Aaru (film)

Aarumugam alias Aaru is an orphan who was brought up by Vishwanathan's little sister. Aaru is very devoted to Vishwanathan, whom he respects as his brother and is ready to go miles for keeping him the most powerful person in Chennai. When Vishwanathan declares war on his rival Reddy, Aaru assists him and is attacked by Reddy's goons, but he overpowers this attempt. Vishwanathan plots to kill Aaru's friends during a protest which was organised by him. Aaru leaves the protest midway and goes to invite his love interest Mahalakshmi into his life, but she declines and gives two months time to change and orders him to stay away from her to test his loyalty and love. Despite being heartbroken, Aaru accepts her decision.

Meanwhile, Aaru's friends are burnt alive during the protest as there was petrol and kerosene mixed together, even though Aaru had only requested kerosene. Filled with regret, Aaru vows to take exact vengeance. One day, Lingam utters Vishwanathan's assistant Bhaskar's name as he had seen Bhaskar light the petrol and kerosene on fire. Immediately suspicious, Aaru tries to confront Vishwanthan, who claims Reddy did it. However, Vishwanathan and Reddy come to a mutual deal to finish off Aaru in exchange for Reddy to have free rein over parts of Chennai as well as kidnapping and murdering young girls. Aaru confronts Reddy and almost kills him, until Reddy tells him the truth and calls Vishwanathan and tells him that he killed Aaru.

Betrayed, Aaru slices Reddy's neck and rages at Vishwanathan, realizing his true nature and vows to destroy his power. Aaru kidnaps Vishwanathan's brother Jaganathan and slices his hand, where he challenges Vishwanathan to save his near ones as he will not spare anyone. Rajavelu is a police officer and the corrupt brother-in-law of Vishwanathan, obtains a shooting order to shoot Aaru at sight, where he swears to murder him due to a conflict. Aaru forms a plan to attack Vishwanathan's next brother Bhoominathan, who also insulted and degraded Aaru many times. During a property registration, Aaru and his men break into the registrar office masked, where Aaru brutally injures Bhoominathan and escapes.

Rajavel tries to catch him when they run in the forest and misses him, but not before he fires a bullet into Aaru's shoulder, weakening him and putting all hospitals on alert. Maha's friend treats Aaru at her friend's house, where Maha realizes Aaru's love for her and promises to stand by him at all costs. Overfilled with joy, Aaru decides to continue their relationship. Aaru calls Vishwanathan and torments him regarding Bhoominathan's plight, causing Vishwanathan to unplug the machine providing life to Bhoominathan, killing him. Vishwanathan kills many of Aaru's allies while Rajavelu arrests Maha and a female officer harasses her in the station for helping Aaru, hoping for Aaru to surrender himself to save Maha's dignity.

Enraged, Aaru challenges Rajavelu to arrest him directly, where he breaks into the police station while Rajavelu is not present and takes Maha to safety. Loganathan and Bhaskar follow behind to finish Aaru, but Aaru sends her safely in a boat to Sri Lanka, thus ensuring her safety. Loganathan and Bhaskar engage in combat with Aaru, but Aaru overpowers them both and nearly burns them until Loganathan begs him not to burn him. Aaru then tells Loganathan to finish off Bhaskar as Bhaskar is hesitant due to their many years of friendship. Loganathan burns Bhaskar alive, but Bhaskar angrily runs into Loganathan, making him catch on fire and leading to their deaths. Rajavelu pretends to arrest Aaru with other officers and beats him up.

A nearly unconscious Aaru overhears Rajavelu telling Vishwanathan that Aaru is in his hands and that Vishwanathan can come and finish off Aaru. Realizing that Rajavelu is tricking everyone, Aaru wakes up and brutally beats Rajavelu, tying him to a tree and punching him unconscious. Vishwanathan comes and engages in combat with Aaru, but Aaru overpowers him. Aaru reprimands Vishwanathan and tells that he is going to make him suffer for eternity. Aaru cuts off Vishwanathan's arms, where he tells him that Vishwanathan should realize the pain felt by his friends, who were burnt and betrayed. Realizing that Aaru is right, Rajavelu looks at Aaru as he surrenders to him. Aaru serves his prison term and gets released, where he reunites with Maha and the two leave for Pune to start their new lives.

After directing Ayya, director Hari announced his next project Aaru with Suriya. The film was launched and shooting was started in July 2005.[4][5][6] Director Saran made his debut as a producer in this film by floating a production house "Gemini Productions", named after the Tamil film Gemini (2002).[7]

The soundtrack was composed by Devi Sri Prasad and released by Star Music in India and Ayngaran in other international territories. The album was made up of 6 tracks. The audio was launched in a soft manner.[8]

The film was given an "A" certificate by the Indian Censor Board due to excessive violence.[10] The film was released on 9 December 2005 alongside Vetrivel Sakthivel, Sandakozhi. After the success of Ghajini, Surya has an opening similar to as Aaru releases with approximately 171 prints in Tamil Nadu, the opening weekend tickets for Surya's Aaru have been sold out in Chennai city theatres.[11][12][13]

• Aaru at IMDb