Marudhanayagam
Encyclopedia
Marudhanayagam is a long-delayed high budget Tamil film
directed and produced by Kamal Haasan
. The film, which started in October 1997 with an exclusive launch by Queen Elizabeth II, originally pulled together several prominent names across Indian cinema as its principal cast and crew. However since the launch, the film despite rumours of resurfacing, is yet to resume its shoot.
had been pondering directing a historical film for a period of four to five years and unsuccessfully contemplated doing a historical musical on the lines of Ambikapathy
, with the idea of making a film which had only verses for dialogue. Writer Sujatha
then suggested Kamal Haasan looked at a folk
ballad edited by Tamil scholar Vanamamalai, which introduced them to the historical figure of Muhammed Yusuf Khan
, a 18th century warrior. Kamal immediately agreed at the prospect and felt that the story had all the potential of a good historical film, being appealed to by the elevation from the nadir to the top of Khan's life. Sujatha revealed that nearly 80% of the film would faithfully adapt Samuel Charles Hill's biography of Khan also known as Marudha Nayagam, and to only use imagination where no solid or substantial information is available such as his conversion to Islam. The team in 1998, for the first time in India, planned to use a computer for screenplay writing, using a particular software called the Movie Magic Screenwriter
with Sujatha working as a screenplay doctor. French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière
was also involved in readying the screenplay for the film, as was historian S. Muthiah
and poets Puviarasu
and Gnanakoothan.
The producers and Kamal Haasan managed to rope in Queen Elizabeth II to appear as the chief guest at the launch of the project which took place in the MGR Film City on October 16, 1997. The Queen had spent 20 minutes on the sets of the film, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi
, politicians S. Jaipal Reddy and G. K. Moopanar
, maverick journalist Cho Ramaswamy and veteran actors Sivaji Ganesan
and Amrish Puri
also in attendance. A teaser was shown at the launch, with a pilot video consisting of a battle scene which would feature for a few minutes in the film, with the production of the particular scene costing Kamal Hassan 1.5 crores alone. In November 1997, it was reported that the film would cost between 20 crores and 35 crores to make and would subsequently become the most expensive Indian film production of all time. The music for the trailer of the film was composed by Karthik Raja
in late 1997, when Kamal Haasan and he were working together in Kaathala Kaathala.
, Om Puri
, Amrish Puri
also given pivotal roles. Om Puri pulled out of the film in mid 1998 due to prior commitments and Sathyaraj
replaced him in the film. When the film was postponed, the team were still waiting to hear back from actors Amitabh Bachchan
and Rajinikanth who were approached to play guest roles. Kate Winslet
was offered the lead female role of Marsha, but her rejection led to the makers casting a French debutant. Actor Pasupathy
, who has since gone on to appear in successful films, was set to make his debut with the film in the role of an antagonist and had shot for five days. Furthermore, actor-director R. C. Shakti was signed on to essay a supporting role.
The technical team included costume designer Sarika
, Kamal Haasan's wife at the time of production, who made a trip to several world museums to get details about the costumes of the British during the 18th century. The make-up duties for the film were shared between Michael Westmore
and his apprentice Barry Cooper, with the pair training several Indian make-up artistes during the film's pre-production stages. The graphics of the film were controlled by Pentafour, whose work had been critically acclaimed in Shankar
's Jeans
. Sabu Cyril
was appointed head of art direction with Prabhakaran being one of his assistants, while television director Sundar K. Vijayan and G. R. Kumaravelan were signed on as second unit directors. Ravi K. Chandran
was signed on ahead of Santosh Sivan
and P. C. Sriram
as cinematographer for the film, heading a team including apprentices Ravi Varman
and Keshav Prakash while dancer Birju Maharaj
was announced as the choreographer. It was announced that music composing would be a collaborative effort between Ilaiyaraaja
and Andrew Lloyd Webber
with prominent Carnatic singer, M. S. Subbalakshmi also singing for the film. Classical violinist L. Subramaniam
had turned down the opportunity to compose the background score for the film, with Ilaiyaraaja subsequently replacing him.
, with Om Puri
's character looking on. Official filming began several months later in Velangudi
on August 10, 1998 with a scene of where a companion of the lead character, played by Kamal Haasan, is hanged prompting a brief altercation.
