Arundhati (2009 film)

Arundhati is a 2009 Indian Telugu-language horror fantasy film directed by Kodi Ramakrishna, and produced by Shyam Prasad Reddy, under his banner, Mallemala Entertainments. The film stars Anushka Shetty in the title role with Sonu Sood, Arjan Bajwa, Sayaji Shinde, Manorama, and Kaikala Satyanarayana. The music is composed by Koti with cinematography by K. K. Senthil Kumar and editing by Marthand K. Venkatesh.

Released on 16 January 2009, the film was a major commercial success and went onto become one of the highest-grossing Telugu films in history at the time. The success of the film turned Anushka into a major movie star overnight in Telugu cinema. The film received several accolades, including ten Nandi Awards, and two Filmfare Awards South.

The film was remade in Bengali with the same name in 2014.

Plot
Arundhati, a woman believed to be the reincarnation of her great-grandmother Jejamma, is engaged to Rahul. While traveling to Gadwal, one of her relatives Ramana and his wife Susheela encounter a mysterious entity and are led to an abandoned mansion. Inside, they encounter a tomb and are trapped in an illusion created by the entity. Arundhati's family arrives in Gadwal due to an accident caused by the entity to her grandfather Bhupathi Raja jr. Arundhati seeks the help of Anwar, a Fakir, who warns her about the danger but she ignores him. Arundhati is later lured by the entity to the abandoned mansion, and is stopped by a man. She ignores him and enters the mansion. She encounters the tomb, but is pulled out by Anwar, who warns her by showing a ghost.

Arundhati later discovers that the man whom she met outside the mansion is her grandfather's late elder brother and persuades the house maid Chandramma to tell her the story of Jejamma. In a flashback, the mansion is ruled by Raja Chinna Venkata Rangarayudu and his daughters, Bhargavi and Arundhati Sr., Pasupathi an evil man and Bhargavi's husband, abuses her and indulges in rape and adultery. One time due to influence of alcohol and lust he even rapes and kills Arundhati’s dance instructor which enrages Arundhati inspite being attempted to thwart her by her elder sister Bhargavi. Her father is helpless, as Bhargavi is Pasupathi's wife. Bhargavi kills herself after realising that she is an obstacle for her father. During Bhargavi's funeral, a drunken Pasupathi mocks her death. Enraged, Jejamma kicks Pasupathi out of the palace after the people of Gadwal beat him black and blue. However, he returns after 7 years as an aghora to seek revenge, and enters the mansion, killing innocents. But after seeing her beauty he wants to have sex with her before killing her and sacrificing her soul to his deity Aghora. After luring him null with her special dance performance taught by her dance instructor who was previously raped and killed by Pasupathy. Jejamma entombs him alive in the mansion, which is subsequently abandoned. Chandramma reveals that Pasupathi's spirit threatens Arundhati after forty-eight days.

Pasupathi manipulates Ramana to release his spirit from the tomb, and he terrorizes Arundhati. Anwar and Chandramma intervene, and Arundhati learns she is Jejamma's reincarnation. Pasupathi's spirit caused destruction in Gadwal despite being sealed in the tomb. Jejamma visits Aghoras and sacrifices herself to create a weapon from her bones.

Arundhati and Anwar set out to retrieve the weapon, but Pasupathi threatens Rahul and causes an accident. Arundhati returns to rescue Rahul but encounters Pasupathi. Chandramma is killed, and Arundhati confronts Pasupathi to surrender herself to him for sex before killing her. Anwar gives her the weapon, when Pasupathy tries to force her to have sex with him but before he can explain its power, Pasupathi kills him. Arundhati stabs herself with the weapon, becoming stronger, and kills Pasupathi. The manor is destroyed, and Arundhati is presumed dead.

However, Arundhati survives and is recognized by a little girl from her family. They realize that Jejamma has returned.

