Puli (2015 film)

Chimbu Deven was reported to be working on a "fantasy film set in contemporary times" in January 2011 for UTV Motion Pictures, and Dhanush was subsequently signed on to play the leading role.[13] The film was titled as Maareesan, with G. V. Prakash Kumar and Kathir signed on as composer and cinematographer respectively. At the same time, the team revealed filming would start in late 2011. Hansika Motwani was confirmed to play the leading female role in the film, while Vadivelu was also reported to be a part of the cast.[14][15] However, in October 2011, UTV Motion Pictures left the project citing the escalating budget and Aascar Films replaced them as producers.[16][17] The project later failed to take off, and the actor and director moved on to work on other ventures. During the production of his Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavaanikalum (2014) in late 2013, Chimbu Deven restarted preliminary work on the fantasy film and narrated the script to Vijay, who expressed interest in being a part of the project. Subsequently, the project found producers in P. T. Selvakumar, Vijay's press relations officer, and Shibu of Thameen Films, who have previously distributed several of Vijay's films across Kerala. The two producers came together to form a new production house, SKT Films and announced that production would begin after the completion of Vijay's work in AR Murugadoss's Kaththi (2014).[18][19]

Although early reports suggested that A. R. Rahman would be the film's music composer, the team later confirmed Devi Sri Prasad had been signed.[20][21] Natarajan Subramaniam chose to continue his work as a cinematographer with the film, despite his acting success in Sathuranga Vettai (2014), revealing he was excited to work alongside such an ensemble cast.[22] T. Muthuraj was announced as the film's art director and began work alongside his commitments in Shankar's I (2014), while lyricist Vairamuthu also joined the crew.[23][24] The team also picked five costume designers to take care of clothing for the actors, with Manish Malhotra, Deepali Noor, Chaitanya Rao, Siva and Sai all brought on board. Furthermore, four stunt choreographers were selected to take care of action scenes with international technicians Sang Lin and Pradit Seeluem, brought in to work alongside Sunil Rodrigues and Dilip Subbarayan.[25][26] National Award winner, R.C Kamalakannan was signed on to be in charge of the film's animations and special effects, PhantomFx, a Chennai-based VFX company known for the movie Indru Netru Naalai, handled most of the VFX shots, and the rest were split among several studios.[27] Chimbu Deven subsequently worked on finalising the script of the film between January and August 2014. Chimbu Deven and cinematographer Natarajan Subramaniam scouted locations in Kerala in August 2014, finalising schedules in Chalakudi and Nelliyampathy.[28]

In April 2014, reports suggested Kannada actor Sudeep was approached to play a parallel leading role in the film, while contrasting reports noted he would play the lead antagonist.[29] Sudeep later confirmed his participation in the film, adding it would see him in a "first of its kind" role.[30] The team then successfully signed on actress Sridevi to portray a supporting role of a princess in the film, with the actress appearing in a Tamil film for the first time in 29 years. This was her final Tamil film before her death in 2018.[31] Another senior actor, Prabhu, also signed on after being approached by the director to portray a character role.[32]

Chimbu Deven revealed that the film would feature two leading female roles to appear alongside Vijay.[33] Initial reports had linked Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone to the roles, but high remuneration subsequently meant neither were signed.[34] Shruti Haasan confirmed that she had signed the film in July 2014, making a comeback to Tamil films after a two-year hiatus following 3 (2012).[35] Hansika Motwani was added to the cast after pairing up with Vijay in Velayudham. She portray a princess, the daughter of Sridevi's character.[36][37] Thambi Ramaiah and Vidyullekha Raman were also selected to portray roles in the film, while comedians Sathyan, Robo Shankar and Imman Annachi joined the team in the first schedule.[38] A press release in early January 2015 added actors Naren, Vijaykumar, Ali, Karunas and Joe Malloori to the film's cast. In April 2015, Nandita Swetha joined the cast to play a small and pivotal role, after Bhavana had turned down the offer.[39] Gayathri Raman stated that she had portrayed Shruti's mother in the film.[40]

The team began filming on 10 November 2014 at the Aditya Ram Studios on the East Coast Road, Chennai, where a song featuring Vijay and Hansika Motwani was shot in a set replicating a castle put up by art director, T. Muthuraj.[41] The team then set up base in Pannaiyapuram for a forty-five-day stint, with hundreds of extras and technicians gathered from neighbouring states.[42][43] A second schedule continued throughout December, after which it was reported that the film was twenty per cent complete. After a Christmas break, production restarted in early January 2015, and carried on in the outskirts of the city until mid-January.[44] Reports which suggested that the team had secured permission to film at the Mysore Palace was dismissed by the makers as speculation.[45]

The film had begun shoot without a title and had been widely referred to in the media as Vijay 58. Other titles such as Garuda, the script's original name Maareesan, Maru Dheeran and Por Vaal were also registered by the producers, while finalising on a title.[46] The team consequently confirmed the title as Puli in early January 2015, after having bought the rights from director S. J. Surya.[47]

Puli was initially slated to release, coinciding with the Ganesh Chathurthi festival on 17 September 2015. But the release was postponed due to heavy work of computer graphics in the film.[70] The makers finally zeroed on 1 October 2015, as the release date, which also coincides veteran actor Sivaji Ganesan's birthday and also announced that the film would be dubbed and released in Telugu and Hindi languages, both versions released on 1 October 2015 along with the Tamil version. Tamil Nadu theatrical rights for the film were bought by Sri Thenandal films.[71] Ayngaran International purchased the overseas rights while Thameens purchased the Kerala distribution rights. The Karnataka distribution rights were purchased by the Producer and director S. Narayan.[72] Telugu rights were bought by SVR Cinema.[73] North India release rights were acquired by Pahlaj Nihalani. The film was also released in China and Japan.[74]

