Miruthan

Miruthan (transl. Zombie) is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language zombie apocalyptic action horror film written and directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan, starring Jayam Ravi and Lakshmi Menon in the leading roles.[2] D. Imman composed the music, while Venkatesh S. handled the cinematography. Shot in Ooty and Coimbatore within 54 days, the film derives its title from a hybrid of two words, Mirugam meaning animal and Manithan meaning man.[3]

Miruthan
Theatrical release poster
Directed byShakti Soundar Rajan
Produced byS. Michael Rayappan
Written byShakti Soundar Rajan
Starring
Music byD. Imman
CinematographyVenkatesh S
Edited byK J Venkatramanan
Production
company
Distributed byAyngaran International Media
Release date
  • 19 February 2016 (2016-02-19)
Running time
105 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

The film depicts a zombie apocalypse in the state of Tamil Nadu that starts after a poisonous liquid spills from a container outside a chemical laboratory in Ooty. Karthik is a traffic police officer who learns of the outbreak when his sister goes missing and he finds himself attacked by some zombies. He teams up with some doctors and his girlfriend to escape from Ooty and find a cure for the outbreak, while zombies keep spreading from city to city.

Prior to its release, the film faced issues when the Central Board of Film Certification granted it an A (adults only) rating. The makers approached the revising committee that passed the film with a U/A (parental guidance) rating.[4][5]

Along with a Telugu dubbed version titled Yamapasham, the film was released theatrically on 19 February 2016. Miruthan has also been screened at multiple film festivals such as the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, the Fantasia International Film Festival (the second Tamil film after Enthiran to get selected for this festival), the MOTELx - Lisbon International Horror Film Festival, the Morbido Film Fest, the Sitges Film Festival, the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival and the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Later, Jayam Ravi introduced plans to make the sequel Miruthan 2 as a superhero film so as to cater to younger audiences as well.[13]

Plot

The opening scene shows a container of poisonous liquid being spilled from a transport vehicle at a chemical laboratory in Ooty. A stray dog consumes it and turns violent, which then bites a security guard. The security guard turns into a zombie within hours and starts a chain of human infections via bites.

Back to the present, Karthik (Jayam Ravi) is a traffic police sub-inspector in Ooty who avoids all kinds of dangers as he takes care of his younger sister Vidhya (Anikha Surendran), who is in her early teens. Both are orphans but live with Karthik's friend Chinnamalai (Kaali Venkat), a traffic police constable. Karthik is in love with a cardiology doctor named Renuka aka Renu (Lakshmi Menon), but never proposes in all their meetings. Renu is engaged and is about to marry an NRI named Naveen (Amit Bhargav), who is also a cardiologist. One day Karthick messes up with Minister Gurumoorthy (R. N. R. Manohar) by allowing an auto carrying pregnant women in Minister's way. Next day morning Karthick finds that his sister Vidhya goes missing, while looking for her he was suddenly attacked by Zombies. At the same time, the police of Ooty are informed of the outbreak and get orders to shoot anyone who has turned into a zombie. Karthik is looking for Vidhya by sticking posters of his missing sister on walls and killing some zombies in his way. He receives a call in which he is told to arrive at a place to find his sister. There, he finds Renu and her group of doctors, including the chief doctor Dharan (Jeeva Ravi), all working on finding a vaccine to cure all of the zombies. At Renu's house Karthick and Chinnamalai finds Minister Gurumoorthy who is the father of Renu and comes to know that the Minister has kidnapped Vidhya for vengeance, He finds Vidhya at a swimming pool surrounded by Minister Gurumoorthy's zombified henchman and finds that Zombies are allergic to water. Renu tells Karthick to save the doctors who are trapped inside the house, which is invaded by zombies.

Escorted by Karthik, the team comprising Dharan, Renu, another doctor Kamal (Raghavan Durairaj), Renu's father Minister Gurumoorthy (R. N. R. Manohar), Chinnamalai, and Vidhya, the group heads to Kovai aka (Coimbatore), where they are to use medical equipment to find a cure to the tragedy. But Dharan was already scratched by a zombie, so he was not getting infected immediately. He doesn't reveal this to anyone, fearing for his safety. When they near Mettuplayam, they were shocked to see that the infection had already spread in Coimbatore. The zombies crowd around the police van, so Karthik is forced to rash-drive the van to kill the zombies one by one.

Later, Gurumoorthy unknowingly disturbs some zombies and Karthik ended up having to shoot them which attracts many other zombies around. Then they all are forced to take shelter in a mall, opposite to the hospital. Meanwhile, Naveen is inside the hospital trying to find the vaccine. They get ahold of Shri (Sriman) a frightened security guard of the mall.

