Virunthali

Virunthali (transl. Guest) is a 2010 Tamil language romantic drama film directed by Udayasankaran Whaterman. The film stars newcomer Michael Ishwar and Vidya Pradeep, with Gopika Rajesh, Nassar, Bala Singh, Singampuli, Appukutty and Ambani Shankar playing supporting roles. The film, produced by Rajesh Gopinath, had musical score by S. S. Kumaran and was released on 16 July 2010.

Virunthali
Directed by	Udayasankaran Whaterman
Written by	Udayasankaran Whaterman Singampuli (dialogues)
Produced by	Rajesh Gopinath
Starring	Michael Ishwar Vidya Pradeep
Cinematography	Sajan Kalathil
Edited by	Raja Mohammad
Music by	S. S. Kumaran
Production company	Gopika International
Release date	16 July 2010 (2010-07-16)
Running time	135 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

In a small village in Madurai, Ishvar (Ishvar) is a hard-boiled money lender who hangs up with his sidekick Oli Shankar (Singampuli) and Ishvar lives in a luxurious bungalow with his mother. Ishvar is eagerly awaiting the release of his father (Nassar) who is in jail for murder and his family is highly respected by the villagers. One day, the law student Archana (Vidya Pradeep), daughter of the village postman Rangarajan (Bala Singh), comes to the village. Each encounter between Ishvar and Archana ends up in a quarrel but they eventually fall in love with each other. When Rangarajan falls sick, Archana is forced to do her father's job while Ishvar stops lending money and opens a pawn shop. In the meantime, Ishvar helps his friend Arun to marry his lover Kanaka. Kanaka was brought up by her aunt and uncle who want to appropriate her inheritance.

Meanwhile, Ishvar's father returns from jail. Arun is then killed by Kanaka's family with the help of the corrupt Sub-Inspector Muttaiah (Cheran Raj) and a shocked Archana witnesses it. Kanaka's family abducts Kanaka and forces her to give them her inheritance. Archana then reveals everything to Ishvar and a vengeful Ishvar saves Kanaka. Thereafter, some goons kill Archana in her house and stage the murder to look like suicide by hanging. Overwhelmed by his lover's death, Ishvar becomes mentally ill.

Cast

• Michael Ishwar as Ishvar
• Vidya Pradeep as Archana
• Gopika Rajesh as Gopika
• Nassar as Ishvar's father
• Bala Singh as Rangarajan, Archana's father
• Singampuli as Oli Shankar
• Cheran Raj as Sub-Inspector Muttaiah
• Appukutty as Kaadu
• Ambani Shankar as Parthiban
• Harish Ori
• Sivathanu
• Bhuvan
• Bharathi
• Prema Priya
• Risha in a special appearance

Production

Director Udayasankaran Whaterman, who hailed from Kerala and had worked as an associate director with A. K. Lohithadas, made his directorial debut with Virunthali under the banner of Gopika International. Ishvar (also known as Anand Michael and Jack Michael) was selected to play the hero while Vidya Pradeep (credited as Dhyana) who played the second heroine in Aval Peyar Thamizharasi (2010) was chosen to play the female lead role. Music baton was wielded by S. S. Kumaran of Poo fame, Raja Mohammad took care of the editing and the cinematography was by Sajan Kalathil.^[1][2][3]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by S. S. Kumaran. The soundtrack, released in 2010, features 6 tracks.^[4] The audio was launched by Cheran at Kamala Cinemas in Chennai. Kalaipuli G. Sekaran, Prasanna, Karan, Ezhil and Sasi attended the audio launch.^[5]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Eppodhu un Jannal"	Victordas	Hariharan, Mahalakshmi Iyer	04:16
2.	"Kadidhame Kadidhame"	Murugan Mandhiram	S. S. Kumaran	04:02
3.	"Kokka Kokka Kozhi"	Murugan Mandhiram	Chinmayi, Vinitha, Srimathi	01:23
4.	"Aasa Arakki"	Murugan Mandhiram	Yash Golcha, B. Suhasini	03:29
5.	"Endhan Uyir"	Murugan Mandhiram	Yash Golcha	04:35
6.	"Singam Varudhu"	Victordas	Yash Golcha	03:55
Total length:				21:40

Critical reception

Sify stated, "The film is poor in imagination, content and visuals and you have non-actors in the lead making it tedious to watch. It requires a lot of patience to sit through this big bore, that lacks basic fundamentals of filmmaking".^[6]