupathi plays the leader of a separatist group. The film received positive reviews and became a success at the box office. This is a list of films that Vetrimaaran worked for other directors. Polladhavan (2007 film) Polladhavan ( transl. Ruthless Man ) is a 2007 Indian Tamil -language action thriller film written and directed by Vetrimaaran in his directorial debut. Starring Dhanush and Ramya ,
570-573: A realistic backdrop to the scenes, whether it's the middle-class ambience or the underworld, 'Poolladhavan' turns out be a slickly packaged entertainer from debutant director Vettrimaran". Polladhavan was remade in Kannada as Punda and in Telugu as Kurradu starring Varun Sandesh but it could not repeat the success of the original version. It was remade in Sinhala as Pravegeya .This film
627-399: A row: Kodi (2016), Lens (2017) and Annanukku Jai (2018). His fourth directorial venture which he had been preparing for since 2009, Vada Chennai saw him reunite with Dhanush, Samuthirakani, Kishore, Daniel Balaji , Pawan , cinematographer Velraj, art director Jacki , and editor G. B. Venkatesh. The film is about a skilled carrom player who becomes a reluctant participant in
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#1732793491317684-475: A script for Dhanush , who was the lead hero of the films he worked in, and Dhanush immediately accepted the offer after hearing the story. The film titled Desiya Nedunchalai 47 was initially launched with Yuvan Shankar Raja as the music director and Ekambaram as the cinematographer. After he found trouble finding producers with A. M. Rathnam and Salem Chandrasekhar leaving the project after initial interest, Dhanush's sister Dr. Vimala Geetha agreed to produce
741-444: A seminar organised by Balu Mahendra , who at that time was a visiting professor at Loyola. Impressed by the veteran filmmaker, Vetrimaaran decided that he would learn filmmaking from him. Mahendra then accepted Vetrimaaran as one of his lead assistants. Following this, he faced the dilemma of choosing between studies and film. He opted for the latter, which meant he had to opt out of his course at Loyola. Mahendra expanded his duties for
798-407: A top class film about reality comparable to 2012 Cannes favorite Gangs of Wasseypur . Baradwaj Rangan , then of The Hindu wrote "Visaranai is beautifully filmed, though there isn't much room for beauty. The frames appear to have been snatched from the back alleys of life. The verité illusion is aided by the utterly lifelike performances—even if the word "performance" seems wrong." Visaranai
855-402: A tremendously positive response. The film was remade in a number of languages, owing to its success. Prabhu Shankar is a happy-go-lucky middle-class man who spends time playing carrom in the streets with his friends Sathish and Kumar and others. He and his father keep falling into minor misunderstandings and falls in love with a girl named Hema, whom he meets at a bus stop. When he is caught in
912-451: Is a noted novelist. He has an elder sister. He later moved to Ranipet . He is married to Aarthi whom he met at Loyola College where he was studying. They have two children, Poonthendral and Kathiravan. While studying English literature at Loyola College, he undertook a course on television presentation, at the end of which he had to make a film. While making the film, he learned of his inclination towards filmmaking. Later, he attended
969-540: Is a remix of the same-titled song from the 1979 film Ninaithale Inikkum . Responding to allegations that the song "Minnalgall Koothadum" was a rip-off of Akon 's " Smack That ", Prakash Kumar stated "I may have been inspired, but I did not just copy that song". The film was released on 8 November 2007 on Diwali day alongside Azhagiya Tamil Magan , Machakkaran , Vel and Kannamoochi Yenada . The critic from Sify.com stating that "Vetri has made his mentor proud, and his style of narration and takings are very similar to
1026-418: Is lodged on the culprit on the same night. Later that night, Prabhu confesses to his family that his bike was stolen. His family is very upset, but Prabhu's father assures them that the bike will be found in no time, having developed a feeling of respect for Prabhu after he had become responsible by going for a job. The next morning, Ravi visits Prabhu's locality and threatens him to withdraw the complaint against
