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.
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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.
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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.