Aadukalam
Aadukalam (English: Arena/Playground) is a 2011 In-
dian Tamil-language drama lm written and directed by
Vetrimaran. The lm stars Dhanush, Taapsee Pannu, V.
I. S. Jayapalan and Kishore. The lm was released on
14 January 2011 to positive critical feedback. The lm
won six awards at the 58th National Film Awards, includ-
ing Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor. The
lm was also felicitated with ve awards in 59th Film-
fare Awards South - Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor,
Best Music Director and Best Cinematography. Based
on an online poll by The Times of India, Vetri Maaran
was chosen as the best director for Aadukalam. The Tel-
ugu dubbed version Pandem Kollu released on 30 January
2015.
1 Plot
In Madurai, veteran rooster trainer Pettaikaaran (V. I.
S. Jayapalan) and police inspector Rathnaswamy (Naren)
are tough competitors in cockghts, and it is often Pettai
who wins because nobody knows his way of maintaining
the quality of the birds.
Karuppu (Dhanush) and Durai (Kishore) are the
favourites in Pettais team. Karuppu is very talented in
breeding and training roosters, while Durai is very rich,
owns three bars in Thiruparangundram town, and is also
talented in cock training. Rathnasamy keeps insisting on
having one last ght to win and satisfy his old mothers
wish, but Pettai declines to have any more ghts with him
because he feels Rathnasamy has lost faith in his roosters
and will be using nefarious methods to win. Rathnasamy
keeps insisting and tries to make him accept the challenge
through cajoling, threatening, bribing and other vile acts.
Karuppu falls in love with an Anglo-Indian girl Irene
(Taapsee) who dislikes him. He does not recognise this
initially and keeps following her. One day the residents of
Irenes colony confront him and ask Irene to tell who she is
in love with Karuppu or Dinesh (Dinesh Ravi), another
man in the locality. She points her nger at Karuppu and
he goes into rapture. She explains later that she had to lie
in order to avoid Dinesh who has been bothering her for
a long time. Later, Irene too falls in love with Karuppu.
Meanwhile, one of Pettais close associates, ayubh, his
veterinarian for roosters, is killed in a hit and run acci-
dent. Durai initially suspects rathnasamy, and all of pet-
taikarans gang want revenge. But Pettaikaran says they
have conduct a tournament in Ayubhs name and provide
1
his family with funds, so that ayubhs daughters can be
married. He asks permission from rathnasamy, as po-
lice have to permit, but rathnasamy refuses and berates
pettaikaran as a thief. In a rage Pettai, suspecting Rath-
nasamy of the murder, agrees to the one-on-one rooster
ght rathnasamy has been asking for so long. He bets that
, he will eld roosters against all of rathnasamys roosters
in the following tournament. Even If one of Pettaikarans
roosters loose against rathnasamys, he will tonsure his
head and face, publicly apologise to him, and will quit
rooster ghts. But , if rathnasamy is not able to beat any
1 of his roosters, same conditions will apply on him, at
the end of the day. Finally getting his way, rathnasamy
permits the tournament.
The grand state tournament is arranged by Pettais team,
getting funds and ocial permission. In the crucial ght,
Rathnasamy brings high breed roosters from Bangalore.
Karuppu asks Pettai to let his rooster ght but Pettai
puts his rooster down and says he will choose the best
competing rooster himself. Karuppu surreptitiously en-
ters the contest as Pettaikarans team before Pettai can
choose the rooster because he needs to repay Irene for
the loan he took to prepare his rooster for the ght. Pet-
tai does not believe in Karuppu and his rooster and an-
nounces that Karuppu will not represent Pettai and the
result of Karuppus match will not be acknowledged by
his team. The 'underdog' however emerges victorious in
three consecutive rounds despite facing roosters spiked
with steroids. Karuppu gets the best coach award of the
tournament and his bet money of 3 lakh 1o thousand10
lakh (equivalent to 14 lakh or US$22,000 in 2016).
While initially happy that Karuppu won, Pettai is soon
overcome with anger and jealousy. His ego is hurt by
the fact that Karuppu earns both popularity and money,
by refuting his judgement. Karuppu is not aware of the
changes in his mentors mind. Pettai is at rst he re-
fuses to speak to anyone and then starts scheming. The
money from the competition that Karuppu gives to Pettai
for safe keeping, that he plans to use to start a business,
suddenly goes missing. Pettai also starts spinning stories
about his associates and makes everyone suspicious of
each other. He incites Karuppu and Durai into pitting
their roosters in a ght. Meanwhile, Karuppus mother
dies from the shock of losing all the money. Meanwhile,
Pettai poisons all of Durais roosters making him sus-
pect Karuppu, who is arrested for this. Pettai then lies
to Irene that his wife was in an adulterous relationship
with Karuppu. Irenes family also pressure her to move to
Chennai which pushes her into attempting suicide. Pettai
2 4 SOUNDTRACK

