The first schedule was shot in late 2008 in various places in Tamil Nadu including Dhanushkodi, Madurai, Tenkasi, Thiruchendur, Karaikudi and Rameswaram. Following this, the film's second schedule was shot from 13 October 2008 to 26 November 2008 in the parts of Chennai and Puducherry and in the Ramoji Film City, in Hyderabad, while in January 2009, the third and last schedule was shot in several places in Thailand.[1] The film was also heavily publicized through the internet prior through release, on social networking sites.
Film score and the soundtrack are composed by Rohit Kulkarni, despite early indications that Yuvan Shankar Raja would compose the music.[2] The songs were released straight to the shelves, with the album containing several debutant singers.
The film was released on 14 January 2010 on Pongal alongside Aayirathil Oruvan, Kutty and Naanayam.[3]
Reception
The film opened in a few centres across Chennai, Tamil Nadu to an average opening. The film grossed Rs. 5,70,286 in the opening weekend in Chennai and became a failure at the box-office.[4]Baradwaj Rangan of The Hindu wrote,"In Porkalam, the first-time director Bandi Saroj Kumar takes the visual-narrative to a wholly different level, in the sense that this is a film that might actually have worked without dialogue."[5]Rediff wrote "If only Bandi Saroj Kumar had cut through the slo-mo, added a fitzy villain and reworked half his movie, then Porkkalam would have been brilliant. As it is, this battlefield is a dud".[6]Behindwoods wrote "To be fair to Bandi Sarojkumar, he seems to have delivered what he intended to. But, the problem here is that the semi-slow motion nature of scenes, the surreal feel and ‘desaturated color’ do not make for particularly entertaining viewing. But it is possible that a few of the technical aspects used here might be seen more often in Tamil cinema henceforth".[7]
