| 24 | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Vikram Kumar |
| Written by | Vikram Kumar |
| Produced by | Suriya |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Tirru |
| Edited by | Prawin Pudi |
| Music by | Songs: A. R. Rahman Score: A. R. Rahman Qutub-E-Kripa |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Eros International[1] Studio Green |
Release date |
|
Running time | 160 minutes[2] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ₹70 crore[3][4] |
| Box office | est.₹100 crore[4] |
24 is a 2016 IndianTamil-languagescience fiction action film[5] written and directed byVikram Kumar. It is produced bySuriya under2D Entertainment. The film starsSuriya in triple roles, alongsideSamantha Ruth Prabhu andNithya Menen.Saranya Ponvannan,Ajay,Girish Karnad,Mohan Raman,Sudha,Sathyan andCharle appear in the supporting roles. The film follows Sethuraman, a scientist, who invents atime travel watch but Athreya, his twin brother, does everything he can to get hands on that.
The film's development dates back to 2009, at which time it was to starVikram andIleana D'Cruz. However, in February 2010, the project was dropped due to the difference in opinions between the director, producer, and actor, facing rejection of the refined script. In August 2014, Suriya agreed to produce and act in the film, withprincipal photography commencing inMumbai in April 2015, continuing inNasik,Goregaon andPune. The second phase of filming was done inPoland[6] by the end of September 2015. Filming was completed inChennai by November 2015. Produced by2D Entertainment, the film hascinematography byS. Tirru. The soundtrack and film score were composed byA. R. Rahman, with lyrics byVairamuthu andMadhan Karky.
24 was released on 6 May 2016.[7] The film was a critical and commercial success,[8][9] and won two awards at the64th National Film Awards –Best Cinematography andBest Production Design. Suriya won theCritics Best Actor Award at the64th Filmfare Awards.[10]
In 1990, Sethuraman is a scientist and renowned watchmaker who lives with his wife Priya and newborn son Manikandan. On 13 January, Sethuraman successfully completes his invention of a time travelling watch. His happiness is short-lived, however, as his gangster twin brother Athreya attacks the family and kills Priya to get the watch. He only finds the key to the box that the watch was hidden in. Unable to use the watch and fearful for his son's life, an injured Sethuraman manages to escape with his son and gets on a train, with Athreya in close pursuit. Sethuraman pleads with a woman he meets on the train named Sathyabhama to take care of his son and goes to face Athreya. He manages to trick Athreya into thinking he is carrying a bomb, prompting Athreya to quickly kill Sethuraman before jumping off the train to his apparent death. It is shown that Sethuraman placed the locked box containing his watch along with Mani, who grew up unaware of the contents of the box, as well as his true parents.
26 years later, in 2016, Manikandan (called Mani) is now a talented watch mechanic who believes Sathyabhama to be his mother. Mani meets a girl Sathya, who had come for her watch repair, and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Athreya, who survived his fall and was in a coma, wakes up after 26 years (due to a fire in the hospital, in which the key of the box is dropped) and is shocked to find out that he is now paralysed from the waist down and older. He is cared for by his trusted confidante, Mithran.
In a chain of events, the key of the box ends up in the hands of Mani, who opens the box and discovers the watch inside. He figures out its capabilities including its ability to freeze time for 30 seconds, but questions the origin of the watch, and how it ended up in his possession.
Athreya, upset with the fact that he lost 26 years of his life and has become a paraplegic, obsesses over the watch and wishes to go back in time to relive his lost youth. Mithran issues an advertisement offering INR 5 crores (50 million) as a reward for the lost watch. This advertisment is discovered by Mani's friend Saravanan on a newspaper. Mani deduces that the creator of the advertisement is aware of the powers of the watch. In order to figure out the truth, Mani uses the original to make an identical copy and along with his friend Saravanan, goes to the provided address.
At the office, Athreya spots Mani's copy (his "watch" was the only one with the original back) and realises that Mani has the original watch. He summons both of them to the office and viciously attacks them, brutally kills Mani by chopping his hand, and gets hold of the watch. An ecstatic Athreya reverses time only to find out that the watch cannot transport its wearer beyond 24 hours, waking up at 12 am the night before. He now realises that Mani is the only one who can upgrade the watch. Mani is then shown to be alive. Athreya decides to convince Mani that he is Sethuraman, and pretends that he is dying from an incurable disease.
Now disguised as Sethuraman, Athreya finds Mani and tricks him to upgrade the watch to enable larger time jumps. Mani manages into successfully upgrade the watch but learns Athreya's true identity and the reason for his parents' deaths. He tricks Athreya into revealing the date of his parents' death and returns to 1990 to warn them. Unfortunately, right before he travels, Athreya manages to grab onto the watch and they both transported back. Athreya as a healthy adult about to storm Sethuraman's house, and Mani as a toddler who can't speak. However, Sethuraman discovers the upgraded watch in Mani's crib. At first, he is excited over the fact that Mani time traveled, but Priya asks why Mani would travel back to a time when he couldn't talk. Sethuraman quickly realizes, to his and Priya's horror, that Mani travelled back in time to warn them. With this realization, a now prepared Sethuraman manages to successfully use his watch to freeze time, kill Athreya and escape his henchmen. Priya asks Sethu to throw the watch away as she has had enough of the past to which he complies.
