Ayngaran International

Ayngaran International is a film distribution and production company, based in the United Kingdom. The chairman of the company is K. Karunamoorthy. It also operates a chain of retail video stores located in the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Malaysia, and Singapore.[1]

Ayngaran International
Native name
Tamil
Company typeFilm production
Film distribution
IndustryFilm Distribution
FoundedJan 14, 1987
Headquarters
Thanikachalam Rd, Thillaiganga Nagar, Parthasarathi Puram, T. Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600017
Key people
K Karunamoorthi
Rohan Manickavasagar
Revenue$12 Million
Number of employees
67
Websitewww.ayngaran.com

As of 2008, the company debuted as an independent film studio, opening offices in India. Its first production was Karuppu Roja (1996).[2]

History edit

Film production edit

Ayngaran International made its first foray into film production with the 1996 horror film Karuppu Roja, directed by Aabavanan, but the venture's failure prompted them to prioritise European distribution ventures. In 2006, Ayngaran International entered into a joint venture with Eros International and announced plans to begin producing and distributing films on a larger scale. Its first distribution venture as a joint venture, Shankar's Rajinikanth-starrer Sivaji, became a very profitable venture and soon after, Ayngaran announced plans to begin producing films.[3] Subsequently, it was announced that they would produce the director and actor's next collaboration, Enthiran (2010), dubbed as the most expensive Tamil film ever made, along with Eros International. However, in December 2008, Eros International withdrew from the joint venture after financial difficulties caused by the box-office failure of Drona (2008) and Yuvvraaj (2008),[4] while Ayngaran International itself, struggled with the global financial crisis of 2008.[5] The film's production and release rights were consequently sold on to Sun Pictures, who released the film.[6]

After enjoying success as the worldwide co-distributors of the Ajith Kumar-starrer Billa (2007), they signed the actor on to appear in their production Aegan (2008), which was directed by Raju Sundaram. Simultaneously they produced Prabhu Deva's Villu (2009) with Vijay in the lead role, but both films did not perform well commercially.[7] The failure of both their big-budget films and their other venture Vishnuvardhan's Sarvam (2009), coupled with their withdrawal from Enthiran, put the release of several of their other projects into doubt. While smaller films like Peranmai (2009) and Angadi Theru (2010) managed to release and perform well at the box office, other ventures including Mysskin's Nandalala (2010), Murattu Kaalai (2012) and the Prabhu Deva-starrer Kalavaadiya Pozhuthugal (2017) experienced severe delays as a result of financial restraints, however latter got released in 2017. Likewise Ayngaran's films shot in the late 2000s like the Jai-starrer Arjunan Kadhali and the Jeevan-starrer Krishnaleelai remain unreleased, while projects such as the A. R. Rahman musical, Kadhir's Manavar Dhinam with Vinay, were shelved after being launched.[8]

The studio continued distributing films throughout the 2010s and made a return to production through Kaththi (2014), which was co-produced by Lyca Productions. The success of the film meant that Ayngaran International were actively looking to make a return to the film industry, and announced that they would finance Anand Shankar's Marma Manithan with Vikram and Kajal Aggarwal starring. However, subsequently they opted against making the film and the project was taken up by different producers.[9]

Retail stores edit

Ayngaran International has several retail stores across the world, located in cities such as London, Toronto, Paris, Sydney, and Singapore. Other partner sites are located in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

Filmography edit

Ayngaran introduced the six-track DTS sound system to the Indian Cinema Industry through its inaugural production feature Karuppu Roja in 1996.

As Producer
Year Film Director Cast
1996 Karuppu Roja Paneer Ramki, Vineetha
2008 Mayabazaar (Malayalam) Thomas Sebastian Mammootty, Sheela Kaur, Tisca Chopra
Aegan Raju Sundaram Ajith Kumar, Nayanthara
2009 Villu Prabhu Deva Vijay, Nayanthara
Sarvam Vishnuvardhan Arya, Trisha
Peranmai S. P. Jananathan Jayam Ravi, Roland Kickinger
2010 Angadi Theru Vasanthabalan Mahesh, Anjali, A. Venkatesh
Nandalala Mysskin Mysskin, Ashwath Ram, Snigdha Akolkar
2012 Murattu Kaalai K. Selva Bharathy Sundar C., Sneha, Sindhu Tolani
2014 Jilla R. T. Neason Mohanlal, Vijay, Kajal Aggarwal
2017 Kalavaadiya Pozhuthugal Thangar Bachan Prabhu Deva, Bhumika Chawla, Prakash Raj
2023 Nirangal Moondru Karthick Naren R. Sarathkumar, Atharvaa, Rahman
As Overseas Distributor
Year Film Director Cast
2007 Billa Vishnuvardhan Ajithkumar, Nayanthara, Santhanam
2022 Thiruchitrambalam Mithran R. Jawahar Dhanush, Raashii Khanna, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Nithya Menen
2023 Dada Ganesh K. Babu Kavin, Aparna Das, Bhagyaraj
Single Shankarum Smartphone Simranum Vignesh Sha PN Shiva, Megha Akash, Anju Kurian
Agilan N Kalyana Krishnan Jayam Ravi, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Tanya Ravichandran
Yaathisai Dharani Rasendran Shakthi Mithran, Seyon, Rajalakshmi, Vaidehi Amarnath
Jailer Nelson Dilipkumar Rajinikanth, Vinayakan, Ramya Krishnan, Vasanth Ravi
Mark Antony Adhik Ravichandran Vishal, S. J. Suryah
2024 Romeo Vinayak Vaithianathan Vijay Antony, Mirnalini Ravi, VTV Ganesh, Yogi Babu

References edit

  1. ^ "Ayngaran International Ltd - Company Profile and News".[dead link]
  2. ^ "Latest News and Information on Karuppu Roja". Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Chennai365 | Sivaji blazes success trail for Tamil films".
  4. ^ Kumar, S. Suresh (30 December 2008). "Hollywood dreams". Mid-Day. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  5. ^ "The Journey: From Robot to Endhiran — Hurdles and setbacks!". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Sun Pictures to produce Rajni's Endhiran". Rediff.com. 18 December 2008. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Vinay in 'Maanavar Dhinam' - Tamil News - IndiaGlitz.com". October 2008.
  9. ^ "Bindu Madhavi In Priya Anand Out for Vikram - Tamil News - IndiaGlitz.com". 22 June 2015.

External links edit