Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000)
Kandukondain Kandukondain (Tamil: கண்டுகொண்டேன் கண்டுகொண்டேன்; English: I Have Found It) is a 2000 Tamil musical and romantic film. Directed and co-written by Rajiv Menon and produced by Kalaipuli S. Dhanu, it stars Mammootty, Ajith Kumar, Aishwarya Rai, Tabu and Abbas in the lead roles. Srividya and Raghuvaran, actors from the south Indian film industry, played other pivotal roles in the movie. Vikram, Revathi and Jayageetha dubbed for actor Abbas, Tabu and Aishwarya Rai respectively.
The film is based on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and features two young sisters with differing views on love who find themselves with three suitors. The elder sister attracts the attention of an aspiring film director, while a wounded commando falls for her younger, hopelessly romantic sister but hesitates because he is much older than she. Meanwhile, the younger sister meets and falls for a businessman with a passion for poetry. However problems lap up from different directions, resulting in emotional turmoil for both sisters. Whom the sisters marry at the end of the film forms the crux of the story.
The film opened to Indian audiences after several delays, on 4 May 2000 just after the Tamil New Year, and in the process became one of the biggest multi-starrers in Tamil cinema history. It was later dubbed into the Telugu language and released as Priyuraalu Pilichindi. Scored by A. R. Rahman, it spawned a successful soundtrack. Furthermore, the film went on to win several awards in different competitions, with Shankar Mahadevan winning a National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in the process.
ynopsis
Sowmya (Tabu) and Meenakshi a.k.a. Meenu (Aishwarya Rai) are the two daughters of Lakshmi (Srividya). Sowmya is a literate who is a principal in a school in her village. Meenakshi knows music and dance. She is fond of poetry. The other rich man in meenu's village is Major Bala (Mammooty). He falls in love with Meenu. But Meenu falls in love with Srikanth (Abbas). Manohar (Ajith Kumar) is a director who comes to Meenu's house for a shooting. He falls in love with Sowmya and Sowmya too falls in love with Manohar. He convinces Sowmya to wait to be married until the direction of his first film. After their grandfather's death, Sowmya and her family moved away to Chennai. In Chennai, Sowmya finds a respectable job in a software company while Meenu became a playback singer. At the same time, Srikanth's financial company faces a loss and he has to return the money to the depositors. A minister who offers to donate to Srikanth's company says he will donate money to his company if Srikanth marries his daughter. After knowing this, Meenu falls in a ditch and was rescued by Bala. Realizing that Bala truly loves her, Meenu falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Manohar is directing his first film. The heroine in the film is Nandhini Varma and people spread the news that Nandhini Varma and Manohar have fallen in love. His first film is a big commercial success, so he goes to Sowmya's house in Chennai. He finds that Sowmya is going to California. When Manohar is going out of Sowmya's flat he sees her on the balcony. He asks her to marry him and she agrees. Meenu's marriage and Sowmya's marriage takes place in the same day
Cast and characters
As per other Rajiv Menon films, the supporting cast was extensive with several guest appearances by artists like A. R. Rahman.
Mammooty as Bala, who has lost his leg in an army mission in Sri Lanka and uses a wooden leg. His drinking habits, make him unpopular initially but his kind-hearted work and his occupation of being a florist help attract Meenakshi. He carries love for her and is annoyed with Srikanth, but opts to help her out then nurse his own ambitions.
Ajith Kumar as Manohar, a film director, who opts not to continue his father's business despite having studied in America. He is determined to direct his own feature film, but his relationship with Sowmya slows him down, prompting the couple to quarrel and have misunderstandings.
Abbas as Srikanth, a prominent Indian businessman, who likes Meenakshi has a passion for classical music. He first appears as a "dream boy" to Meenakshi, only to marry a mortgager's daughter, after his business nearly collapses.
Aishwarya Rai as "Meenakshi", a loving and an optimistic young woman, who aspires to become a singer. Furthermore, her passions include poems of Bharathi, a famous Tamil poet. She has ambitions of how her husband should be and is surprised to find that Srikanth fits the bill.
Tabu as Sowmya, the responsible elder sister of Meenakshi and Kamala, who is branded as being "unlucky" for prospective grooms, following the death of her fiance. Despite opting to avoid marriage altogether, she begins an emotional topsy-turvy relationship with Manohar.
Srividya as Mahalakshmi, the mother of Sowmya and Meenakshi, who lives as a widow with her father, estranged from her brother.
Raghuvaran as the boss of Sowmya, who helps her regain confidence in life, by offering her a place in an American company.
Manivannan as Sivagnanam, Plays the uncle to Bala, who tries to help him get together with Meenakshi. Provides comic relief.
Shamili as Kamala, the youngest sister of Sowmiya and Meenakshi who has a passion for science.
Pooja Batra as Nandhini Verma, the actress who has a crush on Manohar.
Dino Morea as Vinod, the guy who wanted to get married to Meenakshi, but she refused his offer.
