Aaru (film)

Aaru is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Hari and produced by Saran. It stars Suriya in the lead role as Aarumugam (Aaru) alongside Trisha, Vadivelu, Kalabhavan Mani and Ashish Vidyarthi. The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Priyan and V. T. Vijayan respectively.

Aaru released on 9 December 2005 and became a commercial success.

Plot
Aarumugam alias Aaru is raised by the sister of Vishwanathan, a gangster. Aaru respects Vishwanathan as his brother and is ready to go miles to keep him as the influential person in Chennai. When Vishwanathan declares war on his rival Kothanda Rama Reddy, Aaru assists him and Reddy's goons attack him, but Aaru overpowers them. Vishwanathan organises a protest and plots to kill Aaru's friends, but Aaru leaves the protest midway and proposes to his girlfriend Mahalakshmi, but she declines and gives him two months to change and orders him to stay away from her to test his loyalty and love. Aaru reluctantly accepts her decision.

Meanwhile, Aaru's friends are burnt alive during the protest as the kerosene was mixed with gasoline, even though Aaru had only requested kerosene. Filled with regret, Aaru vows to take exact vengeance. One day, Lingam tells that Vishwanathan's assistant Bhaskar had set fire to the petrol and kerosene. Immediately suspicious, Aaru tries to confront Vishwanthan, who claims that Reddy was behind this. However, Vishwanathan and Reddy made a deal to finish off Aaru in exchange for Reddy to have free rein over parts of Chennai as well as kidnapping and killing young girls. Aaru confronts Reddy and almost kills him until Reddy tells him the truthband also about Vishwanathan's true nature.

Betrayed, Aaru slices Reddy's neck and vows to destroy Vishwanathan's power. Aaru kidnaps Vishwanathan's brother, Jaganathan and slices his hand, where he challenges Vishwanathan to save his near ones as he will not spare anyone. Rajavelu, a corrupt cop and Vishwanathan's brother-in-law, obtains a shooting order to shoot Aaru, where he swears to murder Aaru due to a conflict. Aaru plans to attack Vishwanathan's second brother, Bhoominathan, who insulted and degraded Aaru several times. During a property registration, Aaru and his men wears masks and break into the registrar's office, where Aaru and his men hacks Bhoominathan and escapes.

Rajavelu fires a bullet into Aaru's shoulder, but Aaru manages to escape. With many hospitals on alert, Maha's friend treats Aaru at her house, where Maha realises Aaru's love and accepts his feelings. Aaru calls Vishwanathan and torments him regarding Bhoominathan's plight, causing Vishwanathan to kill Bhoominathan by unpluging the machine providing life to Bhoominathan. Vishwanathan kills many of Aaru's allies, while Rajavelu arrests Maha and a female officer harasses her in the station for helping Aaru, hoping for Aaru to surrender in order to save Maha's dignity. An enraged Aaru breaks into the police station and takes Maha to safety.

Loganathan and Bhaskar follow behind to finish Aaru, but Aaru sends her safely in a boat to Sri Lanka. Loganathan and Bhaskar fight Aaru, but Aaru overpowers them and nearly burns them until Loganathan begs Aaru to spare them. Aaru tells Loganathan to kill Bhaskar and Bhaskar hesitates due to their many years of friendship. Loganathan burns Bhaskar alive, but Bhaskar angrily runs into Loganathan, making him catch on fire and leading to their deaths. Rajavelu pretends to arrest Aaru with other officers and thrashes him.

Aaru, still nearly unconscious, overhears Rajavelu telling Vishwanathan he can come and kill Aaru. Realising that Rajavelu is tricking everyone, Aaru wakes up and beats Rajavelu, tying him to a tree and punching him unconscious. Vishwanathan arrives and engages in combat with Aaru, but Aaru overpowers him and cuts off Vishwanathan's arms. He tells him that Vishwanathan should realise the pain felt by his friends, who were burnt and betrayed. Realising that Aaru is right, Rajavelu surrenders to him. Aaru serves his prison term and gets released, where he reunites with Maha and the two leave for Pune to start their new lives.

Production
After directing Ayya (2005), director Hari announced his next project Aaru with Suriya. The film was launched and shooting was started in July 2005. Director Saran made his debut as a producer in this film by floating a production house "Gemini Productions", named after his film Gemini (2002).

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Devi Sri Prasad and released by Star Music in India and Ayngaran in other international territories. The album was made up of 6 tracks. The audio was launched in 11 November 2005 in a soft manner.

Release
The film was censored "A" by the CBFC due to excessive violence. The film was released on 9 December 2005 alongside Vetrivel Sakthivel and Sandakozhi. After the success of  Ghajini, Surya has a similar opening as Aaru releases with approximately 171 prints in Tamil Nadu. The opening weekend tickets for the film have been sold out in Chennai.

Critical response
Sify wrote "Aaru offers neither insight nor content-just unmitigated violence. This prolonged film is difficult to bear." IndiaGlitz gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Hari has a way with mass entertainers. The story may not be the most new, but the scenes have a raciness and keeps you interested." Lajjavathi of Kalki wrote since Suriya is recognized in Andhra Pradesh, it seems that they have tried to satisfy the fans there. The excitement till the end descends to the point of boredom due to the violent scenes.