10 Endrathukulla

Plot

A driving instructor (Vikram), who refers to himself by various names such as "James Bond" and "Mani Ratnam" or "Sunil Gavaskar", but never reveals his actual name, is assigned by a local criminal, Das (Pasupathy), to deliver a woman named Shakeela (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) to Pooran Singh (Abhimanyu Singh) in Mussoorie. Shakeela is an orphan who has failed her driving test 14 times. The driving instructor is constantly irritated by Shakeela's antics during the journey to Mussoorie, but soon falls in love with her. At Mussoorie, he learns from Pooran Singh that Shakeela is to be delivered to Daksha Bhai (Rahul Dev), an upper-caste landlord from an Uttarakhand village. He delivers Shakeela to Daksha Bhai and is invited to stay at his ancestral mansion for a festival.

During the stay, he finds out why Shakeela has been delivered to Daksha Bhai: Shakeela is the doppelgänger of Daksha Bhai's sister Gadgi Moi (Also Samantha), a cruel and merciless upper-caste leader who has been sentenced to death for orchestrating a massacre against the lower-caste people. Daksha Bhai plans to send Shakeela to jail in the place of Gadgi, who has been released on parole to perform the last rites of her dead mother. The plan backfires as Shakeela escapes from the police. In the chaos that ensues, Gadgi breaks her cover and kidnaps Shakeela, planning to kill her in a moving train. The driving instructor manages to rescue Shakeela and kill Gadgi Moi. Daksha Bhai, distraught at Gadgi's death, commits suicide by jumping off the train with her body. Finally, the driving instructor and Shakeela, who are now in a relationship, happily drive back to Chennai.

Development

Vijay Milton collaborated with Vikram for his next film. Director AR Murugadoss was confirmed to be bankrolling the film along with Fox Star Studios. Initially titled Idam Maari Irangiyavan, the film was later renamed as 10 Endrathukulla. D. Imman was signed on as composer for this film, which the composer confirmed through his official Twitter handle. The movie is supposed to be a road movie, which Behindwoods states was a relatively fresh Genre for the Tamil audience.

Casting

Prabhu was selected to play a lead role, marking her first collaboration with Vikram. Pasupathy has been roped in to play an important role in the film. It was confirmed that Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff would play the antagonist in the film, therefore making a comeback to Tamil cinema after Aaranya Kaandam (2011). In August 2014, Ramdoss of Mundasupatti (2014) fame was added to the cast and Manobala confirmed on his Twitter account that he too was part of the film.

Filming

Scenes involving Vikram and Samantha were shot in Chennai for a week's time and the team was spotted filming in the MRC Nagar area of Chennai. The film began its first schedule on 26 May 2014. The film's first schedule ran for 7 days covering Hyderabad, Ladakh, Sikkim and many major North Indian cities.A major portion of fliming is also done in Nepal whose location are mainly Bhaktapur.The crew reported that they would shoot in many exotic locations across the globe, but also strictly adhere to a 6 months time frame, when the project will be completed. Furthermore, the team also promised a surprise Hollywood crew in the movie. The second schedule began on 23 June 2014. On 23 July 2014, the second schedule was completed and next schedule began subsequently. A song sequence featuring the lead pair was shot in a set erected near DMI College of Engineering near Sriperumbudur in August 2014. In late August 2014, about 3 schedules in were completed in Chennai, In One of the 3 schedules a scene featuring the lead actress Samantha, actor Vikram in a duck farm near Madha Engg. College was shot and the fourth schedule was planned to be shot in Pune for close to 20 days, with the schedule including a song sequence as well. The climax of the film was shot in Nepal and the train sequence Cappadocia, Turkey.

In October, Charmme Kaur shot for a nine-minute-long song, which was said to have been designed like a play, with Charmme appearing as a character throughout the song. A set for about two-and-a-half crore rupees had been erected in Pune for the shoot. In September, 80% of the film was complete. One song scene was shot in Sikkim mountains on 29 October 2014. Shoot was done in Sikkim, Bagdogra, Jaipur and Delhi. The film team roped Racer Narain Karthikeyan for the action sequences with the racing car. Samantha said that the film was the toughest character she has played so far. On 8 April 2015, the filming part ended at Nepal and post production started.Lee Whittaker was the action director in the film.

Soundtrack

D. Imman composed the soundtrack for the film with lyrics written by Madhan Karky. Imman, in an interview with Behindwoods, said that it gave the opportunity for him to explore racy music since the film was a road thriller.

Release

The film was initially expected to be released by January 2015, but citing the release of the Vikram's other film I, 10 Enradhukulla's release was pushed to 21 October. The film got a clean U certificate from the Indian Censor Board, and the satellite rights of the film were sold to STAR Vijay.

Critical reception

Baradwaj Rangan wrote, "With 10 Enradhukulla, Milton has made exactly the kind of movie for which Goli Soda appeared an antidote. The writing is shockingly scattershot, right from the scene that's supposed to set up the story". Deccan Chronicle gave 2 stars out of 5 and wrote, "10 Endrathukulla is a good pathology of current Tamil cinema: you have the decision makers of the filming world deciding that it is best to forego artistic ingenuity in favour of safe and predictable entertainment". The Times of India gave the same rating and wrote, "this film lacks the liveliness and inventiveness that made Goli Soda stand out. Rather the focus seems to have shifted from script to scale — smart writing is traded in for exotic locales, larger-than-life characters, over-the-top action choreography and overall blandness". Rediff gave 2 stars as well and wrote, "10 Endrathukulla is a tedious road film marred by overzealous performances, ordinary music, tacky CGI and poor execution". Sify wrote, "The film has racy action sequences, bubbly romance along with unexpected twists and turns but somewhere the packaging goes haywire. Though everything looks good on paper, Milton has lost things in translation". DNA stated "Vijay Milton has come up with a story that unfortunately doesn't do much for the audience. The movie has a very 1980s feel and look and considering the movies releasing today, this one is outdated" and rated it 2 out of 5. Indiaglitz stated "A jolly ride with a few speed breakers" and rated the film 2.75 out of 5. Behindwoods stated "Not as racy as expected, but a watchable ride" and rated the film 2.5 out of 5.

Box office

10 Endrathukulla was reported to have collected ₹6.5 crore in India on its first day and almost ₹5 crore in South India alone.