Kamal Haasan starrer Alavandhan released in 2001 is getting edited and trimmed for a theater release revealed a source close to Producer Kalaipuli Thanu. It is the first film in Tamil to fuse the magical realism concept that is used in literature. Recently released Kuthirvaal was one that used the magical realism approach to narration. The film directed by Suresh Krissna ,won the national award for best special effects. It has Manisha Koirala and Raveena Tandon in the female lead.
The film released in Tamil and Hindi was a colossal disaster for Producer Thanu and also for Kamal Haasan. Thanu who gave string of hits suffered a huge setback and took a long time to overcome it. The film started off with Simran and Rani Mukherji who was to play the female leads dropping out due to date hassles. After that Harris Jayraj who was to score the music left and Shankar Ehsan- Loy came on board. The action choreographer was Hollywood's Grant Page of It's a Mad Mad World who shot the climax in Kashmir. In Delhi, 39 cars- 3 cameras including an Airramp machine used by stuntmen abroad for jump scenes was used and was filmed for 25 days. To get the authentic look of guns and Armory, Major Ravi retired from Army and director- actor was a consultant.
The film was completed at a cost of Rs 21 crores and Thanu spend a bomb in promoting it. The film collected close to Rs 2 crores in Tamil and a washout in Hindi. Film was badly criticized and one critic wrote that it looked like the director and actor were on drugs while making the film. Years later in 2016, the film won acclaim in International film festival. Quentin Tarantino said that animated action in Alavandhan made him use the technique in Kill Bill films. At that time the producer had released an advertisement in Tamil Daily announcing the release of digitally remastered print. Rediff .com which slammed the film at time of release put in the Top 10 films of Kamal Hassan.
The film story is written by Kamal and was published in a Tamil periodical, K Balchander rejected the film as it was way ahead of it's times. Kamal appeared in the buff for a scene and it was censored. Instaed of using a standard blue matte or masking , the scenes were never static and shot with a motion control rig to mount the camera and shoot the action shots of the dual charachters, The motion rig was imported from Australia, a first in Indian cinematography. In scenes where both characters came together, after shooting one character , the other was shot weeks later. The output was brilliant . Animation used till then for cartoons was given a new use in action. A psychedelia acid trip lasting 20 minutes was a first time experience for the viewer.
Kamal plays a dual role of twins - one an Army commando and another a mentally deranged man who is spending time in a mental asylum for killing his step mother. The mad man role was bald pated and Kamal gained ten kgs for it. For the commando role he took a training at National Defense Academy to get the feel of the character. Shringar Films which bought the Hindi release rights faced some issues during release.
With Vikram's total gross collection touching Rs 500 crores and Rs 85 crores as TamilNadu share, Alavandhan might just about bring in the moolah for Thanu who lost in 2001. Kamal will move to work on Indian 2 from August 22nd , as per sources close to him. Entire July, Shankar is busy shooting an an elaborate action scene with 1500 stunt men and multiple cameras for Ram Charan film.
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