Sakalakala Vallavan (2015 film)

Shakthi and Chinnasamy are family enemies who fight over an election. During that time, Anjali falls in love with Shakthi, whom he later discovers is Chinnasamy's cousin. Shakthi is forced to marry Divya under some circumstances. Before starting a life together, Divya tells Shakthi that they must get to know each other, but every time Shakthi tries to do something good, it ends bad. Divya asks for divorce and Shakthi tells Divya to stay for a month with his parents so that they will not get hurt over the fact that they made Shakthi marry someone who does not like him. To make this worse, Shakthi's father gets Divya to stand for the female election, to which she agrees. When she loses the election, Shakthi's father hits him. That is when Shakthi reveals how he lost in love and life. Seeing how much he loves and respects his family and how his life has been, Divya slowly starts to like Shakthi. At the end, Divya and Shakthi happily live together while they argue over little things, making their life filled with love, and with a lesson from Chinnasamy saying that couples' fights are for fun, and no one else should get involved in them.

The film was launched in early June 2014 as a collaboration between director Suraj and Lakshmi Movie Makers, with Ravi Mohan signed on to play the lead role. Anjali was signed as one of the lead actresses in the same month,^[1] marking her comeback after a hiatus from Tamil films;^[2] Ravi had recommended her to the director for this role.^[3] Suraj later revealed that Dhanush was the original choice for Ravi's role.^[4]

Filming began in Chennai in July 2014. A set resembling a Tenkasi market and costing ₹40 lakh (equivalent to ₹64 lakh or US$66,000 in 2023) was erected for this schedule.^[5] Trisha Krishnan joined the cast in August 2014 to play another female lead, after the team opted against signing Kajal Aggarwal, who had asked for a high remuneration.^[6] Vivek did a role in the film for which he shaved his head.^[7] Filming wrapped in June 2015.^[8]

The film was initially titled Appatakkar, after a line popularised by Santhanam in Boss Engira Bhaskaran. In July, the title was changed to Sakalakala Vallavan after M. Saravanan, the producer of the 1982 film of the same name, gave the makers permission to re-use his film's title.^[9]

The soundtrack was composed by Thaman S.^[10][11] Ravi made his singing debut with the song "Bulbu Vangittaen".^[12][13]

Sakalakala Vallavan was released on 31 July 2015.^[14][15] Sudhir Srinivasan of The Hindu wrote, "For a film that tries to be a comedy, Sakalakala Vallavan makes for a sombre experience".^[16] S. Saraswathi of Rediff.com rated the film 1 out of 5 and said, "The absurd script, inept execution, bizarre antics of the lead and supporting actors coupled with some ordinary music make director Suraj's Sakalakala Vallavan Appatakkar a total bore".^[17] M. Suganth of The Times of India rated it 0.5 out of 5 and noted that, "Sakalakala Vallavan is so abominable — a blot in the career of everyone involved in making it — that it makes us question its very existence and how it even came to be made".^[18] Sify wrote, "Sakalakala Vallavan is a typical Suraj film, low on logic, style and execution. It follows the director’s set pattern, no story just crass comedy and one-man upmanship between the hero and comedian".^[19] The film failed at the box office, which the director felt was due to the miscasting of Ravi in the lead role.^[4]