Samar (2013 film)

Samar
File:Samar 2012.jpg Official poster
Directed by	Thiru
Written by	Thiru S. Ramakrishnan (dialogue)
Produced by	T. Ramesh
Starring	Vishal Trisha Krishnan Sunaina
Cinematography	Richard M. Nathan
Edited by	Ruben
Music by	Yuvan Shankar Raja Background Score : Dharan Kumar
Production company	Jaya Balaji Real Media
Distributed by	Five Colours Multi Media (Telugu)
Release date	January 13, 2013 (2013-01-13)
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹47 crore (US$5.6 million)

Samar (English: War) is a 2013 Tamil mystery thriller film written and directed by Thiru. It features Vishal, Trisha Krishnan and Sunaina in the lead roles, with Manoj Bajpai and J. D. Chakravarthy appearing in supporting roles. Richard M. Nathan handled the cinematography, while the film's soundtrack and score were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and Dharan Kumar, respectively. The story revolves around a trekking guide, who is forced to leave for Bangkok under strange circumstances and witnesses a series of puzzling incidents there. The film was shot for over a year across Bangkok, Thailand, Chalakudy, Kerala and Ooty, Tamil Nadu. The film released on 13 January 2013 and received positive critical response.

Plot

The film opens with Shakthi (Vishal), son of a forest ranger, beating up a gang that illegally cuts precious trees to earn money. Even though the film starts this way, it isn’t the usual story of an honest young man taking on the mafia single-handedly.

Almost immediately the story changes track and introduces Shakthi’s girlfriend (Sunaina). The lovers soon part ways citing compatibility issues.

Shakthi is dejected, however, on receiving a courier from his girlfriend with an apology for breaking away and a ticket to Bangkok where she resides now, Shakthi is only too happy. Being his first trip to a foreign country, Shakthi seeks help from his beautiful co-passenger Maya (Trisha). Slowly, but surely they become friends and Shakthi tells Maya about his lady love.

In Bangkok, Shakthi, who is expecting to see meet his girlfriend at the airport is instead greeted by security personnel. In a case of mistaken identity, they whisk him away to a posh hotel thinking he is a famous business tycoon. Shakthi is confused and doesn’t understand why he was dragged off. He thinks that the businessman, who is also named Shakthi, must be a look alike. Shakthi is adored by many and targeted by a few. He doesn’t know how to prove his identity as everything stands against him. Things get bizarre and Shakthi soon gets mangled in more trouble with his assumed identity. He becomes trapped and doesn’t know who is playing him.

Meanwhile, Maya, who helps him out of sticky situations, falls for him. Shakthi, unable to meet his girlfriend, is in no mood to accept Maya’s love. But he takes a lot of risks to save Maya from danger. As his situation gets worse, Shakthi’s life is seriously risk.

Can Shakthi find out the happenings around him? Will he be able to come out it? What is the role of Maya in this game? What happens to his ex-girlfriend? This forms the rest of the story.

Cast

• Vishal as Shakthi
• Trisha Krishnan as Maya
• Sunaina as Roopa
• Manoj Bajpai as Rajesh Arunachalam
• J. D. Chakravarthy as John Frederick
• Jayaprakash
• Sampath Raj
• Rajendran

Production

Development

In mid-August 2011, Vishal confirmed that his next project after Vedi would be a film to be directed by Thiru, with whom he had collaborated in Theeradha Vilaiyattu Pillai before. He went on to add that the same technical crew of Theeradha Vilaiyattu Pillai, including its music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, would be retained for the film, and that it would be completed within four months. The film was titled as Samaran in the first September week, and was reported to be an action adventure film, with Vishal playing a "forest trekker". The film's title was changed to Samar in April 2012. At the audio release function, Vishal revealed that the film was written for his friend, actor Arya, but that he wanted to enact the lead role after listening to its narration. The first look of the film was unveiled by Thiru on May 1, 2012 via Twitter.

Casting

Trisha Krishnan, who had previously declined four of Vishal's films -Sathyam, Thoranai, Theeradha Vilayattu Pillai and Vedi — was signed as the female lead few days later. It was widely reported that Arvind Swamy had agreed to essay a negative character in the film, however Thiru informed that Arvind Samy was considered but never approached, adding that it was not a negative character either. Arvind Swamy later clarified that he was not going to make a comeback, and Prakash Raj was roped in for that character. Sneha Ullal was supposed to play a prominent role in the film, which was eventually bagged by Sunaina. As the filming became delayed by a month, Prakash Raj opted out of the project and was subsequently replaced by Manoj Bajpai, making his Tamil film debut, while J. D. Chakravarthy was recruited to play another pivotal role.