[edit]
Production
[edit]
Development
Prabhu Deva who had worked earlier in Rajiv Menon's debut fillm Minsara Kanavu introduced Kalaipuli S. Thanu to Rajiv Menon, in mid 1998. Initially the film was planned as a low budget film, concentrating more on the characters rather than "star" power. Rajiv Menon practically met all the leading ladies of Tamil and malayalam cinema at that time. But it was Tabu who agreed almost instantly. So did Ajith, who, at that time, was hospitalised with a back injury and didn't have any great offers. Rajiv Menon met Aishwarya Rai in Mumbai and narrated her the script, to which she readily agreed. It just happened that she had some dates free and it was then in February 1999, producer Kalaipuli S. Dhanu announced the film Kandukondain Kandukondain, with Rajiv Menon making his second appearance as a director. As like his previous film, A. R. Rahman was signed onto compose the music to Vairamuthu's lyrics. Sujatha Rangarajan wrote the dialogues for the film, while Menon decided not to serve as the film's cinematographer, allowing Ravi K. Chandran to handle the camera. Choreography duties were shared between Brinda and Raju Sundaram, whilst, Vikram Dharma handled the stunts in the movie. Most of the shooting is done on location in Karaikudi. The script was an Indian version of Jane Austen's novel, Sense and Sensibility, more precisely an adaptation of Ang Lee's 1995 film version of Sense and Sensibility, which had won an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Emma Thompson. But nowhere in the credits does one see any acknowledgment of the fact that the story is an adaptation for Jane Austen's novel. In fact, Rajiv Menon takes this credit for himself. This may be due to the fact that while the broad structure of the story does follow the outline of the Austen plot, there are major variations in the Indian version making it a very different work.
Mammootty and Ajith Kumar were given lead roles in the film while Abbas was in a supporting role after Prabhu Deva and then Prashanth opted out of the film.[1] Senior actor Srividya was selected to play the mother of the heroines, whilst Manivannan, Raghuvaran and Nizhagal Ravi were also given senior roles in the film. Shamili, Ajith's sister-in-law, made her first appearance as an actress since her National Award-winning role in Anjali, whilst Bollywood actors Pooja Batra and Dino Morea appeared in cameos. Menon's mother, Kalyani Menon, noted music director, A. R. Rahman and Malaysia Vasudevan Gangai Amaran all made cameo appearances as themselves in the project.
Box office
The film grossed $3 million at the box office. The film's audio rights were sold for $440,000.[2] This record was reset ten years later by Enthiran.[3][4]
[edit]
Awards
Shankar Mahadevan won a Silver Lotus Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song "Enna solla pogirai".
<!-- Begin: adBrite, Generated: 2010-10-21 3:58:13 -->
<script type="text/javascript">
var AdBrite_Title_Color = '0000FF';
var AdBrite_Text_Color = '000000';
var AdBrite_Background_Color = 'FFFFFF';
var AdBrite_Border_Color = 'CCCCCC';
var AdBrite_URL_Color = '008000';
try{var AdBrite_Iframe=window.top!=window.self?2:1;var AdBrite_Referrer=document.referrer==''?document.location:document.referrer;AdBrite_Referrer=encodeURIComponent(AdBrite_Referrer);}catch(e){var AdBrite_Iframe='';var AdBrite_Referrer='';}
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,83,67,82,73,80,84));document.write(' src="http://ads.adbrite.com/mb/text_group.php?sid=1788813&zs=3330305f323530&ifr='+AdBrite_Iframe+'&ref='+AdBrite_Referrer+'" type="text/javascript">');document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,47,83,67,82,73,80,84,62));</script>
<div><a target="_top" href="http://www.adbrite.com/mb/commerce/purchase_form.php?opid=1788813&afsid=1" style="font-weight:bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:13px;">Your Ad Here</a></div>
<!-- End: adBrite -->
Rhythm (2000)
Rhythm is a 2000 released Tamil film. The film stars Arjun, Meena and Manivannan in lead roles and Ramesh Aravind and Jyothika in cameo appearances. The music is by A. R. Rahman. The director is Vasanth. Cinematography is by P.S. Vinod and Arthur A. Wilson. The film was released in August 2000 in India and worldwide. Based on the real events which widowed people face while setting a steady course for their lives, the movie threads along the thin line between arthouse and commercial cinema. Rhythm follows the time-tested unusual love story formula, but succeeds in keeping the audience from realizing it. A good measure of its success lies with the astoundingly low-key emotional performances, brilliant music score and cinematography. The background score by A.R. Rahman as acknowledged by many as one of the finest in his career The film won critical acclaim upon its release.
Pre Release
Originally announced with pre release stills in websites in early 1997, the movie was 3 years in the making, considered to be a fairly long production time in the Indian film industry. The soundtrack of this movie, to be done by ace music composer AR Rahman was hyped about as being unique, different and novel based on the 5 elements of nature. In addition to the music, the cast of the movie included two reigning lead stars of Tamil cinema of the 1990s Arjun and Meena and their director Vasanth whom also carved a niche for himself in the cinema world known for off-beat, character-based storylines at the time.
