Adithya Varma is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Gireeshaaya in his directorial debut and produced by Mukesh Mehta under E4 Entertainment.
The film was originally directed by Bala under the title Varmaa and shot between March and September 2018; however, in February 2019, due to creative differences, E4 Entertainment decided to re-launch it with a new cast and crew; only Dhruv and music composer Radhan were retained.
After having a brawl alongside his friend Tarun against members of the opposing team during an inter-college football match, the dean asks Adithya to either apologise or leave the college.
Adithya initially chooses to leave, but stays back after meeting an introverted first-year student, Meera Shetty because he experienced love at first sight.
To cope with his emotions, he starts taking drugs, attempts one-night stands, buys a pet dog and names it after Meera and drinks alcohol; all of which are unsuccessful.
Within months, he becomes a successful surgeon and a high-functioning alcoholic who is feared by the hospital's staff members, one of the reasons being his high surgery count.
The hospital chief files a case against Adhitya, who accepts the truth on the grounds of violating his professional ethics during an in-house court hearing, despite Parthi making arrangements to bail him out.
[5] In September 2017, it was announced that E4 Entertainment had bought the rights to remake the Telugu film Arjun Reddy (2017) in Tamil and Malayalam languages.
[10] M. Sukumar was selected to handle the cinematography[11] and Sathish Suriya was chosen as the film editor, after having earlier worked for Bala's Naachiyaar (2018).
[18] On 7 February 2019, E4 Entertainment issued a press statement stating that they would go for a re-shoot of the entire film as they were not satisfied with the final cut provided by Bala.
[9] Bala decried these comments, saying it was his own decision to quit the film "in order to safeguard creative freedom" because he was asked to make changes.
[26] Major portions of the film had been completed in mid-May,[27] with the exception of patchwork scenes, for which Ravi K. Chandran's son Santhana Krishnan handled the cinematography.
It was widely ridiculed and criticised on social media,[40] while a critic from The New Indian Express called it "a failed attempt to remake the original".
[49] Adithya Varma received positive reviews from critics praising the performance of Dhruv, and the adaptation of the film from the original.
[50] M. Suganth of The Times of India gave 3.5 out of 5 stars rating "A well-made, if overtly faithful, remake of Arjun Reddy with Dhruv".
[51][52] India Today gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "Dhruv Vikram makes a strong debut with Adithya Varma, but the story gets repetitive if you have watched Arjun Reddy and Kabir Singh.
"[53] Sify rated 3.5 out of 5 and summarised "Adithya Varma has proved that Dhruv is a super talented performer who can be the next chocolate boy of Tamil cinema.
"[54] Hindustan Times reviewed it as "The highlight of this faithful remake of Telugu hit Arjun Reddy is the performance of debutant Dhruv Vikram.
"[55] Sreedhar Pillai, writing for Firstpost gave 3.25 out of 5 and reviewed "Adithya Varma is a raw and hard-hitting film which rides on Dhruv Vikram's performance.
"[57] S. Srivatsan of The Hindu wrote "The third installment of this script still has no proper justification for the lead character's aggressiveness, despite a decent showing from Dhruv Vikram in his Tamil debut.
Except in a few shots, his palette is neutral, natural.., the editor Vivek Harshan cuts many scenes a few frames earlier than you'd expect the “finish” (the segues are amazingly dynamic)...I don't recall the editing pattern of Arjun Reddy, but these rhythms feel refreshingly new for Tamil cinema".