| Kuselan | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | P. Vasu |
| Produced by |
G. P. Vijay Kumar Pushpa Kandaswamy C. Ashwini Dutt |
| Written by | P. Vasu |
| Story by | Sreenivasan |
| Starring |
Rajinikanth Pasupathy Meena |
| Music by | G. V. Prakash Kumar |
| Cinematography |
Arvind Krishna A. D. Karunamoorthy (Additional cinematography) |
| Edited by | Saravana |
Production company |
Kavithalayaa Productions Seven Arts Films Production |
| Distributed by |
Ayngaran Pyramid Saimira |
Release date | 1 August 2008 |
Running time | 153 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ?650 million (US$9.7 million) |
| Box office | ?4,000 million (US$60 million) |
Kuselan is a 2008 Indian Tamil language drama film directed by P. Vasu. A remake of the Malayalam film Kadha Parayumbol (2007), it was produced by Pushpa Kandaswamy, Aswani Dutt and G. P. Vijayakumar in two languages. Kuselan stars Pasupathy and Meena in lead roles. Rajinikanth plays an extended cameo role. The film was simultaneously made in Telugu as Kathanayakudu, with most of Rajinikanth's scenes being dubbed from the Tamil version except the climax scene that features him alongside Jagapathy Babu.
The plot revolves around a villager, who had shared a strong friendship with a popular cinema actor in his youth. However, due to their different careers they were forced to part ways, one becoming a national figure, the other, a village barber. Decades later, the actor returns to the village to participate in his film's shooting. Whilst the entire village become excited about the prospect of seeing the actor, the barber fears that his old friend would have forgotten him and would neglect him.
Kuselan opened to audiences on 1 August 2008, taking the third largest opening for a Tamil film up until the date of release. Despite the hype before release, the film ended up evoking negative reviews. Prior to release, the film was heavily marketed by the producers as a Rajinikanth-starrer, although Rajinikanth himself had made it clear that he was only playing a guest role.
Contents
Plot
Balakrishnan (Pasupathy) is the owner of a barber shop in a remote village. His family consists of his wife Sridevi (Meena) and three children. Balakrishnan struggles to persuade customers to visit his barber shop while his competitor Shanmugham (Vadivelu), a former worker of Balakrishnan who has his own barber shop across from Balakrishnan's, uses cunning means to make business in haircutting. Balakrishnan's downfall in business causes him to neglect paying his children's school fees. Although he struggles to make a living, he still enjoys spending time with his family.
News spreads through the village by Nagaraj (Santhanam) that superstar Ashok Kumar (Rajinikanth), a popular film actor, will be arriving for a shooting schedule. While the rest of the village celebrates in shock and excitement, the news does not impress Balakrishnan, who was best friends with the actor during their childhood days. The two have not met one another for nearly 25 years. Balakrishnan is often bothered by Sridevi and his children to introduce them to Ashok Kumar. Kuppuswamy (Livingston), a financier who is keen on making a film and who was once disgusted by Balakrishnan's barber shop, tries to woo him into introducing him to Ashok Kumar so that he can make a film with him. Meanwhile, Sridevi spends her time bragging to her neighbours about her husband being friends with the super star.
In the other part of town, Ashok Kumar is given tight security, led by the deputy commissioner Senthilnathan (Prabhu Ganesan) due to the possibility of misbehaviour among the crowd who spend their time hanging out in front of every shoot location, eager to get a glimpse of the superstar. Ashok Kumar is shown taking part in the filmings of Annamalai: Part 2, Chandramukhi: Part 2, (fictional sequels of Annamalai and Chandramukhi) and Kuselan, along with his co-star Nayantara (Nayantara). Balakrishnan tries to meet with his childhood friend, but he is never able to make it to him through the large crowd. Shanmugham also tries every possible way to meet with the superstar so that he can get a photo with him and humorously fails.