After a few hours, Dharan turns into a zombie and bites Vidhya. Karthik kills Dharan with his gun, but Vidhya does not turn into a zombie despite the fact that she was attacked almost an hour ago. Kamal says that she will be able to help them in finding the vaccine as she has the required antibodies and immunity. Karthik had to escort them to the hospital, which faces the mall. For this, he uses pressurized water from the mall's fire truck, knowing that they are allergic to water. Despite the reduced time, Karthik manages to bring everyone safely to the hospital except Renu. He goes back to the mall to bring Renu, but he does that without any water source. So he leads Renu to the hospital but was bitten by the zombies while escorting her. He himself slowly turns into a zombie, but he safely escorts her to the hospital before his human feelings lose and also advises Renu to shoot him. But she is too adamant to know the reason why he had saved her, despite the uncaring Naveen's attempts and her selfish father, and realizes his love for her, but Karthik turns into a zombie, thus Renu shoots him.

The doctors finds the required antidote and start dealing the virus. Later, Karthik, now completely a zombie, is seen on top of a bus which is going to Chennai, implying that Renu did not shoot Karthik properly and hence he has survived the attack.

Cast
  • Jayam Ravi as Traffic Sub-Inspector Karthik, a police officer who loves Dr. Renuka and his sister Vidhya. One day, he is assigned to kill the citizens of Ooty who have turned into the zombies due to infectious bites. But at last, he himself is attacked by the zombies and is presumed to be killed by Renuka.
  • Lakshmi Menon as Dr. Renuka, Karthik's love interest and Dr. Naveen's the would-be. She always thinks bad about Karthik, but after she kills him as he has become a zombie, she realises about his good nature and his true love for her, and hence feels sorry for him.
  • Sriman as Shri, the frightened mall security who escorts the main characters to the shopping area. He is the main comedian.
  • R. N. R. Manohar as Minister Guru Moorthy, who is brave towards innocents but is timid towards zombies. He, in short, is indeed a sadist.
  • Kaali Venkat as Constable Chinnamalai, Karthik's best friend who helps him in saving his sister from the zombies. He is the main relief by giving comedies.
  • Anikha Surendran as Vidhya, Karthik's only sister who is attacked by Dr. Dharan after he becomes a zombie, but she survives the attack because she has the immunity power which later helps the other doctors to find the vaccine.
  • Jeeva Ravi as Chief Dr. Dharan, who later turns into a zombie due to an attack and attacks Vidhya, but is killed by Karthik.
  • Crane Manohar as Wedding Broker. He suggests Karthik to marry some Chennai-based girls.
  • Amit Bhargav as Dr. Naveen, Renuka's would-be who is also a sadist.
  • Nellai Siva as Gurumoorthy's henchman and comedian
  • Raghavan Durairaj as Assistant Dr. Kamal. He suggests to Karthik that Vidhya is their saviour. He successfully finds the vaccine antibody through her.
  • Dhilip Rayan as Karthik's friend

Production

The film was announced on 14 January 2015, after the shooting of Ravi's another project of the year, Romeo Juliet was completed. Filming began in March 2015, after Jayam Ravi accepted an offer from Shakti Soundar Rajan to feature in a film produced by Michael Rayappan.[14] Lakshmi Menon subsequently joined the team to portray the film's heroine.[15] The team shot for thirty days in Ooty in May 2015, before returning to Chennai to complete portions.[16] In July 2015, a schedule was held at Binny Mills, where the art direction team had erected a set costing 1.5 crore rupees. As of January 2016, the filming was completely ended.[17]

Soundtrack
Miruthan / Yamapasham
Soundtrack album by
D. Imman
Released19 January 2016 (Tamil) 08 March 2016 (Telugu)
Recorded2014-2015
StudioVijaya Vahini Studio, Chennai
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LabelSony Music
ProducerD. Imman
D. Imman chronology
10 Enradhukulla
(2015)		 Miruthan / Yamapasham
(2016)		 Pokkiri Raja
(2016)

D. Imman composed the soundtrack for both the Tamil and the Telugu versions, with durations overlapping.

Track list
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Munnal Kadhali / Hey Naa Preyasi"Madhan KarkyVishal Dadlani, Sharanya Gopinath 
2."Bitten by Insanity (Theme)" D. Imman 
3."Veri Veri Veri / Kasi Kasi Kasi"Madhan KarkySuraj Jagan, Maria Kavita Thomas 
4."Mirutha Mirutha / Yevaro Yevaro"Madhan KarkyShreya Ghoshal, Vijay Yesudas 
5."Horrifying Zombies (Theme)" D. Imman 
6."Munnal Kadhali (Reprise) / Hey Naa Preyasi (Reprise)"Madhan KarkyHaricharan 
7."Munnal Kadhali / Hey Naa Preyasi (Karaoke version)"   
8."Mirudha Mirudha / Yevaro Yevaro (Karaoke version)"   

Release

The film was dubbed into Hindi and released as Daring Rakhwala.

