Kuselan

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Kuselan
Kuselan.jpg
Poster
Directed by P. Vasu
Screenplay by P. Vasu
Story by Sreenivasan
Produced by G. P. Vijay Kumar
Pushpa Kandaswamy
C. Ashwini Dutt
Starring Rajinikanth
Pasupathy
Meena
Cinematography Arvind Krishna
A. D. Karunamoorthy (Additional cinematography)
Edited by Saravana
Music by G. V. Prakash Kumar
Production
companies

Kavithalayaa Productions
Seven Arts Films Production
Distributed by Ayngaran (Worldwide)
Pyramid Saimira (US)
Release date

1 August 2008

Running time
159 minutes[1]
Country India
Language Tamil
Budget ₹15crore[2]
Box office ₹8crore[2]

Kuselan is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language dramedy film directed by P. Vasu. An

official 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, with Rajinikanth in an extended guest appearance. It
also stars Vadivelu and Livingston in supporting roles. The film was simultaneously
made in Telugu as Kathanayakudu.

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 becomes 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 and was a flop at the box office.[3][4]
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.[5][6]
Contents

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
3.1 Development
3.2 Casting
4 Soundtrack
5 Reception
5.1 Box office
5.2 Critical response
6 Controversy
7 References
8 External links

Plot

Balakrishnan is a poor barber living in the small village of Marayoor alongside his
wife Sridevi and three children. He has a small independent barbershop in the
marketplace. However, another barber named Shanmugam owns a much more developed
independent barbershop, and he actually has employees and revolving chairs.
Balakrishnan is criticized for not paying the school fees on time. A local goon
named Kuppusamy also disrupts the number of visitors to Balakrishnan's barbershop.
He is able to get his daughter back into school after advising the nun working at
his daughter's school who offers to pay the fees herself. An actor named Nagercoli
Nagaraj unexpectedly visits the village and demands heavy amounts of daily
supplies. Kuppusamy asks why, and Nagercoil explains that Kollywood actor Superstar
Ashok Kumar will be in the village for several different movie shoots.

When Ashok Kumar arrives alongside several other actors participating including
Nayanthara, Vijayakanth, and Nizhagal Ravi. They are given a huge welcome by the
village. Due to the village being located near the Tamilnadu-Andra Pradesh Border,
the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency was raging across the border the District collector
advises Ashok Kumar that the filming procedure be done somewhere else for his own
safety. Ashok Kumar refuses, so heavy police reinforcements led by Sentilnathan IPS
are called to the village. Sridevi alongside her children knows of a tale
Balakrishna use to state: 30 years ago, Ashok Kumar and Balakrishna were best
friends who eventually got separated as time went on. She and the children ask
Balakrishna if they could meet Ashok Kumar and take a photo with him. Balakrishna
is worried if Ashok had forgotten about him, being that people with fame and money
usually forget about their past. Shanmugam's wife Sona asks Shanmugan if they could
possibly get a photo with Ashok Kumar. Shanmugam tried several techniques but fail.

Sridevi starts spreading the news that her husband Balakrishnan and Ashok Kumar
were friends in their childhood. Balakrishnan gets relatively popular and people
believe he could somehow bring Ashok Kumar to take photos with everyone. Meanwhile,
Ashok Kumar works on two films: Vettaiyan, and Annamalai 2. Both films are sequels
to previous films he created: Chandramukhi and Annaamalai. Kuppusamy helps
Balakrishnan with renovating the barbershop. Shanmugam successfully breaks into the
guest house Ashok Kumar is staying in and disguises himself as a helper. He is able
to get a photo with Ashok Kumar with his wife and proudly shows the village. People
start doubting if Balakrishana really was a friend of Ashok Kumar as a commoner was
able to get a photo with Ashok Kumar, but not him. Kuppusamy is angered when he
comes to the conclusion Balakrishnan lied. He tells the entire village, which
causes his children to get backlashed and they start disliking their father.

