Arul (film)

Arul
Arul
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Released	15 April 2004
Recorded	2004
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	26:51
Label	Hit Musics; Vega Music; Think Music; Bayshore; Divo
Producer	Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj chronology

Arul
Arul
	Promotional poster
Directed by	Hari
Written by	Hari
Produced by	T. Rama Rao (Presenter); T. Ajay Kumar
Starring	Vikram ; Jyothika ; Pasupathy ; Kollam Thulasi ; Vadivelu
Cinematography	Priyan
Edited by	V. T. Vijayan
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Production; company	Lakshmi Productions
Release date	1 May 2004;
Running time	163 minutes; (2 hours 43 minutes)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Arul (transl. Grace) is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Hari. It stars Vikram in the titular role, alongside Jyothika, Pasupathy, Kollam Thulasi and Vadivelu. The music was composed by Harris Jayaraj, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Priyan and V. T. Vijayan respectively.

Arul was released on 1 May 2004 and became a commercial success at the box office.

Plot

Arul Kumaran, a factory worker separated from his family of goldsmiths in Coimbatore, gets into a verbal fight with the corrupt MLA Gajapathy, which results in Arul killing Gajapathy. Arul surrenders to the cops, but is later released from prison. Sethupathy, Gajapathy's brother and a political kingmaker, wants to exact revenge on Arul for Gajapathy's death. A cat and mouse game ensues in which Arul takes responsibility of cleaning anti social elements and also becomes the kingmaker of Coimbatore.

Cast

Vikram as Arul Kumaran
Jyothika as Kanmani
Pasupathy as MLA Gajapathi
Kollam Thulasi as Sethupathi, a Kingmaker
Vadivelu as Thangamani
Sathyan as Senthil Kumaran, Arul's younger brother
Vinu Chakravarthy as Bala Dhandayuthapani, Arul's father
Sujatha as Sornam, Arul's mother
Saranya Ponvannan as Bhagyam, Arul's elder sister
Thalaivasal Vijay as Thiru Kumaran, Arul's elder brother
K. S. Ravikumar as Thirupathi, Arul's elder brother-in-law
Aarthi as Neelaveni, Kanmani's younger sister
Vanitha Krishnachandran as Durga, Thiru Kumaran's wife
Manobala as Paramasivam
Ponnambalam as Paalayamkottai Kasilingam
Kuyili as Kaveri, Kanmani & Neelaveni's mother
Charan Raj as Inspector Ramanathan
Rekha as Saroja, Gajapathi's wife
Sarath Babu as Dr. Viswanathan
Vaiyapuri as Raja
Benjamin as Mani
Sivanarayana Moorthy as Shanmuga Pandi, a textile shop owner
Thambi Ramaiah as Moorthi, Sethupathi's assistant
Besant Ravi as Ravi, Sethupathi's assistant
Minnal Deepa as Aarthi, Arul's second elder sister-in-law
Priyanka as Veni
Chaya Singh as Ponni (Special appearance in the song "Venam Ponni")
Sampath Ram as Sundar (uncredited)

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]

Though the film's plot is set in the backdrop of Coimbatore, the film was entirely shot at Karaikudi and was completed within 45 days.^[3]

Music

The soundtrack album and background score were composed by Harris Jayaraj collaborating with Hari and Vikram for the third time.

Track-ist
No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Arul Theme" (Instrumental)			1:33
2.	"Ukkadathu Papadame"	Na. Muthukumar	Tippu, L. R. Easwari, Theni Kunjarammal	5:29
3.	"Oddiyaanam"	Vairamuthu	Hariharan, Srimathumitha	5:01
4.	"Patthu Viral"	Vairamuthu	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Swarnalatha	5:18
5.	"Punnakunnu"	Na. Muthukumar	Tippu, Sriram, Manikka Vinayagam	4:44
6.	"Soodamani"	Snehan	Ranjith, Pop Shalini	4:46
Total length:				26:51

Release and reception

The film was released on 1 May 2004.

Arul received mixed reviews from critics. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote "In story and screenplay Hari could have done better. First of all a fearless, infallible hero pitted against a bunch of hoodlums and brutal, power-crazy politicians is too stereotypical for words. And when a completely unexpected twist occurs just before the break, the rest of the tale should be able to sustain the tempo created at the halfway point. Then, of course, you have the disjointed comic sequences".^[4] Nowrunning termed it as "long, stale, tedious and drab."^[5] Sify wrote "If you like Rambo style of films, Arul is worth investing".^[6] Indiaglitz wrote "An action-packed film for frontbenchers."^[7] Chennai Online called it "a major let-down".^[8]

References

^ "Reel Talk - One name sells". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 16 June 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
^ "Reel Talk - Unconventional Aparna". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 3 June 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
^ "Arul". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 16 May 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
^ Rangarajan, Malathi (7 May 2004). "Arul". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 December 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
^ "Arul Review | Arul Tamil Movie Review by Franco". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
^ "Movie Review : Arul". Sify. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
^ "Arul Review". Indiaglitz. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
^ Mannath, Malini (10 May 2004). "Arul". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2024.