Wikipedia

Kaadhal

For the 1952 Tamil film, see Kaadhal (1952 film).

Kaadhal (transl. Love) is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film based on a true story, directed by Balaji Sakthivel, starring Bharath and Sandhya. It was produced by S. Shankar and featured music composed by Joshua Sridhar. The film opened on 17 December 2004 to critical acclaim and was a high commercial success. It was Bharath's first successful film as a main lead actor. The film was dubbed into Telugu as Premisthe in 2005 & biggest blockbuster hit of the year.[1] It was remade in Kannada as Cheluvina Chittara in 2007, in Bengali as Chirodini Tumi Je Amar in 2008,[2] in Bangladesh as Nogor Mastan in 2015, in Marathi as Ved Laavi Jeeva in 2010, in Nepali as Manjari in 2013 and in Punjabi as Ramta Jogi in 2015.[3]

Kaadhal
Poster
Directed byBalaji Sakthivel
Written byBalaji Sakthivel
Produced byS Shankar
StarringBharath
Sandhya
Sukumar
CinematographyVijay Milton
Edited byG. Sasikumar
Music byJoshua Sridhar
Distributed byS Pictures
Release dates
  • 17 December 2004 (2004-12-17)
(Tamil)
  • 12 October 2005 (2005-10-12)
(Telugu)
Running time
150 mins..
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

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Murugan is a diligent scooter mechanic in Madurai, and life goes on smoothly for him until a rich student Aishwarya who is the daughter of a local goon and bar owner sets an eye on him. The infatuation reaches a dangerous level when she coaxes Murugan to take her from the constraint of her family, who has other plans about her future. Initially, Murugan hesitates to love her as she belongs to a rich family and caste issues but later understands her true love and reciprocates. The couple knows that Aishwarya's family will not agree for the wedding and decides to run away to Chennai. Murugan's friend Stephen helps them in their hour of crisis, and the lovers unite in marriage. But Aishwarya's family dotes on her and is not going to give up so easily.

The family tracks down the couple and reaches Chennai to meet them. But the family members pretend to have agreed on the wedding and convince them to return to Madurai along with them. On the way back to Madurai, the family members take the couple to their farmland where Aishwarya's relatives have gathered. They all beat Murugan, and Aishwarya's father wants her to remove the mangalyam tied by Murugan. Aishwarya fears that if she does not obey her father, then Murugan will be killed, so she agrees to marry another man to save Murugan's life. Murugan is beaten and let go of the place.

After a few years, Aishwarya, while travelling with her husband and her child, comes across Murugan, where she finds him as a mentally deranged beggar roaming near a traffic signal. Aishwarya faints upon realizing that the man is Murugan and gets admitted to the nearby hospital. At night, she runs from the hospital to the same signal in search of Murugan, and she finds him sitting there. Aishwarya cries to Murugan and feels bad that she was responsible for his pathetic situation. Aishwarya's husband also comes to the spot and understands his wife's situation. He admits Murugan in a mental health centre and also takes care of him.

The movie ends with title cards mentioning that this is a true incident narrated by the girl's husband to the director during a train journey, which prompted him to make a film.

Cast

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  • Bharath as S. Murugan
  • Sandhya as R. Aishwarya
  • Sukumar as Stephen
  • Dhandapani as Rajendran
  • S. Krishna Murthy as Aishwarya's uncle
  • Arun Kumar as Murugan's assistant
  • Saravanan as aspiring director Bhagya
  • Saranya as Sathya
  • Pallu Babu as Viruchagakanth
  • Muthuraman as Dhanasekaran
  • Sivakumar as Aishwarya's husband
  • Sridhar special appearance in the song "Pura Koondu"
  • Soori as Mansion mate (uncredited)

Production

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After the average response of his debut film Samurai (2002), Balaji was supposed to direct again Vikram in a new venture which was later shelved.[4][5] When Sakthivel was preparing a script for Vikram, he saw a school girl and a mechanic together which "hit my mind that they won’t end up with each other due to their societal and economic differences" and wrote a script on them while the film's ending was inspired from a true event happened in Madurai which he came to know after his interaction with an passenger during train journey.[6] After lot of producers refused to do the film due to its "hard-hitting climax", Sakthivel narrated it to Shankar during the shoot of Anniyan (2005), who agreed to produce the film after hearing the script.[7][8]

The film was initially turned down by actors Dhanush and Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, before Balaji Sakthivel consulted Shankar's advice for the lead role. Telugu actor Ram also auditioned for the lead role but was unsuccessful. After considering both Manikandan and Bharath from the cast of Boys (2003), Shankar chose the latter to star in his production.[9] For the female lead, the makers held discussions with Ileana D'Cruz and then Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, but the latter's father was reluctant to let her become an actress at the time. The team then picked Saranya Nag was in Class IX, when cinematographer Vijay Milton referred her on to Balaji Sakthivel.[10][11] She was initially considered to play the heroine in the film, but the role was later handed to Sandhya, after the director felt Saranya looked too young, Saranya later was chosen for the character of Sandhya's friend.[12] Dhandapani from Madurai was selected to play Sandhya's father. He became popular with this film and adopted the film's title as Kaadhal Dhandapani.[13]

