Kadal
Film's first official poster
Kadal (English: Sea) is an upcoming Tamil film being directed and produced by Mani Ratnam. The film features debutants Gautham Karthik, son of actor Karthik, and Thulasi Nair, daughter of Radha, in the lead roles. It features music and background score by A. R. Rahman. The film revolves around life of Christian fishermen who instill the fact that how faith can sometimes lead to the triumph of humanity. The film will be dubbed and released simultaneously in Telugu as Kadali.
Development
During a press meet in December 2009, actor Karthik revealed that his son, Gautham Karthik, would make his debut in Mani Ratnam's next venture after his bilingual films Raavan and Raavanan. In July 2010, reports emerged that the film was titled as Pookkadai. Mani Ratnam stopped pre-production work on the film in late 2010 and moved on to plan a big-budget historical project titled Ponniyin Selvan, but months later was forced to shelve it due to financial issues. Later, owing to the speculated title of the former project, the team was unable to name the film Pookkadai as an aspiring director Satish had already registered the name in 2007, and finally the project was renamed as Kadal in February 2012. Jayamohan was signed on to be a part of the script-writing team for the film in August 2011 itself, while Rajiv Menon was also confirmed as cinematographer for the film, reuniting with Mani Ratnam after the successes of Bombay and Guru.
Casting
Akshara Haasan, daughter of actor Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika was heavily linked to play the female lead role in August 2011 but was not signed. In December 2011, reports emerged that Hindi film actress Sonam Kapoor was finally signed on to play the role after being convinced by her father but the news was untrue. Jhanvi, daughter of producer Boney Kapoor and actress Sridevi, was strongly considered to play the role. Finally in January 2012, it was revealed that Samantha was confirmed to portray the lead female role, making film Kadal her most high-profile project till date. After production had begun, Samantha was forced to opt out of the film in June 2012 due to her PMLE ailments. The ace director replaced the lead female by signing Thulasi Nair, the second daughter of actress Radha. Initially, when Thulasi was first auditioned for the role, she was not selected as Ratnam opined that she was too young for the role. Post Samantha's exit, she was roped in. The child actress in Mani Ratnam's 2002 film Kannathil Muthamittal, Keerthana was approached for a role but was not signed as she chose to join the film's team as an assistant director, instead.
In November 2011, actor Arjun was signed to play a pivotal role in the film, declining reports of playing the antagonistic role. Lakshmi Manchu would be playing a village belle in a negative shade, making her debut in Tamil films. Soon after, actors Pasupathy and Lal were selected to portray supporting roles in the film, but Lal dropped the film due to his commitments to Malayalam film Ozhimuri. Arvind Swamy, who had appeared in several Mani Ratnam's films of the 1990s, would be making a comeback through this film. Thambi Ramiah was also confirmed to be a part of the cast. Child artiste Saran, earlier seen in films such as Mudhal Idam and Mye, would be seen playing Gautham Karthik's childhood role. Theatre artist Devi would be essaying the role actor Gautham's mother. Baby Rakshana would be playing the role of childhood Thulasi. Mani Ratnam roped in Nayantara for a special role in the film which was confirmed in early July 2012. However the actress opted out claiming unavailability of dates and meager scope of her character in the film. Malayalam comedian Baiju was selected to play a supporting role.
Filming
Keeping principal photography under wraps, the director made the leading duo to undertake a 20-day acting workshop that was conducted by his crew. The shooting of the film started on March 1, 2012 at Manapad, a sea village in Thoothukudi district. Scenes involving Arvind Swamy and Lakshmi Manchu were shot first. In March 2012, for five day schedule, important scenes were shot at Kottayam, Muhamma, backwaters and forts of Kochi in Kerala. The filming continued in Kerala throughout April 2012. A scene featuring the lead actors was shot at a church, created as a set in Tuticorin. Scenes were also canned in longest Indian lake Vembanad, Alappuzha. In the scenic interiors of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, twenty days filming schedule was completed by end of July 2012. In an interview with Times of India in October 2012, Suhasini Mani Ratnam revealed that filming was in its final stages. On October 31, 2012, the crew shot the climax of the film in coastal suburbs of Chennai under the weather contrived by Cyclone Nilam. On November 5, 2012, the shooting of the film was completed except for a song to be canned later in Alappuzha.
Marketing
In February 2012, after the official announcement of the project with title, several forged posters were released over the internet citing wrong credits and the film plot. On November 19, 2012 the film's official page was launched on social networking website Facebook. After two days the poster of the male lead concealing his visage was released through the same. In order to guard the facial identities of the debutantes, Mani Ratnam requested their respective parents to not let Thulasi or Gautham Karthik be snapped by anyone. The actress had also refused to appear at an interview for the same reason. First countenances of the lead actors were released through special posters on the film's page, Gautham Karthik's look being unveiled on December 4, 2012 and Thulasi on December 10, 2012. The first official teaser, incorporating song Elay Keechan was released on Madras Talkies' YouTube channel on December 8, 2012.
Music
Director Mani Ratnam's usual associate music composer, A. R. Rahman composed the songs as well as the background score for the film. The lyrics of three songs were penned by Vairamuthu, other three by his son Madhan Karky and remaining one by rapper Aaryan Dinesh Kanagaratnam, making the album feature seven tracks in the soundtrack album. The album was scheduled to release on December 17, 2012 but due to tremendous pre-booking orders, the audio label advanced the release by two days. The album was released on December 15, 2012 by the record label Sony Music. It opened up with extremely positive reviews, topping the Indian music charts, especially iTunes India.
Release
Gemini Film Circuit bought the theatrical rights of the film for 25 crores. The movie is set to release on February 1, 2013.
