Rudhran

Rudhran is an 2023 Indian Tamil-language action film produced and directed by S. Kathiresan from a script by K. P. Thirumaaran. The film, which marks S. Kathiresan's directorial debut, stars Raghava Lawrence and R. Sarathkumar, alongside Priya Bhavani Shankar, Nassar, Poornima Bhagyaraj, Kaali Venkat, Ilavarasu, Redin Kingsley and Sharath Lohitashwa. The score was composed by Sam C. S., while the soundtrack was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, Dharan Kumar and OfRo.

Rudhran was released theatrically on 14 April 2023, coinciding with Puthandu, to mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and became a box office bomb.

Plot
Rudhran, an IT professional, lives a happily with his parents Devaraj and Indhira in Chennai. Rudhran falls in love with Ananya, a lab technician, who later reciprocates his feelings. Devaraj, a transport agency owner, helps his friend Das get a loan of ₹6 crore from a moneylender Ethiraj, but Das cheats Devaraj by absconding with the loan and Devaraj dies upon learning this. After Rudhran and Ananya get married, Rudhran leaves for London to settle the financial issues, Ananya becomes pregnant and gives birth to a daughter Anya. Ananya and Anya spend time with Rudhran in London. Rudhran tells her to see his mother and Ananya goes back to Chennai.

One day, Rudhran hears about Indhira's sudden death and Ananya's disappearance, where he travels to Chennai and carries out Indhira's funeral rites. Rudhran and Shakthi investigates about Ananya's disappearance, where they meet a cab driver, who had picked Ananya from the airport. However, the cab driver gets killed by a motorcycle gang. Rudhran captures one of the gang member and arrives at his hideout, where he sees Varadha, whom he met at Indira's funeral. Varadha is the leader of motorcycle gang. Rudhran tortures Varadha to reveal the truth.

Past: In 2007, Varadha and Bhoomi were recidivists in Pollachi who develops their crime network by targeting the parents of the abroad-settled children. Bhoomi and Varadha kills the parents by injecting them with a serum, which would induce heart attack, and later uses the parent's fingerprints to usrup their land and properties. Due to a ₹100-crore business deal, Bhoomi targets Indhira and her house. Varadha and his gang enters Indhira's house, where they secretly kill her.

Present: Rudhran gets furious after learning this and impales Varadha. However, Bhoomi arrives with his men and attacks Sakthi and Rudhran, where Guna, Bhoomi's henchmen, hangs Shakthi to death. Bhoomi reveals that he told Varadha and his gang to kill Ananya after she arrived at Indhira's house. Bhoomi stabs Rudhran, where he burns the factory and leaves Rudhran to his death, but a constable Narasimhan saves Rudhran. Distraught over his family's death, Rudhran begins his violent crusade, where he kills Sasi at a container depot.

Rudhran later kills Guna at an under-construction building. Bhoomi realizes that Rudhran is after him, where Bhoomi tells Ganga to hire Maari to kill Rudhran. Maari attacks Rudhran and Anya at a festival in Tirukalukundram, but Rudhran kills Maari and his men. Rudhran and Bhoomi confront each other at the Kala Bairavaa temple. Rudhran kills Bhoomi's men, including Ganga, and an intense fight ensues between Bhoomi and Rudhran. Rudhran finally kills Bhoomi by injecting the same serum, which Bhoomi used to kill the parents, thus avenging his family's death.

A few years later, Rudhran runs a charitable trust under Indhira's name, where he tracks down Das in Madurai and thrashes him to avenge Devaraj's death.

Production
Rudhran marks the directorial debut for producer S. Kathiresan and the second collaboration between Raghava Lawrence and R. Sarathkumar after their first venture Kanchana. The first look poster for the film was released on 23 June 2022. A promotional glimpse of the film was released on 29 October 2022. Shooting of the film was wrapped up on 5 March 2023. The trailer for the film was released on 5 April 2023.

Music
The songs of the film were composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, while the remix version of the song "Paadatha Pattellam"  from Veera Thirumagan was recreated by Dharan Kumar, who also collaborated with singers Sathyaprakash and Nithyashree Venkataramanan previously for Carvaan Lounge Tamil segment. The song "Jorthaale" which was composed by OfRo and featuring lyrics from singer Asal Kolaar back in 2021, was re-used for this film and it was released to digital streaming platforms as fourth single of the film's album. Sam C. S. composed the background score for the film.

Release
The film was earlier schedule to release on 23 December 2022, but was postponed due to a delay in the VFX works. The film was released on 14 April 2023, coinciding with Puthandu.

Home media
The digital rights were bought by Sun NXT, while the satellite rights were sold to Sun TV.

Reception
Rudhran received mixed to negative reviews from critics.

Critical response
ABP Nadu gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Raghava Lawrence's movie is 100% entertainment guarantee so you can go to the theater and watch this movie once with your family.". Logesh Balachandran of The Times of India gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Rudhran is just another rehash of many action entertainers in Tamil cinema." 123Telugu gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Raghava Lawrence starrer Rudhran is just a mediocre action drama that works in parts. The movie may not appeal to all sections of audiences, but given its nature, it will end up just an okay watch for the mass audience this weekend."

Thinkal Menon of OTTplay gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Raghava Lawrence's enthusiasm and Sarath Kumar's menacing antagonist's role come across as huge relief in this below average potboiler that offers nothing new". Shameena Parveen of Samayam gave 2/5 stars and criticized its length.

Janani. K of India Today gave 1/5 stars and wrote "The story deals with a conflict that has the potential to be developed into a full-fledged crime story, but the filmmaker decided to do away with that and delve into melodrama instead. The final result is a film that hardly has anything new and interesting to offer." Bharathy Singaravel of The News Minute gave 1/5 stars and wrote "With a stereotypically tragic backstory, extreme violence, and an utterly unconvincing hero, the film would have perhaps worked better if marketed as a parody."

Ananda Vikatan noted it as a "time pass film". Kalyani Pandiyan. S of Hindustan Times wrote "The film has all the features of a commercial film. Everything has worked out well except the action." Gopinath Rajendran of The Hindu wrote "Rudhran is an excruciating watch that brings nothing new to the table and tries to capitalise on the tropes that had worked for ages, only to fail because of the same reason."