Nagesh Thiraiyarangam

2018 Indian film

Nagesh Thiraiyarangam

Directed by| Mohamad Issack
Written by| Mohammad Issack
Produced by| Rajendra M. Rajan
Punitha Rajan
Starring| Aari Arujunan
Ashna Zaveri
Masoom Shankar
Cinematography| E. J. Nauzad
Edited by| S. Devaraj
Music by| Srikanth Deva

Production
company

Transindia Media & Entertainment Private Limited

Release date

* February 16, 2018 (2018-02-16)

Country| India
Language| Tamil

Nagesh Thiraiyarangam (transl. Nagesh Theatre) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language horror film produced by Rajendra M. Rajan and Punitha Rajan for Transindia Media & Entertainment Private Limited and directed by Mohamad Issack. The film stars Aari Arujunan, Ashna Zaveri and Masoom Shankar, while Latha, Sithara, Kaali Venkat, Abhilash, and Athulya Ravi play important roles.[1][2][3][4][5][6] The film was released across Tamil Nadu on 16 February 2018.

## Plot

[edit]

Nagesh alias Naga is an honest yet unsuccessful real estate broker who lives with his mother, younger brother, and sister, Lakshmi, who is deaf and mute. Naga meets a girl named Himaja, and they fall in love. Things go fine for Naga and his family until there comes a situation where he has to sell his ancestral property - a dilapidated movie theater - to conduct Lakshmi's wedding. Naga and his friend Kaala travel to another town to sell the theater. Due to a small accommodation problem, they end up spending the night at the theater itself.

Over the next few days of their stay, both Naga and Kaala experience several paranormal activities around them, and all their attempts to bring prospective buyers go futile. Naga also starts having weird dreams every night in which random people are murdered. He then wakes up to the news to find that those people are dead in real life. Confused and frustrated, he seeks help from different godmen to find out what is wrong, but nothing works out. Meanwhile, a local politician realises that the people being murdered mysteriously are none other than his henchmen and his close associates. He finds that there is something abnormal about all these murders and consults with a Nambudiri, who tells that a malevolent spirit from the theater is causing all this mayhem and that they have to perform an exorcism. Paranormal occurrences keep happening around Naga, and he discovers that the spirit tries to take him to a well inside the premises. Himaja also tells him about her own paranormal vision of a murder and how she felt an apparition near her while she was on video chat with Naga and he had slept off. She is not able to positively identify, since she had closed her eyes out of fear, but since Naga had recorded the video chat, he watches it, only to find that it was he who appeared in the video and realizes that he is the one behind all those murders and hence the dreams. Naga soon prepares himself to face the spirit directly and asks for answers when the spirit reveals itself to be a woman and an old acquaintance to Naga.

Tamilselvi is a social activist who is popular on Facebook for her brutally honest articles about the wrongdoings in the society. She lives with Dr. Shakunthala, who runs a small orphanage with a few children and provides free medical services to the underprivileged. Naga was the real estate broker who helped them find a house. It so happens that a bigger orphanage lends a helping hand to Shakunthala, with the promise of taking a few kids from her orphanage and providing better education and a future. She and Tamilselvi entrust an early teen girl to them and send her off but soon receive a call from her that she and many other children have been kept hostage in a bungalow. Tamilselvi gets a ride from Naga and sets out to investigate and rescue the kids. She is horrified to find that the politician is making a deal with a foreign corporate company for exporting unlimited human blood for them to extract the blood plasma and use it for various cosmetic purposes, thereby commercializing it. The politician is making use of the orphan children's blood to achieve this target, and the local police officer is his aide. The girl from Shakunthala's orphanage is raped by the police officer, all of her blood is drawn by doctors for the plasma, and she is then killed. Tamilselvi records all of this and tries to escape with Naga's help. Naga is oblivious to all the danger that she might be in and just drops her home, but she is captured and attacked by the politician's henchmen at the abandoned theater and is thrown into the well when she is still alive and is left there to die.

All the evidences that Tamilselvi collected for Facebook are destroyed, and Shakunthala is killed. Tamilselvi's spirit has been waiting for revenge since then, and when she realizes that Naga is back in the theater, she makes use of his tiny paper cut wound to possess him through blood contact, and that is how she had murdered all those men who helped the politician. Meanwhile, the politician and the Nambudiri perform an exorcism at the theater, and it is here that Naga is dismayed to learn that his brother is also a part of the politician's team as a doctor that draws all the blood. A fight ensues, and a possessed Naga tries to kill his brother and the politician but is subdued by the Nambudiri's mantras. Tamilselvi is enraged and ultimately uses blood contact again with Naga's brother's bleeding wound and possesses him instead. She makes him kill the politician and himself. Now that she is avenged, Tamiselvi's spirit leaves the theater. Naga and his family are finally able to live in peace.

