Arun Prabu Purushothaman wrote a script based on global conflicts in late-2009, but as the scripting took a long time to materialise, he later halted the project and worked on another script in late-2013 which became Aruvi. The film revolves around how HIV patients are treated in society, and for the titular character, Prabu had approached leading actresses, however they rejected the script because of the sensitive nature in the topic and eventually, Aditi Balan was selected through an audition. The entire cast and crew were consisted of newcomers, Shelley Calist handled the cinematography, Raymond Derrick Crasta edited the film and indie musiciansBindhumalini and Vedanth Bharadwaj composed the film's soundtrack and score.
The film began pre-production in mid-2014 and was shot within six months across Chennai, Trivandrum and Kochi. Aruvi was premiered at various film festival circuits, the first public screening was held at the Shanghai International Film Festival held during 14 June 2016. It was theatrically released worldwide on 15 December 2017, to highly positive reviews from critics. It was praised for the performances of the cast, especially of Balan, the film's direction and other technical aspects. It was considered one of the '25 Greatest Tamil Films of the Decade' by Film Companion.[2]
The film begins with Aruvi (Aditi Balan) and Emily (Anjali Varadhan) being interrogated by law enforcement officer Shakeel (Mohammad Ali Baig), who suspects Aruvi to be part of a terrorist organization. Aruvi's parents and friends are called for interrogation who talk about Aruvi's childhood and adolescence. She is a lovingly raised, innocent girl from a middle-class family. Things take a turn on her life when her[3] family turns against her and kicks her out of the house, accusing her of having brought shame to the family. Her college friend Jessy (Shwetha Shekar) takes her in for a while, then moves to a hostel and lives with Emily, who is a transgender woman. They work for a man called Arulmani as tailors in an NGO. One day, she goes to Arulmani crying, asking for a loan of 1 lakh rupees as her father (Thirunavukkarasu) has suffered a minor cardiac arrest. She then takes off and does not return. Occasionally, she undergoes touch therapy with a Swami who uses hypnosis to heal stress.
Emily approaches the producers of Solvathellam Sathyam, a reality show that showcases people's problems on TV. She complains about three men who raped her friend Aruvi. Assistant director Peter (Pradeep Antony) agrees to telecast their problem and calls the three men for interrogation. The next morning, shooting starts as the host Shobha (Lakshmi Gopalaswamy) asks Aruvi to narrate what happened to her. Aruvi then explains that the three men are Jessy's father Joseph, Arulmani, and the Swami. Joseph had sexually abused Aruvi when she took shelter in his house. Arulmani had taken advantage of Aruvi's situation when she begged for a loan, and the Swami had hypnotized and raped her. Aruvi then reveals that she has had AIDS for the past two years (which had occurred due to her getting infected through a wound in her mouth after an injury while having coconut water; the seller had inadvertently shed his blood into the straw while cutting open the coconut). She meets her friend Emily in an NGO as both of them have AIDS. Aruvi asks the three men to apologize, but Lakshmi turns against Aruvi, accusing her of intentionally infecting those men (who were all tested negative for HIV test performed during the show). Aruvi is appalled and states everything wrong with the society and the unnecessary stereotypes that every common man has to conform to, in order to fit into this consumeristic world.
The director uses all this drama and hid the HIV test results from the three men so as to improve his show's TRP rating. Aruvi pulls out a gun and shoots the director in the arm. Later, she calms herself and apologizes to everyone, but as she gets up to leave, Arulmani tackles her and hits Emily. This maddens Aruvi, and she starts hitting Arulmani with a rebar and takes everyone hostage, holding them at gunpoint. Aruvi then takes control and subjects the hostages to trivial games and activities; the main motive was to impress Aruvi and share others' feelings with each other, failing which Aruvi threatened to shoot them dead. The hostages abide by Aruvi's instructions and go with the activities. The sound of the commotions cause a wide public stir and police to surround the premises. Aruvi gets a call from Shakeel, and she assures the safety of the hostages and her apprehension to him after a while. During the course of the game, everyone seems to get affected by Stockholm Syndrome, and they become friendly with Aruvi. She even forgives the three men who raped her.
