Madha Gaja Raja

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Madha Gaja Raja
Promotional poster
Directed bySundar C
Written byVenkat Raghavan
Sundar C
StarringVishal
Anjali
Varalaxmi Sarathkumar
CinematographyRichard M. Nathan
Edited byPraveen K. L.
N. B. Srikanth
Music byVijay Antony
Production
company
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Madha Gaja Raja is an unreleased Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by Sundar C and produced by Gemini Film Circuit. It stars Vishal, Anjali and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar in the leading roles, while Santhanam and Nithin Sathya play other pivotal supporting roles.[1] The film began production in 2012 and was completed by 2013, but remains unreleased due to financial troubles.

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

Director Sundar C and Vishal announced that they would work together on a project in January 2012, and it was revealed that Vishal would portray a triple role in the film.[2] After denying reports that the female lead role was first offered to Shruti Haasan, Sundar hinted that they were set to sign on Hansika Motwani, but her busy schedule left her unavailable to commit dates for the project.[3][4] Titled Madha Gaja Raja, after Vishal's three characters, Karthika Nair eventually joined the team to portray the role during April 2012.[5] The film subsequently began production in Chennai during early May 2012, with a song shot featuring Vishal and Santhanam alongside Sadha, who was revealed to be making a guest appearance in an item number. Sundar C then chose to shoot some further scenes with Sadha and make her appearance last longer than just for a song sequence.[6][7][8] However soon after production began, Sundar chose to alter the script, with the new version having Vishal portray only a single character, with two leading actresses instead of one. Disappointed with this development, Karthika Nair left the project stating that the role of the lead actress had been significantly diminished as a result of the change of story.[9] Taapsee Pannu signed on to replace Karthika, but soon afterwards left the project citing date clashes with her commitments for the promotional activity of her Hindi film.[10] Varalaxmi Sarathkumar was consequently drafted in after working producers Gemini Film Circuit during their previous venture Podaa Podi (2012), while Anjali was selected for the main leading female role. Gayatri Rao joined the film's cast to portray Santhanam's love interest, while actors Nithin Sathya and Sadagoppan Ramesh were selected to portray Vishal's friends in the film. The team subsequently began another schedule with the new storyline in Palani during June 2012.[10][11]

The team moved to Jaipur during August 2012 to complete another schedule, while Vishal revealed that the title now referred to the agitated state of Lord Ganesha rather than the names of his characters, stating that "Gaja Raja" could be literally translated as fury.[12] During the particular schedule, Vishal suffered an injury when filming a fight scene and was forced to take a week's break from working.[13] The film's shoot moved to Hyderabad during September 2012, with Arya joining the team's cast to shoot for a guest appearance. Arya had flown in from Chennai and completed his work on the film within a single day.[14][15] The team planned to shoot a song sequence in China, but eventually flew to Australia to record the sequences.[16] By October 2012, it was revealed that the film was complete and Sundar C was putting "finishing touches" to the project.[17]

Music[edit]

Madha Gaja Raja
Soundtrack album by
Vijay Antony
ReleasedJanuary 2013 (2013-01)
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LabelGemini Audio
Vijay Antony chronology
Haridas
(2013) 		Madha Gaja Raja
(2013) 		Salim
(2014)

The music was composed by Vijay Antony, collaborating with Vishal for a second time after Vedi and with Sundar for the first time. Vishal sang a song named "My Dear Loveru", which was released as a promotional track in December 2012.[18]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Chikku Bukku"AnnamalaiChinna Ponnu and Prabhu Pandala04:26
2."My Dear Loveru"Pa. VijayVishal04:24
3."Nee Dhana Nee Dhana"Pa. VijayVijay Antony04:35
4."Sattru Mun Varai"AnnamalaiSanthosh Hariharan05:27
5."Thumbakki Thumbai"Pa. VijayVijay Antony04:17
Total length:23:09

Release[edit]

Promotional campaigns started for the film in November 2012, with an initial release date of 14 January 2013 announced by the producers, Gemini Film Circuit. However, Vishal's other film Samar (2013) had been long-delayed and also wanted to release on the same date, and the actor tried to ensure both films did not clash. As a result, Madha Gaja Raja was briefly put on hold until the release of Samar.[19] The makers then suggested that the film would release on 26 January 2013, but Samar's success meant that they sought to avoid releasing the film, while Samar was still running in theatres.[20] The failure of Mani Ratnam's Kadal (2013) affected Gemini Film Circuit's finances after the venture became an unexpected failure, and distributors of Kadal wanted compensation before Madha Gaja Raja was released.[21]