The headmistress of the local convent school (Geetha) visits Balakrishnan and asks him if he could get Ashok Kumar to attend their school's upcoming annual function. Balakrishnan hesitates at first but later agrees to do so. Balakrishnan continues to attempt to confront the superstar, however with no success. On the other hand, Shanmugham finally falls into Ashok Kumar's backyard by accident and, to his utmost surprise, gets the chance to speak with the celebrity.
Days pass by and the staff and parents of the school complain to Balakrishnan during their parents' meeting about inviting the superstar. Balakrishnan, again, agrees to confront the actor but goes without doing so. The headmistress decides that it is only better if she invites the superstar. She visits him, with two other school secretaries, which includes Mr. Srinivasan (R. Sundarrajan), who arrogantly questions Ashok Kumar about his films and his personal decisions. Despite the irritation received from Srinivasan, the star accepts their invitation and agrees to attend, as long as Srinivasan isn't around.
The day of the school function arrives and the school prepares for the arrival of Ashok Kumar. Back at Balakrishnan's house, Balakrishnan who is saddened because of his children; they are angry at their father for not taking them to see the super star and they do not want to attend the school function. Sridevi shows her admiration for Ashok Kumar and her willingness to attend the function. Balakrishnan shows his willingness to grant at least her wish to see the super star and agrees to attend the function. At the school, Balakrishnan and Sridevi are wide-eyed to see Ashok Kumar walk across the stage.
In his speech, Ashok Kumar praises the students and teachers of the school and receives many applauses. Srinivasan then learns that Ashok Kumar had a great respect for teachers. He brings forth his past as a child. He explains his poor and harsh lifestyle during his childhood days. On that note, he then recalls his memories of his childhood friend, Balakrishnan, who, according to Ashok Kumar, cared for him so much and spent a lot for him. Ashok Kumar tells the audience that it was Balakrishnan who sold his own jewelry to send him to Madras to join a film institute. Ashok Kumar wipes away his tears as he expresses his sorrow for not being able to see his friend since then. Ashok Kumar then apologizes to the audience and ends his speech on a happy note. A broken-hearted Balakrishnan returns home in tears after seeing his best friend cry on stage for him. As he weeps to his wife and children, he sees Ashok Kumar at his doorstep, forming the climax of the film. Balakrishnan slowly walks up to his long-lost friend and the two embrace and wipe away their tears.
After they settle down,Ashok Kumar reveals that he has earned a lot and will continue to work for a few years but doesn't have an heir for his property. Thus he tells Balakrishnan that him and his family must live with him thereafter and his children should inherit his property. When Balakrishnan declines the offer, Ashok Kumar and the children utter one of his famous punch dialogues. Ashok Kumar takes Balakrishnan outside, and to Balakrishnan's surprise, he sees the entire village crowded in front of his house. Ashok Kumar yells out to everyone in happiness that Balakrishnan is his best friend. Just when Ashok Kumar leaves, Balakrishnan feeds his favourite snack which Ashok Kumar feeds him back – a sentimental scene. The film ends showing Balakrishnan and Ashok Kumar walking away together and a moral of friendship is given (voiced by Rajinikanth).
