date. Furthermore, shortly after the music release, an album success meet was held on 20 November 2009. In the film, only five songs from the album are used in their entirety. Moreover, one song in the film, not included in the soundtrack, is the original version of "Atho Andha Paravai" from the 1965 film Aayirathil Oruvan, which was bought from the original copyright holders of the song in December 2007. The film's picturisation of the three exploring the ruins of the fallen kingdom in the song, were praised. Release Aayirathil Oruvan is considered as one of the longest films in Tamil cinema, with an original running time of 181 minutes (3 hours, 1 minute). However, the film's runtime was reduced to 154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes), in order to avert difficulties faced during the theatrical release. Towards the end of the year, the film began to announce release date of Christmas which was later further delayed to coincide with the Pongal festival. A date clash occurred with Karthi's Paiyaa, with an eventual hearing leading to the Karthi's latter film being delayed. Throughout December 2009, release work began with a trailer and promotional songs being released on 13 December. The film was subsequently certified before the end of the year by the Central Board of Film Certification and settled with an adult rating, after Selvaraghavan refused to remove some gory scenes. It received a 12A rating from British Board of Film Classification. On 31 December, it was announced that the film was sold worldwide for for theatrical, television and other rights. Reception Critical response Sify cited that the film represented "something new in the placid world of Tamil cinema", adding that it "broke away from the shackles of the stereotypes". Selvaraghavan also was praised by the reviewer with claims that "the director transports us to a whole new world and at the end of it all, we are dumb struck by the visuals, the packaging and the new way of storytelling". Rediff.com gave the film 3.5 out of 5, claiming that viewers should "steel [their] stomach before [they] watch it" and "regardless of the minor discrepancies, AO is definitely a movie to watch"., Box office Released in 600 screens worldwide, Aayirathil Oruvan was declared a "hit" in Telugu and an "average" in Tamil. It took the biggest opening by a considerable distance earning on its opening weekend in Chennai. In