meanwhile calls Karuppu to a location near a temple and oce set up outside of Chennai.[5] Vetrimaaran took a
informs Durai about his whereabouts. When Irene gets year to complete the screenplay, script, and dialogues for
better, she calls Karuppu and informs him that Pettai is Aadukalam and held a bounded script for the venture,
badmouthing him. So Karuppu goes to nd Pettai and which is considered rare in Tamil lms.[6][7] Vetrimaaran
confront him. Karuppu nds that Pettai was the one who narrated only half of the lms script to Dhanush before
stole his money, and a guilt-ridden Pettai kills himself. the latter was impressed with it and agreed to act in the
Karuppu does not wish to reveal the fact to the public lm.[6] The lm was initially titled Seval, but since the
that his mentor was the criminal who stole his money and rights to the title were already taken by director Hari for
schemed against him, so he ees with Irene to start a new his project with Bharath, Vetrimaaran decided to rename
life in another city leaving the money with his friend. his lm as Aadukalam.[8]
Shriya Saran was signed on for the project in Febru-
ary 2008 but eventually pulled out citing schedule
2 Cast conicts.[6][9] In April 2008, it was reported that Dhanush
too had walked out of the project due to schedule is-
Dhanush as Karuppu[1] sues, and that Silambarasan was set to replace him.[10]
However, Dhanush remained and continued with the
Kishore as Durai[1] (Voice-over by Samuthirakani) lm.[6] Subsequently, in June 2009, Trisha Krishnan,
who was selected to replace Saran for the role of Irene,
Taapsee Pannu as Irene[1] (Voice-over by Andrea
was forced to opt out of the project after her sched-
Jeremiah)
ule clashed with the allotted dates for her other lms,
V. I. S. Jayapalan as Periyasamy/Pettaikaran[1] Namo Venkatesa (2010) and Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa
(Voice-over by Radharavi) (2010).[6][11][12] Newcomer Taapsee Pannu, a Punjabi
software engineer, was named as her replacement.[6][13]
Naren as Rathnasamy [1]
Taapsee Pannu is casting by Varun Adlakha casting di-
rector Delhi / Mumbai. Sri Lankan Tamil writer and
Meenal as Meena[1]
political commentator V. I. S. Jayapalan portrayed the
Murugadoss as Oole[1] role of Karuppus mentor, Pettaikaran, thereby making
his debut in Tamil cinema.[14] Attakathi Dinesh makes
Sentrayan as Nicholas [1]
a small cameo in the lm as Dinesh, Karuppus neme-
sis when it comes to winning Irenes love.[15] Murugadoss
Jayaprakash plays Karuppus friend Oole while Naren appears as Rath-
Periya Karuppu Thevar as Ayub [1] nasamy who is also Pettaikarans rival in cockghting.[1]
Principal photography began in Madurai in February
Dinesh Ravi as Dinesh[1] 2009 with scenes featuring Dhanush being shot.[6][7] The
Velraj as Police Inspector (special appearance) rst look of the lm was released shortly after the com-
mencement of lming. It featured a series of promotional
posters depicting the characters played by Dhanush, Jaya-
palan and Kishore.[16] During early stages of produc-
3 Production tion, Dhanush revealed he would play the role of a lo-
cal cockghter named K. P. Karuppu, and described
A lot of research has gone into the script. I was born and the venture as his dream project.[17] The cockght se-
brought up in Chennai and to learn new things, I had to quences that take place before intermission was lmed
unlearn many. I went to Madurai with a script in mind, for 26 days.[8] Filming was completed in August 2010.[6]
but I had to change the script to accommodate reality. To In addition to being shot in Madurai, some portions
make my lm authentic, we have cast people who belong were also lmed in Thiruparankundram. The cockghts
to the sub-cult. I even share credits for scriptwriting with were lmed using Computer-generated imagery (CGI).
Vikram Sukumaran [sic], who hails from Madurai. The post-production works on the cockght sequences
Vetrimaaran in an interview with V. Lakshmi of The delayed the lms release.[6] The voices for Kishore,
Times of India.[5] Taapsee, and Jayapalan were dubbed by Samuthirakani,
Andrea Jeremiah, and Radha Ravi respectively.[8]
Following the success of their 2007 collaboration
Polladhavan, the entire team of that lm director
Vetrimaaran, lead actor Dhanush, producer S. Kathire-
san, and music director G. V. Prakash Kumar collab- 4 Soundtrack
orated again for Aadukalam.[6] Vetrimaaran spent a pe-
riod of two years in Madurai to understand the local di- G. V. Prakash Kumar's soundtrack consists of seven
alect and lifestyle of the people living there. Aadukalam tracks including two rap numbers performed by
was the rst lm of Vetrimaaran to have a production Malaysian Tamil rapper Yogi B. It was released by Sony

