Puli

The idea dated back to 2011, when Chimbu Deven wrote it as 'Maareesan' for Dhanush and the project fell apart because the budget kept climbing. Two years later the director pitched it to Vijay, and that is how 'Puli' came about, a Tamil fantasy of demons and swords that shot without a title, known only as 'Vijay 58' until the producers bought the name from director S. J. Surya.

Marudheeran is the adopted son of a tribal village chief and he has grown up watching soldiers from the neighbouring kingdom push his people around. Those soldiers, the Vedhalams, have supernatural powers and treat the villagers as slaves, so the young man becomes their only defence. His wedding to Pavalamalli, held almost in secret, doesn't last long: the Vedhalams carry her off and the village is left in ruins.

With two friends for company, Marudheeran sets out for Vedhalapuram. Waiting inside are a sorceress queen, Yavanarani, her daughter Manthagini and the commander Jalatharangan, the real power behind the throne. He talks his way into the palace as a maker of remedies, though what really bends his plan out of shape is a secret about his own blood. How closely related can a man be to the monsters he has spent years fighting?

Vijay keeps a dual role for himself, and beside him is the veteran who was the real news of the release: Sridevi came back to Tamil cinema after 29 years as the queen, in what became her last film in the language before her death in 2018. Around them are Kannada star Sudeep as the villain, Shruti Haasan as Pavalamalli, Hansika Motwani as the princess and the veteran Prabhu. Devi Sri Prasad wrote the score and Natty Subramaniam shot it.

Filming began on 10 November 2014 at a studio on Chennai's East Coast Road, on a castle built by art director T. Muthuraj, and carried on with forty-five days in Pannaiyapuram. It opened in cinemas on 1 October 2015, with the Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam dubs a day later, and it played the Tokyo International Film Festival. The Indian press put its budget between 87 and 130 crore rupees. It fell short at the box office and critics were harsh, particularly measured against 'Baahubali: The Beginning', from three months earlier.

• Fantasy
• Action
• Adventure