Irudhi Suttru (Tamil)
Saala Khadoos (Hindi) (2015)
Directed by
Sudha Kongara Prasad
Produced by
C. V. Kumar
S. Sashikanth
Written by
Sudha Kongara Prasad
Cast
R. Madhavan
Ritika Singh
Mumtaz Sorcar
Music by
Santhosh
Narayanan
Cinematography
Sivakumar Vijayan
Edited by
Sathish Suriya
Production company
Thirukumaran Entertainment
Y NOT Studios
Distributed by
Radiance Media (Tamil)
Rajkumar Hirani Films &
Tricolour Films (Hindi)
Release dates
17 December 2015
Country
India
India
Language
Tamil
Hindi
STORY
During the production of her first directorial venture Drohi (2010), Sudha Kongara Prasad began writing a sports drama film on boxing. In mid-2013, she approached Madhavan, who was on a sabbatical from Tamil films, to portray the lead role in the film and his presence in the project, helped take the financial viability of the venture to a higher level. The pair had previously collaborated in Madhavan's films under the direction of Mani Ratnam, where Sudha had been an assistant director. Portraying a retired boxer, Madhavan grew a thick beard and sported long hair for his role in the film, while embarking on an intense body conditioning regime in Los Angeles. Reports wrongly suggested that Madhavan was playing a role in another sports drama film, a biopic of the Indian boxer Mary Kom, and he clarified that he was acting on a separate film on boxing.
Ashvini Yardi was initially announced as the film's producer and began casting real life boxers including fighters from the Super Fight League for the film. However then Y NOT Studios and Thirukumaran Entertainment agreed to jointly produce the film in May 2014, and Santhosh Narayanan was subsequently signed on to compose the film's music. The team also brought in director Rajkumar Hirani, as a result of his close association with Madhavan, to act as creative producer for the film and he helped doctor the script to give it a pan-Indian appeal. The film's Hindi title was first revealed to be Laal and then was changed to Saala Khadoos in June 2014, with reports suggesting that the film would be loosely based on the life of boxing icon Muhammad Ali, a claim the team denied. The film's Tamil title Irudhi Suttru (Final Round) was announced shortly after, with the team beginning production from 14 July 2014. Two professional boxers from a boxing academy, Ritika Singh and Mumtaz Sorcar, who has done films in Bengali, were signed to play the two female leads. Action choreographer Tom Delmar was brought in from London to work on the film, while Alexander Coates was signed up as Madhavan's personal trainer. A small official launch event was held on 8 August 2014 and the team began a schedule shoot in Chennai thereafter. Scenes were shot in the tsunami-hit region slums of Srinivasapuram for the initial days of shoot. By October 2014, it was reported that the film was sixty percent complete, with most scenes being shot in the areas surrounding Chennai. The team then shot for a schedule in Dharamsala, before returning to Ooty to finish filming portions. Madhavan suffered a minor injury on the sets during the last week, but continued through the pain to finish the film. Filming portions for the venture were completed in mid-November 2014 after forty two days of shoot.
Varun Manian's Radiance Media agreed to distribute the Tamil version of the film, collaborating with Y NOT Studios after previous successful collaborations. The Hindi version is jointly distributed by Rajkumar Hirani's production house and Madhavan's Tricolour Films, for which the film is the first project. Promotional posters for both version of the film were released online in mid-December 2014, with Madhavan's character being pictured.[19] A teaser trailer for the Hindi version was attached to the theatrical release of Rajkumar Hirani's PK, while the Tamil version's teaser was also released with Prabhu Solomon's Kayal in December 2014.
