Aaranya Kaandam - Release

Release

The film was first screened on 30 October 2010 at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York. The film was incomplete at that time, with post-production works pending and a low quality version without colour correction and without a film score was projected at the festival. Despite the drawbacks, the film gained positive feedbacks and went on to win the Grand Jury prize for Best Film.

"Once you create a believable fictional universe, you suck the audiences into that world and they tag along for the ride. Halfway through, their suspension of disbelief meets with an abrupt halt, when you include a real-world element like a 'bleep'. Every effort that the filmmakers have put into the film just goes down the drain.

Thiagarajan Kumararaja on bleeping out words in Aaranya Kaandam.

After completion, the film was screened to the regional censor board in Chennai, who refused to clear it. The committee had demanded 52 cuts and several consequential sub-cuts, particularly due to profanity and excessive violence, before permitting a theatrical release. Kumararaja, who admitted that he had expected difficulties in the censorship, disapproved of the board's demands as he wanted to present the film uncompromisingly to the audiences. He claimed that the usage of "bad language" was "part of developing the characters" in his story, while he also disagreed with bleeping out the "objectionable" words since he felt "it throws audiences off the film's narrative". Producer Charan voiced the same opinion, citing that he had made the film for a "mature audience", took the film to the Central Tribunal at Delhi.