Music and the audio was launched at a small function
at Lady Aandal School auditorium in Chennai on 10
November 2010.[18] The song Yathe Yathe topped the
charts and remained in the No.1 position for nearly ve
weeks.[3]
5 Critical reception
Aadukalam received positive reviews from critics. Sify
called it a gutsy and brilliant lm and mentioned that it
" lives up to the expectation that the lm carried and the
credit goes to Vetrimaran whose research and hard work
shows on screen.[20] Behindwoods wrote Aadukalam is
an attempt that requires appreciation where the director
has hacked his way through the path less trodden with
aplomb.[21] Karthik Subramanian of The Hindu praised
the lm stating that The detailing of every characters in
the story is intricate. The narrative moves like a good
novel where the rst few chapters are all about etching
and detailing the players, and the plot and the action un-
fold much later.[22] Pavithra Srinivasan of Redi.com
called it one of Dhanushs best works to date.[23] Tamil
magazine Ananda Vikatan rated the lm with 44 marks
and mentioned that This arena is new for presenting cul-
tural nuances of a region and changes in human emotions
beautifully.[8]
6 Accolades
Main article: List of accolades received by Aadukalam
Aadukalam won six awards at the 58th National Film
Awards ceremony, thereby sharing the record with
Kannathil Muthamittal (2002) for the most number of
National Film Awards won by a Tamil lm.[24] It won
awards under the Best Direction (Vetrimaaran), Best
Actor (Dhanush), Best Screenplay (Original) (Vetri-
maaran), Best Editing (Kishore Te) and Best Choreog-
raphy (Dinesh Kumar) categories with a Special Jury
Award being presented to V. I. S Jayapalan.[25] The
lm was nominated in seven categories at the 59th
Filmfare Awards South, winning Best Film Tamil
(S. Kathiresan), Best Director Tamil (Vetrimaaran),
Best Actor Tamil (Dhanush), Best Music Direc-
tor Tamil (G. V. Prakash Kumar), and Best Cine-
matographer (Velraj).[26][27] At the 6th Vijay Awards,
it was nominated in twenty-two categories and won
in ve, including Entertainer of the Year (Dhanush),
Best Director (Vetrimaaran) and Best Music Director
(G. V. Prakash Kumar).[28][29] Among other wins, the
lm received four South Indian International Movie
Awards,[30][31] three Mirchi Music Awards,[32][33][34] and
one Norway Tamil Film Festival Award, Chennai Inter-
national Film Festival Award, and Chennai Times Film
Award each.[35][36][37][38]
3
7 Notes
[1] The average exchange rate in 2011 was 51.10 Indian ru-
pees () per 1 US dollar (US$).[4]
8 References
[1] Dhananjayan 2014, p. 512.
[2] Bhavanishankar, Jyothsna (21 December 2010).
Vetrimaran Interview. Behindwoods. Archived from
the original on 14 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August
2015.
[3] After Bollywood, Sony Music taps Tamil movie market.
The Economic Times. 9 February 2011. Archived from
the original on 13 February 2011. Retrieved 15 October
2011.
[4] Rupee vs dollar: From 1990 to 2012. Redi.com. 18
May 2012. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015.
Retrieved 14 August 2015.
[5] Lakshmi, V. (16 November 2010). "'Aadukalam is a con-
temporary lm'". The Times of India. Archived from the
original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
[6] Dhananjayan 2014, p. 513.
[7] Dhanush starts work on Aadukalam. Sify. 24 Febru-
ary 2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015.
Retrieved 10 September 2011.
[8] Dhananjayan 2014, p. 514.
[9] Dhanush & Shriya team up!". Sify. 1 February 2008.
Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved
10 September 2011.
[10] Simbu in arch rival Dhanushs shoes. Oneindia Enter-
tainment. 18 April 2008. Archived from the original on
21 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
[11] Will Trisha do Aadukalam?". Sify. 27 June 2009.
Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved
10 September 2011.
[12] Pillai, Sreedhar (28 June 2009). Has Trisha opted out
of Aadukalam?". The Times of India. Archived from
the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September
2011.
[13] Dhanush gets a Punjabi kudi as heroine. Sify. 30
September 2009. Archived from the original on 21 Au-
gust 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
[14] Jayabalan debuts in Kollywood. The Times of India. 26
February 2009. Archived from the original on 21 August
2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
[15] S., Venkadesan (16 August 2012). "'Theatre made me an
actor'". The New Indian Express. Archived from the orig-
inal on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
[16] Aadukalam. Sify. Archived from the original on 19 Au-
gust 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
4 10 EXTERNAL LINKS

