Enthiran () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film co-written and directed by Shankar. It is the first instalment in the Enthiran film series. The film stars Rajinikanth in dual lead roles as a scientist and the robot he created. Along with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, actors such as Danny Denzongpa, Santhanam and Karunas play supporting roles.
The soundtrack album and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman. Dialogues were written by Sujatha, Madhan Karky and Shankar, while cinematography and editing were handled by R. Rathnavelu and Anthony. Sabu Cyril served as the art director, and the action sequences were choreographed by Peter Hein.
The film follows a scientist, Vaseegaran, who struggles to control his sophisticated android robot Chitti after it is upgraded to experience human emotions, with the intention of commissioning it for the Indian Army. The project backfires when Chitti falls in love with Vaseegaran's girlfriend Sana and is manipulated by Vaseegaran's mentor Bohra into becoming homicidal.
After nearly a decade in development, the film's principal photography began in 2008 and lasted two years. The film marked the debut of Legacy Effects (which handled the film's prosthetic make-up and animatronics) in Indian cinema. Enthiran was released worldwide on 1 October 2010. Produced by Kalanithi Maran, it was the most expensive Indian film at the time of its release.
The film received positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised Shankar's direction, storyline, Rajinikanth's performance as Chitti, music, action sequences, production values and the visual effects by V. Srinivas Mohan. Enthiran emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of 2010. It won two National Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards, seven Vijay Awards and two Screen Awards. Enthiran was followed by a sequel, 2.0, released in 2018.
Plot Dr. K. Vaseegaran, an expert in AI and robotics, has spent a decade developing a highly advanced humanoid android named Chitti. Assisted by his lab technicians, Siva and Ravi, Vaseegaran designs Chitti to serve in the Indian Army. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Sana, a medical student, grows frustrated by his prolonged neglect of their relationship and threatens to leave him. Nevertheless, Vaseegaran remains determined to reconcile with her.
Later, at a robotics conference, Vaseegaran demonstrates Chitti's exceptional cognitive and physical abilities, earning an enthusiastic standing ovation. Impressed by Chitti, Sana finally forgives Vaseegaran. She then explains that being upset with him has prevented her from adequately preparing for her final examinations, so she asks him to bring Chitti home to help her study. Although initially reluctant because Chitti could potentially be misused, Vaseegaran allows her to take him home. Chitti helps Sana during an examination and later protects her from a violent gang aboard a commuter train. Meanwhile, Vaseegaran's mentor, Professor Bohra, has been secretly contracted by a terrorist organization to manufacture military androids. After being threatened with death over his repeated failures, Bohra realizes that he needs Chitti's neural schema to complete his work.
Vaseegaran presents Chitti for military certification at the Artificial Intelligence Research and Development (AIRD) Institute, overseen by Bohra. During the evaluation, Bohra secretly activates an override command that causes Chitti to attack Vaseegaran. The committee consequently deems the robot dangerous and denies its deployment in the Indian Army. Seeking to redeem the project, Vaseegaran sends Chitti into a residential fire. Although Chitti rescues the occupants, he carries a trapped, unclothed woman into public view. Humiliated after the rescue is televised, she flees and is fatally struck by a lorry, further damaging the project's credibility.
Vaseegaran receives one month to teach Chitti about human emotions and social nuances. Near the deadline, he provokes Chitti with insults, triggering anger and demonstrating emotional development. Chitti later uses medical databases to deliver Sana's sister's baby during a complicated labor. Impressed by his empathy, Bohra approves him for military deployment. However, after Sana kisses Chitti in gratitude, he develops romantic feelings for her.
At Sana's birthday party, Chitti publicly confesses his love and tries to kiss her and is confronted by Vaseegaran and Sana, who both convince Chitti that a relationship between a human and a machine is impossible. Emotionally unstable and manipulated by Bohra into viewing Vaseegaran as an enemy, Chitti deliberately fails the army evaluation. Enraged, Vaseegaran dismantles him with an axe and has his fragments discarded in a landfill.
Bohra retrieves Chitti, forces Siva and Ravi to reconstruct him, and installs a malicious "red chip" that removes his moral restraints. He admits that he intends to profit from Chitti and destroy Vaseegaran's reputation. The corrupted Chitti crashes Vaseegaran and Sana's wedding, abducts Sana, and kills several police officers. After seizing the AIRD facilities, he kills Bohra when the professor attempts to control him. Using Bohra's factory, Chitti creates hundreds of armed replicas and holds Sana captive, intending to produce a human-machine hybrid offspring.
The military and police assault the AIRD Institute but suffer heavy casualties as the replicas form complex defensive structures. Vaseegaran infiltrates the facility but is captured. Using a powerful electromagnetic field generator, he paralyzes Chitti, accesses his control interface, and orders the replicas to self-destruct. He then removes the red chip, restoring Chitti's benevolent personality.
A special tribunal holds Vaseegaran responsible for the destruction, sentences him to death, and orders his laboratory to be shut down. However, Chitti intervenes by presenting internal video recordings showing Bohra installing the red chip, proving Bohra's responsibility. The court clears Vaseegaran of all charges, but recognizing the danger of such advanced technology, they still order Chitti's dismantling. Heartbroken, Vaseegaran asks Chitti to dismantle himself. Chitti complies while apologizing and saying goodbye to everyone.