The film ran into production trouble in November 1998, when a sector of the Tamil community alleged that the film would contain historical misinterpretations of one of the community's historical icons. Furthermore, another section argued that the film is a distortion of history and that the central character would be portrayed as a hero of the struggle against the British instead of the traitor they felt he was. The allegations prompted Kamal Haasan to abandon extensive sets erected in Karaikudi
, in interior Tamil Nadu
, and shift to Chalakudy
, in Kerala
, to continue work on the project.
Kamal Haasan met American producers during his visit to Los Angeles
in June 2006 to try and find a financier for the film, but talks were unfruitful. In June 2008, Kamal Haasan suggested that the film would be revived after the completion of his directorial venture, Marmayogi, but within months Marmayogi was shelved after pre-production.
A two minute soundless trailer of the film surfaced on the internet in January 2008 , with critics claiming that there are "scenes which have the grandeur that stuns you instantly" and that "the visuals are astonishing."
The delay of the film has been subject to references in media and film. In Venkat Prabhu
's Saroja, the character played by Premji Amaren
supposedly stumbles upon a DVD of Marudhanayagam, while in Rajesh's Siva Manasula Sakthi
, Santhanam mockingly asks for a song from the shelved film to be played on the radio. Director Vijay
revealed that Marudhanayagam was the inspiration behind his successful 2009 film, Madrasapattinam, based on India's Independence movement in 1947.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed and produced by Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
. The film, which started in October 1997 with an exclusive launch by Queen Elizabeth II, originally pulled together several prominent names across Indian cinema as its principal cast and crew. However since the launch, the film despite rumours of resurfacing, is yet to resume its shoot.
Cast
- Kamal HaasanKamal HaasanKamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
as Muhammed Yusuf KhanMuhammed Yusuf KhanMuhammad Yusuf Khan or Maruthanayagam Pillai was born in Pannaiyur, Ramanathapuram District, Tamil Nadu, India in 1725. From humble beginnings, he became a warrior in the Arcot troops, later Commandant for the British East India Company troops... - Vishnuvardhan as Wajid Khan
- NassarNassarNassar is a Tamil actor, producer, writer, director, lyricist, and singer. He has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English films. He is often cited as part of India's specialist character actors, along with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Nana Patekar...
- SathyarajSathyarajSathyaraj is a Tamil film actor and media personality in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. A Tamil activist and a political influence, he has acted in over 150 films, ranging from action and drama to comedy. In 2007, he played the role of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in the Tamil Nadu government-sponsored...
- Amrish PuriAmrish PuriAmrish Singh Puri , ; 22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005 was an iconic theater and film actor from India, who was a key player in the Indian theater movement that picked up steam in the 1960s. He worked with notable playwrights of the time, such as Satyadev Dubey and Girish Karnad...
- PasupathyPasupathyPasupathy is an Indian film actor. He has appeared in several critically acclaimed roles in many noted Tamil films, essaying supporting, antagonistic, comedic as well as protagonistic roles.-Early life and career:...
Development
Kamal HaasanKamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
had been pondering directing a historical film for a period of four to five years and unsuccessfully contemplated doing a historical musical on the lines of Ambikapathy
Ambikapathy (1937 film)
Ambikapathy a 1937 Tamil film directed by American film director Ellis R. Dungan. It starred M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, M. R. Santhanalakshmi, Serugulathur Sama, T. S. Balaiya, N. S. Krishnan, T. A. Madhuram and P. G. Venkatesan. Ambikapathy is regarded as one of the greatest hits of...
, with the idea of making a film which had only verses for dialogue. Writer Sujatha
Sujatha Rangarajan
Sujatha was the pseudonym of the Tamil writer S. Rangarajan, author of over 100 novels, 250 short stories, ten books on science, ten stage plays, and a slim volume of poems. He was one of the most popular writers in Tamil literature, and a regular contributor to topical columns in Tamil...
then suggested Kamal Haasan looked at a folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
ballad edited by Tamil scholar Vanamamalai, which introduced them to the historical figure of Muhammed Yusuf Khan
Muhammed Yusuf Khan
Muhammad Yusuf Khan or Maruthanayagam Pillai was born in Pannaiyur, Ramanathapuram District, Tamil Nadu, India in 1725. From humble beginnings, he became a warrior in the Arcot troops, later Commandant for the British East India Company troops...