1083-445: Is not aware of the mastermind behind the assault on Selvam. Out gets furious and vows to kill every enemy of his mentor Selvam, including Prabhu. Prabhu eventually gets his bike back, but is disheartened when he finds it vandalized, so he takes it to the service centre for restoration. While there, he learns that Ravi is after him and his family. He first goes to save Hema. After securing her, he goes to save his family. He thinks that
1140-548: Is snubbed again by Prabhu. Selvam becomes unhappy about this and warns him to quit smuggling if he ever gets in Prabhu's business anymore. Ravi accuses Selvam of being a non-caring brother, and Out intervenes and warns Ravi to mind his language. Surprisingly, Selvam himself comes in support of his brother to lash out at Out. Out separates briefly from Selvam after this conflict. The next day, Selvam and Ravi get attacked by unknown gangsters when they are travelling in their car outside
1197-454: Is the most powerful, most gut-churning installment. The house becomes a character of its own, with its clearly established geography...It may seem strange to say this, given Vetri Maaran’s terrific run of films, but Oor Iravu is his best-directed work." In 2023, Vetrimaaran directed Viduthalai Part 1 , based on the Vachathi case . The film featured once comedian now a mass hero Soori as
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#17327934913171254-485: Is too late for Prabhu's father, who receives the attack from Ravi's men. He was admitted to a hospital, and Prabhu broke down after knowing that his father would never walk again after his right leg was paralyzed by the attack. Selvam, Ravi, and their men visit Prabhu to condole and apologize for what happened this time. Prabhu turns down the apology, and again, an immediate fight is about to break out between Prabhu and Ravi before Selvam separates them both, blaming Ravi for
1311-566: The Best Children's Film Award at the 62nd National Film Awards . Vetrimaaran's third venture was the crime-thriller Visaranai (2016) was based on M. Chandrakumar's novel Lock Up . The film deals with the lives of a few Tamil laborers subject to horrific atrocities committed by the police from which they are unable to escape. Vetrimaaran chose to begin the film before the schedule for his other venture Vada Chennai (2018) and reunited with actors Dinesh, Murugadoss, and Kishore, where
1368-503: The Tamil serial Kathai Neram (2000) and the Tamil films En Iniya Ponnilave (2001), Julie Ganapathy (2003), and Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam (2005). Vetrimaaran has since credited Mahendra as his mentor and the one who encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming a director. Vetrimaaran also acted in a brief role as Richard Rishi 's assistant in Kadhir 's Kadhal Virus (2002). It
1425-488: The ace director " Balu Mahendra ". The reviewer from The Hindu stated that "at no point does Polladhavan sag and that writer-director Vetrimaran has slogged through his screenplay and the result shows." Nowrunning wrote:"'Polladavan' is a typical Dhanush flick, which is not even distantly related to Rajinikanth's "Polladavan." The script is obviously tailor-made for Dhanush but it is no different from gangster movies, which make audiences feel jaded". Kalki magazine praised
1482-399: The act of stealing a pittance from his father for booze with his friends during one of his friends's sister's marriage, Prabhu questions his father's responsibility towards his upbringing, as a result, his father gives Prabhu some of his savings and tells him to do something with his life. Prabhu purchases a Bajaj Pulsar bike with the money. While his family initially berated him for buying
1539-421: The acting of Dhanush and other actors, Karunas's humour, Prakash's music, Velraj's cinematography, Vijayan's editing, Rajkumar's stunts and also praised Vetrimaaran for narrating old plot differently but panned the violence and song placements as speed breakers. Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "With a script that is cleverly etched, its racy narration, some well-defined characters, suitably cast actors, and
1596-506: The bike, he soon secured a job at a bank due to his bike, earning their respect. He forms an interminable attachment with his bike since it became his streak of luck, from getting a job to Hema eventually reciprocating his feelings. The bike eventually saves his life from a freak incident and gets lost during an outing with Hema, subjecting Prabhu to unfathomable anguish as he searches for his bike with his friends. When his family members ask him about his bike, he tells them that he has given it to
