Poojai

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Poojai
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHari
Written byHari
Produced byVishal
Starring
CinematographyPriyan
Edited by
Music byYuvan Shankar Raja
Production
company
Distributed byVendhar Movies[1]
Release date
  • 22 October 2014 (2014-10-22)
Running time
158 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budgetest. ₹25 crore
Box officeest. ₹45 crore

Poojai (transl. Prayer) is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Hari and produced by Vishal, who stars in the lead role, alongside Shruti Haasan, Sathyaraj, Radhika Sarathkumar, Mukesh Tiwari, Awadesh Mishra and Soori.[2] Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the music, while cinematography and editing were handled by Priyan and V. T. Vijayan.[3]

Principal photography began on 18 April 2014.

Poojai was released on 22 October 2014, on the occasion of Diwali, to mixed reviews from critics and became a box office success. The film was remade in Kannada as Anjani Putra with Puneeth Rajkumar and Rashmika Mandanna reprising Vishal and Shruti Haasan role.[4][5]

Plot

Vasudevan "Vasu" is the heir of Kovai Group, a cloth manufacturing company in

ASP Sivakkozhundhu and his wife from a group of North Indian killers who work for Anna Thandavam, a Pollachi
-based businessman and hitman as Sivakkozhundhu was transferred to investigate Anna Thandavam's client case.

Anna Thandavam also plans to illegally grab land a village temple, which was planned to be gifted by Vasu's late father Rathnaswamy. These two incidents cause enmity between Vasu and Anna Thandavam. When the land is formally gifted to the temple, an irate Anna Thandavam orders his henchman to assault Vasu's uncle Ramaswamy. Rajalakshmi realizes her mistake of misunderstanding Vasu and reunites with him. Vasu learns about the incident and thrashes Anna Thandavam's henchmen and breaks his hand. Anna Thandavam tries to attack Vasu, but Vasu brutally thrashes him in full view of public, which goes viral online.

Assisted by Sivakkozhundhu and Divya, Vasu subdues Anna Thandavam's attempts to destroy his family by capturing the North Indian killers, leading to arrest warrant on Anna Thandavam. During the temple festival, Anna Thandavam's second wife kills Rajalakshmi with a venomous knife, while Anna Thandavam rushes to Patna. Learning of Rajalakshmi's death, Vasu rushes to Patna and tracks down Anna Thandavam and his hitman friend Rai Bahadur, where he brutally finishes them, thus avenging Rajalakshmi's death. Vasu returns home to mourn Rajalakshmi's death with his family.

Cast

Production

Development

In December 2013, Vishal told that he would produce and feature in a film which would be directed by

Shruti Hassan was also selected to do costume designing.[8]

Casting

Early reports in December had suggested that

Mr. India and the second runner up 2014 title, played a crucial role of collector's son from Bihar. Abhinaya was selected to play a supporting role, while Mukesh Tiwari was selected to play the main antagonist.[18][19]

Filming

Principal photography commenced on 18 April 2014 at Chennai.[20] During the shoot of an action sequence in a one crore worth set at Saligramam, Vishal injured his middle finger in his right hand for which 14 stitches were administered. Thus the shoot was temporarily halted.[21] The item number featuring Vishal and Andrea Jeremiah was shot by early May in the backdrop of the Koyambedu Market in Chennai.[22] Later, the unit proceeded to Coimbatore for filming major portions of the film.[23][24] At that time, it was known that Hari planned to wrap the film's shoot in 40 working days.[25] A fight sequence was shot in a popular mall multiplex there and scenes involving Vishal and Shruti Hassan were also shot in the mall in Coimbatore.[26] The filming continued at Karaikudi in early July where scenes featuring the principal cast were shot.[27][28] The shooting continued in hot weather making things difficult while Vishal suffered injuries for the second time in the film's shoot. He suffered a fracture during the shoot of an action sequence after trying to avoid falling on his face while he slipped from an asbestos sheet.[29][30][31]

In the first week of August 2014, the film's climax was shot in

Golconda Fort in Hyderabad in special and enormous sets erected for the climax and a song was also shot there.[34] On its completion, one romantic song was shot at Switzerland and the remaining fast-paced song was shot in Chennai.[35][36] Vishal and Shruti Haasan completed a hard folk song sequence, which was shot in AVM facilities and choreographed by Baba Baskar. One more song sequence was also shot in Poland.[37] On 29 September 2014, Shruti confirmed that the shooting of the film was completed.[38]

Music

Poojai
Feature film soundtrack
Length23:56
LanguageTamil
LabelV Music
Divo
ProducerYuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Govindudu Andarivadele
(2014) 		Poojai
(2014) 		Vai Raja Vai
(2014)

The soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The album consists of six tracks and Na. Muthukumar had penned the lyrics for all songs. The track list was released on 29 September 2014,[39] while the audio launch took place on 1 October 2014 at the Loyola-ICAM College of Engineering and Technology.[40] Vishal released the album through his newly launched music label - V Music, a subsidiary of the production house alongside Divo.[41]

The album received mixed reviews from critics.[42] Behindwoods gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and concluded that "Yuvan delivers what is needed for a commercial entertainer".[43] Indiaglitz gave 2.75 out of 5 and wrote that the album was "a commercial cocktail which could have been better", and chose "Devathai", "Soda Bottle" and "Veraarum" as the album's picks.[44]

All lyrics are written by

Mili Nair4:343."Odi Odi"Palakkad Sreeram4:324."Soda Bottle"Yazin Nizar, Andony Dasan, Sathyan4:345."Uyire Uyire"Yuvan Shankar Raja2:266."Verarum Kandhirathe"Karthik
, Pooja A. V.3:46Total length:23:56

Release

During the film's launch, Hari stated that the film would release in October 2014 as a

Deepavali release.[9] The same was stated again in the end of July 2014.[45][46][5]

The Tamil Nadu theatrical distribution rights were acquired by Vendhar Movies.[47][48] The stills featuring Vishal and Shruti Hassan were released on 18 April 2014.[49][50] The official motion poster teaser of the film was released on 1 September 2014.[51] The official teaser of the film released on 11 September 2014.[52] The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV.[53] The film released in over 1100 screens worldwide.[54]

Reception

Critical reception

M. Suganth of The Times of India gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Poojai is closer to Vel in Hari’s filmography — not as powerful as Saamy but at the same time, not tedious like Seval."[55] Sify gave 3/5 stars and called it "a typical Hari mass entertainer, though this time he has not got the mix in the right proposition".[56]

Prakash Upadhyaya of IBTimes gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Poojai is a pure commercial movie and watched by all section of audience."[57] S. Saraswathi of Rediff gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Poojai is your standard Hari fare; there is loads of everything that we expect from him. The screenplay may not be as exciting as some of his earlier hits, but it keeps you entertained just the same."[58]

Indiaglitz gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Poojai is a mix of a lot of genres, but they seem disproportionate for the times and taste of this day. However, it is an entertaining three hours of festivity, to chill out on. Most importantly, thanks to Hari for a thoroughbred masala movie after a long time in Kollywood."[59] Behindwoods gave 2.25/5 stars and wrote "Poojai is still a watchable entertainer to spend time on, with your family on a festive day."[60]

Box office

Poojai was dubbed into Telugu as Pooja which was simultaneously released with the original version. The first look poster of the Telugu dubbed version titled Pooja was released on 11 August 2014.[5] According to Andhraboxoffice, the Telugu version was commercially successful, delivering ₹5.51 crore.[61]

Remake

The film was initially planned to be remade in Kannada as Ayush with Darshan, but was officially remade in Kannada as Anjani Putra by A.Harsha with Puneeth Rajkumar and Rashmika Mandanna playing the lead roles.[62][63][64]