, a 18th century warrior. Kamal immediately agreed at the prospect and felt that the story had all the potential of a good historical film, being appealed to by the elevation from the nadir to the top of Khan's life. Sujatha revealed that nearly 80% of the film would faithfully adapt Samuel Charles Hill's biography of Khan also known as Marudha Nayagam, and to only use imagination where no solid or substantial information is available such as his conversion to Islam. The team in 1998, for the first time in India, planned to use a computer for screenplay writing, using a particular software called the Movie Magic Screenwriter
Movie Magic Screenwriter
Movie Magic Screenwriter is a word processing program sold by Write Brothers, Inc. to format screenplays, teleplays and novels .- History :Write Brothers' first software program, Scriptor , was the world's first screenplay formatter....
with Sujatha working as a screenplay doctor. French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière is a screenwriter and actor. Alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, he was a frequent collaborator with Luis Buñuel...
was also involved in readying the screenplay for the film, as was historian S. Muthiah
S. Muthiah
Subbiah Muthiah, MBE , is an Indian journalist and amateur historian known for his works on the political and cultural history of Chennai city.He is a regular columnist for The Hindu and has written a number of books on the history and culture of Chennai.- Early life and education :Muthiah was born...
and poets Puviarasu
Puviarasu
Puviarasu or Puviyarasu , is a Tamil poet and translator from Tamil Nadu, India.-Biography:Puviyarasu was born in a village near Udumalpet. His birth name was S. Jagannathan. Puviyarasu is the Tamil translation of the Sanskritic "Jagannathan". His family moved to and settled in Coimbatore...
and Gnanakoothan.
The producers and Kamal Haasan managed to rope in Queen Elizabeth II to appear as the chief guest at the launch of the project which took place in the MGR Film City on October 16, 1997. The Queen had spent 20 minutes on the sets of the film, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi
M. Karunanidhi
Muthuvel Karunanidhi is an Indian politician and a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He is the head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , a Dravidian political party in the state of Tamil Nadu. He has been the leader of the DMK since the death of its founder, C. N...
, politicians S. Jaipal Reddy and G. K. Moopanar
G. K. Moopanar
G.K. Moopanar was a senior Indian National Congress leader, a veteran Parliamentarian and a noted philanthropist. He was an All India Congress Committee general secretary from 1980 to 1988. G.K...
, maverick journalist Cho Ramaswamy and veteran actors Sivaji Ganesan
Sivaji Ganesan
Viluppuram Chinnaiahpillai Ganesan Manrayar , commonly known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan , was an Indian stage and film actor active during the latter half of the 20th century. He is one of the most respected film actors in India. He is well known for his versatility and acting skills with...
and Amrish Puri
Amrish Puri
Amrish Singh Puri , ; 22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005 was an iconic theater and film actor from India, who was a key player in the Indian theater movement that picked up steam in the 1960s. He worked with notable playwrights of the time, such as Satyadev Dubey and Girish Karnad...
also in attendance. A teaser was shown at the launch, with a pilot video consisting of a battle scene which would feature for a few minutes in the film, with the production of the particular scene costing Kamal Hassan 1.5 crores alone. In November 1997, it was reported that the film would cost between 20 crores and 35 crores to make and would subsequently become the most expensive Indian film production of all time. The music for the trailer of the film was composed by Karthik Raja
Karthik Raja
Karthik Raja is a Tamil musician from Chennai, India. He made his debut as music composer in the Tamil film Alexander.-Personal life:Karthik Raja is the eldest son of musician Ilaiyaraaja and Jeeva. His brother Yuvan Shankar Raja and sister Bhavatharini, who are also Kollywood music directors and...
in late 1997, when Kamal Haasan and he were working together in Kaathala Kaathala.
Casting
The original cast included Vishnuvardhan who played Wajid Khan with NassarNassar
Nassar is a Tamil actor, producer, writer, director, lyricist, and singer. He has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English films. He is often cited as part of India's specialist character actors, along with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Nana Patekar...
, Om Puri
Om Puri
Om Puri is an Indian actor who has appeared in both mainstream Indian films and art films. His credits also include appearances in British and American films. He has received an honorary OBE.-Early life:...