Cast
- Rajinikanth as Ashok Kumar aka Rajinikanth
- Prabhu Ganesan as IPS Senthilnathan
- Pasupathy as Balakrishnan "Balu"
- Meena as Sridevi "Devi"
- Vadivelu as "Saloon Kadai" Shanmugam
- Brahmanandam as Koya Dora
- Nayanthara as Herself
- Mamta Mohandas as an assistant director
- Vijayakumar as Himself
- Nizhagal Ravi as Himself
- Livingston as Kuppusamy
- R. Sundarrajan as Srinivasan
- Manobala as Constable
- M. S. Bhaskar as Kuppusamy's assistant
- Santhanam as "Nagercoil" Nagaraj
- Chinni Jayanth as Pasimani
- Madhan Bob as himself
- Vaiyapuri
- Santhana Bharathi as Kuppusamy's assistant
- Tanikella Bharani as School teacher
- Thyagu
- Mayilswamy
- Kavithalaya Krishnan
- Mohan Ram as Ashok Kumar's PA
- Ambani Shankar
- Singamuthu
- Bonda Mani
- Geetha as Headmistress
- Sona Heiden as Sona
Special appearances
- Suriya
- Dhanush
- Kushboo
- Sneha
- K. Balachander
- G. V. Prakash Kumar
- Soundarya Rajinikanth
- Thalapathy Dinesh
- Suja Varunee
- Ashok Raja
- P. Vasu
Production
Development
Following P. Vasu and Rajinikanth's film, Chandramukhi in 2005, Vasu had been keen to re-cast Rajinikanth in another role and, before signing Kuselan, he had narrated a story titled Vettaiyan, which would have been a sequel of a character featured in Chandramukhi. Early in 2008, Rajinikanth signed up for S. Shankar's Enthiran, while Kuselan was launched at the Taj Coromandel in Chennai on 14 January 2008 coinciding with Pongal. The director, P. Vasu signed up Rajinikanth and Pasupathy to portray the lead roles, while director K. Balachandar agreed to produce the Tamil version of the film along with G.P. Vijayakumar's Seven Arts Productions, while Aswani Dutt agreed to produce the film in Telugu with Rajinikanth and Jagapati Babu in the lead roles. The film is a remake of the Malayalam movie, Kadha Parayumbol which was written by Sreenivasan who also played the lead role in the movie.
Vasu made it clear that Rajinikanth would not be doing an honorary role in the film, which Mammooty had portrayed in the original, but will play a full role, describing that "the whole story revolves around him ". The film's launch was halted on 7 March 2008 at the AVM Studios in Chennai with the leading artistes present. P. Vasu, while talking to the media mentioned that the shooting lasted 82 days with the versions being shot simultaneously and that most of the movie was shot inside the Ramoji Rao film city, with other destinations including Kerala and Pollachi.
A promotional event took place on 19 July 2008 at the Jawarhalal Nehru Stadium. The event focused on the music by G. V. Prakash Kumar.
Casting
Apart from the role of Rajinikanth, Vasu intended to use entirely different casts in either version of the bilingual film.Livingston, Manobala and Santhana Bharathi were added to the cast of the Tamil version, along with Vadivelu who pipped Vivek, Santhanam and Goundamani to land the role, even though Santhanam managed another role in the film. Furthermore, director S. P. Muthuraman agreed to play a guest role in the film. Despite Trisha Krishnan's request to appear opposite Rajinikanth, Nayantara accepted the role, however finding a female lead opposite Pasupathy was more difficult for the director, with Simran Bagga, Tabu and Sneha all being considered for the role in the Tamil version. However, Meena who played the role in the original, was offered the role in early February 2008 and accepted it. Throughout the production stages, it had been indicated that several prominent film personalities will appear in cameo appearances throughout the film, however no leading actors were approached. Indications later revealed that five actresses would appear opposite Rajinikanth in a song with the selected being Nayantara, Mamta Mohandas, Kushboo, Suja and Sneha all of whom apart from Nayantara, play minor roles. G. V. Prakash Kumar operated as the music composer while Arvind Krishna was the cinematographer.
Soundtrack
| Kuselan: The Official Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by G. V. Prakash Kumar | |
| Released | 1 July 2008 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Length | 29:43 |
| Label |
Big Music T-Series Super Cassettes |
| Producer | G. V. Prakash Kumar |
The soundtrack of Kuselan was released on 30 June 2008. The background score has been composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar along with five songs.[17] The song Cinema Cinema commemorates the 75th anniversary of Tamil cinema. S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sneha, Mamta Mohandas, Dhanush, Kushboo Sundar and Soundarya Rajinikanth appear in this song along with Rajinikanth, Nayantara and Vijayakumar. Sivaji Ganesan, M. G. Ramachandran, Rajkumar and N. T. Rama Rao, are also shown in this song.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