His eldest daughter's school was able to get Ashok Kumar to attend a function for
him at the school. It was also his last filming day. Balakrishnan decides to
fulfill Sridevi's desire of at least seeing Ashok Kumar and they attend the school
function. There, Ashok Kumar makes a speech recalling his childhood days, when he
was extremely poor. It was Balakrishnan himself that helped Ashok Kumar during his
hard times, and even suggested that Ashok Kumar should get into acting. Ashok Kumar
tearfully explains that it was Balakrishnan that gave him everything. When they
return home, his children ask for forgiveness for ignoring him. Then, Ashok Kumar
visits them unexpectedly and emotionally reunites with Balakrishnan. He then
suggests to Balakrishnan to move to Chennai where he could give Balakrishnan and
his family a house near his as well as a barbershop for Balakrishnan. Balakrishnan
declines but promises to keep in contact with Ashok Kumar. Ashok Kumar leaves the
village, satisfied that he found his long-lost friend.
Cast

Rajinikanth as Ashok Kumar, a very famous Kollywood actor (extended guest

appearance)
Pasupathy as "Barber Balu" Balakrishnan
Meena as Sridevi "Devi"
Prabhu as Senthilnathan IPS
Vadivelu as "Saloon Kadai" Shanmugam (Balu Assistant)
Shafna as Balakrishna's elder daughter
Revathy Sivakumar as Balakrishna's younger daughter
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
Vaiyapuri as Kuppusamy's assistant
O. A. K. Sundar as Kuppusamy's assistant
Santhana Bharathi as Kuppusamy's assistant
Tanikella Bharani as School teacher
Thyagu
Mayilswamy
Kavithalaya Krishnan as Shopkeeper
Mohan Ram as Ashok Kumar's PA
Shankar as Barber shop worker
Singamuthu as Barber shop worker
Geetha as Headmistress
Fathima Babu as Sister Maria
Rajitha
Sona as Sona
Cool Suresh as Nagercoil's Nagaraj's assistant[7]
Nellai Siva[7]
Thalapathy Dinesh
Ashok Raja
Bonda Mani as Shanmugam's sidekick
T. P. Gajendran as Ramesh

Cameo appearances

Nayanthara as Herself
Brahmanandam as Tribal
Mamta Mohandas as an assistant director
Vijayakumar as himself
Nizhagal Ravi as himself
Madhan Bob as himself

Special appearance in the song "Perinba Pechchukaran"

 Suja Varunee

Special appearances in the song "Cinema Cinema"

Suriya
Dhanush
Khushbu Sundar
Sneha
K. Balachander
G. V. Prakash Kumar
P. Vasu
Soundarya Rajinikanth

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.[8] 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.[9] 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 starring. Ileana D'Cruz turned down an offer to act
in the film, citing date problems.[10] 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.

In the Telugu version, comedy actors Sunil and Venu Madhav all signed up to play
the roles of Jagapati Babu's fellow villagers.[11] Like the Tamil version, it was
said that several prominent Telugu actors had been approached to be a part of a
song in the project, but none were selected.[12][13]

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 [Rajnikanth]". The film's
launch was halted on 7 March 2008 at the AVM Studios in Chennai with the leading
artistes present.[14] 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.[15]

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.[16]
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,[17] along with Vadivelu who pipped
Vivek, Santhanam and Goundamani to land the role, even though Santhanam managed
another role in the film.[18] Furthermore, director S. P. Muthuraman agreed to play
a guest role in the film.[19] Nayantara accepted the role, opposite Rajinikanth.[9]
however finding a female lead opposite Pasupathy was more difficult for the
director, with Simran Bagga,[20] Tabu[19] and Sneha all being considered for the
role.[9] However, Meena who played the role in the original, was offered the role
in early February 2008 and accepted it.[21] 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.[12][13]
Indications later revealed that five actresses would appear opposite Rajinikanth in
a song with the selected being Nayantara, Mamta Mohandas, Khushbu, Suja and Sneha
all of whom apart from Nayantara, play minor roles.[22] G. V. Prakash Kumar
operated as the music composer while Arvind Krishna was the cinematographer.[17]
The verse alternates between clips shot of an actual movie crew filming on
location, intercut with actor Rajinikanth — who plays a fictional superstar actor
in this film — spoofing blockbuster movies such as Zorro, Lawrence of Arabia, House
of Flying Daggers, and the James Bond series.[23]
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
Producer G. V. Prakash Kumar
G. V. Prakash Kumar chronology
Ullasamga Utsahamga
(2008) Kuselan: The Official Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2008) Ananda Thandavam
(2008)