Aruvi suffers a nosebleed by the time she surrenders to the police. Since Aruvi and Emily are AIDS patients, they cannot be arrested and have to be isolated inside the camp. Aruvi's condition continues to deteriorate as she loses a lot of weight and becomes incapable of taking care of herself. One night, she disappears from the camp and moves to a village all alone. After a few days, all of Aruvi's friends (the hostages) receive a video from Aruvi on Facebook. The video shows her crying and explaining how she misses everyone and speaks about all the regrets in her life. On seeing the video, Peter gathers everyone and takes them to the village in which Aruvi currently resides (an allusion to Peter's story that he narrated to Aruvi during the hostage situation). Peter gifts Aruvi a card with " Love you Aruvi, Peter", written on it. Touched, she reciprocates his feelings (this too was a revisit of Peter's earlier proposal to Aruvi during the incident, albeit in a bland way before).
Everyone cheers Aruvi up by playing the bottle game and having a great time with her to make the last few days of her life sweet and memorable. The movie ends with Peter capturing the image of Aruvi smiling.
Madhankumar as Venkataapuri Sri Badri Sesaadri Deetsidhar
Shwetha Shekar as Jessy
Arnold Mathew as Karuna, Aruvi's brother
Hema as Aruvi's mother
Thirunavukkarasu as Aruvi's father
Balaji as Subash (Office boy at the channel)
Apoorva Natraj as Jeyashree
Kavitha Bharathy
Production
Development
Everyone goes through boredom, frustration and they question themselves whether they fit in the society or not. I wanted to reflect all these thoughts and questions of youngsters. My story was about a person shunned by the society, but who still loved the society. I also don’t think that the stigmas that we talk about actually exist. It's just that we think they exist.
Arun Prabu Purushothaman, an associate of Balu Mahendra and K. S. Ravikumar, wrote a script based on global conflicts in late-2009 and took more than three years for the writing, as he felt the script is a quite complicated process and not easy to transform it completely on-screen. As the scripting took more time, he eventually shelved that project and worked on another script during his final years of college in September 2013.[3][a] It was considered to be a two-page thesis and was entirely written within a span of 20 days. A one-line of the script was sent to cinematographer Shelley Callist, who later forwarded it to S. R. Prabhu.[4] When Arun Prabu narrated the script, Prabhu felt impressed by his narration and also he revealed that "he could not get the story out of his mind for a week", later giving his nod to produce the film.[5][6]
Prabu did not have an iota of the script when he started his concepts of the film during 2013. He wrote the film based on the day-to-day activities of youngsters in India, but the motive he focused on was based on the struggles faced by the youngsters in the current generation, as he intended to make a film that reflected the mindset of youngsters in all the countries. Prabu refused to describe the film as a realistic film, but said that the film is "complete fiction" and also a "new-age masala film" since it mixes various genres, including action, comedy and drama and also commercial films have huge exposure among audiences. He did, however, choose to avoid "songs with a number of dancers in the background", a recurring feature of masala films.[7][8]
Casting
The entire cast and crew members were consisted of debutants. In July 2014, the production team had been scouting for new Tamil speaking talent on various social networks.[9] Over 600 applicants had applied and auditioned for the lead role, out of which the team chose Aditi Balan, an advocate based from Chennai.[10][11] Shwetha Shekhar, who appeared in several commercials and short films, played in a supporting role, for whom it became her first feature-length film.[12]Lakshmi Gopalswami, appeared in the supporting role, who was the only cast member with acting experience. The film's cinematography was handled by Shelly Calist, while editing was done by Raymond Derrick Crasta.[13] Prior to the film's release, Arun Prabu approached established actors such as Anushka Shetty, Nayanthara, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Shruti Haasan but they declined due to various reasons.[14] But, Arun Prabu said that as the entire cast and crew are newcomers, the scope for revenue is minimal.[15]