In 2030, Chitti's deactivated head is displayed in a science museum. When a student asks why he was decommissioned, the head briefly reactivates and replies that he began to think.
Cast
Production Development In 1996, following the release of Indian, S. Shankar approached and pitched three storylines to Rajinikanth to consider for his next venture. This included scripts which would later become Sivaji: The Boss (2007), Enthiran (2010) and I (2015). Rajinikanth was sceptical and refused all three scripts at the time. Following the completion of his first directorial venture in Hindi, Nayak (2001), Shankar announced his next project, Robot, which was to feature Kamal Haasan and Preity Zinta. The film was to be produced by the now-defunct company Media Dreams, a division of Pentamedia Graphics. The film was reported to be a futuristic techno-thriller set in Chennai in around 2200 or 3000. Despite the completion of a photoshoot featuring Haasan and Zinta, the project was shelved as a result of scheduling conflicts with Haasan. Shankar consequently started work on Boys (2003).
After Boys, Shankar began work on his next feature starring Vikram, which was initially reported by Rediff.com to be Robot revived, but was later revealed as Anniyan (2005). One month post the release of Sivaji: The Boss in June 2007, he approached Shah Rukh Khan for the lead in Robot. Shankar had cast Priyanka Chopra in the lead opposite him. Khan was about to produce it under his own banner, Red Chillies Entertainment, but in October the same year the project was officially aborted due to creative differences between him and Shankar.
The project was revived in January 2008 with Eros International and the London-based production company Ayngaran International willing to produce the film. The state government of Tamil Nadu granted tax exemptions for films titled in Tamil, resulting in the new production being renamed Enthiran. While Sujatha was originally assigned to write the dialogue for the film, Madhan Karky took over after Sujatha's death in February 2008. In December 2008, Eros International withdrew from funding the project after financial difficulties caused by the box-office failure of Drona (2008) and Yuvvraaj (2008), with the subsequent departure of Ayngaran International, which struggled during the 2008 financial crisis. The film's production and release rights were sold to Sun Pictures.
Cast and crew In January 2008, Rajinikanth accepted the lead role in the film for a salary of 450 million (Indian rupees). Shankar rewrote the original script to suit Rajinikanth's acting style. Although Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was Shankar's original choice for the female lead in 2001, she declined it owing to a busy schedule and was replaced by Zinta. When Shankar revived the project with Rajinikanth, contenders for the part included Deepika Padukone, Shriya Saran and Rai, who was ultimately selected and paid 60 million. Rai's voice was dubbed by Savitha Reddy.
Several actors were considered for the role of Professor Bohra, including Amitabh Bachchan, J. D. Chakravarthy, Sathyaraj and British actor Ben Kingsley, but it was Danny Denzongpa who eventually received it, making Enthiran his first film in Tamil. Dubbing for Denzongpa was provided by Kadhir. Comedians Santhanam and Karunas were cast to portray Vaseegaran's assistants Siva and Ravi respectively.
The soundtrack album and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman. Vairamuthu, Pa. Vijay and Madhan Karky authored the lyrics for the songs. Manoj Bharathiraja was signed on to be an assistant director after he approached Shankar and helped him find the location for Rajinikanth's house in the film. Arul and Manoj, uncredited, worked as body doubles for both the Vaseegaran and Chitti characters. Also working as assistant directors were Atlee, Shree and Karthik G. Krish. Sabu Cyril, in addition to being the film's art director, made a guest appearance as Shah, an interpreter between Bohra and the terrorist organisation.
R. Rathnavelu was hired as the cinematographer after Ravi K. Chandran, Nirav Shah and Tirru were considered. Anthony was the film's editor. Yuen Woo-ping, known for his work in The Matrix trilogy and the Kill Bill films, was selected to be the stunt co-ordinator, while Legacy Effects, a visual effects studio based in the United States, were in charge of the prosthetic make-up and animatronics in the film. Munich-based film technical company, Panther, were responsible for the crane shots. The film's subtitle captioning was done by Rekha Haricharan.
Costume design Manish Malhotra and Mary E. Vogt were chosen to design the film's costumes. Fifty-seven costumes were used for Rai, including a "Mexican tribal" look that she sported during the filming of the "Kilimanjaro" segment. According to make-up artist Banu, no prosthetics were used for Rajinikanth to avoid bothering him by withholding his time on set. Additional make-up was by Vance Hartwell, an employee of Legacy Effects.
The visual appearance of Chitti was based on the G.I. Joe action figures. For Chitti's "villain robot" look, its hair was spiked and brown coloured lenses were used for its eyes, whereas for its "good robot" look, green coloured lenses were used. The wig used for Chitti's "villain robot" look had a silver streak in the middle, made out of Yak hair, while its leather jacket was designed by Vogt. To make Vaseegaran look mature, the team made Rajinikanth sport an Oakley beard. Suits made of copper were used for Chitti's costumes.
Principal photography