Deiva Thirumagal

Deiva Thirumagal
File:Deiva Thirumagan.jpg Production poster
Directed by	A. L. Vijay
Written by	A. L. Vijay
Produced by	M. Chinthamani Ronnie Screwvala
Starring	Vikram Anushka Shetty Amala Paul Nassar Santhanam
Cinematography	Nirav Shah
Edited by	Anthony
Music by	G. V. Prakash Kumar
Production company	Sree Rajakaliamman Medias
Distributed by	UTV Motion Pictures
Release date	July 15, 2011 (2011-07-15)
Country	Template:Film India
Language	Tamil

Deiva Thirumagal (Template:Lang-ta, Template:Lang-en) is a 2011 Tamil drama film written and directed by A. L. Vijay and produced by Mohan Natarajan that features Vikram in the lead role as a mentally challenged adult with the maturity of a six-year-old boy, while Anushka Shetty, Amala Paul and Nassar portray other pivotal roles. The film comprises director Vijay's 'regular' technical crew with G. V. Prakash Kumar as music composer, Nirav Shah as cinematographer and Anthony as editor. This film is a rehash of the Hollywood film I Am Sam.

The film completed its schedules at a brisk pace and only announced the title of the project at the first press conference in April 2011. The teaser trailer of the project was released at the conference and has won critical acclaim, while the film released on 15 July 2011 along with a dubbed version in Telugu, Nanna.

Plot

The film starts with Krishna (Vikram) collapsing onto the road and lying there at night as traffic passes him by. He then awakes the next morning after he is moved to the side of the road as he was obstructing traffic. Krishna is constantly murmuring the name Nila and asks everyone where she is. A thief steals Krishna's money and then trips and falls, Krishna however helps him up and the thief suprised asks him what he's looking for. As Krishna says that he needs to find Nila the thief hands him back most of his money and directs him to the police station. At the police station Krishna just repeats himself and just says his name, the name of his village and starts talking about the cows and sheep there. The amused police inform him that he should leave and he shouldn't come alone with a representative such as a lawyer who will be at the court. Krishna upon hearing that the police van is taking criminals to court gets in and as they criminals are led towards the court struggling lawyers try to get a case to represent. Vinod (Santhanam) confronts Krishna thinking that he is rich and tells Krishna that his boss/colleague Anuradha Ragunathan a.k.a Anu (Anushka Shetty) will represent him. Anu glad that she finally has a client rushes to meet him but after Krishna babbles on about his village and cows etc repeatedly she realises that he is mentally unstable so she tries to run away and escape from him. However Krishna continues to follow her and in the end as nothing is working she tells him to wait at that very spot in court and that she will return with Nila at night.

Anu returns home late, much to the dismay of her father (Y. Gee. Mahendra) and as she falls asleep her phone rings and she rushes to court. There she finds a badly beaten up Krishna and the security and police inform her that he is refusing to leave that spot in court even though it has closed and even after they beat him up. The police ask Anu if she knows him as they only found her listing card in his pocket, she says yes and she along with Vinod take Krishna to the hospital. There Anu and Vinod are met by Krishna's friend Victor (Krishna Kumar) and they are told Krishna's story.

Krishna lives is a small village and works in a chocolate factory as a helper and it is owned by Victor who is extremely kind towards him. Other workers who are also slightly mentally unstable work there too and it is managed by Murthy (M. S. Bhaskar). One day Krishna announces to everyone that he is going to have a baby and comes to inform Murthy that he can't come to work but Murthy manages to convince him that he must. Victor then tells him to go the hospital. On the way he buys new things for the baby and mother but as he arrives he is drawn to the baby and is informed by the doctor that Bhanumathi, his wife has left and gone to God. Krishna who is unable to understand exactly what has happened to Bhanu takes the baby home but does not know what to do and where to start. Murthy's wife Raji who is his neighbour overhears the baby crying and comes over to see Krishna just sitting there watching and when she asks him why he isn't doing anything he claims what am i meant to do. Raji teaches Krishna how he has to take care of his baby and he is shown nurturing her and bringing her up with so much love. He ends up naming the baby girl Nila after seeing the Nila (moon).

