Veera () is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Suresh Krissna and written by Panchu Arunachalam. It is a remake of the Telugu film Allari Mogudu (1992) and stars Rajinikanth, Meena and Roja with Janagaraj, Senthil, Vadivukkarasi, J. Livingston, Mahesh Anand, Vinu Chakravarthy, Ajay Rathnam, Vivek and Charuhasan in supporting roles. The film is about a man who marries twice because of circumstances beyond his control and is forced to live a double life to cover his tracks.
Krissna initially refused to remake Allari Mogudu because he disliked it but agreed after Rajinikanth told him their next film after Annaamalai (1992) should be different to avoid comparisons. The screenplay of Veera was written to be substantially different from the original; it was tailored to Rajinikanth's style and had logic added to the scenario. Arunachalam, who made script changes, received sole screenwriting credit. The film was produced by Arunachalam's wife Meena, photographed by P. S. Prakash and edited by Ganesh–Kumar.
Veera was released on 14 April 1994 during the Puthandu holiday. The film received mixed reviews from critics and audiences were disappointed because they expected a film like Annaamalai. Despite this, ticket sales improved within a few weeks of its release and Veera became a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.
Plot
Muthuveerappan "Muthu", an idler from Karamadai, falls in love with Devayani alias Devi, the daughter of Carnatic musician Krishnamurthy Shastri. To lure her, Muthuveerappan pretends to learn music from Shastri. One day, Devi overhears Muthuveerappan discussing his plans to seduce her with his friends, and confronts him. Chastened, Muthuveerappan concentrates on his music and later wins over Devi. They marry in secret but before they can make this official, Rathnavelu, son of the village landlord, tries to rape Devi. Muthuveerappan saves her by subduing Rathnavelu. Enraged, the landlord insults Muthu's mother, tells her about a loan owed to him by Muthuveerappan's late father and threatens to evict her if the loan is not paid within a week. Muthuveerappan goes to Madras to earn money.
In Madras, Muthuveerappan tries to enter a music competition to win the prize money. He meets tabla player Ravikanth, who gives him the stage name "Veera". Both make repeated attempts to enter the competition but are unsuccessful. Muthuveerappan saves the competition promoter's owner Viswanathan's daughter Roopakala from Harichandran, a gangster. With Roopa's help, Muthuveerappan is able to perform at the competition with Ravikanth and wins the prize money. Muthuveerappan returns to Karamadai and repays the loan, clearing his mother's debt. He learns Devi's house had been destroyed by a flood; the bodies of Devi and her father were not found. With Devi presumed dead, Muthuveerappan's mother tells him to return to Madras so that he can start afresh.
After Muthuveerappan and his mother arrive in Madras, he gets a full-time job in the music industry and embraces the Veera identity. Viswanathan appoints him as the new company manager after firing the previous manager Chandran for selling pirated cassettes. Roopa, having fallen in love with Muthuveerappan, wants to marry him. Muthuveerappan initially refuses because he misses Devi but his mother persuades him to marry her. After her marriage, Roopa and Viswanathan go to the United States as the latter needs a heart surgery there. One day, at his recording studio, Muthuveerappan finds Devi alive and well. She survived the flood but was left with amnesia; her memory was restored when she heard Muthuveerappan singing on the radio, so she went to Madras in search of him. Muthuveerappan decides not to tell Devi about his marriage to Roopa.
After Roopa and Viswanathan return, Muthuveerappan tries to tell Roopa about Devi but decides not to after she tells him about how her friend, at Roopa's suggestion, murdered her lover for infidelity. Devi and Muthuveerappan go to a temple to formally marry on Devi's demands, and Ravikanth is tasked with preventing Roopa from going there but fails. Roopa arrives at the temple; Ravikanth helps Muthuveerappan to hide his marriage to Devi from Roopa and vice versa. When Roopa sees her husband leaving with Devi, Ravikanth lies that Muthu and Veera are different men. As a result, Muthuveerappan is forced to live a double life as Devi's husband Muthu and as Roopa's husband Veera.
Chandran, aware of Muthuveerappan's double life, tries to blackmail him but Muthuveerappan gives him an altered photograph showing two of him. Believing it is genuine, Chandran gives the photograph to Harichandran who sees through the fraud, commits a murder and frames Muthu as Veera's killer. After Muthuveerappan reveals the truth about his double life to his wives, they fight over him and refuse to share. The wives are kidnapped by Harichandran's men. Muthuveerappan subdues Harichandran and Chandran, who are arrested. Muthuveerappan's wives reconcile with him but not with each other. Muthuveerappan's mother persuades him to leave Madras and return to Karamadai. When he, his mother and Ravikanth enter Muthu's house, they find Devi, Roopa and Viswanathan already there. Devi and Roopa take a bag each from Muthuveerappan then flounce off in opposite directions.
Cast
Production Development After Rajinikanth saw the Telugu film Allari Mogudu (1992) with the director Suresh Krissna and producer-screenwriter Panchu Arunachalam, he expressed his desire to remake it in Tamil as their next collaboration. Krissna objected to this idea as he did not like the film and found it unsuitable for him. Rajinikanth said he wanted to make a "two-wife" comedy, but Krissna noticed Allari Mogudu lacks the values associated with typical Rajinikanth films and felt fans would not accept his character being bigamous. Rajinikanth said changes could be made to suit the local milieu. Krissna wanted to begin work on Baashha but Rajinikanth said if their next film was heavy on action like their previous film Annaamalai (1992), "we will get caught. Bring the hopes down, bring the level down and then take it up again." Krissna agreed but avoided making a shot-for-shot remake of Allari Mogudu.
