Arasu ( Kingdom) is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language masala film written and directed by Suresh and produced by Babu Raaja. The film stars Sarathkumar in dual roles, Simran and Roja, while Sai Kumar, Vadivelu, Delhi Ganesh and Riyaz Khan play supporting roles. The score and soundtrack was composed by Mani Sharma.
Arasu was released on 14 April 2003 and became a commercial success at the box office.
Plot
Thirunavukkarasu alias Arasu is employed in a temple by Venu Shastri at Kumbakonam and stays in Pichumani's house. Arasu's calm nature and responsible behaviour impresses the locality people and Venu Shastri's daughter Meera, who falls in love with Arasu. One day, Arasu sees the news about the release of a convict from prison where he violently kills the convict with the help of a few men, but Meera and Venu Shastri witnesses the murder. Arasu meets Venu Shastri's family and discloses his past.
Past: Arasu is the son of Periyavar Nataraj, a kind-hearted gangster who is striving hard for the welfare of slum dwellers in Chennai. Sabapathy is a business tycoon who goes to any extent for earning money. Trouble erupts between Sabapathy and Periyavar, following which Sabapathy is arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for his illegal activities which led to the deaths of a few young girls. In order to exact vengeance, Sabapathy's brother Gunashekharan and his henchmen kill Periyavar and his wife Sivagami. Arasu gets enraged and swears vengeance against Sabapathy and Gunashekharan.
Present: Venu Shastri and Meera understands Arasu's position and decide to save him by not disclosing his whereabouts to the police. Despite all the attempts by the cops, Arasu successfully kills Sabapathy and Gunashekharan, where he surrenders to the police and is sentenced to imprisonment. Five years later, Arasu finally reunites with Meera and lead a happy life.
Cast
Sarath Kumar in a dual role as: Thirunavukkarasu (Arasu) Periyavar Nataraj, Arasu's father Simran as Meera, Arasu's love interest Roja as Sivagami, Periyavar's wife and Arasu's mother Sai Kumar as Sabapathy, the main villain Vadivelu as Pichumani Delhi Ganesh as Venu Shastri, Meera's father Murali as Harikrishnan, CBI Officer Bhanu Chander as Sundaramurthy Sudha as Meera's mother Riyaz Khan as Gunashekharan, Sabapathy's brother Manivannan as Rahim Bhai Bharathi as Meera's friend Minnal Deepa as Thenmozhi Kottachi as Photographer Chitti Babu as Lawyer Sampath Ram as Periyavar's Henchman Kiran Rathod in an item number
Soundtrack
These five songs in Arasu were composed by Mani Sharma. Sharma later reused "Malligai Malligai" as "Chinnaga Chinnaga" for Telugu film Tagore.
Production
The film marked the debut of Suresh who had worked with directors like N. Maharajan (Vallarasu), Dharani, and Lingusamy.
Most of the shooting took place at Kumbakonam, in and around the temple areas. Other locations were Mumbai and Kolkata. A fight scene was picturised at the Kumbakonam market area. Five cameras were used and it took ten days to shoot the fight scene. The scene choreographed by Peter Hayen and canned by cinematographer Y. N. Murali, was shot amidst a large crowd including the hero, some stuntmen, character artistes and the locals. Close-up shots of the fight scene was shot again in Chennai Studio where a set resembling the market place was erected.
Release
After this film, Suresh again collaborated with Sarath Kumar for films like Gambeeram and Nam Naadu.
Critical reception
Sify wrote "the narration is told in a gripping fashion with all the essential ‘masalas’ like punchy dialogues, action, song ‘n’ dance and item numbers". Balaji of Thiraipadam wrote "The movie presents the revenge tale in the style of Rajnikanth's Baashha and is quite entertaining".