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.[24] The song Cinema
Cinema commemorates the 75th anniversary of Tamil cinema. S. P. Balasubrahmanyam,
Sneha, Mamta Mohandas, Suriya, Dhanush, Khushbu 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. This was the first Rajinikanth Tamil film since 1987 in which S. P.
Balasubrahmanyam was not cast in the soundtracks.
No. Song Singers Length (m:ss) Lyrics
1 "Cinema Cinema" Shankar Mahadevan 6:08 Vaali
2 "Sollamma" Hariharan, Sujatha Mohan, Baby Ranjani, Baby Pooja 6:13 Pa.
Vijay
3 "Om Zaarare" Daler Mehndi, K. S. Chithra, Sadhana Sargam 7:12 Vaali
4 "Chaaral" Shreya Ghoshal 4:34 Kiruthiya
5 "Perinba Pechukaran" Kailash Kher, V. V. Prasanna 5:36 Yugabharathi
Reception
Box office

Kuselan became the third largest release in the history of Tamil cinema, extracting
1000 prints worldwide, numbers exceeded only by Rajinikanth's previous venture,
Sivaji.[25] The film upon release, despite the initial hype before release,
received negative reviews and unexpectedly took a lukewarm opening at the box
office.[26] Unlike previous Rajinikanth films, on day two of its release, tickets
were available in almost all theatres across Tamil Nadu, with the film failing to
get advance bookings.[26] Traders blamed the producers for using Rajinikanth's
"larger than life image" to sell it to distributors, Pyramid Saimira for $12
million, when they knew very well that he was only doing a special appearance.[27]
More than $1 million worth of unauthorized DVDs were seized around India featuring
Kuselan.[28] In Karnataka, Rajinikanth's home state, Kuselan failed to bring in
$300,000, despite being sold for $600,000. Pyramid Saimeera declared a loss of ₹
403.2 million in the 3rd financial quarter of 2008 (a loss of nearly US$8 million,
the highest loss for a single film in the Tamil film industry's 100-year history).
[29]

Overseas, Kuselan opened at number 12 at the UK box office, but slid heavily the
following week.[30] The film was still labelled as a "colossal flop".[31]
Critical response

The film, upon release, garnered mainly negative reviews. Rediff.com criticized the
film as "rushed", however praised Pasupathy mentioning that he comes "out the
winner" in acting scenes, citing that his portrayal was "poetic".[32] Meena is
criticized, with the reviewer claiming that she "tries hard to re-create the
original version's magic, but perhaps she has been told to over-do it for Tamil:
she wears lipstick and pastel shades of saris for every other scene, while trying
to prove that they have no idea where the next meal's going to come from". As for
the script, "the freshness of the original has been denuded a little to accommodate
dialogues that extol the many virtues of the superstar", becoming worse than that
of the original.[32] Whilst labelling Vadivelu as providing "antics are the ones
that really make you grin", the rest of the supporting actors Manobala, M. S.
Baskar, Livingston and Vaiyapuri "are absolutely wasted". Director P. Vasu is
criticized by claiming that his "script must shoulder the responsibility of how
Kuselan has ultimately turned out" with the only saving grace being "the original
story, which pulls the screenplay from descending into nothing". G. V. Prakash
Kumar and Thotta Tharani were also singled out by the Rediff reviewer for their
adequate performances in their respective fields.[32]

Reviewers also claimed that the producers and P. Vasu had attempted to capitalize
on Rajinikanth's fan following in the film. The Deccan Herald reported that "It’s a
big con to exploit brand Rajni and make a quick buck. He himself gallops in on a
flying horse almost half way through the tortuous proceedings. His oneliners and
quirks fall flat. If at all we are able to see flashes of the Rajni of yore, it’s
towards the dying moments. By then it’s too late".[33] This claim was echoed by one
Sify.com review claiming the film "tries desperately to glorify Rajinikanth’s
larger than life superstardom and create a halo around him as a do-gooder and a
saint in real life. It loses its focus and moves away from the gist of the
original, which was a simple story about human emotions, based on friendship
between an ordinary barber and a superstar."[34] In contrast, another Sify.com
review praised the film labelling it as "above average". It claims that
"Rajinikanth towers above all others, especially in the climax scene where there is
a lot of melodrama and the human emotions are well etched out".[34] Pasupathy has a
"pained expression throughout" whilst "Meena just repeats her performance in the
Malayalam version". It however criticizes Vadivelu who is described as "a bit crass
and below-the-belt", in reference to his scenes with Sona Heiden. It adds that
"Kuselan is quite an enjoyable watch and is different from previous Rajinikanth
films" and that the "touching climax will leave a lump in your throat".[34]