Isai () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language musical psychological thriller film co-produced, written, directed and composed by S. J. Suryah, making his comeback as a director after a 10-year hiatus since 2005. The film stars himself in the lead role with debutant Sulagna in a female lead and Sathyaraj as the main antagonist. The story is about the tiff between Vetriselvan (Sathyaraj) and A. K. Shiva (Surya), the two music composers in the film industry. The film marked the debut of S. J. Surya, as a music director, with cinematography handled by Soundararajan and editing by K. M. Riyas.
The project was announced on 2004, after the release of New, with other two projects, which failed to materialize, and the film went on floors from 25 May 2012. The film which is touted to be of a new genre musical-thriller, released on 30 January 2015, to positive reviews from critics and ended up as hit at the box office.
Plot
Vetriselvan (Sathyaraj) is an established and old-fashioned music director who is loved and respected for his works and is termed as the greatest musician of our times. A. K. Shiva (S. J. Suryah), who works as an assistant under Vetriselvan, gets an opportunity to compose music for a small-time film. When Shiva introduces new techniques and pioneers the use of synthesizers, his music gets the attention of all music lovers. Due to the freshness and modernity that his music possesses, he becomes the most sought after musician and overtakes Vetriselvan. Shiva becomes the number one musician and builds his own studio. Meanwhile, he falls in love with Jeni (Sulagna Panigrahi) and marries her. When it seems everything he touches turns to gold, Vetriselvan displays his true psychopathic form.
Vetriselvan decides to pull down Shiva by any means. Vetriselvan wants to disturb Shiva's peace of mind so that he could not concentrate on music. Vetriselvan enters into a deal with Shiva's car driver, manager, cook, and studio front office staff to get their help in bringing down Shiva. One day, Shiva's car driver parks the car amidst peak traffic and suddenly runs away, which confuses Shiva. He gets disturbed by the continuous honking sound. Shiva's manager also confuses him by giving some fake incidents which did not happen. Jeni gets conceived but gets aborted as Shiva's cook mixes some medicine in her food. Shiva is worried because of Jeni's miscarriage and cries aloud. He thinks that he is mentally disordered and goes to a mental hospital.
Shiva's strange behavior gets the attention of media, and his image is tarnished amid public. Vetriselvan feels happy seeing this and in the meantime, film directors start approaching him again. Vetriselvan thinks that his lost glory is recovered now. Finally, it is revealed that Jeni is none other than Vetriselvan's daughter who was sent by him so that he can accomplish his plan. Knowing this, Shiva gets furious and comes to kill Jeni. But she reveals that she has really fallen in love with Shiva for his kindness and she is conceived again now. Vetriselvan comes there and persuades to kill Jeni knowing that she really loves Shiva. In the meantime, Vetriselvan stabs Shiva with a knife.
Suddenly, Shiva wakes up, and it is revealed that the entire story was his dream. Madhu (Nila) (from Anbe Aaruyire) is now his wife, and she says that fans are eagerly awaiting for a movie as he has not made a movie in the last 10 years. Shiva says that he got a story from his dream and needs to decide the climax. The movie ends there.
Cast
Production
The project was announced by S. J. Suryah in 2004 shortly after the release of New, when he revealed that A. R. Rahman would also collaborate for three of his future ventures titled Anbulla Nanbane, Aezhumazhai vs Chitra with Silambarasan and Asin and Isai. While the first film released as Anbe Aaruyire in 2005, the latter two failed to progress. In January 2006, the film was reported to be back under way with either S. S. Chakravarthy or Navodaya Appachan being producer and it was suggested that the film would be about a "cunning assistant music director comes to the top". Other reports had also suggested that the film told the tale of the tensions between South Indian musicians Ilaiyaraaja and A. R. Rahman. However the failures of S. J. Suryah's films Vyapari and Thirumagan prompted Rahman reconsider his involvement in the project and subsequently opted out from the project in 2007.