Aditi Balan accepted the script while reading as it featured an emotional bond between father and daughter. Since the entire cast were debutantes, Arun Prabu decided to conduct an acting workshop for three months, to prepare shooting for the film.[b] Post the reading session, Aditi prepared a lengthy dialogue which was filmed in a single shoot. She had to undergo a lot of physical changes, in a climax sequence, Aditi had a strict diet to lose more than 10 kilos, and has to be isolated for 45 days, without communicating to person, so as to prepare for the shooting, describing it as "exhausting, both physically and mentally" but had loved the challenge.[16] Theatre personality Mohammad Ali Baig, played the role of Mohammad Shakeel Waqaab, a Director general of police, interrogating Aruvi.[17] Made at a production cost of ₹2 crore, the film began shooting in Chennai, Trivandrum, Kochi and was completed within six months.[18]
Themes and influences
The film revolves around the problems faced by HIV patients in the society, where the film focuses about love, humanity and compassion.[16] It is considered to be a multi-genre film, that considered to be a non-linear narrative, where multiple storytelling devices are used. Along with this screenplay, the film also showcases on the LGBT angle, as Aruvi (Aditi Balan) had a mutual relationship with Emily (Anjali Varathan). Arun Prabu, an ardent follower of world cinema, revealed in an interview with Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South, saying that inspired the works of Pedro Almodóvar, Robert Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard and also had inspired The Battle of Algiers (1966) by Gillo Pontecorvo, which he described it as his favourite film.[19] He added that during the writing of Aruvi, he was highly fascinated by Parasakthi (1952), where the interrogation scene of that film, with Sivaji Ganesan in a court, was served as the inspiration for the film.[19]
Several allegations of plagiarism was levied against Arun Prabu as the film's opening sequence shared a resemblance between the Egyptian filmAsmaa (2011).[20] Following the reactions in social media, Arun Prabu later watched the film before the release, saying that it is quite essential for film enthusiasts to discuss and compare two films which share a similar plot. But requested cinephiles to watch both films fully and express their point of views. He felt that "with the film, they had got an opportunity to watch both the films and after watching, they can understand the contrast difference between the two films". He added that " In Aruvi, only the first 15 minutes revolve around the titular character’s life and upbringing. Later, the story entirely takes a shift to talk about the society and people’s problems more."[21] The reality show Solvathellam Sathyam featured in the film, was inspired from Solvathellam Unmai.[22]Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, the host of that show expressed disappointment about the makers for making a jibe on it.[23]
The film score and soundtrack were jointly composed by Bindhumalini and Vedanth Bharadwaj, in their debut composition for a feature film. Arun Prabu had listened to the studio album Suno Bhai, which he felt impressed and decided to approach them, as the film needed a "soulful sound". Prabu contributed the film's music to have an integral part in the screenplay, and researched about the album, with the classifications for moods, ideas, inspirations, detailed descriptions, and even the duration of the tracks.[24] The team planned for 33 original compositions — including the film's songs and score.[15] The album consisted of offbeat and conventional music, highly contrasting to their calibre, as both the musicians belonged to Carnatic music background.[24] Arun Prabu wrote lyrics for two of the tracks, while the rest of them were penned by Kutti Revathi. The album also featured a classical song written by poet Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi.[25]
On the occasion of World Music Day (21 June 2017), the track "Anbin Kodi", deciphered as the "Party Song", was released as a single and received positive response. The album consists of six tracks, was released on 1 September 2017 by Dream Warrior Pictures and was widely appreciated by music critics, with Indiaglitz hailed it as a "best album in contemporary Tamil music".[26] Critic based at Behindwoods described the album as "newfangled and experimental" and said further, "Though the album might not be a playlist favourite for all, but its indie feel gives a fresh perspective to music making in Tamil cinema".[27] Vipin Nair of Music Aloud stated it as a "Brilliantly experimental composing debut from Bindhu Malini and Vedanth",[28] while Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog described it as "completely unique and highly original".[29] A critic from Moviecrow stated it as "an unconventional soundtrack elevated by high inventive arrangements".[30]
