Sasanam

Sasanam (transl. The Will) is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Mahendran. The film, based on the short story of the same name by Gandharvan, stars Arvind Swamy, Gautami and Ranjitha, while Balabharathi composed the music and K. P. Nambiathiri handled the cinematography.

The film began production in the mid-1990s but was only released in 2006 due to production trouble, with all three of the lead actors retired at the time of release.

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Muthiah and his wife Visalakshi are a loving couple, and they come across Saroji who with no one to go for, takes refuge in Muthiah's house. Muthiah and Saroji develop soft corner towards each other. The rest is what transpires between the trio, exploring the nuances of an extra-marital affair.

• Arvind Swamy as Muthiah (Ramanathan)
• Gautami as Visalakshi
• Ranjitha as Saroji
• Thalaivaasal Vijay
• Sabitha Anand
• Sujitha
• Vellai Subbaiah

When Mahendran attended film festivals, he met foreigners who requested him to make a film on Tamil Nadu culture instead of taking inspiration from world cinema. This led Mahendran to make a film on Nagarathar culture of Karaikudi for which he researched them for three years and the film was an adaptation of the short story of same name written by Gandharvan. The film was majorly shot at a house at Kandanur at Karaikudi.^[2]

The film began production in the mid-1990s and Balabharathi composed the music while Lenin and Vijayan were signed on as editors.^[3][4][5] Former State Assembly Speaker and senior AIADMK leader K. Kalimuthu penned a song for the film which was sung by Chithra, Sriram and Sathyanarayana.^[6] By January 1999, the film was described to be ready for release and Mahendran moved on to work on other projects.^[7]

By 2000, the film was referred to as "delayed, believed dead" by the media, with reporters suggesting that changes in Gouthami's physique since signing the film would hinder any chances of conpletion.^[8] During production, the film's budget became overrun so Mahendran approached the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) to take over the financing of the film in 2000. To avoid the film being delayed further due to financial problems, the lead actor Arvind Swamy opted against receiving any salary for the film.^[9][10][11] The film later finally geared up for release in mid-2006 and during the time of release, Arvind Swamy and Gautami had already quit the Tamil film industry, while Ranjitha was semi-retired.

Soundtrack was composed by Balabharathi.^[12][13]

A reviewer from Sify said that the film "tugs your heart strings, striking the right chord though a bit slow and old fashioned in shot compositions and presentation".^[14] In regard to performances, the critics adds that "Gouthami returns after a break and she is excellent as Visalakshi. Ranjita is the only drawback and she is not convincing as a dancer and is not able to get her expressions correctly" and that Arvind Swamy is "first rate opting for a restrained mode in which he is able to bring out the pathos and hidden feeling of the character very well."^[15] Lajjavathi of Kalki felt the director needs four scenes to make a point and what kind of screenplay strategy is this? The scenes should have been recorded with sharper dialogues and also felt music makes us the whole film tired while panning Gauthami's characterisation and Ranjitha's dance, she however praised Marudhu's art direction and Aravind Swamy's acting and concluded calling it thirst quencher of art lovers.^[16] Cinesouth wrote "If the first half of the film did not progress at a slow tempo usual of serious subjects, it would have held the interest of even a frivolous film fan who favors peppy dance numbers more. Well, this happens to be an NFDC film, so…".^[17]

The film was later shown during the 7th annual film festival of India at Atlanta from 21 August 2009.^[18][19]

• Sasanam at IMDb