## Cast

[edit]

* Aari Arujunan as Nagesh
* Ashna Zaveri as Himaja Priya
* Masoom Shankar as Tamilselvi
* Kaali Venkat as Kaala
* Latha as Dr. Sakuntala
* Sithaara as Nagesh's mother
* Abhilash as Nagesh's brother
* Athulya Ravi as Lakshmi
* Manobala as Priya's father
* Chitra Lakshmanan as Pundek
* Ramachandran Durairaj as Bar Owner
* Madhan Bob
* Anil Murali
* Florent Pereira
* Swaminathan
* Muthuraman
* Siva Balan
* Risha
* P. V. Chandramouli
* Robert in an item number
* Sonam Singh in an item number

## Production

[edit]

Issack, who had earlier worked on Agadam, was fascinated by the legacy of Nagesh Theatre which was later converted into a marriage hall.[7] He weaved the Theatre along with a story of a real estate agent getting suffocated in the real estate business into a potential script, and Transindia Media & Entertainment Private Limited decided to produce the project. Sri was signed as the music director while M. S. Prabhu and S. Devaraj were signed as cinematographer and editor respectively.[8][9] Umadevi was signed as one among the lyricists of the film, along with Thamarai, Murugan Manthiram and newcomer Jagan Set.[10]

Issack directing Aari in a scene

Aari Arujunan was cast as the leading man along with comedian Kaali Venkat.[11] Actors Bharath, Aadhi and Kalaiyarasan were also considered for the lead role, before Aari was finalised. Actress Ashna Zaveri was signed to play the leading lady, after the team had earlier considered either Pranitha Subhash or Nikki Galrani for the same role.[12][13][14] Veteran actress Latha was also signed to play a pivotal role.[15][16] Mumbai model Masoom Shankar was selected to make her debut in Tamil cinema with the film, while former lead actress Sithara was also added to the team. Veteran actress Bhanupriya had earlier been also considered for the role signed by Sithara.[17][18][19][20] Chitra Lakshmanan, Lollu Sabha Swaminathan, Rams, Madhan Bob, Risha and Muthuraman were also signed to play important roles. Choreographer Roberts and actress Sonam Singh were signed to perform a dance sequence. Malayalam actor Anil Murali, Abhilash and Florent Pereira are also doing important roles.

The principal photography of the film started from October 6, 2016, after the photosession of the film that happened a month before. A lengthy schedule started from February 3, 2017, at Tindivanam that lasted for three weeks. Lead actor Aari's mother expired on 24 February, but he stayed to complete his entire portion as it was the final day of schedule before leaving to Pazhani for his mother's funeral.[21] The film's first look poster was released by Tamil film directors Ameer and Karu Pazhaniappan on lead actor Aari's birthday, and the teaser of the film was released by actor Rajinikanth on 30 March 2017.[22][23][24]

## Title controversy

[edit]

On June 30, 2017, actor Anand Babu filed a case in the Chennai High Court against the makers of the film seeking a ban as they did not obtain permission to use the name of his father, actor Nagesh, in the title. Nagesh had also built and run the Nagesh Theater at T. Nagar. The judges accepted the case and ordered notice to be sent to producer, director and Vishal, the chief of Tamil Film Producers Council.[25][26][27][28][29][30] The plea of Anand Babu was later rejected by Madras High Court as Justice C. V. Karthikeyan permitted the producers to go ahead with the Tamil title but restrained them from using the actor name Nagesh either independently or as Nagesh Theatre.[31][32][33]

Anand Babu again filed a petition in the Madras High Court during February 2018 to stop the film from hitting the screens on the scheduled date. Since the judge found nothing objectionable nor misleading of Nagesh or Nagesh Theatre, the permission was given by court to release the film as per plan, but with the following conditions: the production company was asked to deposit 20 Lakhs in the Court, a slide carrying a message that the film has no connections with Nagesh or Nagesh Theatre had to be inserted before the title card, and such a message was to be attached or placed in all the newspaper advertisements for the film.[34]

## Soundtrack

[edit]

Nagesh Thiraiyarangam

Film score by

Srikanth Deva

Released| 2018
Genre| Feature film soundtrack
Length| 15:28
Label| SS Music Audio
Srikanth Deva chronology
| Bongu
(2017)  | Nagesh Thiraiyarangam
(2018)  | Nethraa
(2018)

|
|

The songs are sung by Jagadeesh Kumar, Shashaa Tirupati, Anitha Karthikeyan, Gana Bala, Jithesh, Chinmayi and actress Remya Nambeesan for the music composed by Srikanth Deva for the lyrics of Thamarai, Umadevi, Murugan Manthiram and Jegan Set.[35] The audio rights was acquired by SS Music Audio, an offshoot of the music television channel SS Music.[36] The songs were released on February 2 at Suryan FM 93.5 station.[37] Director Pa. Ranjith released the lyrical video of the song Unga Appakitta Pesala....[38]

Track listingNo.| Title| Lyrics| Singer(s)| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "Kangal Rendum"| Thamarai| Jagadeesh Kumar, Shashaa Tirupati| 4:42
2.| "Vaadi Vaadi"| Murugan Manthiram| Gana Bala, Anitha Karthikeyan| 4:02
3.| "Unga Appakitta Pesala"| Jegan Set| Jithesh, Remya Nambeesan| 3:45
4.| "Kadhal Nilaithane"| Umadevi| Chinmayi| 3:46