After nine months of little information about the project, the producers announced their intentions of releasing the film on 9 September 2013 to coincide with the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi.[22][23] However the plans were put on hold after an Australian national, Santhanam, successfully appealed for a court injunction to stop the film's release in September 2013. He claimed that Gemini Film Circuit had agreed to pay him a sum of six million rupees for his services of providing production facilities during the team's schedule in Australia, but had failed to make the payment. Under financial restraints, Gemini Film Circuits had also sold on the film to Vishal's newly launched production studio, Vishal Film Factory, but failed to inform Vishal of the outstanding payment which had to be made to Santhanam.[24] The High Court subsequently had put a stay order on the release of the film until the issue was sorted. Vishal then took up the responsibility in trying to release the film, and helped get it censored, but was unsuccessful in getting the film released.[25] Vishal later disassociated from the film and Gemini Film Circuit acquired the film again from the actor, and revealed that they would release the film in due course.[26]

The makers continued to announce more potential release dates throughout 2014, none of which materialised. Distributor P. T. Selvakumar contemplated purchasing the film's distributing rights and planned to release the film on 7 March 2014 but the idea was dropped.[27][28] Similarly Vishal made further efforts to try and release the film after the success of his own productions, but failed in his attempts. Sundar C and Vishal subsequently moved on to finish and release another film together during the period of delay, Aambala (2015).[29] Subsequently, in November 2015, Vishal pledged that he would take action to release the film by December 2015.[30] The plans to release on 29 April 2016 also failed and the film still remains unreleased.[31]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Vishal's next: 'Madha Gaja Raja'". IndiaGlitz. 3 May 2012. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Vishals next with Sundar C Does a triple role!". IndiaGlitz. 16 February 2012. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Hansika- The Dream girl of Kollywood". Sify. 2 March 2012. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  4. ^ "Sundar C opens up on Vishal starrer". Moviepettai.com. 21 February 2012. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  5. ^ "Karthika is Vishal`s heroine!". Sify. 16 April 2012. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  6. ^ "Sada gets more in MGR, sada, anniyan". Behindwoods.com. 18 April 2013. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Sada to sizzle with Vishal!". Sify. 3 May 2012. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Vishal starts MGR with Sundar C". Sify. 4 May 2012. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Karthika opts out of MGR". Sify. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  10. ^ a b Manigandan, K. R. (26 June 2012). "Shot Cuts: Narrow escape". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  11. ^ "Varalakshmi replaces Taapsee in MGR". Sify. 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  12. ^ Manigandan, K. R. (11 August 2012). "Trekking on a new path". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  13. ^ "Vishal injured, advised rest!". Sify. 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  14. ^ "Arya in director Sundar C's next with Vishal". The New Indian Express. 16 September 2012. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  15. ^ "Arya to do a special appearance for Vishal sake!". Sify. 11 September 2012. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  16. ^ "One more director goes the Shankar way". Behindwoods.com. 13 September 2012. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  17. ^ "Siddharth, Santhanam and Hansika for Sundar C". Behindwoods.com. 26 October 2012. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  18. ^ "Vishal sings for `Madha Gaja Raja`!". Sify. 26 August 2013. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  19. ^ "Vishal v/s Vishal upsets the trade". Sify. 20 November 2012. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  20. ^ "Vishal like Rajini, Prabhu and Vijayakanth?". Behindwoods.com. 8 January 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  21. ^ "Madha Gaja Raja is likely to hit the screens on 11th December". tamilomovie.com. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  22. ^ "Long-delayed 'Madha Gaja Raja' to release on Ganesh Chaturthi". Sify. IANS. 7 August 2013. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  23. ^ Naig, Udhav (31 August 2013). "A new innings". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  24. ^ "Exclusive: What went wrong with Vishal's Madha Gaja Raja release". Cinemalead.com. 5 September 2013. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  25. ^ "″Pandianadu will be magical like Sandakozhi″, Vishal - Event Story". Behindwoods.com. 13 October 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  26. ^ Seshagiri, Sangeetha (9 December 2013). "Top Controversies in Tamil Films (2013): Kamal's 'Vishwaroopam', Vijay's 'Thalaivaa' Release Issues; 'Purampokku' Title Trouble and More". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  27. ^ "`Madha Gaja Raja` gets a release date!". Sify. 18 February 2014. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  28. ^ "Vijay's manager takes up Vishal's long delayed movie". Behindwoods.com. 18 February 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  29. ^ Srinivasan, Sudhir (10 January 2015). "Paradise regained". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  30. ^ "Will Vishal's `MGR` see the light of day?". Sify. 3 November 2015. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  31. ^ Vishal [@VishalKOfficial] (15 April 2016). "#madhagajaraja release on April 29th😬😬😬😬. Awaiting it. Jus like everyone.as a sundar c fan.god bless" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 May 2024 – via Twitter.

External links[edit]

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