The title branding of the movie was another contributing factor to the fan hype on the net projecting it to be a novel "musical based love story" by avid fans of AR Rahman. Though bits of news about the movie were released over time in entertainment magazines and tabloids, much of its production was generally low profile. At some point due to the long delay in its release, unconfirmed news was circulating that production has been shelved due to financial constraints.
[edit]
Plot
Karthikeyan (Arjun), is a photographer cum editor working in Indian Express Chitra (Meena) is a bank employee. Both reside at Mumbai. Karthi meets Chitra in the bank she works while opening a bank account. While returning back to home Karthi again meets her in a train. He offers his seat but Chitra does not want to accept it. Again during a train strike he invites her to travel in same auto to reduce expenses, but Chitra nose cuts him. When Chitra hesitated to travel in same train with Karthik he becomes angry and explains that he talked to her just because both are from same nativity and he says he will never talk to her anymore. After some days Chitra volunteerly talks to him. Karthi in return accompanies her to police station to get back her snatched hand bag. Karthi invites Chitra to his home to meet his parents.
Karthi's parents likes Chitra and all become friends. Karthi's mother requests Chitra to tell karthi to get married. When she convey his parent's wish, Karthi explains about his wife who died in a train accident. Karthi comes to know about Chitra and her husband Sri Kanth who died in same train accident. Chitra adopted a boy Shiva as per her husband's wish.Karthi's parents wish both of them to get married.
Chitra's son shiva moves close to Karthi and his family, while Chitra tries to prevent relations with Karthi. Karthi's father (Nagesh) understands Karthi's interest towards Chitra and he meets and requests her to marry Karthi. But she refuses and once for all avoids Karthi. Karthi understood her intention and he stayed away from her. Chitra meanwhile gets confused regarding second marriage due to the trouble given by her neighbour's husband and Shiva's passion for Karthi. Chitra's neighbour once uttempts to rape her but she manages to escape. Karthi who heard about it attacks the man for misbehaving and makes him to vacate Mumbai. Chitra decides to marry Karthi for herself and her son and she calls him to meet at the station to express her decision. While returning home she meets her mother-in-law (Lakshmi) who once upon a time opposed the marriage of her son Sri Kanth with her. Chitra's mother-in-law requests her to come and live with her as she is very lone after her husband's death. Chitra then decides to leave with her mother-in-law. But she is not dared to meet Karthi and she leaves without informing him. Karthi and his family are very much disappointed by this.
<object width="960" height="745"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AQbNgF5mmA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AQbNgF5mmA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="960" height="745"></embed></object>
After some months Chitra panics on seeing a news at television about bomb blast at Mumbai Indian Express and verifies Karthi's safety. Karthi leaves for Coonoor on an official assignment. There he meets Chitra with her mother-in-law. Chitra introduces him to her and tells about Karthi's wife's death in the same train accident where her son died. On hearing this, Chitra's mother-in-law invites Karthi to have lunch with them, the next day. This delights Shiva. Shiva eagerly waits for Karthi and leaves school well before but struck up in traffic jam for a long time. Meanwhile Chitra explains about her decision to marry him and later changed it as her mother-in-law requested her to live with her. Karthi leaves without meeting Shiva to catch the train. This disappoints Shiva and when Chitra tried to console him he blames her that she did not keep up the promise that he, Chitra, Karthi and his parents to live together. Chitra's mother-in-law hears this and understoods the meaning of it and she realised the mistake she did. She catches Karthi at railway station and requests him to marry Chitra. Karthi and Chitra leave to Mumbai and get married which delights Karthi's parents.
The soundtrack features 5 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu. The songs were inspired by the elements of the world.
The soundtrack was well received by music fans upon its initial release and has been hailed as an ingenious piece of work by A. R. Rahman and appeared in the list of top selling soundtracks in its opening week. The film background score also done by A. R. Rahman manages to seamlessly flow into the story and draws the viewer into the scene. The soundtrack has been acknowledged as one of A. R. Rahman's best works.
Three songs were later reused in a bollywood movie Lakeer – Forbidden Lines
Trivia
Actor Arjun primarily known for action roles had attempted a totally off beat role in this film and probably the only one which showed him in a restrained performance.
A lot of care had gone into Meena’s make-up and acting in this film.
Actor Arjun having played a news reporter in "Mudhalvan", a smash hit thriller, repeated a similar role as a photo journalist in this film a year later.
Arjun and Meena came together for a 2nd time in this film. Both last appeared together in lead roles in 1994.
