Kaaviya Thalaivan (2014)

Interesting facts

Kaaviya Thalaivan is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language historical drama film written and directed by Vasanthabalan and produced by S. Sashikanth and Varun Manian under their production companies YNOT Studios and Radiance Media Group. It stars Prithviraj Sukumaran and Siddharth in the lead roles along with Vedhika, Anaika Soti, Nassar, Thambi Ramaiah, Ponvannan, Mansoor Ali Khan and others in supporting roles. The film's music was composed by A. R. Rahman. Set in the early 20th century, the film is about the lives of two theatre artistes and the competition that exists between them in a small drama troupe.

Production

Through one of the discussions between director Vasanthabalan and script writer Jeyamohan about old drama schools of Madurai, Jeyamohan introduced Vasanthabalan to a book called Enathu Naadaga Vazhkai, an autobiography of theatre doyen Avvai Shanmugham which helped him script the film. Vasanthabalan was inspired by the musical drama based 1979 film Sankarabharanam and the 1983 film Salangai Oli by director K. Viswanath.

Kaaviya Thalaivan was announced in September 2012 as a venture by the production house YNOT Studios teaming with Vasanthabalan and Siddharth, the latter as the lead actor of the film. The team signed A. R. Rahman to compose the music for the film in December 2012.

Principal photography for the film started in early June 2013, wherein reports suggested that the film would be based on the lives of yesteryear singers K. B. Sundarambal and S. G. Kittappa. However, only Vedhika's role is inspired by Sundarambal's life and the film is a musical drama of theatre artistes.

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