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Minnale

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For the TV series, seeMinnale (TV series).

Minnale
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGautham Vasudev Menon
Written byGautham Vasudev Menon
Vipul D. Shah
Nagarajan
Produced bySunanda Murali Manohar
StarringMadhavan
Abbas
Reema Sen
CinematographyR. D. Rajasekhar
Edited bySuresh Urs
Music byHarris Jayaraj
Production
company
Cee (I) TV Entertainment
Release date
  • 2 February 2001(2001-02-02)
Running time
174 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Minnale(transl. Lightning) is a 2001 IndianTamil-languageromance filmdirected byGautham Vasudev Menonin his directoral debut. The story was written by Menon andVipul D. Shah.The film starsMadhavanin the main lead role alongsideAbbasandReema Sen.It tells the story of a love-struck man, stealing the identity of his former college foe, to pursue his lady love, and the eventual repercussions he has to face when his cover is blown before he could come clean. The film's original soundtrack composed by debutant music composerHarris Jayaraj,became popular prior to the film's release. The cinematography of the film was handled byR. D. Rajasekharand it was edited bySuresh Urs.Reema Sen made her Tamil debut through this film.

Minnalereleased on 2 February 2001 to positive reviews and became a commercial success.[1]Menon remade the film inHindiwhich was released in the same year, the film was titled asRehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein,with Madhavan reprising his role, and making hisBollywooddebut. The film was also remade inKannadaasMr. Duplicate(2011).[2]

Plot

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Rajesh Shivakumar and Sam are students at an engineering college inOoty.Sam is a top-performing student who is popular with the students and faculty, while Rajesh, an underperforming student, is notorious for his rebellious, violent and misogynistic attitude. This contrast in personalities puts the two students at loggerheads throughout their college days, with both of them engaging in constant fights and pranks with each other. Upon graduating, Sam and Rajesh decide to never see each other ever again. Sam goes to the United States as he has secured a job while Rajesh decides to stay in India.

Two years later, Rajesh is a software engineering instructor inChennaiand roams around in his free time with his close friend Chockalingam "Chokku". He stays with his grandfather Subbuni, a librarian from theAminjikaraineighbourhood of Chennai. Rajesh's affection for his grandfather is such that he even refuses to accept an on-site opportunity in Singapore so that he can be with him. While on a trip toBangalore,he comes across a young woman dancing with children in the rain and gets immediately smitten by her when he sees her face lit by the flash of a lightning bolt. He comes across this woman again during a friend's wedding and soon learns that the woman's name is Reena Joseph and she works as achartered accountantatFord,Bangalore. Some days later, Rajesh, who is back in Chennai, notices Reena again, this time exiting a Ford office cab. He and Chokku pursue Reena, but lose track of her in a mall.

Rajesh and Chokku meet Reena's best friend Vasuki at a market, and enquire about Reena. Vasuki informs them that Reena has been transferred to Chennai, however, when she realises that Rajesh is in love with Reena, she angrily mentions that Reena has already been engaged to an Indian American software engineer from Seattle named Rajiv Samuel, who happens to be her childhood friend, hence it would be futile to pursue her. Rajesh is upset at this development; however, on learning that Reena has never seen Rajiv since her childhood, and on the goading and encouragement of Subbuni and Chokku, decides to pursue Reena. He comes to her house impersonating Rajiv. Reena is smitten by Rajesh and within a few days, she reciprocates Rajesh's love. Rajesh decides to reveal his true identity to her, but before he can, the real Rajiv arrives in Chennai. When Reena realises that the "Rajiv" she loves is an impostor, she breaks up with him and warns him never to come near her again.