Nila (Baby Sarah) grows up and at the age of five she is entered into a school with the help of Victor and Krishna's friends. Krishna is initially hesitant to be apart from her and Nila is told that she needs to go to school, study hard and become a doctor so she can take care of her dad. However at class she is told off by her teacher as she doesn't do her homework as she doesn't have anyone's help. She then casually meets the school correspondent Shwetha Sargunam (Amala Paul) and Shwetha immediately takes a liking to Nila and finds out that her mother is dead. She informs the teacher that she shouldn't be harsh towards the children. Nila is then told by her teacher that school correspondent has organised a competition and that everyone must participate by saying a story or rhyme. Nila asks her father to help her and this leads to a Krishna narrating an interesting mixture of stories that we have grown up with. However Nila ends up approaching Shwetha and interrupts her during a staff meeting surprising the other teachers. Nila tells her that a dinosaur called a correspondent is coming to the school and that she needs help reciting a rhyme. Nila ends up winning first prize and ends up helping one of her classmates who was very nervous. Krishna is ecstatic and rushes to Nila. Shwetha goes to congratulate Nila with her fiance Karthik (Karthik Kumar) but is shocked when she sees that Krishna is Nila's dad. Murthy who is increasingly irritant and angry at Krishna as he feels his wife Raji and Krishna are too intimate tells Shwetha that it was Krishna's neglect and irresponsility that killed his wife Bhanumathi and that Krishna will do the same to Nila.

Shwetha runs of crying and is comforted by Karthik and she tells him something that the audience cannot hear. As Nila comes to see Shwetha Krishna follows however Shwetha hold back Nila and says that she will not allow her to return with Krishna. Krishna attempts to get past but Karthik drags him out. Nila and Krishna manage to reunite and Krishna carrying Nila runs frantically out of the school as he is hunted down by Karthik and his men who eventually manage to catch up. A car pulls up blocking Krishna's path and Shwetha's father, Sargunam gets down and tells them to behave themselves and apologizes to Krishna. He also reveals that Bhanumathi is his daughter and is Shwetha's sister. She had left her family to marry Krishna as they didn't approve but they are now shocked to learn that she died at childbirth. Sargunam asks Victor and the entire village to allow him to take Krishna and Nila with him and that he wants to take care of them as they are the only people left that remind him of Bhanumathi. Everyone agrees and Krishna and Nila leave with Shwetha's father. However about 30 km from Chennai in the middle of nowhere Krishna is tricked and told to get out the car and they drive off with Nila abandoning him. This leads to the very first scene of the movie as Krishna chases after the car.

Anu and Vinod upon hearing the story vow to help Krishna and go to see his father in law. However he claims to not know anyone called Krishna or Nila and throws them both out of the house. Anu decides to file a petition at the court and legally asks that Nila is brought to court. Sargunam hires the best lawyer available Bashyam (Nassar) who never loses a case. Anu and Vinod are constantly trying to join him as assistants hence Anu is obviously scared and intimidated by Bashyam. At the first date at court Sargunam does not bring Nila to court and Bashyam claims that under law a minor does not need to be submitted if the legal guardian is present. Bashyam manages to bring forward evidence against Krishna's claim and also claims that Krishna is mentally retarded. Anu not knowing what to do, objects that asking Bashyam how he could possibly call Krishna that. Bashyam looks to his assistants for evidence but no one compiled any evidence as they thought it was obvious that Krishna was. Anu knowing that this is the perfect moment justifies her side of the case and leaves Bashyam astounded as she repeatedly objects to his statements. The judge then orders that Krishna needs to take an IQ test and a result of under 90 will mean that he is mentally retarded.

Anu now does not know what to do as she doesn't want to be proved wrong as she will lose her reputation for lying at court and made the claim and she didn't know how else to defend Krishna. Anu's friend manages to convince one of Bashyam's assistants to act as a traitor and help them by acting as though she reciprocates his love as he has been in love with her for years now. All four of them manage to bribe a doctor with alcohol to produce a IQ test in Krishna's favour. The following day though at the hospital another doctor comes in to take the test and it is revealed that the doctor they bribed is hungover from all the alcohol and didn't come to work. Bashyam's assistant then after realizing that this new doctor is very righteous goes up to him and offers to bribe him to make Krishna fail the test and tells him that lawyer Bashyam has sent him. The doctor who is furious kicks him out and passes Krishna in the test. Anu then submits this to the court and Bashyam cannot believe it and objects claiming he wants a retest however Anu silences Bashyam by claiming that she will agree to the retest if Bashyam retests all the people he has falsely provided documents for. Bashyam asks why Krishna has still not been seen by anyone at the court and Anu responds that under law he does not need to be present in court.

Does Krishna and Anu succeed to get back Nila or not is the rest of the story.