Reception

Sudhir Srinivasan of The Hindu said that Miruthan was an inconsistent ‘zombie’ film with excessive melodrama.[18] Latha Srinivasan of dna gave 2 stars and said "The zombies of Hollywood won't do a far better job of entertaining you than Miruthan.[19] Times of India gave 2.5/5 and wrote "Like, you want to praise the makers for trying something different — the first zombie film in Tamil cinema, in this case — but immediately, you are worst with another thought: 'Did the first zombie film in Tamil have to be this clumsy and unexciting?'[20]Behindwoods gave the film 2.75/5 and stated "For audiences who have seen Hollywood zombie films, Miruthan would be an old experience. And kudos definitely to Shakthi Sounder Rajan for attempting something different from the usual themes that Tamil cinema is known to churn out film after film."[21] Film critic Sreedhar Pillai expressed via Twitter that the "interval creates impression (that the) 1st half (is) worst than 2nd half" while the climax was "long drawn out", giving the film a 0.5/5. IndiaGlitz.com rated the film 1.3/5 and stated " Miruthan- Sores a lot and little else[22]

Box office

The film collected ₹10.66 crore (US$1.5 million) in Tamil Nadu in first weekend and ₹20.13 crore (US$2.8 million) worldwide.[23]

Possible Sequel

In March 2016, Shakti Soundar Rajan announced his plans to make a sequel of the film in the future. He later began a different film featuring Jayam Ravi in the lead role titled Tik Tik Tik.[24][25]

References
  1. "MIRUTHAN (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  2. Avinash Pandian (3 September 2015). "From Mithran To Miruthan". Behindwoods. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  3. "Miruthan Will Be A Different Zombie Film, Says Jayam Ravi". Silverscreen.in. 8 February 2016.
  4. "Miruthan vs Censor Board?". Behindwoods.com. 6 February 2016.
  5. "Miruthan gets 'UA' in revising committee". Sify.com. 12 February 2016.
  6. "Miruthan". Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival.
  7. "Miruthan selected at Fantasia International Film Festival". Behindwoods.com. 6 May 2016.
  8. "MOTELX - Lisbon International Horror Film Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary through screenings of Miruthan and Psycho Raman". Embassy of India, Lisbon, Portugal: News.
  9. "Morbido Fest 2016: This Year's Amazing Poster And Full Lineup". Screen Anarchy.
  10. "Miruthan". Sitges Film Festival.
  11. "Shakti Soundar Rajan on Twitter: "Happy 2 announce #Miruthan is playing at Yubari International Film Festival in Japan!". Twitter. 7 February 2017.
  12. "World Fantastic Red - Miruthan". Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.
  13. "Miruthan 2, a superhero film: Jayam Ravi". The New Indian Express. 21 February 2017.
  14. "Jayam Ravi on a signing spree". Sify. 21 March 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  15. Radhika C Pillai (22 April 2015). "Lakshmi Menon's next is with Jayam Ravi". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  16. "Jayam Ravi's next is Miruthan!". Sify. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  17. Kaushik L M (15 October 2015). "Kabali and Mirudhan share the same spot..." Behindwoods. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  18. Miruthan review: An inconsistent ‘zombie’ film with excessive melodrama. The Hindu (19 February 2016). Retrieved on 2016-04-05.
  19. 'Miruthan' Review: Jayam Ravi's zombie flick leaves a lot to be desired | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis. Dnaindia.com (2016-02-19). Retrieved on 2016-04-05.
  20. Miruthan Movie Review, Trailer, & Show timings at Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com (20 February 2016). Retrieved on 2016-04-05.
  21. Miruthan (aka) Mirudhan review. Behindwoods.com (19 February 2016). Retrieved on 2016-04-05.
  22. "Miruthan review. Miruthan Tamil movie review, story, rating — IndiaGlitz.com". IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  23. "Jayam Ravi reveals the box office collection of 'Miruthan'". Sify. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  24. staff (9 March 2016). "Jayam Ravi teams up with Shakti, again". Times of India. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  25. staff (9 March 2016). "Shakti Soundar Rajan reveals when he will start 'Miruthan 2'". IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
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