Rajinikanth and Krissna went to the Taj Banjara hotel in Hyderabad to discuss the plot. They prepared a fresh outline in ten days; Krissna tailored the story to Rajinikanth's style and added logic to the scenario. He submitted the final draft to Arunachalam, who liked it and suggested plot changes. According to Krissna, the remake has more "emotional profundity" than the Telugu original, and it was established that the protagonist Muthuveerappan is a pious person who married twice due to circumstances beyond his control. He differentiated Muthuveerappan from the original's protagonist, saying although circumstances drive him to another woman (Roopa), Muthu's feelings for his first wife Devi are sincere, he has not forgotten her and is forced by his mother into marrying Roopa.
Whereas in Allari Mogudu the second wife's desire for the protagonist is sexual, that aspect in Veera was made secondary. According to Krissna, "we polished the screenplay over and over again till it gathered sheen. Eventually, but for the basic plot, Veera emerged as a near-new product." Veera was produced by Arunachalam's wife Meena under their banner P. A. Art Productions. Arunachalam received sole credit for the screenplay while P. Satyanand, the writer of Allari Mogudu, received credit for the original story. Cinematography was handled by P. S. Prakash, editing by the duo Ganesh–Kumar, and art direction was done by Magie. The action choreography was handled by Raju, and dance sequences were choreographed by Raghuram. Meena was chosen to play Devi, reprising her role from Allari Mogudu, and Ramya Krishnan was offered to reprise her role as well. She declined, citing scheduling conflicts, and Roja was cast as Roopa instead. Bollywood actor Mahesh Anand portrayed the antagonist Harichandran in his first Tamil film.
Filming Veera was formally launched with a puja at the Lord Ganapathi temple within AVM Studios, although principal photography began at Rajahmundry. A four-day filming schedule with 40 background dancers was planned for the song "Maadethile Kanni" at Talakona. After the first day's filming, Krissna was unhappy because the location did not provide him with the expected quality. The crew returned to Madras and filmed the song at Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam and at a house at AVM Studios. The song "Konji Konji" was filmed at Narada Gana Sabha, Madras. Because the song that depicts Muthuveerappan, as Veera, performing on stage "didn't lend itself to anything vibrant", Krissna intercut it with scenes in which Roopa visualises Veera in various outfits and begins to find him attractive. According to Krissna, this was a chance to show Veera in a variety of costumes because he is only shown wearing a simple white shirt and black trousers until the song begins and would not change his clothing and appearance until much later in the film. Krissna decided to "let the audience get a glimpse of how [Veera] would look later on in the film" through this song.
The song "Malai Kovil Vaasalil" was filmed at the MRF Racing Track in Sriperumbudur. As it depicts Devi having formed the name "Muthu" in the Tamil script (முத்து) by arranging thousands of lamps, 20,000 lamps were made to glow simultaneously. Krissna decided to use chimney lamps that stopped the wind from extinguishing the lights. The song had to be filmed from above to emphasise the glowing lamps while Devi "should appear as a mere spot in the middle of gigantic lamps", so Prakash went to a tower that stood about away from the actual spot so the camera could zoom in and out for best results. Krissna described it as "one of the most strenuous and painstakingly shot sequences" in his career. Rajinikanth and Anand did not rehearse the fight sequence in which Muthuveerappan and Harichandran jump towards each other, then fall to the ground with their hands interlocked; they watched the stuntmen perform and followed their instructions. Rajinikanth performed all of his stunts without using a stunt double.
Magie's assistant Mani designed the film's large, multicoloured kolam that was ; a rope was attached to a pulley, one side of which was attached to Mani's waist. He was made to hang horizontally from it, with his face and hands turned towards the floor; completing the task took him two days and two nights. A scene in which Muthuveerappan and Ravikanth (Senthil) attempt to fool Roopa at a temple was filmed at Hyderabad's Birla Mandir, which does not generally permit filming. Most of Rajinikanth's acting was improvised on set. For the scene in which Muthuveerappan trips on his dhoti while changing into formal clothing, there were no retakes. In the post-production phase, Meena's voice was dubbed by K. R. Anuradha and the introductory "Super Star" graphic title card from Annaamalai was re-used. The length of the final film is .
Themes Writer S. Rajanayagam compared Veera to another Rajinikanth film Panakkaran (1990) because both of them stress that "true wealth consists of good parents, wife, children and friends". Though the film is a remake of Allari Mogudu, many writers have compared Veera with Rettai Vaal Kuruvi (1987) and Micki & Maude (1984), both of which also have bigamy as their themes. According to writer Archanaa Sekar, in Tamil films women married to the same man show "an unusual display of sisterhood" and "female solidarity", citing Veera as an example because the two female leads are initially friends (despite being unaware that they are married to the same man), and once a conflict arises amongst them, "the friendship helps smooth things over, and the film ends with the two choosing to co-exist with the man".
Soundtrack