, Amrish Puri
Amrish Puri
Amrish Singh Puri , ; 22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005 was an iconic theater and film actor from India, who was a key player in the Indian theater movement that picked up steam in the 1960s. He worked with notable playwrights of the time, such as Satyadev Dubey and Girish Karnad...
also given pivotal roles. Om Puri pulled out of the film in mid 1998 due to prior commitments and Sathyaraj
Sathyaraj
Sathyaraj is a Tamil film actor and media personality in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. A Tamil activist and a political influence, he has acted in over 150 films, ranging from action and drama to comedy. In 2007, he played the role of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in the Tamil Nadu government-sponsored...
replaced him in the film. When the film was postponed, the team were still waiting to hear back from actors Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...
and Rajinikanth who were approached to play guest roles. Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
was offered the lead female role of Marsha, but her rejection led to the makers casting a French debutant. Actor Pasupathy
Pasupathy
Pasupathy is an Indian film actor. He has appeared in several critically acclaimed roles in many noted Tamil films, essaying supporting, antagonistic, comedic as well as protagonistic roles.-Early life and career:...
, who has since gone on to appear in successful films, was set to make his debut with the film in the role of an antagonist and had shot for five days. Furthermore, actor-director R. C. Shakti was signed on to essay a supporting role.
The technical team included costume designer Sarika
Sarika
Sarika was born on 3 June 1962 into a Maharashtrian family in New Delhi, India, and became an acclaimed National Award winning Indian actress.-Career:...
, Kamal Haasan's wife at the time of production, who made a trip to several world museums to get details about the costumes of the British during the 18th century. The make-up duties for the film were shared between Michael Westmore
Michael Westmore
Michael George Westmore is an American make-up artist best known for his work in various Star Trek productions, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and four feature films.Born in Los Angeles, California, Westmore is the son of Monte Westmore,...
and his apprentice Barry Cooper, with the pair training several Indian make-up artistes during the film's pre-production stages. The graphics of the film were controlled by Pentafour, whose work had been critically acclaimed in Shankar
S. Shankar
Shankar is an Indian film director and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He made his directional debut in Gentleman for which he was awarded the Filmfare Best Director Award...
's Jeans
Jeans (film)
Jeans is a 1998 Tamil musical romance film. Directed and written by Shankar and produced by Ashok Amritraj and Murali Manohar, it stars Prashanth, Aishwarya Rai and Nassar in the lead roles. Raju Sundaram and Lakshmi, prominent actors from the south Indian film industry, played the roles of the...
. Sabu Cyril
Sabu Cyril
Sabu Cyril is an Indian film art director. He has won National Film Award for Best Art Direction four times and Filmfare Best Art Direction Award twice. His latest work Enthiran, in which he also played an important role, has won him international recognitions.-Early life and education:Sabu Cyril...
was appointed head of art direction with Prabhakaran being one of his assistants, while television director Sundar K. Vijayan and G. R. Kumaravelan were signed on as second unit directors. Ravi K. Chandran
Ravi K. Chandran
Ravi K. Chandran is an Indian cinematographer. He has frequently collaborated with leading Indian filmmakers like Priyadarshan, Mani Ratnam, and Rajiv Menon and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Ravi has won two Filmfare Awards and one Southern Filmfare Award during his career.-Career:Ravi K. Chandran was...
was signed on ahead of Santosh Sivan
Santosh Sivan
Santosh Sivan is an Indian cinematographer, film director, and producer who has worked in Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, and Hindi cinema....
and P. C. Sriram
P. C. Sriram
P. C. Sreeram is a cinematographer and film director, educated at the Film and Television Institute of Tamil nadu . P.C. Sreeram is fondly called as PC sir. P.C. Sreeram won appreciations for his various cinematographic works and his directorial venture Kurruthipunal was selected as India's...
as cinematographer for the film, heading a team including apprentices Ravi Varman
Ravi Varman
Varman, ISC, is a celebrated Director Of Photography of India. He has shot many award-winning films in Indian languages of Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and English. Known for his realistic picturization and poetic framing sense, Ravi Varman began his career in Malayalam films...
and Keshav Prakash while dancer Birju Maharaj
Birju Maharaj
Brijmo Mishra popularly known as Pandit Birju Maharaj is currently the leading exponent of the Varanasi Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Kathak dance in India.He is a descendant of the legendary Maharaj family of Kathak dancers, including his two uncles, Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj, and his father...
was announced as the choreographer. It was announced that music composing would be a collaborative effort between Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja is an Indian film composer, singer, and lyricist mainly in the Tamil film Industry. He is regarded as one of the finest music composers in India. Ilaiyaraaja is also an instrumentalist, conductor, and a songwriter...
and Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
with prominent Carnatic singer, M. S. Subbalakshmi also singing for the film. Classical violinist L. Subramaniam
L. Subramaniam
Dr. Lakshminarayana Subramaniam is an acclaimed Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music, and renowned for his virtuoso playing techniques and compositions in orchestral fusion.-Early years:Subramaniam was born to V...
had turned down the opportunity to compose the background score for the film, with Ilaiyaraaja subsequently replacing him.
