| Ayynoorum Ayynthum | |
| Director: | Stanzin Raghu |
| Producer: | Accessible Horizon Films |
| Starring: | Deepak Sundararajan Shankar Living Smile Vidya Chinnu Kuruvilla T. M. Karthik Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli |
| Music: | Balaji Ramanujam S. Sivapragasam (BGM) |
| Cinematography: | Maverick Dass Gerald |
| Editing: | Stanzin Raghu Ramesh Mourthy |
| Studio: | Accessible Horizon Films |
| Runtime: | 120 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Tamil |
Ayynoorum Ayynthum is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Stanzin Raghu starring Deepak Sundararajan, Shankar, Living Smile Vidya, Chinnu Kuruvilla, T. M. Karthik, and Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli in the lead roles.[1] [2]
The story is about the bizarre journey of a 500-rupee note through 5 different characters and how they perceive it in their own ways.
Though the film follows the 500-rupee note, it actually focuses on the 5 key characters whose lives are entirely and contrastingly different from each other in the way they look at money.
After struggling to find producers and financing in a conventional way, the Accessible Horizon Films team decided that they had to something radical. But still, money was a big hurdle to get their scripts produced. That is when during and after several discussions about "money", the team decided to make their film about money (a 500-rupee note) and perceptions about it. Once the core concept "the journey of a 500-Rupee note" was decided, director Raghu wrote the screenplay in 15 days at a single stretch. Some of the characters of the film are loosely inspired from real life like the "money-less revolutionary" character played by T. M. Karthik, was inspired from people like Mark Boyle, Heidemarie Schwermer, and Suelo, among others. The casting of the film took two months with intense audition sessions held in Chennai, except for one character, Jenny, which took almost four months because of the extreme nature of the character. Several of the key cast members hail from a theater background with performances in Tamil, English, and Malayalam. The entire shooting schedule took about 21 days split over three to four schedules.
A one-minute trailer drew attention as soon as a promo was released on YouTube.[3] A 5K marathon run was conducted to promote the concept of a world without money, and around 150 people participated in that marathon.[4] [5]
| 500&5 (Ayynoorum Ayynthum) | |
| Type: | Soundtrack |
| Artist: | S. Balaji & S. Ramanujam |
| Genre: | Feature film soundtrack |
| Length: | 23:49 |
| Language: | Tamil |
| Label: | Accessible Horizon Films |
| Producer: | Accessible Horizon Films |
The songs have been written and composed by S. Ramanujam and S. Balaji.
The film was officially selected at the International Film Festival of Kerala, Trivandrum in 2012 and at the Filmburo Baden-Wurttemberg's Stuttgart Indian Film Festival, Germany in 2013.[6] [7] [8] [9]
The film was released unconventionally on the internet on the YouTube Channel of Accessible Horizon Films on 1 May 2016. Before the release, the makers had one special public screening at the Alliance Francaise, Madras on 29 April 2016. The producer stated that for three years, the Accessible Horizon Films team had been trying to release their film conventionally in theaters in Tamil Nadu, searching for distributors and trying to find people who might take their film and release it in theaters. The difficulty of releasing a film conventionally without financial backing or influence is just unimaginable especially when the film doesn't conform to the norms or the 'formula'. They initially thought of going conventionally only to reach a wide audience, because the film is about money, which everyone can relate to.[10]