(; stylised on-screen as Yennai Arindhaal...) is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and produced by S. Aishwarya. The film stars Ajith Kumar, Trisha Krishnan, Anushka Shetty and Arun Vijay in the lead roles, while Vivek, Anikha, Parvathy Nair, Ashish Vidyarthi, Suman and Avinash Yelandur appear in supporting roles. It is also the final film of Menon's police trilogy after Kaakha Kaakha and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. The film revolves around a former police officer's battle to protect his step-daughter from his arch-enemy.
Menon decided to finalise the script in October 2013 with Shridhar Raghavan and Thiagarajan Kumararaja as the script consultants. Principal photography was launched on 9 April 2014, and its first schedule took place in Chennai on 11 April 2014 within 12 days. The second schedule of the film took place in May 2014, where the filming took place in Chennai, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Sikkim and a few parts of Malaysia. The music was composed by Harris Jayaraj, reuniting with Menon after Vaaranam Aayiram (2008). Dan Macarthur handled the cinematography, while Anthony edited the film.Ajith is a Myth and an Enigma: Gautham Menon Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 28 January 2015
Yennai Arindhaal was released theatrically on 5 February 2015 to positive reviews from critics. At the 63rd Filmfare Awards South, the film was nominated under five categories including Best Actor for Ajith Kumar, Best Supporting Actor for Arun Vijay, Best Music Director for Harris Jayaraj and Best Lyricist for Thamarai. The film was nominated for six categories under the 5th South Indian International Movie Awards, in which Arun Vijay won the award for Best Actor in a Negative Role – Tamil.
Plot In 2015, Thenmozhi, a carefree girl from Chennai, comes to Boston to meet her newborn niece. Three weeks later, while leaving for Chennai at the airport, Thenmozhi gets a free upgrade to first class. During the flight, she starts vomiting due to overeating, but she feels better with the help of her co-passenger, Sathyadev, and she develops a crush on him. The next day in Chennai, Sathyadev and Thenmozhi meet at a cafe. Victor Manoharan, a notorious gangster, arrives with his gang to abduct Thenmozhi, but Sathya's intervention causes Victor and his men to retreat.
In 1989, Sathya's father gets killed by a gangster, after which the 14-year-old Sathya makes a decision. In 2002, Sathya is seen in prison with Victor, where he fights along with Victor in a botched attempt to kill the latter. They escape jail, and Sathya arranges Victor's marriage to his love interest, Elizabeth "Lisa". Sathya and Victor meet Matthew, an illegal organ dealer, and Sathya infiltrates the gang, revealing himself as an IPS of the T.N.P.D Crime Branch. Sathya kills Matthew and engages in combat with Victor, where Sathya brutally wounds Victor, who swears vengeance on Sathya.
Two years later, in an attempt to nab a gangster at Egmore Railway Station, Sathya helps a pregnant woman named Hemanika, who immediately needs to get to a hospital for delivery. Two years later, Sathya meets Hemanika and her child Isha again. After meeting and getting to know each other over 3 years, they plan to get married. On the eve of their marriage, Hemanika is brutally murdered, which leaves Sathya heartbroken, but Isha is saved as she was with him that night. Sathya meets and kills his adversary, Golden Raj and his men but was severely injured. He also know that Raj didn't killed Hemanika. Sathya hides the fact from Isha by telling her that Hemanika had left somewhere far away and that she wanted him to take care of her. Sathya decides to quit his job and travels with Isha around India, with his colleague DCP Richard's help.
Sathya returns to Chennai after 4 years, where he learns that his friend Saravanan's 15-year-old daughter Niranjana has gone missing. He discovers that Victor has resurfaced and is stealing organs illegally with foreign doctors to earn millions. Victor is trying to save his wealthy customer Muruganandham, who needs a heart transplant. Sathya finds the child and eventually the organ theft network's next target, Thenmozhi. Sathya is reinstated in the police department and leaves for Boston.
In the present, Sathya lets Thenmozhi stay in their house with Isha. In an attempt to get Thenmozhi, Victor and his team kidnap Isha, who is held captive by Lisa. Victor tells Sathya that he will release Isha only if he surrenders Thenmozhi, which Sathya accepts. When they arrive at the location, they kill Muruganandham. Sathya finds Thenmozhi's location and leaves to locate Isha, who is held at knifepoint by Lisa and attempts to stab Isha, which makes Sathya shoot and kill Lisa, leaving Victor heartbroken.
Victor sneaks into Sathya's house, kills all the officers positioned in Sathya's house, and reveals himself as Hemanika's killer. The duo engages in a bloody fight, where Sathya mortally wounds Victor in the same way Hemanika was killed. Sathya drags a wounded Victor outside and leaves his colleagues to kill him. Isha and Thenmozhi plan out the former's birthday. Thenmozhi promises to be with Isha throughout the day. Before taking Isha home, Sathya reminds Thenmozhi of the pending coffee that Thenmozhi wants to have with Sathya, indicating that Sathya is ready to move on with Thenmozhi.
Cast
Production
Pre-production In October 2013, producer A. M. Rathnam signed up Ajith Kumar for another film following their collaboration in Arrambam (2013). Initially, the producers approached director Gautham Vasudev Menon to direct the Tamil remake of Race 2 (2013) but Menon was not interested in the remake and came up with an original storyline which later became Yennai Arindhaal.
