Kumararaja began writing his maiden film in December 2006 . Although he had wanted to make a " racy film " – he wrote the climax part first , before going on to add multiple storylines – he said that the film had eventually turned out to be a " leisurely paced film , taking its own time to unfold " . Kumararaja met Charan in January 2007 and narrated him the script for two hours . Filming was supposed to commence by late 2007 , but Charan opted to produce another film first . '' Aaranya Kaandam '' was launched in December 2008 , with Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff , who was being introducing to Tamil films , Ravi Krishna and Sampath Raj in the lead roles . Kumararaja took more than one and a half years to complete the film , which was entirely shot in and around Chennai . Upon completion , the film ran into trouble when the regional censor board in Chennai refused to clear it , demanding 52 cuts due to profanity and excessive violence . Kumararaja expressed that he made the film for a matured audience and not for children , while adding that he expected difficulties in the censorship . Since he wanted to present the film uncompromisingly to the audiences , he and Charan approached the Central Tribunal at Delhi , that cleared the film . Dubbed as the first neo-noir film in Tamil cinema , '' Aaranya Kaandam '' opened to strong critical acclaim , winning the Grand Jury Award for Best Film at the 2010 South Asian International Film Festival , and two prizes at the 59th National Film Awards , including the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director for Kumararaja
59th National Film Awards
59th National Film Awards
Thiagarajan Kumararaja