## Release

[edit]

Tamil Nadu theatrical rights of the film were valued at ₹2 crore.[39]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Aari and Bhanupriya in a demolished Theatre". India Glitz. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
2. ^ Raghavan, Nikhil (3 September 2016). "Etcetera-Aari;Three stages of love". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
3. ^ "நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கத்தில் நயன்தாராவின் நாயகன்". India Glitz. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
4. ^ "Aari, Ashna Zaveri at Nagesh Thiraiarangam movie launch". International Business Times. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
5. ^ "நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம் தியேட்டருக்குள் நடக்கும் கதை". Dinamalar. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
6. ^ "நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம்". Dinamani. 22 September 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
7. ^ P George, Daniel (15 October 2010). "Days of Liberty are now history-Kodambakkam Landmark Is Latest To Go". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
8. ^ "சென்னையில் புகழ்பெற்ற நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம் பெயரில் புதிய படம்". Maalaimalar. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
9. ^ "ததைக்களமானது நாகேஷ் தியேட்டர்". Dina Malar. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
10. ^ "நீங்கள் ஒரு தலித் என்பதால் தான் ரஞ்சித் படங்களில் பாடல் எழுத வாய்ப்பு கிடைக்கிறதா?". Aanthai Reporter. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
11. ^ Sundar, Mrinalini (27 August 2016). "Bhanupriya to play Aari's mom?". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
12. ^ Subhakeerthana, S (7 September 2016). "Aari is thrilled about Nagesh Thiraiyarangam". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
13. ^ "Nayanthara's hero with Santhanam's heroine". India Glitz. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
14. ^ "Don't like to plan my career: Ashna Zaveri". The Times of India. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
15. ^ Sundar, Mrinalini (13 October 2016). "Ashna Zaveri signs her next film". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
16. ^ J, Jyothsna (16 October 2016). "An MGR Heroine again!". Behindwoods. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
17. ^ "தியேட்டரில் நடக்கும் கதைதான் 'நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம்' திரைப்படம்". Tamil Cinetalk. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
18. ^ "கின்னஸ் சாதனையாளர் இயக்கும் 'நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம்'". Chennai Online. 14 October 2016. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
19. ^ Subramanian, Anupama (27 October 2016). "Veteran Latha returns as a tribal woman". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
20. ^ Balachandran, Logesh (12 December 2016). "Aari's next to be shot in an old theatre in Poonamallee". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
21. ^ SUBRAMANIAN, ANUPAMA (4 March 2017). "Aari is a director's delight: Isaq". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
22. ^ "Nagesh Thiraiyarangam Official Teaser-Aari-Ashna Zaveri-Kaali Venkat-Sri-Isaq". YouTube. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
23. ^ "Rajinikanth launches Aari's Nagesh Thiraiarangam Teaser". International Business Times. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
24. ^ "Ameer and Karu Palaniyappan Launched Nagesh Thiraiarangam First Look Poster". Tamilsaga. 13 February 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
25. ^ "'நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம்' படத்துக்கு தடை கோரி நடிகர் ஆனந்த் பாபு வழக்கு". The Hindu. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
26. ^ "'நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம்' படத்துக்கு தடை கேட்டு நடிகர் ஆனந்த் பாபு வழக்கு". Dinamalar. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
27. ^ "'நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம்' படத்தை வெளியிட தடை கேட்டு நடிகர் ஆனந்த்பாபு வழக்கு". Dina Thanthi. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
28. ^ "Anand Babu seeks court to ban 'Nagesh Thiraiarangam' movie". IndiaGlitz. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
29. ^ "Nagesh Thiraiyarangam lands in trouble". Deccan Chronicle. 2 July 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
30. ^ Anupama, Subramanian (2 July 2017). "Nagesh Thiraiyarangam lands in trouble". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
31. ^ "Don't exploit popularityof actor Nagesh: HC". The Hindu. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
32. ^ பாலசரவணக்குமார், ஆர் (12 October 2017). "'நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம்' படத்துக்கு தடை கோரி நடிகர் ஆனந்த் பாபு தொடர்ந்த வழக்கு தள்ளுபடி". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
33. ^ "நாகேஷ் திரையரங்கம் படத்தை வெளியிட". Dinamalar. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
34. ^ "Nagesh Thiraiyarangam passes High Court hurdles due to Nagesh reference sued by Ananbabu". 15 February 2018.
35. ^ "Nagesh Thiraiyarangam - Official Jukebox - Aari, Ashna Zaveri - Mohamed Issack - Sri - SS Music". YouTube SS Music. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
36. ^ "Audio boost". The Hindu. 30 January 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
37. ^ "Nagesh Thiraiyarangam Audio Launch". Suryanfm.in. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
38. ^ "ஆரிக்கு கைகொடுக்கும் பா.ரஞ்சித்". Maalai Malar. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
39. ^ "Nagesh Thiraiyarangam TN theatrical rights". YouTube.

## External links

[edit]

* Nagesh Thiraiyarangam at IMDb

*[transl.]: translation
*[No.]: Number