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{{short description|1997 film by Sundar C.}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Arunachalam
| image = Arunachalam poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| image_size =
| director = [[Sundar C.]]
| producer = {{Unbulleted list|K. S. Nagarajan Raja|K. Muraliprasad Rao}}
| writer = [[Crazy Mohan]]
| screenplay = Sundar C.
| based_on = {{based on|''[[Brewster's Millions]]''|[[George Barr McCutcheon]]}}
| starring = {{Unbulleted list|[[Rajinikanth]] |[[Soundarya]]|[[Rambha (actress)|Rambha]]}}
| music = [[Deva (composer)|Deva]]
| cinematography = [[U. K. Senthil Kumar]]
| editing = [[P. Sai Suresh]]
| studio = Annamalai Cine Combines
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|1997|04|10|df=y}}
| runtime = 165 minutes
| country = India
| language = Tamil
}}

'''''Arunachalam''''' is a 1997 Indian [[Tamil language|Tamil]]-language [[action drama]] film directed by [[Sundar C.]] and written by [[Crazy Mohan]]. The film features [[Rajinikanth]], [[Soundarya]] and [[Rambha (actress)|Rambha]], with [[Jaishankar]] and [[Ravichandran (Tamil actor)|Ravichandran]] in other pivotal roles.<ref>{{Citation|title=Arunachalam (1999) - IMDb|date=10 April 1997|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139861/|language=en-US|access-date=2021-08-04}}</ref> The soundtrack and background score for the film was composed by [[Deva (composer)|Deva]], while [[U. K. Senthil Kumar]] handled the cinematography. The film is loosely based on the 1902 novel ''[[Brewster's Millions]]'' by [[George Barr McCutcheon]].<ref name=":0" />

The film opened in April 1997 to highly positive reviews from film critics and went on to win three [[Tamil Nadu State Film Awards]], including an award for [[Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film|Best Film]].<ref name="Arunachalam - IMDb">{{Citation|title=Arunachalam - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139861/awards/|access-date=2021-08-04}}</ref>

==Plot==
A village head Arunachalam ([[Rajinikanth]]) who has two brothers Saravanan ([[Raja (Tamil actor)|Raja]]), Shakthi, (Shakthi Kumar) and a sister Arundhati ([[Anju Aravind]]) and a happy family. Ammayappa ([[Ravichandran (Tamil actor)|Ravichandran]]) and [[K. R. Vatsala]] are his parents. Vedavalli ([[Soundarya]]) is the daughter of Aathikesavan ([[Jaishankar]]) and ([[Vennira Aadai Nirmala]]). Nirmala is Ammayappa's sister and they all come to Ammayappa's home for Arunachalam's sister's wedding. That gives the opportunity for Vedavalli and Arunachalam to fight first, then fall in love with each other.

Arunachalam finds himself to be an orphan by interval. He goes out of the village. He goes to Madras where he meets Beeda Kathavarayan ([[Janakaraj]]), who gives him a job. By some magical situation Arunachalam discovers himself to be the son of India's richest (dead) billionaire Vedhachalam ([[Rajinikanth]])- through Rangachari ([[Visu]]). Rangachari is the guardian of Arunachalam's father's trust. If Arunachalam wants his inheritance, he has to follow certain rules. He can get an inheritance of 3000 Crore Rupees if he can spend 30 crores in 30 days. The conditions are: no contributions to charities, not to own any assets at the end of 30 days and above all, no one else should know about this and receipts should be provide for all the expenses. If Arunachalam fails to spend the money according to the rules, all the money will go to his father's trust which is managed by Vishwanath ([[Raghuvaran]]), Prathap ([[Nizhalgal Ravi]]), Kurian ([[Kitty (actor)|Kitty]]) and Kaliyaperumal ([[V. K. Ramasamy (actor)|V. K. Ramasamy]]). These four form a team of "villains". They want to spoil Arunachalam's efforts and get all the money for the trust and kill Rangachari. Nandhini ([[Rambha (actress)|Rambha]]) is Rangachari's daughter and she is appointed as the accountant for Arunachalam for 30 days.

Arunachalam tries hard to spend his money and many times, the money comes back. He spends on Horse races, lottery tickets, makes a movie with Arivazhagan ([[Senthil]]) as the hero and he even starts his own political party with Kathavarayan being the candidate. All these events are good opportunities for situation comedies. Does Arunachalam win this competition, does he get all the 3000 Crore rupees for himself and live happily ever after is the rest of the story.