Rajesh, Chokku and their friends decide to meet Rajiv to somehow convince him to break his engagement with Reena. To Rajesh's shock, he finds out that Rajiv is his old nemesis Sam. Enraged that Rajesh cheated Reena, Sam refuses to break up their engagement. Rajesh also tries to seek Reena's forgiveness, to no avail, and stalks her while she is on a date with Sam at a restaurant. Sam notices this and both he and Rajesh engage in a brawl which is stopped by Reena, who again warns Rajesh never to come near her. Rajiv also threatens to kill Rajesh if he sees him at the same place as Reena ever again. Enraged, Rajesh, Chokku and their friends decide to beat up Sam in a parking lot, but Rajesh backs out at the last minute, accepting the bitter truth that Sam and Reena are going to get married as well as realising what he did all this while was wrong.

Rajesh decides to accept the on-site opportunity in Singapore which he had earlier rejected, to forget Reena. Meanwhile, Reena realises that she has fallen in love with Rajesh, despite having been cheated by him. On the wedding day, Sam realises the love Reena has for Rajesh. He immediately cancels the wedding and takes Reena tothe airport,where Rajesh is awaiting his flight to Singapore. Sam tells Rajesh that although they will always be enemies, he cannot marry a girl who does not love him. He tells him to take good care of Reena and leaves after saying they both should never ever meet again. Rajesh and Reena are happily united.

Cast

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Production

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Gautham Vasudev Menon launched a Tamil romantic film titled,O Lalain 2000 with the project eventually changing producers and title intoMinnalewithMadhavan,who was at the beginning of his career, being signed on to portray the lead role.[3]About the making of the film, Menon revealed that he found it difficult as the team was new to the industry with only the editor of the film, Suresh Urs, being a prominent technician in the industry.[4]Menon had come under further pressure when Madhavan had insisted that Menon narrated the story to his mentor,Mani Ratnam,to identify if the film was a positive career move after the success of hisAlai Payuthey.Despite initial reservations, Menon did so and Ratnam was unimpressed; however Menon has cited that he thought that Madhavan "felt sorry" and later agreed to continue with the project.[4]

Miss World 1999,Yukta Mookheywas considered to play the film's heroine during July 2000, as wasIsha Koppikar,but eventually they were left out andReema Sen,who appeared in her first Tamil film, was cast.[5][6]Minnalealso saw Madhavan collaborating with Abbas for second time after Kannada filmShanti Shanti Shanti.Post-release, Abbas felt that his scenes had been cut from the film and accused Madhavan of playing a role in editing his sequences out from the film.[7]

Music

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Main article:Minnale (soundtrack)

The music and background score of the movie were composed byHarris Jayaraj.The audio cassette of the film was released inChennaiat a function in January 2001, where the songs were also screened.[8]Upon release, the soundtrack received critical acclaim and was a major contributor to the film's commercial success.[3]The song "Vaseegara" is set in Natabhairavi raga[9]marked the debut of poetThamaraias a film song lyricist.

All songs exceptIvan YaaroandIru Vizhi Unadhu (Ore Nyabagam)were reused in the film's Hindi versionRehnaa Hai Terre Dil Meinby Harris himself.

Release and reception

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The film was advertised as aValentine's Dayrelease in 2001 in Tamil Nadu, but was released on 2 February 2001, and upon release it went on to become a large success commercially. Madhavan became extremely popular among the youth after the release ofAlai Payuthey,but had a setback as his next film underperformed.Minnalemade him once again popular among the youth.[10]Savitha Padmanabhan ofThe Hinduclaimed that the film had a "lot of verve and vigour" and that it was "sure to go down well" with the "yuppie, college-going youngsters".[11]A reviewer, Shilpa Kannan fromZee Next,also gave the film a positive review, writing "the entire movie is given an advertisement like treatment by the director. It is glossy, stylish, youthful and trendy".[12]Visual Dasan ofKalkirated the film "above average".[13]Harris Jayaraj won theFilmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil,[14]the film's only nomination at the49th Filmfare Awards South.[15]

Other versions

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Minnalewas dubbed intoTeluguunder the nameCheliand also performed well at the box office, owing to Madhavan's popularity in Andhra Pradesh.[16][17]The success ofMinnaleled to producer Vashu Bhagnani signing Menon on to direct the Hindi language remake of the film in the same year,Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein(2001), which featured Madhavan reprising his role. The Hindi version gained mixed reviews and subsequently went on to become an above average grosser at the box office.[18]However, the film belatedly gained popularity through screenings on television and subsequently developed a cult following amongst young audiences and the actors released a video thanking the film's admirers for their adulation on the fifteenth anniversary of the film's release.[19][20]The film was also remade in Kannada asMr. Duplicate(2011) starringDiganth,Prajwal Devarajand Sheetal Injudhan Khan in the lead.

