Cast

Credited cast:
	Kamal Haasan	...	Kamal Haasan
	Andrea Jeremiah	...	Andrea Jeremiah
	Pooja Kumar	...	Pooja Kumar
	Jayaram	...	Jayaram
	Nassar	...	Nassar
	K. Balachander	...	K. Balachander
	Kasinathuni Viswanath	...	Kasinathuni Viswanath
	M. S. Bhaskar	...	M. S. Bhaskar
	Chithra Laksmanan	...	Chithra Laksmanan
	Anant Mahadevan	...	Anant Mahadevan
	Parvathy Nair	...	Parvathy Nair
	Urvashi	...	Urvashi
	G. Gnanasambandam	...	Kaakapusundar

Storyline

In early 2013, director-producer N. Lingusamy made an official statement confirming that Kamal Haasan had agreed to direct and feature in a film to be produced by the production house, Thirrupathi Brothers. The actor had handed Lingusamy three scripts and the pair chose the most commercially viable option, with early working title of the film being Bitter Chocolate. The project was eventually titled in June 2013 as Uttama Villain, with Kamal Haasan himself writing the script for the film, while Crazy Mohan was involved in early discussions for the film\\\'s dialogues. Yuvan Shankar Raja was signed on to compose the film\\\'s music, while reports also incorrectly suggested that Rajesh was added to the scripting team for the film. In July 2013, Kamal Haasan revealed he would not direct the project any more, and that actor Ramesh Aravind would take over duties instead. It was later announced that M. Ghibran, who had worked with Kamal Haasan in Vishwaroopam II, would compose music for the film instead of Yuvan Shankar Raja Shyam Dutt and Vijay Shankar were also subsequently announced as cinematographer and editor of the project, respectively, while Gautami Tadimalla was selected to handle the costume designing for the film. On 5 September 2014, Ramesh Aravind confirmed that Kamal Haasan wrote the majority of the dialogues and that Crazy Mohan was initially involved in the brainstorming sessions and his inputs were recorded.



Kajal Aggarwal was initially reported to have signed on to play the lead female role though her manager later confirmed that she was not approached and that her dates were already allotted for other projects. Asin and Deepika Padukone were also reported by the media to be cast in the lead female role, though neither reports materialised. The team later held discussions with actresses Divya Spandana and Lekha Washington for roles in the film, though neither were signed. A month prior to shoot, it was revealed that three female lead characters would appear in the film with Kajal Aggarwal, Tamannaah and Trisha Krishnan being actively considered for the three roles. Reports then later suggested that Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah and Parvathi had been selected to portray roles in the film instead, with the trio subsequently signed on. Pooja\\\'s role was reportedly that of a non-Tamil-speaking modern-day actress, who would be offered a character that speaks old, archaic, chaste Tamil and that she would perform 3 song sequences in the film, unlike in Vishwaroopam (2013), where she had no song sequences. Kamal Haasan\\\'s daughter Shruti Haasan was considered for the role of his on screen daughter in the film but her unavailability meant that the team chose to pick a new actress instead. Another actress Parvathy Nair was added to the cast after impressing the team in an audition and was select to be paired opposite Ashwin, a debutant who plays Kamal Haasan\\\'s son in the film. Actors Sarath Kumar and Vivek were also reported to have been added to the preliminary cast, though the actors later noted this was untrue. It was also later wrongly suggested that comedian Santhanam had been signed on to star in the film in December 2013. In January 2014, Kamal Haasan revealed that his mentor and noted director K. Balachander was selected to play a pivotal role in the film and would sport a beard for his character. Producer Lingusamy himself was also reported to be playing a role in the venture, after being seen sporting a new look during the making of his directorial project Anjaan (2014). Director K. Viswanath also joined the film\\\'s cast as did Jayaram, and the pair began filming scenes in March 2014. Anant Mahadevan, who featured in Vishwaroopam (2013), was also given the role of the manager of Kamal Haasan\\\'s character in the film. More details about the film were revealed in a press release released in mid-March with a cast and character list released to the media. In May 2014, actor Nasser was roped in to play a supporting role. In July 2014, director Chithra Lakshmanan joined the team to play a small role in the film. It was also confirmed that actress Abhirami would dub for Pooja Kumar in the film. It was also reported that the Ramesh Aravind himself would make a cameo appearance in the film, but the director didn\\\'t reveal much about it and kept his decision under wraps.



