16 years of Paruthiveeran: Five interesting things about Karthi's debut film

It's been 16 years since Karthi's maiden venture Paruthiveeran (2007) hit screens. The romantic drama, helmed by Ameer, had Priyamani playing the leading lady. The film emerged as a huge success at the box office and went on to run in theatres for over a year.

Karthi preferred to be a director, not an actor
Karthi had always wanted to work behind the screens as a director and had even assisted director Mani Ratnam. But when the script of Paruthiveeran was brought to him, it was so compelling that he couldn't say no to the film. He played the brash titular character, Paruthiveeran, who is ostracised from the village as his father marries a woman belonging to an oppressed community .

Only four experienced actors on the set
Barring four experienced actors - Ponvannan, Priyamani, Saravanan and Ganja Karuppu - the majority of the cast of Paruthiveeran comprised newcomers. And this included the lead actor Karthi. Many actors chosen for the film were real-time residents of a remote village in Madurai, where the entire film was shot.

No dubbing artists for the film
Ameer chose to go with the original voices of all the actors and brought every single person to Chennai to dub for their portions. Priyamani's voice modulation and performance as her character Muthazhagu is considered her career best till date. Karthi, too, held detailed discussions about his character regularly with the director and eventually dubbed for his portions.

Third collaboration between Ameer and Yuvan Shankar Raja
Paruthiveeran marked the third collaboration between director Ameer and music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. The duo had earlier worked together in Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002) and Raam (2005). It is said to be Yuvan's first full-length rural project, and he used instruments like urumi and thavil for the same. The album also featured a song sung by his father, Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja himself, Ariyadha Vayasu.

Awards galore
Paruthiveeran became one of the longest running films in Tamil and went on to bag a number of awards. While Priyamani won the National Award for Best Actress, Raja Mohammad won the Best Editing award. The film also bagged the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film, Best Actress and a Special Prize for debutant Karthi.