Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada

Plot

The movie opens with the flashback snapshots of the protagonist (Silambarasan) in a small brawl with a mob.

The protagonist, whose name is not mentioned, is revealed to be a care free MBA student and bike enthusiast, accompanied by his close friends Mahesh (Sathish Krishnan), Shyam (R. Shyam), Srikanth (Vicky Vijai) and Auto Selvam (R. S. Karthik). He has two younger sisters.

His friends and the protagonist gets into a fight because of his sister, Maithrei (Anjali Rao), this is revealed to be the fight shown in the flashback at the start of the movie.

Maitheri's friend Leela (Manjima Mohan) stays in his house to complete a short course. He falls in love with her from the first moment. They spend time together everyday where it is revealed the hero is aimless and he has not found his passion in life.

The hero was going on a trip with his friend Mahesh to Kannyakumari on his beloved bike - a Royal Enfield. Leela expresses interest that she would like to join him on his trip if he is going alone. He ditches Mahesh and the couple start their trip. Before they leave, Leela says that she doesn't even know his name at which he is surprised but refuses not to tell his name.During the trip, for a night, they go to a rural village and stay in a kind-hearted villager's (Madurai Mohan) home.

Towards the end of the trip, they get into an accident in which the hero injures his shoulder and breaks his arm. Afraid that he is going to die, before he loses consciousness, he tells Leela that he loves her.

When awake, he is in a hospital but Leela is not with him. She calls and explains that she admitted him in the hospital as "Mr Mahesh" (as she doesn't know his name) but she had to leave immediately as her parents were brutally attacked in Maharashtra. She is tending to her father, Raman (Nagineedu), who is on life support in the hospital. She also advises him that the accident that they were in was a planned attack on her. Mahesh and him visit Leela to be a support to her.

There is another murder attempt on Leela in the hospital. The hero saves Leela. Police Officer Kamath (Baba Sehgal) comes to the hospital to enquire about the incident. Kamath pressures Mahesh and the protagonist to leave but he refuses, which results in Kamath punching the protagonist and leaving him with a broken nose.

Then the protagonist stops yet another murder attempt on the parents by shooting the attackers dead and organises for an ambulance to transport Leela's family out of the hospital. They are attacked by a gangster, Hiren (Daniel Balaji), on the way but the protagonist saves the day again. Mahesh marvels at his friend's bravery.

They go to Leela's friend Atul's (Krissh) house, whose father is also a doctor. Kamath comes there as well with Hiren and Atul. It is revealed that they are all working together.

Mahesh and Leela's parents are shot dead by the gang. However, Leela and the hero escape. They follow Atul to find the reason behind the murder attempts. The hero traces and kills both Hiren and Atul.

While on their way to Chennai, Kamath finds them and shoots Leela. Hero fights him and escape with the dying Leela but couldn't kill Kamath as he is a police officer. Then, Leela reveals that she loves the hero too.

His father, Muralidharan finally reveals the hero's name - Rajinikanth when Kamath traces him back to Chennai. But there's a twist - the Rajini living there is a different man.

Two years later, it is revealed that Rajnikanth Muralidharan IPS, gets his posting where Kamath is working. Rajini explains that he doesn't like to reveal his name as most people usually tease him about it.

Rajinikanth reveals that a woman named Anamika was pregnant with a minister's child. The minister finds out and tries to kill Anamika and her child but she escapes. She gives birth to a daughter, Leela, who she gives to her sister, Kalpana, who raises her up as her own.

Years later when the minister is in the running for the Chief Minister post, Anamika turns up at his office out of the blue and demands to reveal that Leela is his daughter. The minister then plans the whole family's murder.

Rajini finally assassinates Kamath and goes on a trip to Kanyakumari again with Leela and proposes to her.