Sethu and Priya board the same train as Sathyabhama, and they start a conversation in which Sethu tells Sathyabhama that he is a science teacher. Sathyabhama asks them to come and join her family's school as they want to hire a science teacher. Sethu and Priya, for a fresh and happy start, agree to it. The film ends with a young Mani talking to a young Sathya.
In August 2009, directorVikram Kumar announced that he was set to direct a film titled24. The film was backed by producer Mohan Natarajan, which would feature actorVikram in a lead role.Harris Jayaraj was confirmed to score the music andP. C. Sreeram to handle the film cinematography.[11] By late 2009, the filming commenced atAVM Studios,Chennai.[12] Sets that resembled dense forests and caves were replicated.[12] In an interview withThe Times of India inChennai, director Vikram stated: "We have signedIleana D'Cruz to do24. It will be her re-launch inTamil cinema. She has given us bulk dates from February 2010 for the second schedule of the film."[13][14] In February 2010, Vikram Kumar officially announced that he had dropped the film. Vikram clarified that he fine-tuned the film script but it was rejected by actor Vikram and the film producer.[15] Further, the other reason cited was that the director had failed to provide the complete script even while production expenses were increasing.[16] Due to difference of opinions, the director voluntarily walked out and stated that he had been making changes in the script and would approach a leading actor in future.
In 2014, Kumar held preliminary discussions withMahesh Babu, who loved the script but was unsure about being able to play triple roles, eventually passing the offer on.
"Many writers and directors have attempted a movie dealing with time travel. But this movie is about my perspective of this genre, and unlike what usually happens in such movies, I have kept the narrative very simple, so that anyone from the ages of six, right up to sixty can enjoy the movie, in which a gadget actually plays an important role."
In August 2014,Suriya's production company2D Entertainment announced the project through their official Twitter handle. In October 2014,A. R. Rahman was announced as the film soundtrack and score composer. ActorSuriya was confirmed as the male lead.[18] The main plot of the revived project was the same as the one narrated to actor Vikram, but over the years, Vikram Kumar changed the screenplay with new dimensions in narration.[19] In an interview Suriya pointed the core of the plot stating: "The one thing that humans cannot control is "time" but what if one has the power to do so. This is the core theme of the film24."[20]
Actor Suriya played triple[16] roles in the film, with five appearances.[17] One of the roles being that of anantagonist, five to six looks were designed for him.[21] The antagonist character "Athreya" is a wicked, yet smart guy who goes to any extent to fulfill his desires.[17] The producers had potential discussions withCatherine Tresa[22] for the lead female role beforeSamantha Ruth Prabhu was finalised in February 2015.[23] In July 2015,Nithya Menen was roped to play the other leading character.[24] Characters played by Samantha and Nithya in the film are of contrasting nature though both play love interest opposite Suriya.[17] Samantha plays the love interest opposite to the character "Mani" whereas Nithya Menen to the character "Sethuraman".[25] Saranya Ponvannan plays the role of a mother of the character "Mani".[26]
Principal photography commenced inMumbai on 8 April 2015.[27] A romantic song was filmed inNashik by early June 2015.[28] Certain scenes were filmed atFilmistaan studios inGoregaon.[16] VFX works were also carried out in the same studio by September 2015.[16] Nithya Menen began filming her portions in the city from 1 August 2015.[24] The first schedule was completed by early September 2015.[29] By mid of the same month, a twenty-day schedule began inPoland.[29] The crew filmed action scenes and songs atKraków, theZborow Mountain,Zakopane, Leba,Lewin Klodzki,Jedlina Zdroj,Wałbrzych,Bulowice andNowe Brzesko–all in Poland.[30] The lights were provided by Kraków Company Cinelight. The Kraków Film Commission and Kraków Film Cluster supported the project in Poland.[30] This second schedule of filming was wrapped up on 30 September 2015.[31] On 26 October 2015, the team shot an important sequences inSubrata Roy Sahara Stadium inPune. The shoot was completed in a single day.[32] By the end of the same month, the last schedule of filming was done at Adithyaram Studios inChennai.[33] On 2 November 2015, the filming was completed.[33]
In all, the film was shot for over 100 days, out of which 30 days of work was done abroad.[17] More than 60 percent of the film involves VFX.[17]
Thefilm score andsoundtrack album are composed byA. R. Rahman. The lyrics to the songs are written byVairamuthu andMadhan Karky. The soundtrack album was released byEros Music on 9 April 2016, and its rights were bought later bySony Music India.[34]
The film was released on an estimated 1,950–2,000 screens worldwide.[35] The screen count inUnited States was 267, with special premieres held on 5 May 2016.[36] The states ofAndhra Pradesh andTelangana shared 425 plus screens between them.[35]
A game titled24: Athreya Run which was created by Creative Monkey Games was released through application distribution platformsiOS App Store andGoogle Playstore on 1 May 2016.[37]
