VAARANAM AAYIRAM (A THOUSAND ELEPHANTS)
Vaaranam Aayiram (English: A Thousand Elephants ) is a 2008 National Film Award winningblockbuster Tamil feature film directed by Gautham Menon. Surya Sivakumar acts in dual lead roles, whilst Sameera Reddy, Divya Spandana and Simran Bagga also play roles in the film. The film had been under production since late 2006, was launched on November 25, 2006. The film released on November 14, 2008 across the globe.
Vaaranam Aayiram illustrates the theme of how a father often came across his son's life as a hero and inspiration, whose death was deeply mourned in the end. As a tribute to the father of the director, the film opened in several countries with critical acclaim and mixed reviews. The film was produced by Venu Ravichandran and also has musical score by Harris Jayaraj, making Vaaranam Aayiram his final project with Gautham Menon before their formally announced partnership break up. The film also won the most awards for any 2008 film, including the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.
The film begins with an elderly person named Krishnan (Surya Sivakumar) returning home after a haircut. Once he reaches home he vomits profuse amounts of blood and is kept to bed rest. After the doctor checks him, he is reported dead after a few moments of grief with his wife Malini (Simran Bagga), daughter Shreya, and daughter-in-law Priya (Divya Spandana). This news is informed to his son Surya (Surya Sivakumar) who is on a military mission traveling in a helicopter. He begins to shed tears to himself and starts thinking about his memorable moments with his father and the story of how his parents loved each other during their college days.
Krishnan is a student in the same college where Malini studies. They fall in love with each other and get married. They soon have a son, Surya. He grows up more as a friend to his father. When Surya grows up, he joins an engineering college near Tiruchi and parts from his family. There he takes part in various cultural activities and develops his guitar skills. When he is on a train back home after completion of college, he meets Meghna (Sameera Reddy) who is doing Engineering inNational Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli. He soon proposes to her which she rejects saying that they had only known each other for a very short period and its not possible to fall in love without taking time to understand him. Surya then tells her that wherever she goes, he will meet her.
Surya is disturbed constantly by Meghna's thoughts and consequently ends up going to her house. There she tells him that she is going toUniversity of California, Berkeley in another week to pursue higher education. During that period Krishnan, Surya's father, gets his first mild heart attack and is admitted to the hospital. Then on, an inspired Surya obtains various projects and finally builds a house for his parents.
After that, he goes to the United States, with the acceptance of his father, and meets Meghna. After some days Meghna proposes to him and they stay happily for a few days. Then she goes to Oklahoma City for a project. Surya decides to join her later travelling by the Greyhound bus. When he reaches there, he witnesses the Oklahoma City bombing and realises that Meghna is amongst those injured. She dies on her way to the hospital. A disheartened Surya then decides to come back to India. He meets a person by name Shankar Menon at the airport who tries to console him with his words and offers him words of encouragament.
He returns to India once again and starts hanging out with his friends in order to get over his emotional loss. He meets Priya (Divya Spandana), his sister's friend. However the thoughts of losing Meghna still haunt him and he resorts to taking drugs. Surya's parents try to get him to break the habit by locking him up in his room and removing him from all external contact. Once they detect his withdrawal symptoms, they ask him to take a long break in order to rejuvenate himself. Subsequently, he takes a leisure trip to Kashmir. There he learns that Aditya, the son of Shankar Menon, the person who inspired him in the airport was kidnapped. He soon goes and visits them at Delhi. Upon seeing the lethargic attitude of the police, he takes matters into his own hands and goes in search of the kidnappers. After days of roaming streets and gathering information, he finally locates the kidnapper (Prithviraj) and the place where Aditya is kept. He battles the kidnappers single-handedly, overpowers them and rescues Aditya from the kidnappers.
Back home, Surya starts to go out with his sister and Priya. One day Priya proposes to him but he doesn't respond. Surya decides that the only way to forget the pain in his body is to prepare his body for bigger things. He goes on a strict work out training and subsequently joins the army. After 6 years, Priya comes to the Indian Military Academy where he is posted to meet him and proposes again; this time he accepts and they marry and have a son. Suddenly Krishnan is diagnosed of throat cancer and is operated. After some days Surya is called upon to go on a mission to rescue a journalist which brings the scene back to present day. After completing the military mission with the help of a masked man (Gautham Menon) who tells them where the culprits were, Surya returns back home to see his dead father. Surya, his sister Shriya, Malini and Priya let go his father's ashes in the sea and Malini relates her husbands life to Surya by uttering a verse from a Hindu prayer. The film ends on a happy note as the four walk away smiling.
| Vaaranam Aayiram | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Gautham Menon |
| Produced by | Venu Ravichandran |
| Written by | Gautham Menon |
| Starring | Surya Sivakumar Simran Bagga Divya Spandana Sameera Reddy |
| Music by | Harris Jayaraj |
| Cinematography | R. Rathnavelu |
| Editing by | Anthony Gonsalvez |
| Distributed by | Aascar Films (India) Cloud Nine Pictures(Worldwide) Bharat Creations (US) |
| Release date(s) | 14 November 2008 |
| Country |  India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | $3 million [1] |
| Gross revenue | $16 million |