A. R. Rahman and Vasanth came together for the first time in this film.
The music was reused later in the Hindi language film, "Lakeer" (2004)
The film was dubbed into Telugu as Rhythm and was recognized only due to its music by A.R. Rahman
Pre Release
Originally announced with pre release stills in websites in early 1997, the movie was 3 years in the making, considered to be a fairly long production time in the Indian film industry. The soundtrack of this movie, to be done by ace music composer AR Rahman was hyped about as being unique, different and novel based on the 5 elements of nature. In addition to the music, the cast of the movie included two reigning lead stars of Tamil cinema of the 1990s Arjun and Meena and their director Vasanth whom also carved a niche for himself in the cinema world known for off-beat, character-based storylines at the time.
The title branding of the movie was another contributing factor to the fan hype on the net projecting it to be a novel "musical based love story" by avid fans of AR Rahman. Though bits of news about the movie were released over time in entertainment magazines and tabloids, much of its production was generally low profile. At some point due to the long delay in its release, unconfirmed news was circulating that production has been shelved due to financial constraints.
[edit]
Plot
Karthikeyan (Arjun), is a photographer cum editor working in Indian Express Chitra (Meena) is a bank employee. Both reside at Mumbai. Karthi meets Chitra in the bank she works while opening a bank account. While returning back to home Karthi again meets her in a train. He offers his seat but Chitra does not want to accept it. Again during a train strike he invites her to travel in same auto to reduce expenses, but Chitra nose cuts him. When Chitra hesitated to travel in same train with Karthik he becomes angry and explains that he talked to her just because both are from same nativity and he says he will never talk to her anymore. After some days Chitra volunteerly talks to him. Karthi in return accompanies her to police station to get back her snatched hand bag. Karthi invites Chitra to his home to meet his parents.
Karthi's parents likes Chitra and all become friends. Karthi's mother requests Chitra to tell karthi to get married. When she convey his parent's wish, Karthi explains about his wife who died in a train accident. Karthi comes to know about Chitra and her husband Sri Kanth who died in same train accident. Chitra adopted a boy Shiva as per her husband's wish.Karthi's parents wish both of them to get married.
Chitra's son shiva moves close to Karthi and his family, while Chitra tries to prevent relations with Karthi. Karthi's father (Nagesh) understands Karthi's interest towards Chitra and he meets and requests her to marry Karthi. But she refuses and once for all avoids Karthi. Karthi understood her intention and he stayed away from her. Chitra meanwhile gets confused regarding second marriage due to the trouble given by her neighbour's husband and Shiva's passion for Karthi. Chitra's neighbour once uttempts to rape her but she manages to escape. Karthi who heard about it attacks the man for misbehaving and makes him to vacate Mumbai. Chitra decides to marry Karthi for herself and her son and she calls him to meet at the station to express her decision. While returning home she meets her mother-in-law (Lakshmi) who once upon a time opposed the marriage of her son Sri Kanth with her. Chitra's mother-in-law requests her to come and live with her as she is very lone after her husband's death. Chitra then decides to leave with her mother-in-law. But she is not dared to meet Karthi and she leaves without informing him. Karthi and his family are very much disappointed by this.
<object width="960" height="745"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AQbNgF5mmA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9AQbNgF5mmA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="960" height="745"></embed></object>
After some months Chitra panics on seeing a news at television about bomb blast at Mumbai Indian Express and verifies Karthi's safety. Karthi leaves for Coonoor on an official assignment. There he meets Chitra with her mother-in-law. Chitra introduces him to her and tells about Karthi's wife's death in the same train accident where her son died. On hearing this, Chitra's mother-in-law invites Karthi to have lunch with them, the next day. This delights Shiva. Shiva eagerly waits for Karthi and leaves school well before but struck up in traffic jam for a long time. Meanwhile Chitra explains about her decision to marry him and later changed it as her mother-in-law requested her to live with her. Karthi leaves without meeting Shiva to catch the train. This disappoints Shiva and when Chitra tried to console him he blames her that she did not keep up the promise that he, Chitra, Karthi and his parents to live together. Chitra's mother-in-law hears this and understoods the meaning of it and she realised the mistake she did. She catches Karthi at railway station and requests him to marry Chitra. Karthi and Chitra leave to Mumbai and get married which delights Karthi's parents.
The soundtrack features 5 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu. The songs were inspired by the elements of the world.
The soundtrack was well received by music fans upon its initial release and has been hailed as an ingenious piece of work by A. R. Rahman and appeared in the list of top selling soundtracks in its opening week. The film background score also done by A. R. Rahman manages to seamlessly flow into the story and draws the viewer into the scene. The soundtrack has been acknowledged as one of A. R. Rahman's best works.
Three songs were later reused in a bollywood movie Lakeer – Forbidden Lines
Trivia
Actor Arjun primarily known for action roles had attempted a totally off beat role in this film and probably the only one which showed him in a restrained performance.
A lot of care had gone into Meena’s make-up and acting in this film.
Actor Arjun having played a news reporter in "Mudhalvan", a smash hit thriller, repeated a similar role as a photo journalist in this film a year later.
Arjun and Meena came together for a 2nd time in this film. Both last appeared together in lead roles in 1994.