1653-445: The city. Selvam asks his brother to stay inside the car and handles the killers on his own. He gets brutally injured only to find out that he has been stabbed by his own brother Ravi. The attack was arranged by Ravi himself to kill Selvam. Ravi delivers the killer blow before telling that Selvam is too complacent of Prabhu and he is going to kill him, after which Selvam dies. Ravi creates a scene among Selvam's family and henchmen. Out, who
1710-429: The critic from Sify stating that "Vetri has made his mentor proud, and his style of narration and takings are very similar to the ace director Balu Mahendra, labelling that the film had shades of Vittorio De Sica 's 1948 Italian film, Bicycle Thieves . When questioned about its relevance to Bicycle Thieves , he stated that it "is a disgrace to Bicycle Thieves if it is compared with Polladhavan ". Following
1767-415: The culprit. When Prabhu refuses, Ravi pushes Prabhu's father during the argument, which prompts Prabhu to hit Ravi. Ravi's accomplices arrive at the scene, and Prabhu manages to fight them all, leaving Ravi beaten and embarrassed among the public. Selvam returns home on bail after a murder charge. When he finds out what happened to Ravi, he gets furious and sends his henchmen to attack Prabhu without knowing
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1824-486: The dialogues of Naan Rajavaga Pogiren (2013), directed by newcomer Prithvi Rajkumar. In 2014, his production Poriyaalan , dubbed as a sort of sibling to Polladhavan , was released to critical appreciation. In 2015, the Children's film Kaaka Muttai (2015), directed by Manikandan and jointly produced by Dhanush's Wunderbar Films and Grassroot Film Company received critical acclaim from all around India and won
1881-593: The film 4 out of 5 and reviewed it as "With this Dhanush starrer, Vetrimaaran proves he's one of the finest directors in Indian cinema, yet again. Only a few filmmakers like him can pull off a mainstream cinema, balancing ‘realism’ and commercial elements." Commercially, the film became a blockbuster at the box office, entering the ₹100 crore club and is currently the highest-grossing film of Vetrimaaran's career. It won numerous awards including two National Awards – Best Feature Film in Tamil and Best Actor for Dhanush. In
1938-417: The film revolves around a man whose life improves after buying a bike, and turns upside down after it is stolen. Three songs and the background score were composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar , while Yogi B and Dhina composed each one song. Velraj was the director of cinematography, V. T. Vijayan edited the film and Rambo Rajkumar choreographed the stunts. The film was released on 8 November 2007. Receiving
1995-468: The film, but she also dropped the film. Dhanush's father Kasthuri Raja finally agreed to produce the film, and Kirat Bhattal was signed as heroine, while Harris Jayaraj was selected as music director. However, after two days of shoot, the film was shelved, and Dhanush opted to pursue other films after the surprise success of his Thiruvilayadal Arambam . The film's collapse saw Vetrimaaran approach S. Kathiresan , of Five Star Films, and narrated to him
2052-578: The film, but she also dropped the film. Dhanush's father Kasthuri Raja finally agreed to produce the film. However, after two days of shoot, the film was shelved, and Dhanush opted to pursue other films after the surprise success of his Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambam (2006). The film's collapse saw Vetrimaaran approach producer S. Kathiresan and narrated to him the stories he had prepared. Kathiresan did not like Desiya Nedunchaalai 47 but agreed to work on another project titled Polladhavan (2007). Vetrimaaran has since described that he had "ample time" for
2109-744: The film. The film was initially titled Seval , but since the rights to the title were already taken by director Hari for his project with Bharath , Vetrimaaran decided to rename his film as Aadukalam . The film languished in production hell for two years due to constant changing in cast, crew and location, but Vetrimaaran, Dhanush, Kishore, Kathiresan and Prakash Kumar remained on. Vetrimaaran introduced two newcomers who made their Tamil debuts: actress Taapsee Pannu and Sri Lankan Tamil writer and political commentator V. I. S. Jayapalan , while future Vetrimaaran collaborators Dinesh , Murugadoss , and Naren made their breakthroughs through this film. Upon release, Aadukalam received critical acclaim and