==Cast==

{{colbegin}}
* [[Rajinikanth]] as Arunachalam & Vedhachalam (dual role)
* [[Rambha (actress)|Rambha]] as Nandhini Rangachari
* [[Soundarya]] as Vedhavalli Aathikesavan (Voice dubbed by [[Savitha Reddy]])
* [[Jaishankar]] as Aathikesavan
* [[Ravichandran (Tamil actor)|Ravichandran]] as Ammayappa
* [[Raghuvaran]] as Vishwanath
* [[Visu]] as Rangachari
* [[V. K. Ramasamy (actor)|V. K. Ramasamy]] as Kaliyaperumal
* [[Nizhalgal Ravi]] as Prathap
* [[Kitty (actor)|Kitty]] as Kurian
* [[Senthil]] as Arivazhagan
* [[Janakaraj]] as Beeda Kathavarayan
* [[Raja (Tamil actor)|Raja]] as Saravanan
* [[Anju Aravind]] as Arundhati
* Shakthi Kumar as Shakthi
* Thevaraj Balakrishnan as Arivu
* [[Manorama (Tamil actress)|Manorama]] as Vedhavalli's grandmother
* [[Ponnambalam (actor)|Ponnambalam]] as Ponnambalam
* Veeraraagavan
* [[Vadivukkarasi]] as Senior Vedhavalli
* [[K. R. Vatsala]]
* [[Vennira Aadai Nirmala]]
* [[Vinu Chakravarthy]]
* [[Vichu Vishwanath]]
* [[Thalapathy Dinesh]]
* Thevaraj Krishnan as Chokkalingam
* [[Crazy Mohan]] as Ayyasaamy
* [[Ambika (actress)|Ambika]] as Meenakshi/Arunachalam's Mother
* [[M. R. Krishnamurthy|MRK]]
* [[T. V. Varadarajan]]
* [[Halwa Vasu]]
* [[Sundar C.]] in a cameo appearance as a reporter in the song "Singam Ondru"
* [[Sridhar (choreographer)|Sridhar]] as Dancer
{{colend}}

==Production==
=== Development ===
[[File:Somanathapura Keshava Temple.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The song "Athanda Ithanda" was shot at Keshava Temple of Hoysala Architecture at Somanathapura, Karnataka]]
After the success of ''[[Muthu (film)|Muthu]]'' in 1995, Rajinikanth took a year out dabbling in politics and taking a sabbatical before announcing that his next film would be ''Arunachalam'' written by [[Crazy Mohan]]. It was announced that the film would be produced to help eight of his struggling film industry colleagues and it was incorrectly earlier reported that the film would be produced under his newly floated Rajini Arts banner. It was indicated that some of the people who the film would go on to cause benefits for included Kalakendra Govindharajan who introduced Rajinikanth in his production ''[[Apoorva Raagangal]]'' (1975), Kalaignyanam who featured Rajinikanth in the lead role for the first time with his production ''[[Bairavi]]'' (1978) and brothers Ramji and Babji who produced some of the actor's early hits, ''[[Kaali (1980 film)|Kaali]]'' (1980) and ''[[Garjanai (1981 film)|Garjanai]]'' (1980). Furthermore, collections would also be shared between the family of Sathya Studio Padmanabhan, actress [[Pandari Bai]], actor [[V. K. Ramasamy (actor)|V. K. Ramasamy]] and producer Madurai Nagaraja.<ref name="groups.google.com">{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.tamil/browse_thread/thread/27af1fb9091d0adc/aff47817cde6b536?lnk=gst&q=#aff47817cde6b536 |title=Tamil Movie News-Pudhu Edition 2 – soc.culture.tamil | Google Groups |date=22 October 1996 |access-date=2 July 2012}}</ref><ref name = "Arun">{{cite web|url=http://www.cinemalead.com/visitor-column-id-the-journey-of-living-legend-rajinikanth-part-6-amar-reddy-15-09-133376.htm|title=The Journey of living legend Rajinikanth Part 6 – The Journey Of Living Legend Rajinikanth Part 6- Amar Reddy- Rajinikamth – – Cinemalead.com -|access-date=17 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926174332/http://www.cinemalead.com/visitor-column-id-the-journey-of-living-legend-rajinikanth-part-6-amar-reddy-15-09-133376.htm|archive-date=26 September 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Initial reports had also titled the film as ''Kuberan'' and ''Meshtri'', but ''Arunachalam'' was eventually retained.<ref name="arun"/> The plot of the film was inspired by [[George Barr McCutcheon]]'s 1902 novel ''[[Brewster's Millions]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography |title-link=Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography |last=Ramachandran |first=Naman |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=2012 |pages=170–171 |author-link=Naman Ramachandran}}</ref>