Development
Shyam Prasad Reddy revealed that he got the idea of Arundhati while receiving National Awards for the film Anji (2004). Being inspired from films like Chandramukhi and The Exorcist, he made it a female-oriented story "for a bigger appeal so that the entire family could watch it. I added classical dance to it. I wanted to mount the film on a grandeur scale.[sic] I wanted to play the film on 'fear of the evil spirit'. Arundhati is about good fighting evil. Hence I had to make sure that both the characters of Arundhati and Pasupati equally powerful [sic]".

Casting
Shyam Prasad Reddy wanted somebody with a 5'10" (5 feet 10 inches) height and "should look royal because she is the queen, and she rides on horses and elephants". Gemini Kiran suggested Shyam Prasad Reddy to choose Anushka for the role. After conducting her photoshoot, Shyam Prasad Reddy explained the story and Arundhati's characterisation. Reddy wanted Tamil actor Pasupathy to enact the role of an antagonist of the same name but since the character has "a royal side to the character where he has to look princely", he had chosen Sonu Sood for the role after seeing his performance in Ashok (2006).

For the characterisation of Fakir who helps Anushka's character in the present era, Shyam Prasad Reddy drew inspiration from the priest character in the 1976 American horror film The Omen. He considered Naseeruddin Shah, Nana Patekar and Atul Kulkarni for the role; however, none of their dates were available. Sayaji Shinde was finally chosen for the character.

Principal photography
Filming took around 250 days, in Hyderabad and other places. The interior of the place is shot at the Annapurna Studios, while the exterior was at Banganapalle fort at Kurnool. Filming also took place at Ramanaidu Studios. The drum dance involving Anushka choreographed by Sivashankar who "had to coordinate with the graphics team to get the exact precision" and was shot for 45 days at a set erected at Annapoorna Studios. The costumes for Anushka was designed by Deepa Joshi. According to the film's cinematographer Senthilkumar, they used Motion control camera for the first time in Telugu cinema that "could shoot glittering fort and dilapidated fort with the same motion control."

Dubbing
Sowmya Sharma had dubbed for the character of modern-day Arundhati and Shilpa for Jejjama. Dubbing voice for Sonu Sood was provided by P. Ravishankar. Ravishankar completed the dubbing within 14 days and found it to be "most challenging work" and his voice "has gone sore for 5 times during this process".

Visual effects
Rahul Nambiar was appointed as Creative Director and Visual Effects Supervisor by Shyam Prasad Reddy for this feature film. Nambiar felt that showcasing a ghost as the main villain, throughout the film was challenging. With help of some dedicated scenes written, visualization, and visual effects, Nambiar and his team could achieve and what they had planned with Reddy.

Nambiar also stated "We created all the action in computer dolls, animated all of them and added all the film cameras and made it like a film. We saw it as a rough edit and then we shot it. There was a lot of meticulous work. The pre-production itself took about seven months".

Music
The music and background music of this film was composed by Koti. The soundtrack was critically acclaimed. Especially the tracks "Jejamma", "Chandamama" and "Bhu Bhu" and in Tamil "Bhoomi Kodhikum", "Gummiruttil Kudamkizhithu kundril ezhum", "Enna Viratham Ettrai Neeyamma" were huge hits. The album featured eminent singers like K. S. Chithra, Kailash Kher, Kalpana Raghavendar and N. C. Karunya. Koti, while speaking said that this film helped him to prove himself and in his career of 30 years this was his personal best. The track "Jejamma" required a majestic and ambient grandeur, so Koti selected Kailash Kher. The track "Bhu Bhu" took many days for Koti to compose and he felt it should be sung by an amazing singer who could aptly give the ferocious feel and hence went with Chithra. Lyrics were written by Veturi for "Bhu Bhu Bhujangam", Anant Sriram for "Chandamama", and C. Narayana Reddy for "Jejamma". This album features four songs and three instrumentals.

