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 titular role with Sonu Sood, Deepak, 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 beautiful maiden of Gadwal’s royal clan, who’s regarded as the reincarnation of her great-grandmother Arundhati aka Jejamma and the latter’s spitting image accordingly, is formally betrothed to Rahul. A couple of her relatives: Ramana and Susheela, drive to Gadwal but a mysterious entity causes a car crash, which they survive intact. A bedecked manor at a short distance grasps their attention, prompting them to approach it, ignoring an old man, who cautions them against it. They are received by a woman, who is apparently the landlady, and she intimidates them to “free her son” while Susheela disappears; exploring the manor for Susheela, Ramana comes across a tomb sealed by yantras in a room upstairs. As the entity from the tomb asks him to break it, Ramana attempts to getaway while the manor transforms into a ruined and dilapidated one, implying that what they has been seeing is an illusion created by the entity. The entity engenders a minor accident for Bhupathi Raja, bringing about the arrival of Arundhati and her entire extended family to Gadwal.

Arudhanti discerns Ramana’s loss of sanity and visits Anwar, a Fakir, who is usually entrusted by the inhabitants of Gadwal with evicting malevolent spirits from the affected. Distrusting his deeds, Arundhati argues with him while he gets glimpses of the manor and tomb upon touching her; he anticipates danger and asks her to leave Gadwal but she disregards him. That night, Arundhati receives a call from Rahul, who discloses his visit to Gadwal and invites her to the abandoned manor. In the manor, she’s led to the room containing the tomb; the entity evokes Jejamma in her, who threatens him. Anwar drags Arundhati away from the manor and proves the existence of harmful spirits to her, requesting her to leave. At her grandfather’s home, she comes across the portrait of the old man who has warned her against entering the manor and realizes that it’s her grandfather’s late elder brother. Puzzled by the bizarre occurrences, she persuades Chandramma, the clan’s maid from Jejamma’s generation, to narrate the story pertaining to the manor. Chandramma reluctantly agrees and recounts her experiences with Jejamma.

In a flashback, the manor is inhibited by the royalty: the chieftain Raja Chinna Venkata Rangaryudu and his daughters: Bhargavi and Arundhati Sr.; his evil sister Jalajamma explots him and orchestrates the wedding of her son Pasupathi and Bhargavi, intending to claim the assets for her son in the future. A barbaric womanizer, Pasupathi abuses Bhargavi and frequently engages in adultery alongside raping woman in the estate. On one fateful day, he brutally molests and murders Arundhati’s blind dance tutor Kanchana, rendering Arundhati furious. She requests her father to expel the mother-son duo but he confesses to being intercepted by Bhargavi’s responsibility; deeming herself an obstacle for her estate’s safety and reputation, Bhargavi hangs herself to death. A drunk Pasupathi humiliates Bhargavi while the dejected public is mourning her untimely demise; outraged, Arundhati orders people to bash him ruthlessly, tie him to his horse, which drags him away to the woods. Dubbed as the estate goddess Jejamma for her brave step, she excels in administration, arts, warfare, generously indulges in charity and grows to be a beautiful woman. On the contrary to what is presumed, Pasupathi is found barely alive in the woods by Aghoras. After recuperating, a vengeful Pasupathi assimilates dark powers and arrives at Gadwal on Jejamma’s wedding day. He murders people and disrobes her partially; she lures him into her dancing room, performs a dance imbibed by martial arts: a skill she learnt from Kanchana. Through her magestic dance, Jejamma pierces his tongue to prevent him from uttering incantations, commands a chandelier to fall on him and entombs him alive with divine yantras, tridents and enchantments, so as to forbid his Pretatma from being released after his death. The manor was deserted to obstruct anyone from breaking him free.

Currently, Chandramma finishes her story just as she’s about to tell something that is frightening; despite this, Arundhati induces her to reveal that forty eight days after his entombment, Pasupathi’s spirit threatened Arundhati. Elsewhere, Pasupathi instigates Ramana to disintegrate the tomb, letting his Pretatma out of it. He begins to trouble Arundhati, initially as one of his maids’ imposter, prompting her to prepone their departure to Hyderabad and rush out to meet Anwar but discovers his absence in Gadwal and witnesses his assistant being hit by a truck as he proposes to help her. Horrified, she tries to make her way out of Gadwal but is terrorized to return home; possessing another maid Manga, Pasupathi instructs Arundhati to dispatch her family off Gadwal and stay home, intending to fulfill his sexual desires and end her. As she complies, Anwar and Chandramma’s arrival foils his plans; Anwar ejects his spirit from Manga and coaxes Arundhati to agree that she is Jejamma’s rebirth. Through a painting-cum-inscription of Jejamma, Arundhati discovers that Pasupathi’s vengeful spirit caused destruction in Gadwal despite being locked in the tomb; he induced diseases and drought in the estate, devastating the public.

In the past, desperate to find a solution, Jejamma visits a set of Aghoras, who discloses that a weapon could be created from her bones but she is required to die for it and will be reborn to accomplish the task. She is killed after bidding a farewell to her family and well-wishers and a weapon is fashioned from her skeleton. Anwar claims to be aware of the Aghoras’ location and proposes to procure the weapon with Arundhati, while requesting Chandramma to be safe at his place. Pasupathi intimidates Rahul to come to Gadwal and lets Arundhati know of his impending arrival, frightening her; their car meets with an accident and Anwar is probably killed while Arundhati returns to rescue Rahul. Having spotted the latter, Chandramma pursues him to caution him but Pasupathi possesses an autorikshaw driver and murders her. Arundhati seals the driver in Anwar’s room while her family arrives and everyone discovers Chandramma’s death. Pasupathi breaks free from Anwar’s room and the scene cuts to Arundhati lying unconscious on the road.

To protect her abducted family, a dejected Arundhati surrenders herself to Pasupathi in the manor while Anwar, who has sustained himself, procures the weapon and hands it over to Arundhati. She stabs Pasupathi but it doesn’t seem to work and he murders Anwar just as he’s about to disclose that the weapon needs to be soaked in her blood before killing him. Defenseless, Arundhati contemplates suicide and stabs herself with the same weapon but it strengthens her and the weapon, prompting her to kill Pasupathi with it while the manor is completely destroyed. The family, who has evaded the demolition, mourn Arundhati’s supposed death but a little girl from the family recognizes Arundhati walking out of the ruins and notifies the family of Jejamma’s arrival.

Cast

Production

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. 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 “.

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. Filming also took place at Ramanaidu Studios.

Post production

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 launched by Sri Thenandal Films, was released on 20 March 2009.

Reception

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 , 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

Nandi Awards 2008

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.

• 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 Bommayi 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.