2166-589: The first two play the main Tamil laborers, while the latter plays an auditor. Though he had dubbed for Kishore in Aadukalam , Samuthirakani made this film his maiden acting collaboration with Vetrimaaran, portraying as a hard-nosed yet sympathetic police inspector, while Telugu film actor Ajay Ghosh made his breakthrough as a Telugu soft-spoken yet "villainous" inspector in Guntur . Upon release, Visaranai received positive reviews. Twitch Film viewed Visarnai as
2223-416: The knife, threatening him to ask his men to leave Prabhu's family, which he does, and his men spare Prabhu's family and Kumar. When Prabhu is about to leave, Ravi provokes him to continue the fight until death. Prabhu manages to dodge Ravi's swing of his knife and gets a steel rod to fatally knock him down. Out arrives at the scene after having learnt that it was Ravi who orchestrated Selvam's death, hence he
2280-494: The only way to stop this is to confront Ravi himself. He takes down all the men sent by Ravi, who comes in his way. Meanwhile, Prabhu's family is chased down in Kumar's auto rickshaw by Ravi's men. Prabhu finds Ravi hiding in an ice factory and engages in a fight with him. Prabhu overpowers Ravi during the fight; the latter tries to escape from him but finds the shutter of the ice factory blocked. Prabhu manages to subdue Ravi under
2337-499: The ordeal caused. The attack on his father makes Prabhu realize how much he loves his father and swears to protect his family at any cost. Although he wants to stay away, Prabhu invariably gets dragged into rubbing shoulders, caused by Ravi's antics, who now targets his family to seek revenge. Prabhu's bike is caught by the NCB and they nab him, suspecting him of drug smuggling in his bike. They release him after Prabhu tells them that his bike
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2394-490: The pair had worked together in Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram . Vetrimaaran chose Kannada language actor Kishore to make his Tamil film debut after his assistant gave him rave reviews of the actor's performance in the unfinished Prashanth -starrer Petrol . The team held test shoots with both Kajal Aggarwal and Poonam Bajwa for the film and released the stills to the media, but Vetrimaaran
2451-428: The people living there. Aadukalam was the first film of Vetrimaaran to have a production office set up outside of Chennai . Vetrimaaran took a year to complete the screenplay, script, and dialogues for Aadukalam and held a bounded script for the venture, which is considered rare in Tamil films. Vetrimaaran narrated only half of the film's script to Dhanush before the latter was impressed with it and agreed to act in
2508-496: The production works of Polladhavan as "Dhanush had confidence in him". The film's story was inspired partly by the lost bike of his friend Andrew and the variety of experiences he had tracking down his vehicle. Vetrimaaran revealed that when he wrote the script, he made many changes to suit the visual medium and for Dhanush on his physical attributes while playing an action hero. The film opened in November 2007 to rave reviews, with
2565-409: The reason for his brother's embarrassment. Prabhu, along with Kumar, meets Selvam at his own residence in Kasimedu. Ravi is not home at that time. Prabhu tells the truth to Selvam, but the latter refuses to believe that Ravi and his men stole his bike. After hearing from his close ally Out, Selvam believes Prabhu, apologizing and promises Prabhu that he will do whatever he can to get his bike back, but it
2622-448: The same year, Vetrimaaran collaborated with Suresh Kamatchi for their production, Miga Miga Avasaram (2019). Vetrimaaran wrote and directed a segment, Oor Iravu , for the anthology, Paava Kadhaigal (2020), starring Sai Pallavi and Prakash Raj . Each of the short films of the anthology touch upon the issue of honour killing . "Oor Iravu" received positive acclaim with Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion writing, "Vetri Maaran’s
2679-463: The script, he made many changes to suit the visual medium and for Dhanush on his physical attributes while playing an action hero. When questioned about its relevance to Bicycle Thieves , he stated that it "is a disgrace to Bicycle Thieves if it is compared with Polladhavan ". The soundtrack consisted of five songs, three of them composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar , while rapper Yogi B and Dhina composed each one track. The song "Engeyum Eppodhum"
