Poojai (Tamil Movie)

Development[edit]

In December 2013, Vishal stated that he would produce and feature in a film which would be directed by Hari and that the pair would collaborate again after the success of their previous venture, Thaamirabharani (2007).^[6] Hari had described the film as a "triangular action story" which starts in Coimbatore and ends in Patna, while revealing Yuvan Shankar Raja had already completed composing the film's songs before production began.^[7] The film was officially launched on 28 March 2014, with a press release naming the film's cast and crew.^[8] Yuvan Shankar Raja was selected to compose the music for the film, whilePriyan and V. T. Vijayan were confirmed to be the cinematographer and the editor of the film respectively.^[3] Vasuki Bhaskarwas selected to do the costume designing and make-up.^[9]

Casting[edit]

Early reports in December had suggested that Shruti Haasan would be signed on to play the film's heroine, though she only confirmed her participation in March 2014.^[10] Sathyaraj and Soori were added to the cast to play supporting roles, while actress Kausalya was announced to be making a comeback with the film starring alongside a bevy of other supporting actresses.^[11] The team approached Rekha to play Vishal's mother in the film, but her unavailability meant that the team later cast Radhika Sarathkumar.^[12] Prathap Pothen and Janaki Sabesh were also selected to play the parents of Shruti Haasan's character.^[13] Andrea Jeremiah was selected to dance in a special number, a folk song, with Vishal.^[14] Sathyaraj sported a bald look for this film thanks to his simultaneous shoot for S. S. Rajamouli's Baahubali (2015) and his role was said to be "very powerful" and also the "suspense element of the film".^[15][16] Bhojpuri actor Awadhesh Mishra was selected to play an international don in the film which marks his debut in Tamil cinema.^[17] Actor Vaibhav Reddy was selected for an important role in the film.^[18] The Youth, Arts and Culture Minister of Bihar state Vinay Bihari was selected to play the role of a district collector in the film's climatic portions when he expressed his interest in acting to Hari when he was in Bihar for location scouting.^[19] Barath Raj who has won Mr.INDIA second runner up 2014 title has played a crucial role of collector's son from Bihar. Actress Abhinaya was selected to play a supporting role.^[20]

Filming[edit]

Principal photography commenced on 18 April 2014 at Chennai.^[21] During the shoot of an action sequence in a one crore worth set at Saligramam, Vishal injured his middle finger in his right hand for which 14 stitches were administered. Thus the shoot was temporarily halted.^[22] The item number featuring Vishal and Andrea Jeremiah was shot by early May in the backdrop of the Koyambedu Market in Chennai.^[23] Later, the unit proceeded to Coimbatore for filming major portions of the film.^[24][25] At that time, it was known that Hari planned to wrap the film's shoot in 40 working days.^[26] A fight sequence was shot in a popular mall multiplex there and scenes involving Vishal and Shruti Hassan were also shot in the mall in Coimbatore.^[27] The filming continued at Karaikudi in early July where scenes featuring the principal cast were shot.^[28][29] The shooting continued in hot weather making things difficult while Vishal suffered injuries for the second time in the film's shoot. He suffered a fracture during the shoot of an action sequence after trying to avoid falling on his face while he slipped from an asbestos sheet.^[30][31][32]

In the first week of August 2014, the film's climax was shot at Bihar in a 10 day schedule and by then, 95% of the film's shoot was complete.^[33] The climax was said to have few risky stunts which were shot first in the final schedule. Both Vishal and Shruti Hassan carried out the risky stunts and fights by themselves.^[34] Some scenes for the climax were also shot in Golconda Fort in Hyderabad in special and enormous sets erected for the climax and a song was also shot there.^[35] On its completion, one romantic song was shot at Switzerland and the remaining fast-paced song was shot in Chennai.^[36][37] Vishal and Shruti Haasan completed a hard folk song sequence, which was shot in AVM facilities and choreographed by Baba Baskar. One more song sequence was also shot in Poland.^[38] On 29 September 2014, Shruti confirmed that the shooting of the film was completed.^[39]