Veeran
Release poster
Directed by	ARK Saravan
Written by	ARK Saravan
Produced by	T. G. Thyagarajan Sendhil Thyagarajan Arjun Thyagarajan
Starring	Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi Vinay Rai Athira Raj Munishkanth Kaali Venkat R.Badree
Cinematography	Deepak D. Menon
Edited by	Prasanna GK
Music by	Hiphop Tamizha
Production company	Sathya Jyothi Films
Distributed by	Sakthi Film Factory
Release date	2 June 2023 (2023-06-02)
Running time	156 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Veeran (transl. Warrior) is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language superhero film written and directed by ARK Saravan of Maragadha Naanayam fame and produced by Sathya Jyothi Films.^[1] The film stars Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi, Vinay Rai and Athira Raj (in her Tamil debut) with Munishkanth, Kaali Venkat R.Badree and Sassi Selvaraj in supporting roles.^[2]

The film was released on 2 June 2023 and opened to generally positive reviews from critics and audience with praise for the performance of the cast, action sequences, visual effects, background score and soundtrack. It did performed well at box office and was a decent hit.^[3]

Plot

The village of Veeranor, in Coimbatore, has a temple for the deity Veeran despite the lack of belief by the people. A 15 year old Kumaran is near the temple when he's struck by lightning, and experiences a brief coma. He's sent to Singapore to recover and finds that he has electrokinesis, superhuman strength, and temporary mind control. Fourteen years later Kumaran returns and shows off his powers to his friends Sakkarai and Selvi, but also tells them about visions he had of Veeranor's destruction. They find that a member of the technology company JACL has been trying to warn the villagers that the laser cables that they installed at a cheap price is volatile and capable of destroying the village, but nobody takes him seriously, and the police are bribed by the company. JACL is led by the evil scientist Sarath, his brother Thruv, and politician Sharath, who are testing fatal experimental super serums, killing subjects. They're determined to install thirty six kilometers of uninterrupted laser cable in Veeranor.

Kumaran mind controls inspector Nallasamy to get the confidential files seized by the police who turned in the traitor from JACL, and uses the village cable operators to broadcast the nature of the project. Despite this however nobody believes the cables are dangerous, so Kumaran and Sakkarai plot to invent Veeran's mythology. Kumaran impersonates Veeran and they start spreading rumors to the village about his return. He also uses mind control on the council leader to prevent him from signing the temple land off to JACL, as destroying it is a requirement to build the cables. He controls a goon of JACL to instill fear into the non believers, but Kumaran reveals to his friends that his mind could make him unconscious if used too much, but that a bracelet given to him by Sakkarai's grandfather helps control his powers. He's temporarily hospitalized as a result but escapes in order to fight goons sent by JACL to destroy the temple, successfully fending him off with help from his horse Bruce Lee. This causes the entire village worships Veera and denies JACL their land.

Thruv visits the village in frustration hoping to antagonize the villagers but Kumaran mind controls him thrice into praising Veeran. A video of his praising goes viral on Facebook, but despite disbelief Thruv and a few scientists entertain the idea that he was artificially controlled by an electric source. A scientist suggests to Thruv that they can find the source using an electromagnetic detection meter. The next day a group of JACL goons impersonate villagers and instigate a riot leading to murder, and the bribed Nallasamy arrest the villagers who support Veeran, including Kumaran and Sakkarai and his grandfather. Nallasamy beats them all to instigate rage, hoping to expose Veeran for Thruv. Enraged by Sakkarai's grandpa getting beaten, Kumaran summons Bruce Lee who helps him fend off the police and the captives to escape. He also beats up and wipes the memories of the police and fries Thruv's brain, putting him in a coma. The next day, the village cable operator Thangarasu reveals he knows Veeran's identity and praises Kumaran as his disabled daughter Sumathi belief in him allows her. An enraged Sarath kills Sharath for his failure to protect Thruv and successfully sets a trap, having his men disable Kumaran's powers. He abducts and tortures Thangarasu in order to draw Veeran into a trap, shooting him with a dart of the fatal serum though it simply knocks him out. Due to this Sarath experiments on him with the serum, but villagers Perusu and Narayana halt this, allowing Veeran. Despite his condition Veeran confronts Thruv who's set on destroying the temple, but Thruv injures him and Bruce Lee. When the temple lingam is struck, divine lightning strikes Veeran, repowering him. He gets up and fights off the men, eventually killing Thruv. Elsewhere, Perusu and Narayana accidentally shoot Sarath with a serum dart, killing him. In the end, Veeran congratulates the villagers for their support and eventually finds that the lore he made up for Veeran is real, that the ancient warrior of his name is entombed under the village.

Cast

Production

In April 2018, V. Madhiazhagan of Etcetera Entertainment commissioned a film to be directed by ARK Saravan, who earlier directed Maragadha Naanayam (2017). Titled Minnal Veeran, the film was set to star Atharvaa and Parvati Nair in the lead roles, with D. Imman as the music composer and Deepak Menon as the cinematographer.^[4] During the pre-production stages of the film, while location scouting was ongoing, Madhiazhagan stepped in to financially assist Atharvaa on the release of his home production venture, Semma Botha Aagathey (2018). However, the failure of the film prompted a financial disagreement between Madhiazhagan and Atharvaa, and following mediation from the Tamil Film Producers Council, it was agreed that Atharvaa would work on Minnal Veeran to settle the losses of Semma Botha Aagathey.^[5][6] In a turn of events in November 2018, ARK Saravan refused to work on the film, citing that Atharvaa and Madhiazhagan's financial disputes had disrupted his interest in making the film.^[7][8] In May 2019, ARK Saravan planned on making the film with Arya in the lead role for the production house Studio Green, but the project did not take off.^[9]

In 2022, the film was picked up by Sendhil Thyagarajan and Arjun Thyagarajan under the banner of Sathya Jyothi Films. The shooting of the film began on 25 May 2022.^[10] The cinematography of the film was done by Deepak D. Menon,^[11] and the editing of the film was done by Prasanna GK. The first look poster was released on 20 February 2023.^[12] The trailer for the film was released on 20 May 2023.^[13]

Music

The music for the film was composed by Hiphop Tamizha.^[14]

Release

The film was released on 2 June 2023.^[16]

Reception

Veeran received generally positive reviews from critics.^[20]

Logesh Balachandran of The Times of India rated the film 3 out of 5 and wrote that "Overall, Veeran possesses enough strength to keep us engaged throughout the film".^[21] Swathi P Ajith of Onmanorama stated that "Veeran may not present a completely unique storyline or offer extraordinary elements".^[22] Thinkal Menon of OTT Play gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 and wrote that "Veeran is an enjoyable ride for all sections of audience if you overlook a few glitches. A better making style would have elevated the movie to another level, though".^[23]

A critic from Maalai Malar gave the film a rating of 3.25 out of 5 and noted that "Director ARK Saravanan has impressed everyone with a superhero fantasy film. He has given an easy way for people to understand the social problem in the village".^[24]

References

External links

• Veeran at IMDb