References

  1. ^ "'Poojai' sold to Vendhar movies for a big sum". IndiaGlitz. 4 August 2014. Archived from the original on 6 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Vishal & Hari are together again". Sify. 9 February 2014. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Vishal will continue at Jilla's spot". Behindwoods. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  4. ^ Seshagiri, Sangeetha (28 July 2014). "Vikram vs Vijay vs Vishal: 'Ai' to Clash with 'Kaththi' and 'Poojai' during Diwali?". International Business Times. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  5. ^ a b c "Vishal's 'Pooja' First Look Poster". IndiaGlitz. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Vishal joins up with Hari". Sify. 28 December 2013. Archived from the original on 29 December 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Shruti Haasan in Vishal's Hari film?". Sify. 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Pooja of Vishal-Hari film, 'Poojai' on Friday!". Sify. 27 March 2014. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  9. ^ a b "Vishal announces 'Poojai' release date". IndiaGlitz. 12 April 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  10. ^ "Kausalya all set to make a comeback in Vishal-Hari flick". IndiaGlitz. 25 March 2014. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  11. ^ "Director Hari Gopalakrishnan: Rekha Couldn't Accommodate Dates for 'Poojai'". NDTV Movies. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  12. ^ C. Pillai, Radhika. "Pratap Pothen to play Shruthi Hassan's father!". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  13. Oneindia Entertainment
    . Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  14. ^ "Sathyaraj's suspense cop act for Vishal-hari film". The Times of India. 5 July 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  15. ^ J. Rao, Subha (6 July 2014). "Khakhi calling". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  16. ^ V. Lakshmi (29 July 2014). "Bhojpuri actor in Vishal's 'Poojai'". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  17. ^ "Vaibhav and Sathish as Vishal's Allies". IndiaGlitz. 31 July 2014. Archived from the original on 4 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  18. ^ Naig, Udhav (6 August 2014). "Bihar politician lands role in Tamil film". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  19. ^ Subramanian, Anupama (2 September 2014). "Abhinaya's big Bollywood debut". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  20. ^ Kumar, Hemanth (18 April 2014). "Vishal, Shruti Haasan's film goes on floors". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  21. ^ "Vishal gets injured". IndiaGlitz. 29 April 2014. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  22. ^ Karthik, Janani (7 May 2014). "Andrea to shake a leg with Vishal in 'Poojai'". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  23. ^ "Shruti is busy with 'Poojai'". The Times of India. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  24. ^ "Coimbatore Beckons Vishal and Shruti". The New Indian Express. 19 May 2014. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  25. ^ "Just 40 days for 'Poojai'". IndiaGlitz. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  26. ^ "'Poojai' shooting makes brisk progress in Coimbatore". Sify. 26 May 2014. Archived from the original on 30 July 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  27. ^ "A mini Kodambakkam stationed in Karaikudi for 'Poojai'". IndiaGlitz. 2 July 2014. Archived from the original on 19 July 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  28. ^ V. Lakshmi (2 July 2014). "Entire Kodambakkam stationed in Karaikudi: Hari". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  29. ^ "Vishal fractures hand on 'Poojai' sets". The Times of India. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  30. ^ "Shruti Haasan faces the killer!". The Times of India. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  31. ^ Naig, Udhav (26 July 2014). "Big Bang Theory". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  32. ^ "Vishal's fight in Bihar". The Times of India. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  33. ^ "'Poojai' is ready for Action". IndiaGlitz. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  34. ^ "'Poojai' hurries to a finish". IndiaGlitz. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  35. ^ Karthik, Janani (6 August 2014). "Vishal, Shruti head to Switzerland". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  36. ^ "Vishal and Shruti on a Travel Spree". The New Indian Express. 7 August 2014. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  37. ^ "Shruti Haasan's horror comes to an end". Behindwoods. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  38. ^ "Vishal's Poojai completed !". Behindwoods. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  39. ^ "'Poojai' track list is here". The Times of India. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  40. ^ "Events – 'Poojai' Audio Launch @ Loyola Engineering College – IndiaGlitz.com". IndiaGlitz.
  41. ^ "Vishal to start audio company". Sify. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  42. ^ "'Poojai' Music Review Roundup: Songs of Vishal Starrer Receive Mixed Response". International Business Times. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  43. ^ "POOJAI SONGS REVIEW". Behindwoods. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  44. ^ "Poojai – More of Hari, less Yuvan". Indiaglitz. 1 October 2014. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  45. ^ "Vishal's 'Poojai' to clash against Vijay's 'Kaththi'". IndiaGlitz. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  46. ^ Seshagiri, Sangeetha (25 August 2014). "Vikram's 'Ai' Joins Diwali Race with Vijay's 'Kaththi', Vishal's 'Poojai'". International Business Times. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  47. ^ "Vendhar Movies Bags 'Poojai'". The New Indian Express. 5 August 2014. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  48. ^ "'Poojai' goes for a whopping price". The Times of India. 5 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  49. ^ "Shruti Haasan's glam avtaar for 'Poojai'". Sify. 18 April 2014. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  50. ^ "'Poojai' first look". Sify. 18 April 2014. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  51. ^ Seshagiri, Sangeetha (3 September 2014). "From Vijay's 'Kaththi' to Vishal's 'Poojai': Motion Posters Latest Trend in Kollywood? [VIDEOS]". International Business Times. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  52. ^ "'Poojai' Teaser". Moviecrow. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  53. ^ "Vishal's 'Poojai' goes to Sun TV". The Times of India. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  54. ^ "Vishal's Poojai – Worldwide Screen Count".Behindwoods. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  55. ^ "Poojai Movie Review". The Times of India.
  56. ^ "Movie Review : Poojai". Sify.
  57. ^ "Poojai Movie Review". IBTimes.
  58. ^ "Review: Poojai is a mass entertainer". Rediff.
  59. ^ "Poojai Review". Indiaglitz.
  60. ^ "POOJAI MOVIE REVIEW". Behindwoods.
  61. ^ Pooja Final Total Collections. Andhraboxoffice (23 November 2014). Retrieved on 2016-05-25.
  62. ^ A new film for box office Sultan, Darshan. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com (3 January 2016). Retrieved on 2016-05-25.
  63. ^ "Puneeth's next is more than a remake".
  64. ^ "Puneeth Rajkumar to Star in the Remake of Tamil Movie Poojai". 24 November 2016.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poojai&oldid=1228088298"
This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article: Poojai. Articles is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; additional terms may apply.Privacy Policy