The Director Sundar C. has stated in an interview that he didn't like the story of Arunachalam and he did it because he didn't want to miss an opportunity to work with Rajinikanth. He also mentioned that [[Rajinikanth]] is the one who called and narrated him the story and asked him to direct.<ref name="Vendhar TV">{{Citation|last=Vendhar TV|title=Ninaithale Inikkum {{!}} (25 January 2015) {{!}} Sundar.C Interview {{!}} [Epi-12]|date=26 January 2015|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW7Ejnp9sVY|access-date=29 October 2016}}</ref>

Sundar C. also said if he didn't like the story Rajinikanth would simply change the director. Sundar C heard from a producer who's close to Rajini, that "Once Rajini takes a decision he doesn't go back, and he'll only work with people who work according to that vision." So Sundar C. accepted the story even though he didn't like it as he didn't want to miss working with the legend, Rajinikanth. As he knew Rajini would not change the story for working with Sundar, but he would change the director.<ref name="Vendhar TV" />

=== Casting ===
Initially the lead heroine of the film was expected to be [[Meena (actress)|Meena]], who had featured in Rajinikanth's previous film, ''[[Muthu (film)|Muthu]]'' before [[Soundarya]] and [[Rambha (actress)|Rambha]] were signed on as heroines.<ref name="groups.google.com" /> The initial cast list released to the media also had [[Jayaram]] in the cast of the film as well as [[Vignesh (actor)|Vignesh]], who was later replaced by [[Raja (Tamil actor)|Raja]].<ref name="arun">{{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.tamil/browse_thread/thread/2971605fe3027b02/eca6457f1e03db88%3Fq%3D%2522%2BKuberan%2522%23eca6457f1e03db88&ei=iGwTS6eaOpW8Qpmqic0O&sa=t&ct=res&cd=36&source=groups&usg=AFQjCNGJGQkGcN5wVAZMfMwKQ5FMgvk0Ww |title=Tamil Movie News-Pudhu Edition 2 – soc.culture.tamil | Google Groups |date=17 January 1997 |access-date=2 July 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Manorama (Tamil actress)|Manorama]] was also surprisingly added to the cast after causing controversy the previous year by lashing out at Rajinikanth's political motives.<ref name="Arun" /><ref>{{cite web|author=Anupama Subramanian DC chennai |url=http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/showbiz/kollywood/rajinikanth-kaliyug-vaali-509 |title=Rajinikanth is Kaliyug Vaali |publisher=Deccan Chronicle |date=25 June 2011 |access-date=2 July 2012}}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{Infobox album
| name = Arunachalam
| type = Soundtrack
| longtype = to Arunachalam
| artist = [[Deva (composer)|Deva]]
| cover =
| alt =
| released = 1997
| recorded = 1996–1997
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = [[Film soundtrack|Feature film soundtrack]]
| length =
| language = [[Tamil language|Tamil]]
| label = [[Amitabh Bachchan Corporation|Big B]] Vega Music Bayshore [[Divo (record label)|Divo]] [[Think Music India|Think Music]] [[Pyramid Saimira|Pyramid]] [[Ayngaran International|Ayngaran Music]]
| producer = Deva
| prev_title = Abhimanyu
| prev_year = 1997
| next_title = [[Bharathi Kannamma]]
| next_year = 1997
}}

The music was composed by [[Deva (composer)|Deva]]. The song "Nagumo" had two versions, Hariharan's version was included in soundtrack only, while another version with the vocals of Krishnaraj was included in the film only. Audio was released under the music label "Big B" of [[Amitabh Bachchan]]. The tune of Alli Alli Anarkali was lifted from the songs "Ladki Ladki" from ''[[Shreemaan Aashique]]'' (1993), which was composed by [[Nadeem–Shravan]] and "Tutak Tutak Tutiyan" from ''[[Ghar Ka Chiraag]]'' (1989), which was composed by [[Bappi Lahiri]]

