Varanam Aayiram: 2008

Is Varanam Aayiram yet another remake?

There could be no second thought that Gautam Menon is a talented director coupled with slick technical capabilities. But, the allegation the director has been facing is that many of his movies are nothing but remakes of English originals. With 'Kaakka Kaakka' and 'Vettaiyadu Vilayadu' had a buzz that they were vernacular versions of Hollywood movies, Gautam's latest flick 'Pachaikili Muthucharam' too did not escape from that. It was said that the movie was inspired from Jennifer Aniston starret 'Derailed'. And the latest news that is doing rounds in Kollywood is that, his upcoming project 'Varanam Aayiram', which has Surya in lead role is also a remake of the Academy Award winner 'Forest Gump'. However, whether the movie will be a remake or not, one thing is sure that the film will surely have the 'fairy touch' of Gautam to woo the Tamil audience.

Varanam Aayiram Movie Photo Gallery - Surya and Sameera Reddy

Written by epoch on Nov-13-07 2:13am

From: gilma.in

Varanam Aayiram Movie Photo-picture-movie stills-photo session Gallery

Actor Surya is already busy shooting for his next film ‘Varanam Aayiram.’ Director Goutam Menon said the shooting for the film had begun in Chennai. Producer of the film Oscar Films’ V.Ravichandran

The crew will also fly to the U.S. soon and shoot at the Berkley University, San Francisco. Goutham is planning to shoot important sequences at the famous Brooklyn University. Two songs composed by music director Haris Jayaraj are ready.

Art director Rajeevan will erect a mammoth set abroad to shoot one of these songs. The camera by Rathnavelu and Thamarai has penned the lyrics.

A trim Suriya sports a teenager look in the film. Sameera Reddy and Divya are the heroines.

Varanam Ayiram Trailor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9lAc750KNg

Varanam AAYIRAM Wiki Pedia

Vaaranam Aayiram is a forthcoming Tamil feature film currently being directed by Gautham Menon, who with Vaaranam Aayiram will direct his sixth feature film. Surya Sivakumar acts in dual lead roles, whilst Sameera Reddy, Divya Spandana and Simran Bagga also play roles in the film. The film, which has been under production since late 2006, has Harris Jayaraj as the music composer. The film, announced with a budget of 14 crore Indian rupees, is set to be released in the summer of 2008.

Production

Development

Following Kaaka Kaaka in 2003, both the director Gautham Menon and Surya Sivakumar expressed their desire to come together for a film in the future.In early 2005, the pair came together for a film tentatively titled Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam which also featured Asin Thottumkal in the lead role and Daniel Balaji in a supporting role. However, after a photo shoot, the film was delayed and then subsequently called off due to Gautham's personal problems. Nevertheless, in 2006, producer Oscar Ravichandran signed up the pair for a new film, which they confirmed was not going to be a sequel of their previous venture, and was going to be a romantic thriller. Initially titles such as Naan Thaan and Udal Porul Aavi were considered to be the title for the project but however, Gautham announced the title was decided as Vaaranam Aayiram, with the literal meaning of "the strength of a thousand elephants".

Prior to the start of shooting, various technical crew members were signed up and the shoot commenced without a leading lady on 24 November 2006 at a nightclub in Chennai. In 2007, it was announced that a 10 day shoot in Afghanistan would be followed by abroad shooting in Malaysia, Russia and the United States of America, however til date, the film has only completed it shoot at Berkeley University in San Francisco, USA and is unlikely that shooting will be held in Afghanistan, due to fears of safety.

In November 2007, Gautham Menon decided to send the reels of the film back to Chennai from San Francisco. Two of the production managers were assigned the task of bringing the reels to the producer's office, however they stayed in Singapore for a couple of days before returning to Chennai. Following their arrival in Chennai, it was understood the reels went missing in the hotel they stayed in at Singapore, but the search by the police in the hotel proved unsuccessful. The whole crew of Vaaranam Aayiram was in a fix as the reels consisted of various fight scenes, songs as well as other scenes which would have potentially lost up to Rs. 2 crores financially. However, soon after, the reels were with the Singapore airport authorities and the team recovered their loss.

The film is believed to be based on the Russian film, Character, however others have claimed that it is a remake of the 1993 Hollywood movie, Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks. However Gautham has stated the film will draw inspirations from Forrest Gump but will be fixed to suit the Indian audience.Furthermore Gautham stated that Surya Sivakumar will be seen playing the dual roles of a 21 year old and his father and also that the film will be with society themed. The film which was previously set to release in 2007, has been delayed for a May 2008 release.

Casting

After the cancellation of Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam, originally starring Surya Sivakumar, Asin Thottumkal and Daniel Balaji, Gautham Menon, keeping the male leads the same, wanted to opt for a new heroine to begin Vaaranam Aayiram. Initially, Deepika Padukone was signed up and set to make her debut in Tamil films, however she backed out due to the inactiveness of the film and signed the Bollywood film, Om Shanti Om instead. Soon after another confimed heroine, Andrea Jeremiah was dropped from the film for unknown reasons.Asin expressed her desirity to be a part of the project, however the male lead, Surya, refuted her offer citing that she had walked out of his previous film, Sillunu Oru Kadhal and refused to act opposite her.

The producers then announced the film with Divya Spandana, who was making her comeback to Tamil films and Genelia D'Souza in the lead roles.Soon after the start of the shoot, Genelia decided to walk out of the film, after Gautham refused to pay the hefty salary that she was demanding and was receiving in Telugu films allowing Sameera Reddy to act in her first Tamil film.Simran Bagga signed and completed her shoots swiftly after she was selected to portray the mother of Surya,after Tabu had rejected the role.

" Varanam Aayiram" Movie Launch

[Saturday, November 25, 2006]

Director Gowtham's Varanam Aayiram, to be directed by Gowtham on the first-copy basis for Oscar Ravichandran, went to floors at Dublin dance floor, at a posh hotel in Chennai.

The crew came together to shake their legs at Dublin on Friday night. On opting for a launch at a disco floor, the director,says, 'We are excited about the film and we know it is going to be a lot of hardwork. So we thought we would let ourselves loose on the dance floor first. It was a sort of unwind before the gruelling work'. Among those who took part in the inauguration included Dhanush and his wife Aishwarya, actors Vijay, Jeeva, Jeevan, Sarath Kumar and actress Asin. Actor Suriya welcomed the gathering. On the occasion, the trailer of Gowtham's Pachaikili Muthusaram was screened.