In October 1995, Mani Ratnam announced that he was set to make a feature film titled Anandan featuring dialogues written by Suhasini with Mohanlal, Nana Patekar and Aishwarya Rai in the lead roles.
Initial speculations suggested that the film would visualise the duel between Prabhakaran and his former LTTE deputy Mahattiya, who was executed in 1995 for an alleged plot to kill his mentor.
Aishwarya Rai reported to be playing Indira Gandhi in this prestigious project.
Mani Ratnam was quick to deny any political backdrop claiming that the film would be about the Indian film industry, however this proved to be false as the film was to be set on a political canvas.
The film was later retitled Iruvar (The Duo) and the idea was to make a film on the lives of 1980s Tamil Nadu political icons MG Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi.
The idea to portray their influential relationship between Tamil cinema and Dravidian politics was sparked by a conversation Mani Ratnam had with renowned Malayalam author, MT Vasudevan Nair
Addressing the difficulties in casting, Mani Ratnam revealed he 'struggled a lot' citing that casting 'is most important as far as performance is concerned' and that '50 percent of the job is done.'
Mohanlal was Mani's first and only choice to play Anandan, a character inspired by the former actor-politician MG Ramachandran.
Mani Ratnam claimed that Mohanlal had 'the ability to make everything absolutely realistic with the least amount of effort.'
Praising Mohanlal's performance in the film, Mani Ratnam said that 'I will not work with him again. Because, mesmerized by his performance I forget to say 'cut' when the scene is over.'
The film marked Mohanlal's debut in Tamil cinema after having only a cameo in Gopura Vasalile.
Mani Ratnam actually wanted Manisha Koirala do every films he made and he offered lruvar too. But she opted out for reasons best known to her.
Mani also said that Aishwarya Rai, who appeared in two different characters - one inspired by actress-politician Jayalalitha, as a 'tremendous dancer' and 'having a lot of potential.'
Mani revealed that the only difficulty Mohanlal and Aishwarya had was the language, both being non-Tamil speakers adding that Lal had to work hard over the dubbing trying to get the diction right.
Actor Rohini voiced for both characters of Aishwarya Rai in the film.
The actor to play the role of Tamizhselvan, inspired by Karunanidhi, took substantially longer to finalize with the initial choice, Nana Patekar, withdrawing after several discussions about salary.
Mohanlal's Malayalam counterpart Mammootty was offered the role of Anandan, and a screen test was also done, but Mammootty rejected the offer for unknown reasons.
Kamal Haasan, Sathyaraj, and Sarath Kumar also offered the offer for portraying Tamizhselvan.
Negotiations with Mithun Chakraborty was also unsuccessful as the actor demanded a higher remuneration for playing Tamizhselvan.
Arvind Swamy was briefly signed on to play Tamizhselvan's role and had recorded two poems for the soundtrack, before opting out due to other commitments.
Mani Ratnam also called R Madhavan, then a small-time model for the screen test, but left him out of the project citing that he thought his eyes looked too young for a senior role.
Subsequently, Prakash Raj, who had played a small role in Mani Ratnam's 1995 film, Bombay, was signed up to essay the character.
Prakash Raj apparently told Mani that he was unprepared to essay such a delicate role in such short notice, and that Mani nurtured the character and and brought self-confidence into the actor.
Renowned for being a perfectionist film-maker, Mani Ratnam made Prakash Raj take 25 takes for his first shot, lasting over six hours.
Mani Ratnam wanted Prakash Raj to dub for his character. Prakash Raj asked Mani Ratnam some time to perfect his diction. Prakash's car driver helped the actor in getting the syllables ல ழ ள ற ஹ right.
Tabu was also signed to play Tamizhselvan's partner in the film and shot for Iruvar alongside her Tamil debut film, Kadhal Desam.
The film was shot across 1996 and schedules were canned all across India from Kerala to Leh with Mohanlal stating that it was the longest duration he had shot for a film.