{{Tracklist
| extra_column = Singer(s)
| headline =
| total_length = 29:35
| all_writing =
| all_lyrics =
| all_music =
| title2 = Alli Alli Anarkili | extra2 = [[Mano (singer)|Mano]], [[Swarnalatha]] | lyrics2 = [[Palani Bharathi]]
| title1 = Athanda Ethanda| extra1 = [[S. P. Balasubrahmanyam]] | lyrics1 = [[Vairamuthu]]
| title3 = Mathadu Mathadu | extra3 = S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, [[Sujatha Mohan]], Meera, [[Manorama (Tamil actress)|Manorama]] | lyrics3 = [[Palani Bharathi]]
| title4 = Nagumo | extra4 = [[Hariharan (singer)|Hariharan]], [[K. S. Chithra]] | lyrics4 = Vairamuthu
| title5 = Nagumo (film version) |extra5 = Krishnaraj, K. S. Chithra |lyrics5=Vairamuthu
| title6 = Singam Ondru | extra6= [[Malaysia Vasudevan]] | lyrics6 = [[Vairamuthu]]
| title7 = Thalai Maganae | extra7 = S. P. Balasubramanyam| lyrics7 = Kalidasan
| title8 = Theme Music | extra8= Instrumental | lyrics8=
| length1= 05:37
| length2= 05:03
| length3= 05:57
| length4 = 04:32
| length5 = 04.32
| length6 = 04:45
| length7 = 02:18
| length8 = 01:23

}}

==Release==
The film was released theatrically on 10 April 1997.<ref name="Arunachalam - IMDb"/>

== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
Indolink.com said that "the saving grace of the film is Rajini himself. He has the exceptional ability to convincingly portray the same utopian role of anger and love, innocence and impetuousness...and whats more...he does it with remarkable freshness time and again".<ref>{{Cite web |title=INDOlink Film Review: Arunachalam |url=http://www.indolink.com/Film/arunachl.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970607042918/http://www.indolink.com/Film/arunachl.html |archive-date=7 June 1997 |access-date=2 July 2012 |website=Indolink.com}}</ref> ''The Hindu'' wrote on 18 April 1997, "''Arunachalam'' contains all the elements that provide escapist entertainment [...] humour, fairplay, love, feud occupy the frames".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YyFMAgAAQBAJ |title=Rajinikanth 12.12.12: A Birthday Special |work=[[The Hindu]] |year=2012 |pages=75 |id=GGKEY:A78L0XB1B0X |ref={{sfnref|The Hindu|2012}}|last1=Ramachandran |first1=Naman }}</ref> ''[[New Straits Times]]'' wrote, "Go with an open mind and you will enjoy this movie".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vijiyin |first=K. |date=21 April 1997 |title=Another reason to love Rajni |work=[[New Straits Times]] |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WbBOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GBUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3350%2C2213727}}</ref>

=== Box office ===
The film was declared a commercial success at the box office, although not as big as Rajinikanth's previous films ''[[Baashha]]'' and ''[[Muthu (film)|Muthu]]'' (both 1995).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vijiyin |first=K. |date=2 January 1998 |title=Dispute affects production |work=[[New Straits Times]] |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QvxOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-BQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5522%2C620572}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=30 June 1997 |title=Trouble brewing |url=http://www.rediff.com/movies/jun/30mad.htm |url-status=live |access-date=2 July 2012 |website=[[Rediff.com]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221154340/http://www.rediff.com/movies/jun/30mad.htm |archive-date=21 February 2014 }}</ref>

==Awards==
''Arunachalam'' went on to win three [[Tamil Nadu State Film Awards]], including an award for [[Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film|Best Film]]. Super Subbarayan and [[GK (art director)|Gopi Kanth]] also respectively won awards for [[Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Stunt Coordinator|Best Stunt Coordinator]] and [[Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Art Director|Best Art Director]].

'''[[Tamil Nadu State Film Awards]]'''
* [[Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film|Best Film]]- ''Arunachalam''
* [[Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Stunt Coordinator|Best Stunt Coordinator]]- Super Subbarayan
* [[Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Art Director|Best Art Director]]- [[GK (art director)|Gopi Kanth]]

== Rudraksh bead sentiment ==
Rajinikanth lost his sentimental Rudraksh bead during the shooting of the film and was shocked and upset to note that his Rudraksh was missing. He ordered a search at the shooting spot at midnight and with the help of the giant lights used for shooting, he later found the divine bead after a while.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.indiaglitz.com/rajini-and-the-rudraksh-tamil-news-36177 | title=Rajini and the Rudraksh - Tamil News | date=28 January 2008 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0139861|Arunachalam}}

{{Sundar C.}}
{{Brewster's Millions}}
{{TamilNaduStateFilmAwardBestFilm}}

[[Category:Indian films]]
[[Category:1997 films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Deva (composer)]]
[[Category:1990s Tamil-language films]]
[[Category:Films about inheritances]]
[[Category:Films directed by Sundar C.]]
[[Category:Films based on Brewster's Millions]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films shot in Karnataka]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Crazy Mohan]]

Arunachalam film - Revision history

UpdateBot at 21:23, 22 June 2022