Filming

The director stated that the would be filmed in the forests of Chalakudy, Kerala while few portions were planned to be shot in China. Most of the scenes from schedule one were canned in Ooty and featured only Vishal and Sunaina. The team left for Thailand on December 20, 2011 for a nonstop 50 day schedule, following which the last schedule was to be in famous locales of Europe and includes an action sequence in there as well. Several stunt scenes were shot in Bangkok with the help of Chinese stuntman Nung, which Vishal performing without using any safety ropes. The song "Poikaal Kuthirai", picturized on Vishal, was shot for over five days in almost 18 locations in Bangkok. In October 2012, the crew left for Malaysia to shoot the last song on Vishal and Trisha.

Soundtrack

Untitled

Samar's soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, continuing his association with director Thiru. The album features five tracks, lyrics for which were penned all by Na. Muthukumar. It was released on 4 December 2012 at Prasad Labs, with Na. Muthukumar and director Agathiyan, Thiru's father-in-law, being present at the event, among other media personalities. Yuvan Shankar Raja was in Kuala Lumpur, mastering the sound for the film, and hence could not attend the event. Trisha and Sunaina too missed the event as they were busy with their current projects. The film's score was composed by Dharan Kumar.

The album received mixed critical response. Musicperk.com rated the album 6.5/10 quoting "This album is a treat for Yuvan fans". Milliblog wrote: "Samar is proof that Yuvan can doze off while composing". Behindwoods wrote: "The album on the whole is a collection of new sounds, that are dark and sometimes jarring, and generic tunes that lack the spark that Yuvan showed with his earlier releases".

All lyrics are written by Na. Muthukumar

Track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Oru Kannil Vaegam"	K. G. Ranjith, Naveen Madhav, Suchitra	4:54
2.	"Azhagho Azhaghu"	Naresh Iyer	4:50
3.	"Poikkaal Kuthirai"	Yuvan Shankar Raja	5:47
4.	"Rajaavin Thoattathil"	K. G. Ranjith, Rita	4:52
5.	"Vellai Maiyil"	Udit Narayan, Shweta Mohan
Total length:			24:11

Controversy

The film ran into legal troubles over the title. A producer named Vijay brought an interim injunction over the usage of the title, Samar, claiming that he had registered the same at the Film and TV Producers Association and the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce the year before for his upcoming film. The court ordered an interim injunction Samar and gave deadline till August 31 to reply. Director Thiru confirmed by October 2012 that the title issue had been solved and that the film's title will remain.

In December 2012, producer and distributor Malaysia Pandian filed a complaint with the Producers' Council against producer T. Ramesh, claiming that he had not yet received the 2% commission that he had entitled to for helping him sell the overseas rights of the film. A couple of days later, the Chennai based cine equipment dealer Anand Cine Services filed one more case in the court for non-payment of ₹ 1.20 crores, further delaying the release. The financial issues were sorted out and the film was given green signal to its release.

Director Thiru, after the release of the film, lashed out at a major production house, alleging that it tried to stall the release of his film for Pongal.

Release

The film was supposed to release for the Christmas weekend on 21 December. It was pushed to 28 December since the film was not censored yet, but due to "severe financial problems" it was postponed again to January 2013, to release on Pongal day. The film was censored on 22 December and was given a U/A rating by the Central Board of Film Certification. Samar released on 13 January 2013 across nearly 200 screens in Tamil Nadu alongside the comedy flick Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaiya.

The film was dubbed into Telugu as Vetadu Ventadu, and the Telugu version of the soundtrack was launched at Annapurna Seven Acres studio in Hyderabad. Five Colours Multi Media bagged the Telugu rights of this film.

Critical reception

Samar received generally positive reviews. Sify's critic wrote, "a suspense thriller that is intelligently structured, Vishal’s Thiru directed Samar is an all new experience for Tamil commercial cinema viewers", with the reviewer going on to add that it was not "what one would rate as great cinema but we assure it has enough zing, visual and thrills to keep you in your seats for its runtime of a little over two hours". M. Suganth from The Times of India gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and claimed, Samar is an engaging film that is quite a different attempt for Tamil cinema (Hollywood routinely comes up with such thrillers) and Thiru deserves a pat for confidently exploring this slightly tricky genre and managing to succeed in it. Rediff's Pavithra Srinivasan gave it 3 out of 5 and cited that it "manages to wring out a tale that's entertaining and snappy, despite its flaws", further adding that "it is slick, makes you get involved with the characters, and doesn't let you pause until almost the end", and calling it an "ideal festival fare". Deccan Chronicle stated that Samar was a "neat thriller with an interesting plot and a good script". Oneindia.in gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "the strength of the film is the screenplay, which thrills you with every twist. The first half of Samar is brilliant and the second half is cleverly narrated", describing it as a "must-watch movie for action lovers". Behindwoods gave the film 2.5 out of 5 and cited that director Thiru "has given a movie which has the right intentions, begins well and incites your interest at the halfway point. But, once the knots are untied, the end feeling is that it could have been a greater product", conluding that it was a "watchable suspense flick which could have been better".

External links

• Samar at IMDb