References

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  1. ^Kamath, Sudhish(27 October 2001)."More for Maddy's crowd".The Hindu.Archivedfrom the original on 11 July 2022.Retrieved11 July2022.
  2. ^"Kannada film review: 'Mr Duplicate' is a remake after all".Daily News & Analysis.6 August 2011.Archivedfrom the original on 27 September 2022.Retrieved27 October2022.
  3. ^abAshok Kumar, S. R. (3 July 2009)."My First Break".The Hindu.Archived fromthe originalon 5 November 2012.Retrieved28 April2011.
  4. ^abRangan, Baradwaj(12 February 2011)."Shooting from the Lip".Baradwaj Rangan.Archivedfrom the original on 12 August 2011.Retrieved28 April2011.
  5. ^"TAMIL CINEMA 2000 – Comic characters".cinematoday2.itgo.com.Archived fromthe originalon 16 August 2003.Retrieved12 January2022.
  6. ^Rajitha (21 July 2000)."Yukta signs her first film".Rediff.com.Archivedfrom the original on 16 May 2013.Retrieved21 October2015.
  7. ^"This Week's Allegation".cinematoday2.itgo.com.Archivedfrom the original on 30 April 2014.Retrieved29 April2014.
  8. ^Mannath, Malini."'Minnale' audio cassette release ".Chennai Online.Archived fromthe originalon 4 February 2001.Retrieved12 January2022.
  9. ^Parthasarathy, Dhanya (18 December 2004)."The walking Google of Tamil film songs".The Hindu.Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2017.Retrieved17 January2022.
  10. ^"How stars 'Cee' success".The Hindu.12 July 2001. Archived fromthe originalon 24 December 2008.Retrieved29 September2022.
  11. ^Padmanabhan, Savitha (9 February 2001)."Film Review: Minnale".The Hindu.Archived fromthe originalon 13 November 2002.Retrieved28 April2011.
  12. ^Kannan, Shilpa."Madhavan proves his mettle".Zee Next.Archived fromthe originalon 8 April 2001.Retrieved12 January2022.
  13. ^தாசன், விசுவல் (25 February 2001)."மின்னலே".Kalki(in Tamil). p. 64. Archived fromthe originalon 10 August 2022.Retrieved19 July2022.
  14. ^"The 49th Annual Filmfare Awards -South | Winners".Indiatimes.Archived fromthe originalon 11 April 2015.Retrieved7 June2023.
  15. ^"The 49th Annual Filmfare Awards -South | Nominees".Indiatimes.Archived fromthe originalon 19 April 2015.Retrieved7 June2023.
  16. ^"Cheli Review".fullhyderabad.com.Archivedfrom the original on 21 June 2021.Retrieved14 February2016.
  17. ^"Madhavan wave hits Telugu filmdom".go4i.com.Archived fromthe originalon 2 August 2001.Retrieved12 January2022.
  18. ^Adarsh, Taran(2001)."Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein".Bollywood Hungama.Archived fromthe originalon 22 September 2011.Retrieved28 April2011.
  19. ^"Bollywood's Cult Classics".Pinkvilla.7 May 2012. Archived fromthe originalon 3 February 2016.Retrieved16 February2016.
  20. ^"Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein turns 15: Watch Madhavan deliver THE dialogue from the film".India Today.19 October 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 10 September 2017.Retrieved3 March2018.
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