Cast

• Vikram as Krishna
• Anushka Shetty as Anuradha Ragunathan
• Amala Paul as Swetha Sargunam
• Baby Sarah as Nila
• Nassar as Bashyam
• Santhanam as Vinod
• M. S. Bhaskar as Murthy
• Sachin Khedekar as Rajendran
• Y. Gee. Mahendra as Ragunathan
• Krishna Kumar as Victor
• Surekha as Rajee
• Pandi
• Karthik Kumar as Karthik (Guest appearance)

Production

Development

With A. L. Vijay and Vikram confirming their presence in the project, the producers failed in attempts to persuade Vidya Balan to appear in the film. In October 2010, Anushka Shetty agreed to appear in the lead female role in the film after agreeing terms. Amala Paul, who appeared in the lead role in Mynaa, was signed on to play the daughter of a millionaire in November 2010. She had signed on in place of Meera Jasmine, who opted out of the film before production began. Despite reports that Divya Spandana joined the cast of the film in early 2011, Vijay refuted the claim as a rumour. The film saw the collaboration of several technicians who had worked in Vijay's earlier film Madrasapattinam, with G. V. Prakash Kumar as music composer, Nirav Shah as cinematographer and Anthony as editor. Santhanam was appointed as art director, whilst Deepali Noor took charge of costumes.

The film proceeded without an official title until April 2011, with several possibilities announced during the production period. The film was tentatively titled Deiva Magan (Son of God), a title from a 1969 film featuring Sivaji Ganesan. However problems arose after Sivaji Productions claimed that they owned the rights of the title and expressed their interest on using the name for a future production featuring Sivaji's grandson, Vikram Prabhu. The title Pitha (Father) also ran into trouble after a debutant team announced that they had registered the title, but subsequently the film was christened as Deiva Thirumagal in March 2011.

Filming

The film was predominantly shot across the hill country settings in Ooty throughout late 2010, with a chocolate factory being constructed as a set by art director Santhanam. Scenes were also shot within Chennai, with the Chennai High Courtroom being reproduced for a scene in the film. The team of the film returned to Ooty in February 2011 to complete the final schedule, after which the film was completed. In order to perfect his portrayal of a mentally challenged adult with the maturity of a five year old boy, Vikram visited Vidya Sagar, a school for children with special needs, to learn and study the behavior of such children.

Marketing

After completing the film with little publicity, the film met the press at Rain Tree Hotel in Chennai on April 3, 2011 to launch the title and logo, the teaser trailer and three twenty-second promotional videos of the film. The event was attended by technicians and actors from the film, with the teaser trailer drawing acclaim and positive reviews from film critics.

Release

Critical response

The film received generally positive reviews, particularly praising Vikram's performance. CNN-IBN gave three and a half out of five, lauding Vijay for "having handled the emotional sequences with maturity", further adding that "his creative grip over the medium and the subject lifts the movie to higher levels despite some flaws and slow narrative." Behindwoods called it an "emotional tale between a father and a daughter well told", giving it three and a half stars as well. Sify noted it was Vikram’s "best work in years", further writing: "You can feel the earnestness of his intentions and the wetness of his tears. He is able to nail the character’s boyish charm and innocence like sunshine and his restraint in the courtroom scene and his poignant dialogues in the climax, is heart breaking". S. Viswanath from the Deccan Herald stated that "Deiva Thirumagan, with A L Vijay [...] proving his mettle and supported by his glorious team, ensures it’s worth the ticket money", labelling it as a "not-to-be missed, must-see movie."

However, the film also received mixed response from other critics. Rohit Ramachandran of nowrunning.com rated it two and a half describing the film as a "well-made crowd pleasing family entertainer with a developmental disability that gets mentally taxing for the audience towards the end." Pavithra Srinivasan from Rediff also rated it two and a half stars, praising Vikram's performance, while citing that "if you're a fan of sentimental tear-jerkers, and have not seen I am Sam, Deiva Thirumagal might impress. For the rest, it might provide a sense of déjà vu, and towards the end, the meandering, weak screenplay is largely dissatisfying."

Box office

In Chennai, the film collected ₹80 lakhs in the first three days with around 100% occupancy in theaters.

Soundtrack

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Behindwoods
Rediff

The film score and soundtrack for Deiva Thirumagal is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, collaborating with director Vijay for the third time after the success of Kireedam and Madrasapattinam. The soundtrack album released on 14 April 2011, at the Chennai Trade Centre. Prakash Kumar has lifted two songs. The song "Pa Pa Pappa" is taken from Walt Disney's Robin Hood song "Whistle-Stop". The song "Jagada Thom" has been taken from Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan's 2007 song "Truth" from the album of the same name.

All lyrics are written by Na. Muthukumar

Tracklist

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Kadha Solla Poren"	Vikram, Shringa	05:38
2.	"Vizhigalil Oru Vaanavil"	Saindhavi	06:00
3.	"Pa Pa Pappa"	Vikram	05:51
4.	"Vennilave"	G. V. Prakash Kumar	03:33
5.	"Jagada Thom"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Maya, Rajesh	05:20
6.	"Aariro"	Haricharan	05:25
7.	"Life Is Beautiful"	Kalyan, Navin Iyer	01:44

See also

• I Am Sam (2001), a Hollywood film with a similar plot
• Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005), a Bollywood film with a similar plot