Mersal

Mersal is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language film starring actor Vijay in triple roles with Samantha, Nithya Menon and Kajal Aggarwal playing the female-lead roles. The film is directed by Atlee and co-written by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, S. Ramana Girivasan and Atlee with background score and soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman while the cinematography is done by G. K. Vishnu and editing is by Ruben. The film began its production in February 2017 with actors Sathyaraj, S. J. Surya and Vadivelu amongst others in supporting roles. Vijay along with A.R. Rahman are marking their 25th year in the film industry as film actor and music composer respectively. It is also the 100th production of Thenandal Studios Limited.Following the release of Atlee’s Theri, in which Vijay starred, the pair was signed by Sri Thenandal Films for another project together in September 2016. Safwan Saleem, the chief executive officer of the production house, revealed that the film would be written by writer K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, who had earlier worked in films like the Baahubali series and Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The action sequences of the film are directed by Anal Arasu. Atlee’s usual cinematographer George C. Williams whom worked for Raja Rani and Theri was supposed to work in this film too but fails due to clash with his other project. G. K. Vishnu was signed later on making his debut in this film. Vijay learnt a few magic tricks in preparation for his role as the magician. He learnt the magic tricks from three magicians, Gogo Requiem from the Republic of Macedonia, Raman Sharma from Canada, and Dani Belev from Bulgaria. The producers announced in January 2017 that three lead actresses – Kajal Aggarwal, Nithya Menon and Samantha Ruth Prabhu would portray the female lead-roles in the film. Actors S. J. Suryah and Sathyaraj also joined the cast as supporting actors, with comedians Vadivelu, Kovai Sarala, Sathyan and Rajendran. S. J. Suryah is playing villainous role with two looks in the movie. Composer A. R. Rahman, editor Ruben, costume designer Neeraja Kona and debutant cinematographer G. K. Vishnu, an erstwhile assistant of Richard M. Nathan were also a part to the technical team. The production team later revealed that due to some unavoidable reasons actress Jyothika opted out of the film. The role went to Nithya Menon. A launch event for the film was held at Adityaram Studios in Chennai on 1 February 2017, with production beginning thereafter. The team has decided to shoot a song in Jaisalmer during the summer despite the hot weather. The steam engine named 7161WP AKBAR was used in this movie while shooting in Rajasthan. Some of the filming was conducted in Poland (Gdańsk, Poznań and Rzeszów’s airport), as well as in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. The shooting was held in Chennai, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan and Konaseema in Andhra Pradesh, while the songs were filmed overseas. It’s reported that, due to indefinite strike announced by Film Employees Federation of South India, Mersal team were waiting to film few portions of the movie, which has now been completed. The musical score that accompanies the film is composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Vivek.