The Tamil, Telugu and Hindi satellite rights of the film were totally sold for ₹100 crore to Indian TV channels.[12]

On the first day, it collected ₹10.75 crore in Tamil Nadu.[75] It grossed ₹28.6 crore worldwide on its opening day Thursday.[76] In the second day the film grossed ₹27.5 crore worldwide.[77] It collected ₹3.87 crore in four days in Kerala.[78] In the first weekend, the film collected ₹64 crore worldwide,[79] with ₹2.84 gross in Chennai city alone beating S.S Rajamouli's Baahubali, as the latter collected only ₹1.64 crore;[80] and ₹4.65 crore from Telugu states[81] However, it is reported according to International Business Times that the film performed poorly in its third week at the box office.[82] The film performed well overseas.[83][84]

The film received mixed reviews and poor ratings from Telugu film critics.[85] Behindwoods praised the production design and visual effects of the film but criticised the screenplay, rating the film 2.75/5. "When Superstars pick such new scripts, there are lots of good things that can happen to cinema. Applause to Vijay for that".[86] The Times of India rated the film 2.5/5, stating "Puli (Tiger) is your Indian cinema version of Gulliver and the Lilliput's fairy tale. A lavishly mounted fantasy adventure, at the core it is basically a love story."[87] Latha Srinivasan of Daily News and Analysis gave the film 2.5/5 stars, deeming the film a "visual treat" with a disappointing screenplay. She praised the cinematography, visual effects and performances of the cast, but criticised the story, noting that the genre might be new for Tamil cinema, but "the story is not something new and it moves at such a slow pace that it gets tiring to watch in places."[88] Koimoi rated the film 2/5, stating "If you are a die-hard Vijay fan then you may but if you are looking for something unique, the film will fail you. It creates an illusion of being smart but in reality, it lacks any kind of logic."[89] Bollywood Hungama rated the film 2/5, writing, "On the whole, PULI is a strictly average fare. Watch it if you are a Sridevi or a Vijay fan. Otherwise, this fantasy is a bore fest."[90]

Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV rated the film 2/5, writing that "Puli gets two stars for ambition and scale, but none for execution."[91] Raja Sen rated the film 1.5/5, writing, "Clearly Puli needs you to make (or carry) your own entertainment."[92] Mumbai Mirror rated the film 1.5/5, writing, "Fantasy films allow defying logic, physics and biology, as long as it fascinates. This one makes a jaded attempt to recreate tested ideas and wages a war against one's brain cells."[93] The Indian Express rated the film 1.5/5, writing, "The bigger the film doesn't always mean the greater it is, and there can't be a better example of this than Vijay's big-budget fantasy drama "Puli", which isn't a bad film, but worse."[94] India Today rated the film 1.5/5, stating "Vijay's fantasy film tries hard to roar but ends up squeaking."[95] Mid-Day rated the film 1.5/5, writing, "Not fair to compare, maybe, but one cannot help it. 'Puli', at best, looks like the poor, underfed cousin of 'Bahubali', the other fantasy film that we were treated to not so long ago. The setting is almost the same. Kings, queens, waterfalls and forests and a newborn child being found in the ocean, but Puli proves that director Chimbu Deven doesn't even remotely share the grand vision of SS Rajamouli's."[96] Gautaman Bhaskaran of Hindustan Times gave the film 1/5 stars saying, "Chimbu Deven could have thought of something better than this juvenile romp into fantasy land."[97]

Both Baradwaj Rangan of The Hindu and S Saraswathi of Rediff.com gave negative reviews. Both critics also stated that several dialogues of Vijay were meant as declarations of political intent. Rangan wrote, "Put differently, Chimbu Deven has forgotten to make a movie for adults." Comparing Puli with Baahubali, another historical fiction film, he said that there was "a sustained commitment to storytelling" in the latter, which was missing in Puli.[98] IBNLive rated the film 1/5, writing "If adventure is your genre, and Sridevi your fantasy, I'll wholeheartedly recommend K. Raghavendra Rao's 'Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari' in which Sridevi is joined by Chiranjeevi on a whirlwind tour of fantasy, games, childish humor, action, and terrific music by Ilaiyaraaja. Coming to Puli, it's clearly a case of a misguided shot."[99] Indiaglitz rated the film 2.75/5 and concluded, "Despite some drawbacks and disappointments, 'Puli' ends up as a decent fantasy entertainer that will be especially liked by Children and Vijay who retains his form and charm as always lives up to his mass appeal"[100] DNA India regarded that the film's weaponry, armour, costumes and fighting skills were inspired from Game of Thrones, whereas Vijay and Sudeep's characterisations had resemblances to Jon Snow and Stannis Baratheon.[101]

The film attracted fandom among the younger audience. Baradwaj Rangan of The Hindu writes, "Put differently, Chimbu Deven has forgotten to make a movie for adults. His inventions surprise us, delight us for a second or two – and then we’re back to the turgid story."[102]

In 2015, following the film's overseas success, International Business Times pointed out that Puli is one of the South Indian films that has taken the standard to international level.[84]