The film was briefly stopped by the FEFSI strike of 1996, making technicians unavailable for use, but Mani Ratnam carried on filming and completed a song using only natural light.
After the shooting for Iruvar was completed, Mani Ratnam asked Prakash Raj to dub in Tamil himself for the first time, with his work taking four days to complete.
The censors saw the film on 31 December 1996 and opined that various characters in the film reflected the personal lives of some politicians and accordingly a certificate was denied.
Following the producer's protest, it was seen by an eight-member revising committee on 2 January 1997 which suggested deletion of some objectionable portions and cleared the film for U/A certification
Four dialogues from the film were subsequently cut. And an extended speech sequence after Anna's demise was completely music, with ARR filling the scene with riveting BGM.
2 days before the release, Dravidar Kazhagam president Veeramani threatened to sabotage the screenings, because he felt that it contained 'objectionable footage denigrating the Dravidian movement.'
The politician threatened legal action, if the film was screened without removing what he perceived as the 'offending' portions, but Mani Ratnam dismissed that Veeramani was making rushed conclusions.
A month after release, the regional censor chief, Rajasekharan, referred the film to the Indian Home Office for 'advice', claiming that if scenes were not deleted, it will lead to law and order issue'
The film, rather sarcastically, starts with a note saying 'Idhu Unmai Kadhai Alla (meaning: this is not a true story).
As the personal lives of the lead characters (their extramarital relations, ego problems) have been portrayed with near accuracy , the film invited much criticism from both the camps.
During the first few days of release, various political parties staged demonstrations to prevent theaters from showing the movie. But the shows mostly continued unharmed.
Both M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa denied the relevance of the film to their lives and never admitted to the film being a bio-pic.
Mani Ratnam has named Iruvar as his best film, in many interviews.
Iruvar was also noted for its vignette style of making, with many single-shot scenes, where a fluid camera setup captures the entire action.
Director Gautham Menon mentioned Iruvar as his inspiration, along with Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, for long single-shot scenes in Neethaane En Ponvasantham.
Director Gautham Menon mentioned Iruvar as his inspiration, along with Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, for long single-shot scenes in Neethaane En Ponvasantham.
Prakash Raj won Best Supporting Actor and Santosh Sivan won Best Cinematographer in the National Film Awards 1997.
Iruvar was screened in the Masters section at the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival, a first for Indian cinema.
Iruvar went on to become a critical success winning the 'Best Film in the Festival of the Auteur Films' award at the Belgrade International Film Festival that year.
In 2012, Iruvar was included by critic Rachel Dwyer in the 2012 British Film Institute Sight and Sound 1000 greatest films of all time.
Mohanlal reached the final round of the National Film Award for Best Actor that year.
AR Rahman's album for Iruvar has songs ranging from pure Carnatic to Tamil folk and jazz.
Rahman blended two Carnatic ragas—'Naatai' and 'Ghambeera Naatai'—in 'Narumugaye.
Venilla Venilla', sung by veteran singer Asha Bhonsle, and 'Hello Mister Edirkatchi' are based on jazz music.
Iruvar was dubbed and released in Malayalam in the same name and in Telugu as Iddaru.
Iruvar's dialogues were written by Suhasini.
Tabu, apparently, demanded a full naration of the script, before accepting the role of social activist Senthamarai.
Rajesh's role as Madhivanan was based on politician Nedunchezhiyan
Nasser's role as Ayya Veluthambi was Mani's take on Arignar Anna.
The song 'Vennila Vennila' was rendered by Asha Bhonsle. while 'Narumugaiye' was sung by Unnikrishnan, Bombay Jayashree, and Sonu Nigam.
'Kannai Katti Kollathe' was performed by Hariharan, Sukhwinder Singh, and Udit Narayan, while Mano sung 'Aayirathil Naan Oruvan', with backing vocals by AR Rahman.
Here are a few more rare snapshots from the film's making...
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