A. R. Rahman and Vasanth came together for the first time in this film.
The music was reused later in the Hindi language film, "Lakeer" (2004)
The film was dubbed into Telugu as Rhythm and was recognized only due to its music by A.R. Rahman
Minnale (2001)
Minnale (English: Lightning) (Tamil: மின்னலே) is a 2001 Tamil film written and directed by Gautham Menon. It is a stylized romantic and musical comedy. The film stars Madhavan, Abbas, Reema Sen, Vivek and Nagesh. The film's score and songs are composed by Harris Jayaraj and are all time hits and all became chartbusters.
Minnale, oh..it still strikes now as lightning as much as it did in 2001. This movie which was a stylised hollywood type of indian romance was an insanely huge box office hit a few years back for its story and music. Its success prompted bollywood producers to remake the show in Hindi. Cineindia reported that this gem of a movie set the cash registers rolling in Sathyam Theatres of Chennai. The story was conceived by a debutant director Gautham Menon and a first time music composer Harris Jayaraj, has composed brilliant music that made even AR Rahman sit up and notice. The soundtrack was released months before the film and became widely talked about. Most importantly, Minnale marked the coming of the Gautham- Harris combination as a potent force in the industry for the years to come. Minnale was one of the most successful tamil movies of the 2000s and inspired a slew of similar movies in the years after.
A shrewd street punk (Maddy) who likes a girl (Reema) at first sight, and wanted to woo her. Unfortuntely,this girl is a very practical person who doesnt believe in love , and who wants to settle down in life and have kids. Unknown to Maddy, she is already engaged to someone arranged by her parents she hasnt even met before .Our hero goes to meet her on a casual date. She thinks that her fiance has come to meet her in disguise.
She plays along thinking its her fiance. He plays along making up extravagant stories about himself to impress her .
They date for 10 days and the shocking truth comes out when her real fiance arrives and says he could not make it for the meeting with her the other day because of work commitments.Our hero finds out that the person she is engaged to , and him have the same name and to meet our girl on the same day.....
Reema then thinks that Maddy has cheated her by impersonating as her fiance whom she is to meet on the same day he appeared. Feeling betrayed and angry with Maddy, she tells him off not to see her again ever. Maddy was just unlucky that fate played him around but he didnt meant to cheat her . He became a circumstantial victim of coincidence. But the both of them could not forget the 10 days they were together . She realised that in those 10 days within herself, there is a strange feeling called LOVE. Beneath the deep resentment and extreme prejudice, Reema finally manages to acknowledge that life is not about marrying a successful and rich man , and that life is about marrying someone u really love and wish to spend the rest of that life with.
First time director Gautham Menon has some interesting camera angles and generally the quality of the film is top notch. The subtle nuances and attention to detail makes one wonder the directional capabilities of this promising newcomer. The songs were tastefully done especially Vaseegra, and the music of Harris Jayaraj , a newcomer musician gives AR Rahman, the king, a serious challenge. There is an uncanny resemblance to Rahman many will agree but though the music is original and fresh, it hooks on one instantly and before u realise it , u reach for the repeat button on your hi-fi after the addiction gets into u. Minnale is well worth your time and movie ticket. Energetic,vibrant and full of LOVE.
Production
The film was initially titled O Lala.The filming was done in Chennai, Ooty and Malaysia
The film was later dubbed into Telugu as Cheli
The film was remade in hindi as Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein (RHTDM) which also starred (Madhavan) in lead
Box office
The film grossed $2 million at the box office.
This was then remade in Hindi as Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein directed by Gautham Menon and starring Madhavan, Dia Mirza and Saif Ali Khan, but apart from a few centers the film was not well received by the audience.[citation needed]
Although the film didn't turn out to be a hit in Hindi, the music was well acclaimed by the Bollywood personalities like the director Subhash Ghai.[citation needed]
The director of Sillunu Oru Kaadhal, N. Krishna made a cameo appearance in the film as a lorry driver.
Soundtrack
Azhagiya Theeye (Harish Raghavendra, Timmy)
Iru Vizhi (Devan)
Maddy Maddy (Timmy , Karthik)
Nenjai Poopol (Harish Raghavendra)
Oh Mama Mama (Shankar Mahadevan, Tippu)
Pooppol Poopol (Tippu, Karthik)
Vaseegara (Bombay Jayashri)
Venmathiye Venmathiye Nillu (Roop Kumar Rathod, Tippu)
Verenna Verenna Vendum (Unnikrishnan , Harini)
12B (2001)
12B is a 2001 Tamil movie starring Shaam, Simran Bagga, Jyothika, Vivek, Moon Moon Sen and Sunil Shetty and music composed by Harris Jeyaraj. This movie is based on 1998 English movie Sliding doors. The film is directed by cinematographer, Jeeva. This movie marks Shaam's debut as an actor. This movie was a hit. It was dubbed in Hindi as Do Raaste - 12B and released on DVD in 2005. This film was inspired by the hollywood movie Sliding Doors.This movie uses a method called Random juxtaposition, two random objects moving in parallel, a technique intended to show alternating occurrences
Plot
The film begins with a young man named Shakthi (Shaam) leaving his house one morning en route a job interview, when he spots a beautiful girl Jothika aka Jo (Jyothika) walking down the street and he's both attracted to and distracted by her. He begins to follow her and in the process, accidentally misses his bus and is mugged. The film then pauses at this point as a voice over begins to tell the viewer that we are about to examine how Shakthi's life will be impacted, by missing the bus or by making to the bus.
