Laila, who had appeared in other regional Indian films, opted to make her debut in Tamil films with Kallazhagar after she had previously rejected a string of other Tamil offers including VIP (1997).[3] The actress also turned down a role in Unnai Thedi (1999), insistent that Kallazhagar should be her first release.[4] Early reports had suggested that Hindi actor Dilip Kumar would also be a part of the cast, but he eventually did not feature.[5]
An elephant called Appu was brought in from Thrissur in Kerala, where the elephant formed one of a stable maintained by the famed Paaramekaavu temple, which forms the venue of the yearly Thrissur Pooram festival.[6] A few scenes from the film were shot at the Kallazhagar temple in Madurai, but crowd trouble meant that the makers chose to finish the shoot in sets. For a particular song in the film, Russian dancers were imported to dance alongside Laila. As the film marked music composer Deva's 250th album, the film industry felicitated him with a ceremony at the Kamarajar Arangam.[7]
Soundtrack
The music was composed by Deva.[8][9] The song "Varraru Varraru" became hugely popular and is frequently played during Chithirai festival at Madurai.[10]
The film was initially scheduled to release on 14 January 1999 coinciding with the festival of Pongal though became delayed due to problems at the censor. The film was rejected by Indian censors, because of its potential to spark religious conflicts – with particularly a scene in which some Muslim extremists masquerade as religious Hindus and join in the celebration of a major festival in a temple – being highlighted as a concern. The team subsequently had to adapt the concept partially.[3]
Lavanya of Deccan Herald wrote, "Vijay Kanth, Purathchi Kalainjan' is quite awful. Nazir as the bomb expert is okay. Major Soundar Rajan as the chief priest is quite good".[11] D. S. Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote, "Tackling the ticklish question of the growing bomb culture and terrorist activities involving a particular community, is like walking on the mine field", adding that the director "denounces such a `culture' in clear-cut terms" in the film, "though the solutions he and the author of the story, offer are weak and highly cinematic in content".[12]La. Ganesan, general secretary of BJP reviewing for Kalki, praised the film for speaking against terrorism, Mahendran's dialogues and called it a film which can be watched by everyone from different religions.[13] The success of the film prompted the producer Henry to sign Vijayakanth for his next film. The film also created demand for Laila as a lead heroine and she shortly after signed on to appear in a role in Mudhalvan (1999).[3]
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