Aruvi was screened at various film festivals worldwide, with the first being at the Shanghai International Film Festival held on 14 June 2016 and received acclaim from audience.[31][32] The film was initially scheduled for theatrical release on 1 December 2017,[33][34] but was postponed to 15 December due to various reasons.[35][36] The teaser of the film was released during 10 November 2017 and received positive response from viewers.[37] After the reception from the press show held at Sathyam Cinemas on 11 December, four days before the release, Nikilesh Surya, owner of Rohini Silver Screens announced that the film will be premiered on a bigger complex during the theatrical release.[38]
The management of Sathyam Cinemas decided to showcase the film at the main Sathyam screen, after being premiered at Six Degrees and Serene from the opening weekend.[39][40] In Tamil Nadu, the makers increased the number of screens from 350 to 500. The film was distributed to over sixty screens across the United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka.[41] In addition, the film was screened at Kerala on 29 December 2017.[42]Amazon Prime Video acquired the digital distribution rights of Aruvi and premiered it on the streaming platform on 15 January 2018.[43] However, the pirated versions of the high-definition print surfaced through the internet, even before the digital premiere.[44] The satellite rights of the film were sold to Star Vijay and had its television premiere on 25 March 2018.[45]
Critical reception
Aruvi received highly positive views upon release. Critics were particularly appreciative of the performances of the protagonist Aditi Balan and the supporting cast, and the film's direction.[46] In his film review, Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South called it as "an ambitious, solidly written satire that takes an issue and does very unexpected things with it".[47] M. Suganth of The Times of India rated four out of five stars for the film, calling it as "a superbly written drama centred around a unique character that unfolds as a thriller, a black comedy, an awareness movie, and a tragedy".[48]
Praising the incredible performances by a team of newcomers, Vishal Menon of The Hindu called it as "one of the best films of the year".[49] Anupama Subramanian of Deccan Chronicle said the film as an "exemplary work from Arun Prabu" and gave four-and-a-half out of five stars.[50] Writing for Hindustan Times, Haricharan Pudipeddi stated "Aruvi means waterfalls and the movie, starring Aditi Balan in a bold avatar, itself is a flow of emotions. There’s drama, anger, laughter and loneliness all packaged very well. Though unintentionally funny at times, the film is not for the faint-hearted."[51]
India Today-based critic Kirubakar Purushothaman rated four out of five and said "Aruvi (Waterfall) is of course about the heroine who lends her name to the film — Aditi Balan. But the name also stands as metaphor for the story itself. Like a waterfall — it gushes with force, hits the ground exploding at the interval, and flows fading away into nothingness in the climax."[52] Sreedhar Pillai of Firstpost called it as one of the best films from Kollywood and further said "In an era of a shallow and fraudulent films masquerading as good cinema, here is something which is pure, and at the same time, entertaining. If you want to nit-pick, the film slides a bit by taking a preachy tone and overstretched melodrama towards the end. But these are just minor flaws in a gutsy and outstanding film."[53]
Vikram Venkateshwaran of The Quint reviewed it as "a social commentary that’s as much about ripping apart a popular talk show, as it is about holding a mirror to you, the audience".[54] Writing for The Indian Express, Ashameera Aiyyappan said "the movie is a cascade of emotions: laughter, tears, anger, loneliness, the film has everything in a neat package and ideals presented with great craft. It is a struggle to find a beginning point when a film has almost everything working in its favour."[55] Rakesh Mehar of The News Minute said "Aruvi is not a perfect film. Some parts of the script do feel a tad contrived. And the film too lightly lets off three men who are accused of sexual assault or sexual exploitation. But these are minor quibbles in a film that otherwise works wonderfully."[56]
Indiaglitz rated the film 3.75 out of five and said "Arun Prabhu Purushothaman is a welcome find to Tamil cinema who has delved deep to tell a unique story and that too using a very modern new age style filmmaking. His depth as a writer and grip over the medium can be summed up in the climax when he puts the sinners and the sinned at peace with each other that is more heart tugging than the inevitable tragedy."[57]Sify stated it as "one of the best films of this year, it handles a relevant topic with an engaging screenplay".[58]Behindwoods gave three-and-a-out of five stars saying "Nothing short of a masterpiece, Aruvi is a cinematic journey that every type of audience can relate to, connect to, empathize with and adore".[59]