[17] Pillai, Sreedhar (28 July 2009). Yatra is my lucky mas-
cot: Dhanush. The Times of India. Archived from the
original on 19 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September
2011.
[18] Aadukalam audio launch on Nov 10. Sify. 10 Novem-
ber 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015.
Retrieved 10 September 2011.
[19] Aadukalam (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)".
iTunes. 8 November 2010. Archived from the original
on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
[20] Aadukalam-Review. Sify. Archived from the original
on 14 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
[21] Aadukalam Movie Review. Behindwoods. Archived
from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 Au-
gust 2015.
[35] Srinivasan, Meera (23 December 2011). Spotlight on
pen-camera relationship. The Hindu. Archived from the
original on 16 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
[36] The Chennai Times Film Awards 2011. The Times of
India. 22 June 2012. Archived from the original on 11
August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
[37] NTFF 2011: Festival Program 20th-25th April.
Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards. 1 April 2011.
Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved
14 August 2015.
[38] Tamilar Awards 2011 - Winners of the year. Norway
Tamil Film Festival Awards. 25 April 2011. Archived
from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August
2015.

[22] Subramanian, Karthik (22 January 2011). "'Aadukalam': 9 Sources

Fascinating shades of grey. The Hindu. Archived from
the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August
2015. Dhananjayan, G. (2014). Pride of Tamil Cinema:
1931 to 2013. Chennai: Blue Ocean Publishers.
[23] Srinivasan, Pavithra (14 January 2011). Aadukalam is ISBN 978-93-84301-05-7.
impressive. Redi.com. Archived from the original on
22 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2011.

[24] Dhananjayan 2014, p. xvi, introduction. 10 External links

[25] 58th National Film Awards for 2010 announced.
Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original Aadukalam at the Internet Movie Database
on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2011.

[26] 59th Idea Filmfare Awards South (Winners list)".

Filmfare. 9 July 2012. Archived from the original on 11
August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

[27] The 59th Idea Filmfare Awards 2011(South)". The

Times of India. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original
on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

[28] 6th Annual Vijay Awards: Complete list of winners.

CNN-IBN. 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on
11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

[29] Vijay Awards 06/30/12. Chennai: YouTube. 30 June

2012. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

[30] Manigandan, K. R. (28 June 2012). The South Shines.

The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 August
2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

[31] SIIMA Awards: 2011 Winners. South Indian Interna-

tional Movie Awards. Archived from the original on 11
August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

[32] Mirchi Music Awards Background. Radio Mirchi.

Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved
11 August 2015.

[33] Mirchi Music Awards Winners. Radio Mirchi.

Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved
11 August 2015.

[34] Mirchi Music Awards Listeners Choice. Radio Mirchi.

Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved
11 August 2015.
 5

11 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Aadukalam Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aadukalam?oldid=777432686 Contributors: Conti, Bender235, Giraedata, Firsfron,
Pahruli, Pleiotrop3, Consumed Crustacean, Pinecar, Tachs, Tom Morris, SmackBot, Sundaryourfriend, Rrburke, DMacks, Ohconfu-
cius, Harryboyles, Shyamsunder, Iridescent, Cydebot, Killerserv, JustAGal, Universal Hero, Ekabhishek, MER-C, Geniac, Sodabot-
tle, Dharmadhyaksha, JaGa, Skier Dude, Bovineboy2008, Eliduwiki, Vinodr, Ralagappan2006, Sitush, ImageRemovalBot, EoGuy,
Niceguyedc, Iohannes Animosus, Johannes003, Vanished user k3rmwkdmn4tjna3d, Bisbis, Addbot, Chzz, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Andreasm-
peru, AnomieBOT, Materialscientist, R.srinivaas, Jayarathina, Cyphoidbomb, Indianick, C0MRADE, Shadowjams, Kotyanaik, Prabhu-
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Thirucse, GoingBatty, Active Banana, Terminator92, Incrazy, Vensatry, Wackywace, SporkBot, , L Kensington, Flightx52, Shyamwarrier,
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