The Shakthi who makes the bus, gets to the job interview on time and gets the job of a bank manager and a beautiful young co-worker Priya (Simran Bagga) falls in love with him. The catch there is that this Shakthi is still in love with the same woman who his alternate self (who missed the bus) loves, but try as he may, something keeps preventing him from getting to her. That thing turns out to be his alternate self (that is the him who missed the bus). He is well off in life but miserable because he can't get the girl he loves.
The Shakthi who missed the bus, arrives at the interview too late and is thrown out of the bank. On his way back home, he passes by a junkyard where he spots an old friend (Vivek) who gives him a job as a mechanic and life goes on. The next day, while crossing the street, he spots the dream girl from the day before and begins to follow her again until he is able to get her attention and they begin a relationship. One day, Jo's uncle (Sunil Shetty) comes to visit and it turns out he too is in love with her and wants to marry her, but the girl is so much in love with Shakthi and vice versa.
Due to some misconceptions Jo and Shakthi (who missed the bus) separate. On the other end, Priya expresses her love for Shakthi (who made it to the bus). The climax scene is cliched and Shakthi (who makes the bus) while reciprocating his love for Priya meets with an accident. At the same moment Shakthi (who missed the bus) is also grievously hurt in the same freak accident while he tries to patch up with Jo. Shakthi and his alternate self are admitted in the hospital.
The film ends with Priya wailing over the death of Shakthi (who makes to the bus) catching a glimpse of Shakthi (who missed the bus) patching up with Jo at the hospital.
[edit]
Cast and crew
Cast : Shaam, Simran, Jyothika, Vivek, Moon Moon Sen, Sunil Shetty, Siva
Director : Jeeva
Producer : Vikram Singh
Music : Harris Jeyaraj
Cinematography: Jeeva
Edited by: V.T.Vijayan, B. Lenin
Art Direction: Thotta Tharani
Assistant Directors: Srikanth (acted in this movie) , Vinod (acted as Jackie shroff)
Thirudha Thirudha (1993)
Thiruda Thiruda (Tamil: திருடா திருடா) (Thief Thief) (1993) is a Tamil film comedy, action directed by the acclaimed film maker Mani Ratnam, and scripted by Ram Gopal Varma, yet another iconic Indian film maker. The soundtrack and background score of the film were composed by A. R. Rahman whilst the cinematography was done by P. C. Sriram.
Plot
Freshly printed bank notes to the value of an incredible Rs.100 million are stolen in India from a train by the henchmen of a tough gangster T.T. Vikram (Salim Ghouse) living in London. Portly CBI Inspector Laxminarayan (S.P. Balasubrahmanyam) and the other CBI officers are assigned to track down the Rs.100 million worth of stolen currency from the Nasik Government Security Press in 10 days.
The CBI traces the robbery to Ashok Chellaiya, a businessman who had orchestrated the robbery. But before Ashok is arrested, he posts a key card of the container that holds the Rs.100 million notes to his ex, Chandralekha (Anu Agarwal). The CBI officers find a clue “SKF 1138” in Ashok’s office and grill him about it with no success. So they decide to question Chandralekha. Chandralekha, a entertainer by profession, absconds with the card when she learns that Ashok is arrested.
Kadir (Anand) and Azhagu (Prashanth) are two thieves who are notorious in their village in South India for targeting rich landlords. During one robbery attempt, Azhagu stops the landlord’s niece, Rasathi (Heera Rajgopal), from committing suicide. She in turn offers to help them escape her uncle’s henchman on the condition that they take her with them.
On the run from her uncle’s henchmen, they climb on top of a moving train. Chandralekha, traveling by the same train, helps the three get inside but quickly deduces that they are thieves. When CBI stops the train looking for her, she asks for their help, in return for a large sum of money. They help her escape in a horse cart but the CBI continues the pursuit. They fall from a cliff into the water below to escape. After resting, Kadir and Azhagu wake up to realize that Chandralekha has vanished along with their money bag. They leave a sleeping Rasathi alone and to find Chandralekha.
Vikram, returns to India, bails out Ashok, but then kills him because he got caught. Chandralekha tries to call Ashok, but Vikram arranges to meet her to get the key card. The thieves find her, take back their bag and also steal one of her handbags. But the local police officers who see this, think that they stole her money bag, return it to her and arrest the thieves.