Though the story was shown to have taken place in Madurai, shooting was done in Dindigul and Madurai. The school where Sandhya studies is St. Joseph's Girls Higher Secondary School, Dindigul. The first schedule was completed in 20 days and rest of the scenes were shot at locations in Chennai, Chalakudy and Munnar.[7]

Soundtrack

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The film has eight songs composed by Joshua Sridhar making his debut.[14] Haricharan made his singing debut with this film when he was 17, and went on to record three songs.[15]

All lyrics are written by Na. Muthukumar

Track list[16]
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Poovum Pudikkudhu"Krish, Pop Shalini, Tippu3:29
2."Ivanthan"Sunitha Sarathy2:09
3."Thandattikarupaiyee"Pop Shalini, Vidhya, Malar, Maalaiamma5:45
4."Thottu Thottu"Haricharan, Harini Sudhakar5:41
5."Pura Koondu"Suresh Peters, Harish Raghavendra, Tippu, Premji, Karunas5:31
6."Kiru Kiru"Karthik, Pop Shalini4:32
7."Unakkena Iruppaen"Haricharan6:16
8."Kaadhal"Haricharan4:03
Total length:37:26

All lyrics are written by Veturi

Telugu track list[17]
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Moolasandhu"Karthik, Tippu, Srivardhini6:03
2."Thandana Dappulatho"Pop Shalini, Malathi Sharma, Srivardhini5:40
3."Ithade"Sunitha Sarathy2:08
4."Mattilanti Nannu"Haricharan, Harini Sudhakar6:16
5."Puvvu Nachenu"Karthik, Pop Shalini, Tippu3:30
6."Janma Needele"Haricharan6:16
7."Gira Gira"Karthik, Pop Shalini5:02
Total length:34:55

Reception

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Visual Dasan of Kalki praised the film for realism and performances.[18] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote "Kadhal [..] apart, from the otherwise run of the mill story of calf love, elopement and the consequences thereof. Balaji Saktivel (story, screenplay, dialogue and direction) deserves full credit for the differently conceived drama in the end, where very little is actually said — the body language conveys it all" while praising the film's performances of cast and director's treatment of the film.[19] Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "A short simple tale, an equally simple narrative style, an unassuming lead pair with their people next-door looks, and some well coordinated performances all make for some fairly engaging viewing in ‘Kadhal’."[20] Behindwoods calling it "quite a soothing love story".[21]

Box office

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Produced on a budget of ₹1.25 crores, the film was a surprise blockbuster at box-office recovering almost its entire budget from Chennai distribution territory.[22][23]

Controversy

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St. Joseph Girl's Higher Secondary School, Madurai filed a case against the filmmakers for portraying their school in a negative light.[24]

Legacy

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The film's success catapulted Bharath and Sandhya to fame, they went on to become popular.[25] The film's screenplay was released in the form of a book in 2005.[26]

References

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  1. ^ Jeevi. "Movie review - Premiste". Idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Chirodini Tumi Je Amar 2". The Times of India. 15 April 2014. Archived from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  3. ^ "'Chirodini Tumi Je Amaar' shines with audience". Bharatstudent.com. 2 September 2008. Archived from the original on 16 September 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  4. ^ "Cinebits". Nilacharal. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  5. ^ "Actor Vikram's new post!". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  6. ^ Darshan, Navein (25 September 2019). "Sense of a scene: Kaadhal climax, love in the times of caste". New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Kadhal". Chennai Online. 12 August 2004. Archived from the original on 18 February 2007.
  8. ^ Narasimham, M. L. "Another new venture". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 November 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  9. ^ "In search of a hit". The Hindu. 6 August 2016. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  10. ^ "After Samurai, Vikram was ready to give me his dates". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  11. ^ "Varalaxmi Sarathkumar opens up about her movies before Podaa Podi". Behindwoods. 4 May 2020. Archived from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  12. ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (31 March 2012). "Awaiting the monsoon". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  13. ^ "Popular Actor Kadhal Dhandapani Passes Away". International Business Times. 20 July 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  14. ^ Suganth, M. (22 January 2011). "I don't believe in comebacks: Joshua". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 August 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  15. ^ "Successful note". The Hindu. 3 June 2006. Archived from the original on 9 December 2007. Retrieved 11 January 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  16. ^ "காதல் (2004)". Raaga (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Premisthe songs". Jio Saavn. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  18. ^ தாசன், விஷுவல் (2 January 2005). "காதல்". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 4. Retrieved 8 January 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  19. ^ Rangarayan, Malathi (24 December 2004). "Kaadhal". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 20 November 2006. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  20. ^ "Kadhal". Chennai Online. 27 December 2004. Archived from the original on 15 October 2006.
  21. ^ "Kaadal review". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 11 January 2005. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Year 2004 — a flashback". The Hindu. 31 December 2004. Archived from the original on 4 April 2005. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  23. ^ "Chennai weekend box-office (Jan21-23)". Sify. 25 January 2005. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  24. ^ "Case Filed against the film 'Kadhal'". Cinesouth. 16 February 2005. Archived from the original on 5 March 2005. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  25. ^ "Prabhu Deva, hot hot!". Rediff.com. 2 March 2005. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  26. ^ "Kaadhal screenplay in book form". Behindwooods. 10 August 2005. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.

Further reading

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