Release
The Tamil dubbed version of the film, which was distributed by Sri Thenandal Films, was released on 20 March 2009. The film received an "A" certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification for excessive violence and gore.

Critical reception
Rediff gave it three stars out of five and said, "The main plus points of the film are screenplay (creative director Rahul Nambiar and the Mallemalla Unit), art direction (Ashok), cinematography (Senthil Kumar), editing (Marthand K. Venkatesh), special effects and the performances of Anushka [Images], Sonu Sood and Sayaji Shinde. On the whole, Arundhati is a watchable film provided you don't have a weak heart and don't get into discussing logic, science, and rationality. Just watch what unfolds on the screen – for that's visual grandeur". Sify gave its verdict as "Worth a watch" with four stars noted, "The film has come across with some really mind-blowing graphics and presentation, even the performances were top-notch that helped. While the drums scene is a take from the Chinese movie 'House of Flying Daggers' it was well taken and presented. The shock points are high and one can say that the film is definitely not for the weak-hearted. There are enough chilling moments to shake the audience off their chair. The film is one of the best made ever in the history of Telugu cinema in terms of technical values so it deserves to be a good hit". Behindwoods reviewing the Tamil dubbed version, gave 3 out of 5 stars and stated "Old school horror, new age film making".

Box office
The film grossed ₹70 crore at the box office with ₹3 crore from overseas markets. The satellite rights of the film were sold to Gemini TV for ₹ 7 crore.

Accolades
Though the film was released in 2009, it was registered for 2008 films for Nandi Awards. The film received a total of 10 Nandi awards.
 * Nandi Awards 2008
 * Best Villain – Sonu Sood
 * Best Child Actress – Divya Nagesh
 * Best Editor – Marthand K Venkatesh
 * Best Art Director – Ashok
 * Best Audiographer – Radhakrishna & Madhusudhan Reddy
 * Best Costume Designer – Deepa Chandar
 * Best Makeup Artist – Ramesh Mahanti
 * Best Male Dubbing Artist – P. Ravi Shankar
 * Best Special Effects – Rahul Nambiar
 * Special Jury Award – Anushka Shetty


 * Filmfare Awards South – 2009
 * Best Actress – Telugu – Anushka Shetty
 * Best Supporting Actor – Telugu – Sonu Sood
 * Santosham Film Awards
 * Best Director – Kodi Ramakrishna
 * Best Producer – Shyam Prasad Reddy
 * Best Actress – Anushka Shetty
 * Best Villain – Sonu Sood
 * Best Dubbing Artist Male – P. Ravi Shankar
 * Best Cameraman – K. K. Senthil Kumar

Legacy
Arundhati's success turned Anushka into one of the most sought-after actresses in Telugu and catapulted her into the foray of leading Telugu actresses. Sonu Sood attained stardom with this film and went on to work in several South Indian films as an antagonist. After the release of Arundhati, people began recognising him as Pasupathi. P. Ravishankar who dubbed for him also became popular and was referred to as 'Bommali or Bommali Ravi Shankar' by the media thereafter.

According to writer Gopimohan, Arundhati made audience to "welcome creative content" and Magadheera started a trend of experimentation with period, socio-fantasy and spiritual themes that was continued in films like Panchakshari (2010), Nagavalli (2010), Anaganaga O Dheerudu (2011), Mangala (2011), Sri Rama Rajyam (2011) and Uu Kodathara? Ulikki Padathara? (2012). Tammareddy Bharadwaja said "Ever since Arundhati and Magadheera did well at the box office, the rest of the industry started following their footsteps. Also, since there is an irrational craze to make high budget films right now, producers are turning towards mythological films. It is the only genre where you can boast of spending crores for creating the sets and the look of the film. But what they don't realize is that if these films flop, the blow to the producer will be severe." Films like Anaganaga O Dheerudu (2011) and Sakthi (2011) were commercial failures and Badrinath (2012) was an average grosser; all being fantasy films in which the protagonist is a warrior.