While being transported back, they find a handgun on the handbag they stole from Chandralekha. Using the hand gun, they escape the police and board a local bus only to find an enraged Rasathi inside. A group of strong men stop the bus and look for Rasathi. Azhagu points out the hiding Rasathi to the men. The men forcefully drag her, beat her and take her away in a car. Azhagu and Kadir, realizing their mistake chase and rescue Rasathi.
Rasathi then tells them her story and that the goons are her uncle’s men. She grew up with her uncle and her aunt after the death of her parents. But after an astrologer told her uncle that he or his niece would die soon, he decided to marry Rasathi, thus making her his wife and also to get her wealth. That was the reason why she had tried to commit suicide earlier and is now running away from him.
Chandralekha meets with Vikram’s men but realizes that the thieves robbed her handbag which contained the key card. Meanwhile the thieves throw away the contents of the handbag into a river after finding nothing valuable in it. The thieves reach a carnival and try to hide when they spot police officers. Chandralekha too, along with a couple of Vikram’s goons reach at the carnival. She manages to elude the goons, and promises large sum of money in return for the card to Kadir and Azhagu. The next day, they dive into the river and retrieve the card, only to get captured by Vikram and his goons, while Rasathi hides and watches. The goons beat the thieves to get information on the container from Chandralekha. She tells them that the container will pass through a particular checkpoint at a particular time. During this, Kadir steals the card. Soon a group of people pass near them. Rasathi in the cover of the people, help Kadir, Azhagu and Chandralekha escape. The goons, realizing that the card is missing, give chase but lose them. Vikram goes after the container.
CBI officers, realizing that SKF 1138 is the number of a cargo container, are on pursuit to find it. The cargo container SKF 1138 is being transported in a truck, driven by a alcoholic driver who gives his truck as an assurance to a local bar owner for his previous spending in the bar. Kadir, Azhagu, Rasathi and Chandralekha run into the local police and runs away from them. While on the run, they accidentally fall from the edge of a cliff to on top of the cargo container which is being stolen by the truck driver. The truck driver, thinking that they are sent by the shop owner, tries to get them off the truck by driving erratically. This results in the truck falling into a river. All of them get out unharmed and use local elephants to pull out the truck. Kadir, Azhagu, Rasathi and Chandralekha then use the key card to open the container and are happy to see the money as Kadir and Rasathi profess their love for each other in secrecy.
A little while later, Rasathi’s uncle finds her and takes her away and while Azhagu profess his love for Rasathi to a shocked Kadir. But as soon as they find out about her kidnapping, they go back to her uncle’s house and rescue her. Vikram gets a tip about the truck from a local, find it along with Chandralekha and the key card. Vikram and his goons tie her up and leave with the truck. On their way back, Azhagu and Kadir see’s Vikram's men taking the truck. They manage to beat Vikram’s goons, climb on the truck and take it away.Then they hide the truck in the village.
Laxminarayan and the CBI, finds and arrests Chandralekha but unable to find the truck, gathers all the people in the village and tells them about the truck and the vast amount of money in it. This causes all the villagers to search for the truck frantically, which is exactly CBI hoped for. Kadir asks Rasathi to forget about him as he doesn’t want to see Azhagu hurt. Azhagu professes his love to Rasathi who rejects it and leaves both of them.
As Rasathi has always been against stealing, she decides to tell the CBI the location of truck with the money. But on the way, she is kidnapped by Vikram, is tied to the back of a car and is dragged to the village. In the village, Kadir and Azhagu, gives up the truck for the safety of Rasathi. The village people, sensing this is the truck with the money, all clamor to get to it. Vikram’s goons open fire on the people in which Rasathi’s evil uncle is killed. Vikram rides the truck away and take Rasathi as hostage.
Chandralekha tells the CBI that the original plan was to take the container outside of the country by a cruise liner and using a cargo train to get to the cruise liner. The CBI then find the train Vikram is now traveling in but is unable to stop it. They pursue after the train. Kadir and Azhagu, has also followed Vikram to the train. During the battle with Vikram‘s goons and rescuing Rasathi, Azhagu sees kadir and Rasathi embrace each other and realizes that they are in love. Then they fight and beat Vikram, get the key card and manage to stop the train.
After seeing the container with the money, Kadir and Azhagu playfully ask the other to take care of Rasathi, while they take the money. The CBI catches up the train and secures the money.
[edit]
Cast
Azhagu ... Prashanth
Kadhir ... Anand
Rasathi ... Heera Rajagopal
Chandralekha ... Anu Agarwal
Laxminarayanan ... S. P. Balasubramaniam
T.T. Vikram ... Salim Ghouse
[edit]
Trivia
The film bombed at the box office, as the critics were expecting a serious plot from Ratnam himself.
The film was loosely based on the Hollywood Western, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
This film is reputed to be one of the first Indian movies to have used cinematographic devices such as Akela Cranes. P.C. Sriram provided the cinematography for this film.
