Velayudham

Velayudham (/veɪlɑːjʊðəm/) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language superhero film directed by M. Raja, who co-wrote the screenplay with R. T. Neason, while the dialogues were written by the duo Subha. Produced by V. Ravichandran, it stars Vijay in the title role with Genelia D'Souza and Hansika Motwani, while Santhanam, Saranya Mohan, Soori, Abhimanyu Singh, and Vineet Kumar play prominent roles. In the film, a journalist tracks down a villager who had unknowingly foiled a terrorist plot and persuades him to embrace his heroism as a symbol of hope for the people.

Velayudham was inspired by the 2000 Telugu film Azad; Raja obtained permission to remake the film but eventually retained only the premise. Filming began in July 2010 and continued till September 2011, lasting 150 working days; filming primarily took place in Pollachi and Udumalaipettai for the village portions, while rest of the action and song sequences were filmed in Chennai, Hyderabad, Odisha, Kochi and Kashmir. The music was composed by Vijay Antony with cinematography by Priyan and editing by B. Lenin and V. T. Vijayan.

Velayudham was released on 26 October 2011 coinciding with Diwali and became a commercial success. Amongst its accolades, the film won two Edison Awards and an Ananda Vikatan Cinema Award, while being nominated for a South Indian International Movie Award and two Vijay Awards.