Arasatchi

Arasatchi (transl. Government Rule / Government Authority) is a 2004 Tamil language vigilante thriller film directed by N. Maharajan which starred Arjun and Lara Dutta, alongside an ensemble cast.^[1] This is the Tamil debut of Dutta. The film's music was composed by Harris Jayaraj.^[2] The film was released on 17 September 2004 to mixed reviews.^[3]

Arasatchi
Directed by	N. Maharajan
Written by	N. Maharajan
Produced by	Murali Manohar Haresh Vikram Vijayakumar
Starring	Arjun Lara Dutta
Cinematography	S. Saravanan
Edited by	B. S. Vasu Saleem
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Production company	Cee (I)TV Entertainment(p)ltd
Distributed by	Mars Entertainment Group Motion Pictures Partners
Release date	17 September 2004 (2004-09-17)
Running time	154 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Brammanadham (Anandaraj), a lawyer who argues for rapists and murderers, is killed by a cricket ball hit by Siddharth (Arjun). Siddharth is a GM of a five-star hotel owned by S. Ve. Shekher. Shekher's daughter is Lara (Lara Dutta), who is introduced with a song. She comes from abroad to join her father's hotel, but only as a trainee under the macho Siddharth. Within no time, Lara is in love with Siddharth.

It is now time for duets. Lara's friend Prakash (Karan) is a campaigner of public cause. His efforts lead to a brothel raid and a minister getting arrested. The minister's goons bump off Prakash, and Siddharth is an eyewitness. Siddharth refuses to testify, and Lara walks out on him. Janakiraman (Charan Raj) pleads for the killer and lets him off. Siddharth bumps off Janakiraman. Major Vishwanath (Nassar), a military officer, is a witness to the murder. He even postpones his heart operation until the killer is nabbed. Siddharth now tells his story of why he is on a hunt of the lawyers who plead for the bad guys. Vishwanath gives up his mission.

Next, Karunakaran (Devan) takes a brief for a rapist, and he too is killed. Next is the turn of advocate Ashok Mehta (Raghuvaran), who comes from Delhi. The surprise element is that Ashok is Siddharth's brother-in-law; Ashok's wife is Siddharth's long-lost sister. Now, the brother-sister sentiment comes into play.

Finally, the story ends with Ashok being shot dead by Siddharth in the court premises. The police opens fire, and bystanders form a human wall and get shot at. Siddharth tells the TV crew about how his mission has spread to the masses.

Cast

• Arjun as Siddharth
• Lara Dutta as Lara
• Vivek as Hotel Assistant Manager
• S. Ve. Shekher as Lara's father
• Karan as Prakash
• Vindhya as Menaka, Prakash's wife
• Nassar as Major Vishwanath
• Raghuvaran as Ashok Mehta (Siddharth's brother-in-law)
• Anandaraj as Advocate Brammanadham
• Charan Raj as Advocate Janakiraman
• P. Vasu as Saravanaperumal, Siddharth's father
• Kavitha as Lakshmi, Siddharth's mother
• Abitha as Swetha, Siddharth's sister
• Manivannan as Hotel Receptionist
• Devan as Karunakaran
• Rajan P. Dev as Contractor Muthupandi
• Mansoor Ali Khan as Inspector India Ganesan
• Ajay Rathnam as Inspector Karthikeyan
• Vaiyapuri as Soosai
• M. N. Nambiar as Poojaari
• Ponnambalam as Muthupandi's henchman
• Uma as Gayathri
• Delhi Ganesh as Sivaraman
• Mahanadi Shankar as Goon
• Bose Venkat
• Dhamu
• Riya Sen as Bar Dancer in item song (Iruvadhu Vayasu)
• Perarasu as reporter (uncredited)

Production

After the success of Vallarasu Maharajan was supposed to direct Vijaykanth in another project but later got dropped and Maharajan went on to remake Vallarasu in Hindi as Indian with Sunny Deol.^[4] Meanwhile, Maharajan announced his next project Arasatchi with Arjun playing the lead role. Miss Universe 2000 Lara Dutta made her acting debut in Tamil with this film.^[5] The film boasts of 14 villains played by Raghuvaran, Karan, Anandaraj, Nassar, M. N. Nambiar, Ponnambalam, Delhi Ganesh, Mansoor Ali Khan, Devan, Rajan P. Dev, and Manivannan among others. Uma, Abitha, Vindhya and P. Vasu play crucial roles in the film.

The filming was held at Le Royal Meridian Hotel, Chennai, and the songs were picturised at locations in London, New Zealand and Canada.^[6]

During the making of the film, music composer Harris Jayaraj fell out with the director.^[7] The movie was completed in 2003 but got delayed due to financial problems and finally released in 2004,^[8] in between production delays Maharajan finished Anjaneya with Ajith.

Release

The satellite rights of the film were secured by Raj TV. The film was given an "A" certificate by the Indian Censor Board. Before release, poster featuring tagline "When Justice Fails" created controversy which caused a lawyer to file a case citing that the film would portray lawyers in bad light. After one week, case was finally won.^[9][10]

Soundtrack

Arasatchi
Soundtrack album by Harris Jayaraj
Released	2 April 2004
Recorded	2004
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	28:44
Label	Hit Musics New Music Cee (I) TV Audio Ayngaran Music
Producer	Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj chronology
Chellamae (2004) Arasatchi (2004) Arul (2004)

The soundtrack and background score was composed by Harris Jayaraj

Track-List

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Arakonathil Aarambam"	Thamarai	Sunitha Sarathy	5:32
2.	"Chant of Arasaktchi"	Viveka	Karthik, Chandran	2:32
3.	"Ippadiyea Vittu vittu"	Na. Muthukumar	Shankar Mahadevan, Swarnalatha	5:37
4.	"Irubadhu Vayadhu"	Viveka	Harini, Febi Mani	4:20
5.	"Kozhaa Puttu Penney"	Snehan	Sriram, Srilekha Parthasarathy	4:39
6.	"O Muhalai Muhalai"	Thamarai	Harish Raghavendra, Harini	6:04
Total length:				28:44

References

1. "Arasatchi (2004)".
2. "Arasatchi (2004) Cast - Actor, Actress, Director, Producer, Music Director".
3. . Archived from the original on 28 December 2016.
4. . cinematoday2itgo. 19 March 2000. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016.
5. . The Hindu. 17 July 2003. Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
6. . www.chennaionline.com. Archived from the original on 20 September 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. . Archived from the original on 16 August 2002.
8. "Tamil Cinema News | Tamil Movie Reviews | Tamil Movie Trailers - IndiaGlitz Tamil".
9. "Tamil Cinema News | Tamil Movie Reviews | Tamil Movie Trailers - IndiaGlitz Tamil".
10. "Tamil Cinema News | Tamil Movie Reviews | Tamil Movie Trailers - IndiaGlitz Tamil".