Ram Gopal Varma gave this story to Mani Ratnam and in return Mani Ratnam gave the story for Ghayam, yet another blockbuster, for Ram Gopal Varma to direct.
This film was dubbed and released in Telugu as Donga Donga and in Hindi as Chor Chor.
The soundtrack features 7 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu. Music director Amit Trivedi, one of A.R.Rahman's biggest self-proclaimed fans, selected the soundtrack to this film as his all time favourite album.[1] The soundtrack was noticed for the large use of Western instruments, especially in the song Chandralekha. Vocalist Anupama was introduced through this technopop song. The music score was an important key in this film. The song Veerapandi Kottayile became a big hit all across South India and following this, a popular slogan from Kerala, "Thekku Thekkoru Deshathu" adopted the tune of that song.
En Swase Katre (1999)
En Swasa Katre (My Life Breath) is a 1999 Indian Tamil romance film. The film stars Arvind Swamy, Isha Koppikar, Prakash Raj and Raghuvaran. The music is by A.R.Rahman. The director of this film is Ravi. The film was released in Feb 1999 in India and worldwide. The actress Isha Koppikar debuted in the South Indian film industry with this film.
Pre release
The film was first announced in 1997 as Love Letter and was later retitled En Swasa Katre. There was lot of speculation that A.R. Rahman, the film's composer was producing this film along with the production house, but this turned out to be false. The pre-release stills were released on some AR Rahman fansites two years ealier. With Arvindswamy's Engineer(film) and Mudhal Mudhalaaga announced at the same time in which both these films were to have music by A.R Rahman. Unfortunately these films remained unmade to date.
Production
The motion picture is produced by Nikaba films. The re-recording of the film is done on DTS 5.1 sound. Coupled with vibrant cinematography, a wide variety of locales such as the temples of Indonesia, Sand mines, Indoor studio apartments for film and song sequences has been used. An impressive song sequence found in the film was filmed entirely in rain in contemporary city settings to a foot tapping melody.
[edit]
Cast
Arvind Swamy
Isha Koppikar
Prakash Raj
Vadivelu
Raghuvaran
Chinni Jayanth
Plot
A seemingly down to earth guy Arun (Arvind Swamy) by day leads a life of a computer hacker and thief by night. When he meets a girl (Isha Koppikar) whom he fancies, he wishes to turn into a new leaf. But Arun's rogue brother whom has been blackmailing him since young to do his dirty deeds does not think likewise. A deep love hate relationship between them which unfolded during their childhood days traps Arun into a life of crime. How Arun chooses between his family and his love forms the crux of the story
The highly acclaimed soundtrack features 6 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu and Vaali. The soundtrack of this film was well received upon its initial release. Notably, song sequences in this film got considerable TV audience via music dedication through various primetime programs on Indian television and remained on the top 10 charts for a period of time.
The soundtrack was well received by music fans upon its initial release. The soundtrack has been acknowledged as one of A.R. Rahman's best works to date in the 1990s. Parts of the song "En Swasa Katre" are syncopated as in Karnatak music compositions. In the style of Enigma, the French group which blends religious music and pop, a church chorus is used in one of the interludes.
The song Jumbalakka was reused in Thakshak, with male vocalist replaced by Shankar Mahadevan. Kadhal Niagra was reused with change in instrumentation and vocals and with a considerable extend in length as Ke Sera Sera in Pukar. An instrumental theme song, which got high appreciations compared to other pieces of background score, was featured in the movie but not released in the cassettes. It is commonly used as a background theme by TV channels and websites now a days.
[edit]
TracklistSong Artist(s) Lyrics
En Swasa Katrae M. G. Sreekumar, K. S. Chitra Vairamuthu
Jumbalakka Rafi, Alisha Chinoy Vairamuthu
Kadhal Niagra Palakkad Sreeram, Anupama, Harini Vaali
Chinna Chinna Mazhai Thuligal M. G. Sreekumar Vairamuthu
Thindai S. P. Balasubramaniam, K. S. Chitra Vairamuthu
Thirakkadha P. Unni Krishnan, K. S. Chitra Vairamuthu
Trivia
The director K.S. Ravi had not been seen in new projects in the film industry since the release of this film.
This is the last film of Arvind Swamy in a commercial lead role who seems to have retired from the acting scene. The actor then re-appeared in a low profiled arthouse movie "Sasanam" in 2006
Actress Isha Koppikar moved on to have a brief successful stint in Bollywood.
The shelved film Engineer which was to have Arvind Swamy and Madhuri Dixit in lead roles has been restarted in 2007 with a different cast.
This was dubbed into Telugu as Premante Pranamista.
The song Kadhal Nayagara, was remade in the Hindi Movie Pukar, for the song Kay Sera Sera.
The song Oru Thuli was shot with Arvind Swamy on a motorbike because A.R.Rahman had composed the track with motorbike sounds at the start and the end of the song. It was a very famous scene and Arvind Swamy had to learn how to ride a motorbike just for this shot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)