In his review forThe Hindu, criticBaradwaj Rangan called24 an "intelligent, joyous mix of sci-fi and masala-myth."[38] Sreedhar Pillai in his review forFirstpost mentioned, "24 is a classy commercial entertainer, which has its moments."[39] Malini Mannath ofThe New Indian Express wrote, "Attractively packaged, 24 is refreshing, novel and worth a watch."[40] M. Suganth ofThe Times of India, assigned 4 out of 5 stars, stating: "It is not often that we see a big star choosing to take a risk with a script that is not simplistic or formulaic, especially when his last few films have underperformed at the box office, but here Suriya pulls it off admirably."[41] IndiaGlitz.com rated the film 3.3 out of 5 and called it as "A beautiful and brilliant show of Time"[42] ForThe Indian Express, Goutham VS wrote: "Suriya’s ‘Athreya’ is a role to remember for years to come. DirectorVikram Kumar needs to be applauded for handling such a complex multi-layered screenplay."[43] He gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5.[43] Critic based atIndia Today, Kirubhakar Purushothaman praised the director, calling him the hero of the film. He extended his review by assigning 3.5 stars (out of 5).[44] In her review forDaily News and Analysis, Latha Srinivasan stated, "Actor Suriya gives a stellar performance in this tale of time travel! Vikram Kumar's '24' is a visually stunning film with a novel concept."[45] She gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5.[45] A 3.5 star (out of 5) generalized review byIndo-Asian News Service mentioned that the "Suriya starrer is truly ambitious".[46] Critical review board based atBehindwoods said: "24 is all about Suriya. Every emotion is portrayed in his point of view; from love to comedy to pain to revenge, it all comes under his coverage as he plays three important roles in the film."[47] They assigned the film 3.25 stars out of 5.[47] In her review published byThe Deccan Chronicle, Anupama Subramaniam called the film a "well executed and intelligently woven sci-fi thriller."[48] She gave the film 3 stars out of 5.[48] Subha Shetty Saha, in her review forMid-Day stated, "24 is a fantastic attempt at sci-fi genre of filmmaking and also belies a lot of hard work and thought that have gone into this at the screenplay stage."[49] She gave the film 3 stars out of 5.[49] S Saraswathi ofRediff felt, "24 is a cleverly crafted entertainer that is worth your time and money."[50] Gautaman Bhaskaran of theHindustan Times gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, claiming: "The Sathya-Mani romance is silly to the core, and drags the narrative down by several notches, though uniformly fine performances by Menen, Samantha and Suriya come as magic relief."[51]Sify rated 3 out of 5 stars stating "Straight off the bat Vikram Kumar's Suriya sci-fi film 24 is a well executed thinking movie within the commercial format."[52]
J Hurtado ofTwitch commented on the film, "24 is about as high concept as masala entertainers come, it never forgets its purpose is to thrill its audience and give them what they paid for. It is a breathless, inventive, romantic, action packed adventure that is packed to the gills with surprises and joy."[53] Mythily Ramachandran, in her review forGulf News concluded that the film was an entertaining ride and went on to say, "The time-travelling film wins with superb and often hilarious performances by its leading actors."[54]
By the end of its first weekend, the film had earned around₹50 crore (US$5.8 million) in India,[55] with a considerable part of the revenues coming from the Telugu version. At₹17 crore (US$2.0 million), the collections fromTelangana andAP were equal to that fromTamil Nadu during the opening weekend.[56]
The film grossed over $1 million in three days on 161 screens in theUnited States. In the U. A. E. and Australia, the film earned $200,000 andAUD187,000 respectively during the same period.[55][57] The film grossed $1.6 million in the United States in its lifetime.[58]
The film's trailer, teaser and the first look posters featuredSuriya as aparaglider. However, the paragliding sequences were removed by thefilm editor due to time constraints.[59] In an interview, the editor stated that paragliding is Mani's (character played by Suriya) hobby and was supposed to be featured as an introductory scene for Mani.[59] Later, he stated that the deleted scene would be featured in the sequel of the film; planned as24: Decoded.[59]
The title24 was in a legal tussle when actorAnil Kapoor planned an action against the production house2D Entertainment as the official look and logo of the film title seemed similar to the American TV series24, for which Kapoor had bought the remake rights from20th Century Fox International TV.[60] Kapoor held the rights of the 192 episodes for a period of four years extendable to another ten years. His lawyers defended the case, stating that Kapoor holds one of the highest licensee deals for a fiction format.[60] A legal action was planned againstSuriya and his production house 2D Entertainment but was settled in April 2015.[61]
The film received two Awards at the 2017 Vikatan Awards – Best Visual Effects for Julian Trousselliar and Best Art Direction for Amit and Subrata.[62] It won two awards –Best Cinematography andBest Production Design – at the64th National Film Awards.[63]
24 is a subtitled Tamil language science fiction action drama about a scientist who creates a time travel device.