In mid February 2014, the team carried out make up tests involving Kamal Haasan in Bangalore with a photo shoot being held with the actor. Principal photography began on 3 March 2014. The team then shot for two weeks in Bangalore, before moving on to film sequences in Chennai with Gouthami joining the team as a costume designer. In early April, parts of the film were shot in Madhya Pradesh before the team returned to Bangalore to film scenes involving Parvathy Nair and Ashwin. Further scenes involving Kamal Haasan in the role of a star actor were filmed at a shopping mall in Bangalore, with several hundred onlookers used as extras. Posters from a fictional film in the plot, Veera Vilaiyaatu, were put up around the mall by the film\\\'s art direction team. After initially planning a trip to Australia to film the songs from the soundtrack, the team later opted to fly to Turkey instead. Many scenes in the film, including a song featuring Kamal Haasan and Pooja Kumar was consequently shot in Istanbul, with Ramesh Aravind revealing that the team would rehearse for scenes at night. With the shoot of the song, it was revealed that portions featuring Kamal Haasan as an aging superstar had been completed. In mid May 2014, Ramesh Aravind revealed that the 21st century portions had been completed. In between, Kamal Haasan took a break from the shoot to attend the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and to inaugurate the Indian Pavilion there. Another schedule was started on 21 May 2014 in Madhya Pradesh and then Chennai, with the team filming scenes enacting happenings in the 8th century. In early June 2014, Andrea confirmed in her social networking page that she had finished her portions in the film. Kamal Haasan sustained a small muscle pull during the film\\\'s shooting and was advised a day\\\'s rest. Majority of the film\\\'s portions were shot by the end of July, with only patchwork and dubbing left. On 9 August 2014, Ramesh Aravind confirmed on his Twitter account that the shooting of the film had been completed with a song sequence which would feature in the 8th century segment of the film. Sources confirmed that Kamal Haasan would feature in a dual role in the film as an 8th century drama actor and a 21st century cinestar.


There was speculation that the first look of the film was inspired by a photograph taken by French photographer Eric Lafforgue, but Kamal Hassan rubbished the allegations by saying, \\\"Theyyam is more than a 1000 year old art. The make-up was done by a good artist who is probably a third-generation practitioner of this art. My film has a Theyyam dance fusion with Tamil Nadu\\\'s Kooththu tradition\\\". Admitting that the lighting might have had a few similarities to the photograph of the French Photographer, he said that comparing the photo with his first look poster was like saying two lovers leaning on one another\\\'s chest looking in the same direction is a copy of the \\\'Ek Duje Ke Liye\\\' poster. He also stated that the poster did not depict a mask, but make-up painted on his face and that it took 4 hours to paint it.



The soundtrack album and the background score of the film was composed by M. Ghibran. The audio rights were acquired by Sony Music India. Kamal Hassan bought musical instruments from Bali, Indonesia, for recording a song in a mythical segment in the film because the instruments sounded both Indian and exotic and both Ghibran and Kamal Hassan wanted the music to be creative. According to Ghibran, traditional tunes were mixed with orchestral symphony backgrounds and were fused with Villupattu and Theyyam. Ghibran further revealed that Kamal Hassan had sung in 3 songs and might sing in a few more. In August 2014, Ghibran said that two of the songs would not be featured in the initial release of the album, citing that it would reveal the plot of the movie, and added that the two songs would be reserved for the film.



The first look poster and logo of the film were released on 1 March 2014, depicting a Theyyam art form sketched on Kamal Haasan\\\'s face. The teaser of the movie was released along with the teaser of Suriya\\\'s film, Anjaan (2014) during the 8th Vijay Awards which was held on 6 July 2014.

Kamal said that the movie would have some very funny moments, but won\\\'t be a full-fledged comedy, further confirming that the film would release before Vishwaroopam 2, another film which featured him in the lead role.

The film was initially touted to be released in October 2014, but Ramesh Aravind clarified that the film involved a lot of VFX work to be done and that it would be completed in 10 weeks.   

Details

Box Office

Company Credits

Technical Specs