Development Shridhar Raghavan, who wrote the script for the Bollywood film, Dum Maaro Dum (2011), was also signed by the team to assist Gautham Menon with film's script. Thiagarajan Kumararaja is also credited for the screenplay. Harris Jayaraj was signed on as composer, despite early speculations that A. R. Rahman would work on the film.
Anirudh Ravichander had hinted about himself working in the film, but his inclusion remained unconfirmed and ultimately proved to be untrue. Australia-based cinematographer Dan Macarthur was selected to do the film's cinematography. On 29 October 2014, Suresh Chandra, Ajith's agent, confirmed the title for the film to be (Well, if you know me...).MGR to the rescue – Chennai . The Hindu (8 March 2015). Retrieved 24 July 2015. The title of the dubbed Telugu version was announced as Entha Vaadu Gani (No matter how strong the opponent is...) along with a few poster designs on 23 November 2014.
Casting Anushka Shetty was signed on by the team to play the main lead, despite early suggestions that Amy Jackson had been selected for the film. Prior to the official announcement of the cast, several actors were linked to portray the role of the antagonist in the film, including Karthik and Prashanth. Actors Aadhi, Arun Vijay, and Arvind Swamy were also reported to be part of the cast, though the latter denied signing the film. Aadhi also clarified on not acting in the film. In mid-April 2014, Arun Vijay was confirmed to portray the film's antagonist and had started filming his portions.Karthi, Janani (15 April 2014).
On 18 April 2014, comedian Vivek joined the cast, collaborating with Gautham Menon after the director's first venture Minnale (2001).Seshagiri, Sangeetha (18 April 2014). Bangalore-based Amit Bhargav was selected to play the role of Anushka's beau in the film.Sampath, Parinatha (3 May 2014). Trisha was officially cast as another lead of the film, collaborating with Gautham Menon for the second time after Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010).Karthi, Janani (15 May 2014). Her role was later confirmed as the love interest of Ajith's character. Actor Arun Vijay was chosen to play a supporting role. Ajith's salary was reported to be around for the film.Shankar (20 August 2014). Parvathy Nair was cast in a role paired opposite Arun Vijay, making this film the second she signed in Tamil, after the later-released Uttama Villain. Daniel Balaji played a cameo, thus becoming a part of all films in Gautham Menon's cop trilogy. Nassar made a cameo appearance as the father of Ajith's character.
Characters Menon stated that details regarding the film would be unveiled by the end of August 2014. As per his statement, Menon later said that Ajith would appear in four different looks in the film, and Anushka would portray an IT professional in the film. Trisha said that her portion in the film would have a more intense love story than her last outing with Gautham Menon, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010). For Trisha's character of Hemanika, stylist Uthara Menon made dresses out of Kanchi cottons and used retro brocade for her dance costumes, while basing her look on actress Shobana. She further said that though Ajith had been playing commercial films off late, this film would show him in a radical avatar that she herself would love to see him in.Sunder, Gautam (3 August 2014). It was confirmed that Ajith would be sporting black hair, a thick moustache and a slimmer look in the portions involving Baby Anikha and Trisha, whereas he would appear in his natural grey hair style in the portions involving Anushka. According to sources, Ajith would be seen riding a Bullet Bike in the film. Stills featuring Ajith sporting a bearded look were released in early October 2014. In November 2014, Vivek confirmed that his character — a police officer — would be a rather serious character with only a subtle sense of humour.
Filming A. M. Rathnam issued an official statement confirming that the film would be launched on 9 April 2014, and a ceremony was thereafter held to mark the beginning of the project. The first filming schedule subsequently began on 11 April 2014 near the VGP Universal Kingdom theme park near Chennai. The first schedule was completed after 12 days of shooting in Chennai, during which an action sequence was filmed.
The second schedule began shooting on 14 May 2014. A lot of nighttime shooting was said to have taken place in the film, especially on Mount Road. Shooting also took place in Malaysia. Dan Macarthur confirmed that the second schedule was completed by the end of May 2014. A wedlock scene between Ajith and Trisha was canned in the last week of July 2014. Shooting continued in Chennai along the ECR stretch up to the first week of August, during which the portions involving Baby Ankitha were completed. In the second week of August 2014, about 75% of the filming was reported to be completed and a few scenes, including a train sequence, were shot in Hyderabad. A scene featuring Ajith and Trisha and background artists was filmed in a theatre.
Filming moved to Rajasthan where a song sequence was shot in segments in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer for 10 days. A romantic song, "Mazhai Vara Pogudhae", which featured Ajith, was shot in September 2014. Filming then proceeded in Sikkim, where a "lullaby" song sequence featuring Ajith and Baby Ankitha was shot. The final schedule of filming began at Hyderabad again, where filming continued for 15 days. By late November, the shoots of all the songs have been done, and a fight sequence was shot in Binny Mills in Meenambakkam, Chennai. A solo song with Trisha was also completed. In early December, shooting of the climax chase sequence was done in guerrilla filmmaking mode in some busy roads of Chennai without the knowledge of the public. Shooting of the climax fight sequences began on 8 December 2014. A few key scenes were shot at Hyderabad Railway Station in mid-December 2014. Later, a few patchwork scenes were shot at Chennai for three days with which principal photography came to an end.