Filming
The launch also saw the inaugural shot canned with Kamal Haasan, in the persona of Marudhanayagam, hearing and reacting to an imperial announcement read out by the character played by NassarNassar
Nassar is a Tamil actor, producer, writer, director, lyricist, and singer. He has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English films. He is often cited as part of India's specialist character actors, along with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Nana Patekar...
, with Om Puri
Om Puri
Om Puri is an Indian actor who has appeared in both mainstream Indian films and art films. His credits also include appearances in British and American films. He has received an honorary OBE.-Early life:...
's character looking on. Official filming began several months later in Velangudi
Kottaiyur
Kottaiyur is a panchayat town in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.-Geography:Kottaiyur is located at . It has an average elevation of 77 metres . kottaiyur is located close to karaikudi on the karaikudi - trichy highway.-Demographics: India census, Kottaiyur had a...
on August 10, 1998 with a scene of where a companion of the lead character, played by Kamal Haasan, is hanged prompting a brief altercation.
The film ran into production trouble in November 1998, when a sector of the Tamil community alleged that the film would contain historical misinterpretations of one of the community's historical icons. Furthermore, another section argued that the film is a distortion of history and that the central character would be portrayed as a hero of the struggle against the British instead of the traitor they felt he was. The allegations prompted Kamal Haasan to abandon extensive sets erected in Karaikudi
Karaikudi
Karaikudi is a town in Sivaganga District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Chettinad literally 'Chetti land' in Tamil, is a collection of 76 villages/towns. Chettinad stretched from Ramnad District and Pudukottai State of 'British' India. The Chettiars, or more properly the Nattukottai...
, in interior Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, and shift to Chalakudy
Chalakudy
Chalakudy is a municipal town situated on the banks of Chalakudy River in Thrissur District of the Kerala State in India. It is the base camp for travellers to Athirappilly and Vazhachal Falls...
, in Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, to continue work on the project.
Delay
However production works suddenly ceased after a British company that had planned to co-produce the film backed out and the film has been indefinitely postponed since. Kamal Haasan had invested 8 crores of his own wealth in to the project through and has since revealed that the film would be revived at a future date. In a turn of events, Kamal Haasan announced in November 1999 that shooting will resume in six months after contracts of the technicians and actors were sorted, adding that a French version of the film will also be released.Kamal Haasan met American producers during his visit to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in June 2006 to try and find a financier for the film, but talks were unfruitful. In June 2008, Kamal Haasan suggested that the film would be revived after the completion of his directorial venture, Marmayogi, but within months Marmayogi was shelved after pre-production.
A two minute soundless trailer of the film surfaced on the internet in January 2008 , with critics claiming that there are "scenes which have the grandeur that stuns you instantly" and that "the visuals are astonishing."
The delay of the film has been subject to references in media and film. In Venkat Prabhu
Venkat Prabhu
Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren , better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu is an Indian filmmaker, who has worked as an actor, director and playback singer in the Tamil film industry...
's Saroja, the character played by Premji Amaren
Premji Amaren
Premji Amaren is a Tamil playback singer, film composer, songwriter and actor. Son of veteran film composer and singer Gangai Amaran, he often composes rap songs in Tamil cinema and is known for his comical performances in the Venkat Prabhu films Chennai 28, Saroja and Goa...
supposedly stumbles upon a DVD of Marudhanayagam, while in Rajesh's Siva Manasula Sakthi
Siva Manasula Sakthi
Siva Manasula Sakthi is a 2009 Indian Tamil romantic comedy film written and directed by debutante Rajesh. It stars Jeeva and newcomer Anuya Bhagvath, a student of Pune Film Institute, in the lead roles, with Santhanam, Urvashi and Sathyan appearing in supporting and Arya appearing in a cameo role...
, Santhanam mockingly asks for a song from the shelved film to be played on the radio. Director Vijay
A. L. Vijay
A. L. Vijay is a Tamil film director. Earlier he worked as an assistant and close associate of director Priyadarshan. His father A. L. Azhagappan was the president of Tamilnadu Producers Council and appeared in the film Eesan. His brother, Udhaya, has also starred in Tamil films. Presently A. L...
revealed that Marudhanayagam was the inspiration behind his successful 2009 film, Madrasapattinam, based on India's Independence movement in 1947.