Claim: Vikram has starred in a film.

Anniyan -LRB- English : Outsider or Stranger -RRB- is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language psychological thriller film written and directed by S. Shankar and produced by V. Ravichandran of Aascar Films . The plot centres on a disillusioned everyman whose frustration at what he sees as increasing social apathy and public negligence leads to a split personality that attempts to right the system . Vikram stars as Ramanujam , an idealistic , law-abiding lawyer who suffers from multiple personality disorder and develops two other identities : a metrosexual fashion model Remo and a vigilante serial killer named Anniyan . Sadha plays his love interest , Nandini . Actors Vivek , Prakash Raj , Nedumudi Venu and Nassar also feature in the film .   Shankar conceived the film in mid-2003 during the post-production period of his previous film , Boys . He based the film on his own life experiences during his formative years when he was disturbed by what he saw around him , and his eventual displeasure with society . Pre-production for Anniyan began in November 2003 and principal photography in March 2004 . The making of the film , which included numerous production delays , took 14 months . The film was shot at Hyderabad , Thanjavur , Villupuram and Chennai , and the song sequences were filmed in Amsterdam , Mumbai , Malaysia and Tenkasi . The film was notable for its recreation of the Tyagaraja Aradhana music festival and the extensive use of time slice photography in an action sequence .   Cinematographer V. Manikandan abandoned the project halfway through , until he was replaced with Ravi Varman . The technical departments were headed by V. T. Vijayan -LRB- editing -RRB- , Sabu Cyril -LRB- production design -RRB- , and Peter Hein -LRB- stunt choreography -RRB- , and the soundtrack was composed by Harris Jayaraj , who was in his first collaboration with the director . The film was touted as the director 's magnum opus and was budgeted at 263.8 million , making it at the time of its release the most expensive South Indian film ever made . Notably , it was the first South Indian film to obtain institutional finance , and it had the highest insurance coverage available for films at that time .   Originally filmed in Tamil , and released simultaneously in the four South Indian states on 17 June 2005 , The film was dubbed into Telugu as Aparichithudu and in Hindi as Aparichit was released a year later on 19 May 2006 . Further , the film was also dubbed into French and released in French-speaking countries worldwide by Columbia Tristar . While the film was a commercial success across South India , the Hindi version received a lukewarm response and was a box-office failure . Anniyan received positive responses from critics and audience alike and , together with its dubbed versions , grossed 570 million in its lifetime run . In addition to winning eight Filmfare Awards and six State Film Awards , the film won a National Award in the Special Effects category .