Maryan (Tamil: மரியான் Mariyāņ; English: The Immortal) is an upcoming Indian Tamil drama thriller film directed by Bharat Bala starring Dhanush alongside Parvathi Menon. Produced by Venu Ravichandran, the film has music and background score composed by A. R. Rahman, and cinematography by Marc Koninckx. The film revolves around a story of human survival adapted from a newspaper article of a real-life crisis event, when three oil workers from India were kidnapped and taken hostage in Sudan by mercenaries. The film is an emotional journey of a common man to an unknown place with the hope to come home and lead a better life. The film will release in Auro 3D sound format on selective screens in India and worldwide on July 19, 2013.
The director opined that the fishing community in southern India goes through terrible hardship and countries like Nigeria, Sudan, Libyaborrow them as hard labor. The character played by actor Dhanush is a physically strong, economically poor but simple man from a very remote village who was in need of a job and hence, this forms the outline of the film. Parvathi Menon was signed on to play a key role as character Maryan's love interest in the film. In an interview with The Times of India, Parvathi described her role as unusual and multi-layered: "Female characters usually figure in a movie just as a way of furthering a love story. But my character, Panimalar, is different and that's what attracted me to the role. She plays a love interest but also has so many other layers to her." The director was inspired by the 2008 French-Liberian film Johnny Mad Dog, which starred a real life group of LURD child soldiers and subsequently chose them as well as the cinematographer of that film, Marc Koninckx, to be a part of Maryan.
In early 2011, director Bharat Bala read about a 2008 incident involving three immigrant oil workers from India being kidnapped in the Darfur region of Sudan and how they had managed to escape from post being hostages. While improvising his script, the director met the former hostages who were held for 21 days under captivity. In late September 2011, the director narrated the first half of the film script to actor Dhanush and he agreed play the character Maryan.
During this time, the filmmaker was done with half of the screenplay. Following his casting in the film, actor Dhanush became involved in character and screenplay-related discussions that were carried on for six months. In March 2012, the film and collaborations were officially announced.
After a lot of research, the director came up with the film title and stated it is the name of the character. In Tamil it translates to "A man who never dies". As per the film script, it implies that the spirit of the man never dies.
The director opined that the fishing community in southern India goes through terrible hardship and countries like Nigeria, Sudan, Libyaborrow them as hard labor. The character played by actor Dhanush is a physically strong, economically poor but simple man from a very remote village who was in need of a job and hence, this forms the outline of the film. Parvathi Menon was signed on to play a key role as character Maryan's love interest in the film. In an interview with The Times of India, Parvathi described her role as unusual and multi-layered: "Female characters usually figure in a movie just as a way of furthering a love story. But my character, Panimalar, is different and that's what attracted me to the role. She plays a love interest but also has so many other layers to her." The director was inspired by the 2008 French-Liberian film Johnny Mad Dog, which starred a real life group of LURD child soldiers and subsequently chose them as well as the cinematographer of that film, Marc Koninckx, to be a part of Maryan.
A press release from March 2013 along with a poster revealed the film's outline as "A young man is faced with adversity. Life deals him immense challenges, and forces him to struggle to thrive. But he does, nevertheless, fighting to survive by thriving on the sheer undying spirit of the human will to survive. Along his thrilling journey is a tryst with adventure, a smattering of drama and a gritty tale that shows the power of love in extreme circumstances. And that is the story of Maryan." In an interview with Zee News, Bharatbala quoted, "Even though it (Maryan) is about the fight for survival, it deals with several other emotions such as love, separation and struggle. The story recounts a beautiful journey about the separation of the protagonist from his loved ones and his struggle to reunite".
Filming:
As the film's story takes place in Sudan and in Kanyakumari, India, Bharat Bala noted that filming had to take place in two contrasting terrains. The sandy rugged locations in Africa were shot in Liberia, made to look like Sudan, and several other portions were shot in a month. Subsequent close-up scenes featuring supporting cast members from Africa were filmed in India. The first schedule of the film began in Namibia, with scenes including a fight sequence supervised by Dilip Subarayan, being canned. The song "Nenje Ezhu" was shot in Namibia's Coastal Deserts featuring the leading duo.
The final schedule of the film started in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu in November 2012 and filming took place over a couple of months throughout the coastal region of South India. Filming was also held in Mandaikadapudur village close to Kanyakumari, India, named as Neerodi in the film. The entire film was shot in reverse with the climax scenes being filmed first and hence the last scene shot was the beginning scene of the film. Dhanush underwent a special ocean diving course to swim up to 50 feet underwater. Bharat Bala said that Dhanush would jump with the diving suit, go deep, settle down and get rid of the suit and then surge for the actual shot. The underwater scenes were filmed in Andamans.
The film incorporates firm Barco N.V.'s Auro 11.1 surround sound technology. The re-recording in the Auro format was done at composer A. R. Rahman's AM Studios.
The first official poster of the film was released on 28 March 2013. A thirty-second teaser featuring only Dhanush only released on 29 March 2013. On 31 March 2013, another 40-second teaser with a musical score was released that showed Dhanush with a spear in his hand, diving into deep sea in a breath and hunting on the seabed. The third teaser of 30 seconds was released on 4 April 2013. It depicted the actor fighting and smoking. The teaser of the song "Nenje Ezhu" was released on 26 April 2013. It crossed over three lakh views on YouTube in less than two days. A. R. Rahman extended an invitation through YouTube for the premiere of the song "Nenjae Ezhu" on 3 May 2013.
The official trailer was released on 1 May 2013. After the trailer garnered nearly seven lakh views in one day on Sony India's music channel, it was re-released as an upgraded Vevo version. On 19 June 2013 a press meet headed by the director claimed that the film utilised the Auro 3D sound technology.
The actor, director and the music composer promoted the film at an event at Jaya TV studios that was aired live on June 23, 2013.
Controversies:
The third teaser as well as a promotional film poster depicting a smoking Dhanush were criticized by former Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare of India, Anbumani Ramadoss. He claimed that the scenes prioritize smoking in the movie and hence it is a punishable offense to appear smoking in cinemas. Following this, reports claimed that the actor was in discussions with the director for the removal of such contents from the film.
Initially set to release on 31 May 2013, due to post-production and re-recording works, the release date was changed to 21 June 2013. There was a scarcity of preview theatres for the certification process and hence, the film was censored on 17 June 2013. The film was certified with U/A certificate for its theme and some violence in the climax. However, it was re-censored to exempt itself from entertainment tax and hence, was given a U certificate.
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