Dams have long been a favorite filming location for our directors. In fact, most of the movies in the 80s and early 90s almost exclusively resorted to dams for their outdoor shooting needs. The practice was so prevalent that we can recall umpteen number of movies where scenes that were completely irrelevant to a dam, were shot at dams. Like, a hero – heroine chance meeting scene. I mean, who in the world just roams around in a dam and them bumps into someone he or she knows.

We are digressing here. This location here is probably most famous for the 1 scene in Amaidhi Padai that is still etched in the minds of all of us who have watched the movie. Yes, I am talking about the election results scene where as the results get announced round by round and Sathyaraj’s lead keeps increasing, he starts sidestepping Mani Vannan and finally completely ignores him & eventually makes him his side kick. That scene was filmed at this location. Again the manner in which we arrived at this location was very interesting. If you have watched Amaidhi padai, it will be tough not to notice that many scenes in the movie were shot at dams. While I was searching for some popular dams in Tamil Nadu/ Kerala region, Azhiyar Dam came to our minds and from there it was again a matter of using Google & Flickr judiciously to arrive at this location.

Another movie sequence that we think was shot here is the Aracha Santhanam song from the 90s blockbuster Chinna Thambi. Given the fact that dams were the de facto choice of our directors for outdoor shooting locations back in those days, I am sure there have been other scenes from many movies that were also shot here. If you know of something, please do let us know.

About the location:
Aliyar Reservoir is a 6.48 km2 (2.5 sq mi) reservoir located near Pollachi town in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, South India. The dam is located in the foothills of Valparai, in the Anamalai Hills of the Western Ghats.[3] It is about 65 kilometers (40 mi) from Coimbatore. The dam offers some ideal getaways including a park, garden, aquarium, play area and a mini Theme-Park maintained by Tamil Nadu Fisheries Corporation for visitors enjoyment.

Movies shot at this location:
Election result scene from Amaidhi Padai
Aracha Sandhanam from Chinna Thambi

(the election results scene comes around the 6 min mark)