Development

Gautham Menon announced in October 2013 that he would produce and direct a film featuring Silambarasan in the lead role. In an interview with the Bangalore Mirror, Menon stated that the film was originally titled Sattendru Maarathu Vaanilai and described the film as one which starts as a "love story" and then enters a "violent / action space". Menon outlined the storyline of the film, stating, "It is the story of a happy-go-lucky guy (played by Silambarasan) who is looking to do normal things in life but then, a situation is thrown at him and it changes everything", adding that the story is inspired by the scene in the film The Godfather where a bruised Michael Corleone plots revenge against the corrupt policeman McCluskey. Menon had previously portrayed cops as heroes but in this film, he revealed that the cop was the antagonist. When he was writing the second half of the film, he ensured not to watch films in the other genre. In December 2013, A. R. Rahman was officially confirmed to compose the songs, while Dan Macarthur was confirmed as the film's cinematographer. Baba Sehgal was chosen to portray a negative role as a cop.

Filming

While the team was still in the process of casting a female lead opposite Silambarasan, principal photography began in mid-November 2013 with a ten-day schedule in Adyar, Chennai, with scenes featuring Silambarasan and Sathish Krishnan were shot. Later, filming continued for ten days with Pallavi Subhash as the female lead. Further, the shooting progressed during the nights, in and around Kalakshetra and Thiruvanmiyur. A second schedule began in early December 2013 featuring scenes with the lead cast in urban Chennai. The film was shot for thirty days and was put on hold until Menon completed filming Yennai Arindhaal (2015).

In 2015, Pallavi Subhash could not allot bulk dates to the film and was replaced by Manjima Mohan. She was cast after actor Vineeth Srinivasan made Menon watch the trailer of Oru Vadakkan Selfie and then Manjima was auditioned and selected for the role. Filming began from 21 February 2015, re-shooting all previous scenes with Manjima Mohan. By September 2015, four songs were filmed and the team was left with 20 days of work. By November 2015, ninety percent of the filming was completed. The next schedule comprised 30 allotted days. On 17 February 2016, the climax portions were being filmed in Adyar, Chennai. However, a stunt made Silambarasan suffer facial injuries, postponing the filming schedules.

Music

A. R. Rahman's inclusion in the project was confirmed by December 2013. As per the urgency of shooting, a single track with lyrics penned by Madhan Karky was recorded within three hours by the composer at his studio in Los Angeles. Recording of the songs recommenced from February 2015. By September 2015, recording of all the five tracks by A. R. Rahman was completed. For the sixth track, Rahman was yet to see the film and score it, which was later on added as the theme music. The music rights were acquired by Divo in 2015.

The soundtrack album has five songs, all placed in the first half of the film. In an interview with The Times of India, Menon confirmed four tracks on the soundtrack album, one being "Idhu Naal Varaiyil". The track "Avalum Naanum", sung by Vijay Yesudas, was used in the first teaser of the film. "Rasaali" is set in the tunes of 90s.

The fifth track is "Thalli Pogathey" which features vocals by Sid Sriram. It framed the score for the film's official trailer. The song was recorded in the second week of December 2015. On 31 December 2015, the vocals on the track were fine-tuned. According to the singer: "The song is about a guy's longing to express himself to a girl; but not knowing how to go about it and thus, having an inner conversation with himself." The song has rap vocals by Aaryan Dinesh Kanagaratnam and backing vocals by Aparna Narayanan. "Thalli Pogathey" instantly became a sensation and went viral. On YouTube the song crossed over 2 crore views. Owing to the popularity of "Thalli Pogathey", Silambarasan recorded and released a cover version of the song on 14 January 2016.

The film director released the song titles through his official Twitter account on 1 March 2016.

Release

The film was initially titled Sattendru Maaruthu Vaanilai in December 2013. The title refers to lyrics of the song "Nenjukkul Peidhidum", from Menon's 2008 film Vaaranam Aayiram. However, the title could not be retained as the producers K. Ethiraj and Dr. Saravanan completed a different film with the same title which was censored and tax exempted. A fifty-second teaser of Menon's film that was released on 3 February 2014. However, in February 2015, the title was revealed as Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada.

The teaser was released on 29 August 2015. The first trailer was released on 31 December 2015. The film was released on 11 November 2016.

Box office

Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada had earned ₹ 3.65 crore on the first day. In the next two days, the movie added a close to ₹ 7 crore to take its first-weekend tally to ₹ 10.10 crore. It has to be noted that the major chunk of the business have come from Chennai and Chengalpet regions. AYM collected ₹ 25.60 crore total after the first week of release.