2736-478: The stories he had prepared. However, Kathiresan did not like Desiya Nedunchaalai 47 , but agreed to bankroll the story of Polladhavan . Vetrimaaran has since described that he had "ample time" for his production works of Polladhavan as "Dhanush had confidence in him". Production designer Durai helped him rope in Deva to score the film's music, while Dhanush also recommended cinematographer Velraj to Vetrimaaran after
2793-516: The success of Polladhavan , the entire team of that film (Vetrimaaran, actors Dhanush and Kishore , producer Kathiresan, and composer G. V. Prakash Kumar ) collaborated once again for Aadukalam (2011), which deals with the rivalry between cockfighters in Madurai. During the pre-production and scripting, Vetrimaaran spent two years in Madurai to understand the local dialect and lifestyle of
2850-481: Was India's official entry in the Foreign Language film category at the 2017 Academy Awards, but failed to get nominated. In India, the film also won three National Film awards - Best Feature Film in Tamil , Best Supporting Actor for Samuthirakani, and Best Editing for Kishore Te and G. B. Venkatesh and numerous awards at Ananda Vikatan and Filmfare South . Vetrimaaran also produced three films in
2907-540: Was a commercial success. Sify called it "a gutsy and brilliant film" and mentioned that it " lives up to the expectation that the film carried and the credit goes to Vetrimaran whose research and hard work shows on screen". In 2012, Vetrimaaran launched his own production house called the Grass Root Film Company and launched his maiden project, Udhayam NH4 (2013) with Siddharth in the lead role and his associate Manimaran as director. He wrote
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#17327934913172964-414: Was considered to be offensive for the community. As a result, Vetrimaaran in a video statement, apologized to anyone who may have been hurt by the offensive scenes and agreed to remove them from the film. After a long delay, Vada Chennai was released on 18 October 2018, opening to critical and commercial acclaim, with critics praising the story, screenplay and each of the actors' performance. Janani K,
3021-404: Was during the making of Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam where Vetrimaaran became acquainted with the lead actor of the film, Dhanush . He prepared a script for Dhanush, who immediately accepted the offer after hearing the story. After he found trouble finding producers with A. M. Rathnam and Salem Chandrasekhar leaving the project after initial interest, Dhanush's sister Dr. Vimala Geetha agreed to produce
3078-641: Was selected as India's official entry to the Academy Awards . His film Asuran (2019) received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil . He produces films under his production company, Grass Root Film Company . He is also the founder of International Institute of Film and Culture (IIFC). Vetrimaaran was born in Cuddalore in 1975. His father Dr. V. Chitravel was a veterinary scientist , and his mother Megala Chitravel
3135-440: Was still unsatisfied and finished two schedules before finalising on Ramya . The director revealed that there was initially an issue with the actress after she got offended by his words and did not come for the shoot for three days, before Durai intervened. The film's story was inspired partly by the lost bike of his friend Andrew and the variety of experiences he had tracking down his vehicle. Vetrimaaran revealed that when he wrote
3192-557: Was stolen and shows them his FIR copy, but he does not tell them about Ravi or Selvam. Prabhu learns that his bike was stolen by Selvam's men to escape from a murder scene, but it was Ravi who smuggled drugs in his bike's petrol tank. Prabhu lost his job as an employee in his workplace since his bike was a source of transportation, and he was kept in police custody for one night. Prabhu also gets despair from Hema's father (Boys Rajan) for being involved unwillingly with Selvam's men. Meanwhile, Ravi makes one more attempt at Prabhu's life, but he
3249-436: Was the one who had blocked the shutter of the ice factory as Ravi tried to flee. Out smiles at Prabhu and lets him go while he stares down at Ravi's corpse, satisfied that Prabhu had done his job for him, avenging Selvam's death and remembering his words of Prabhu: "He is fearless and should be spared." Prabhu leaves the scene in his beloved Pulsar bike. Vetrimaaran, who earlier worked as an assistant to Balu Mahendra , prepared
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