Prasanth Films

Vaigasi Poranthachu is a 1990 Tamil drama film directed by Radha Bharathi. The film features Prashanth and Kaveri in lead roles. The film, produced by K. Prabakaran, had musical score by Deva and was released on 16 November 1990. The film marked the debut of Thiagarajan's son Prashanth. The film was remade in Hindi as I Love You starring Prashanth, reprising his role from the original, and Sabah.   

Plot

Kumaresan (Prashanth) belongs to a poor Hindu family living with his mother Lakshmi (Sulakshana) & his grandmother (Kala). Kumaresan is a brilliant student but naughty at school. Along with his friends he teases Ranjitha (Kavery - debut) the daughter of Pandidhurai (K.Prabakaran) the village head. Few months later, attracted by Kumaresan’s wits & pranks Ranjitha falls in love with him. Pandidhurai becomes insane knowing his daughter’s love affair. His henchmen lock Kumaresan up, in Pandidhurai’s house & lash him with whip. Not able to stand this savage treatment on Kumaresan Ranjitha swoons. Ranjitha’s mother Parvathi (K. R. Vijaya) helps her daughter to elope with Kumaresan. A massive hunt is launched by the village head & what happened to the young lovers is the rest of the story….

Cast

Awards

The film has won the following awards since its release :
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards 1990
Filmfare Awards South 1990



Chembaruthi is a 1992 Indian Tamil language film directed by R. K. Selvamani and starring Prashanth Thiagarajan, Mansoor Ali Khan, Nassar, Bhanumathi and Roja who made her debut as an actress.

Cast

Plot

The film is a story about the love of two teenagers of different classes – Raja (Prashanth) who is settled in America,the grand son of a rich business woman (Bhanumathi), comes to the Fisherman Village in India to see his grand mother. Chembaruthi (Roja) sister of a poor fisherman Pandy (Radha Ravi) who works in Bhanumathi house & the couple first see each other during Raja's birthday party & it is love at first sight for Raja. They meet often & their love grows leaps & bounds. The Grandmother wants Raja to marry the daughter ( Pinky- debutant Adeen Khan), of a rich Sea Food Exporter Murugan (Nasser). At the party they announce their interest of Raja with Pinky. Raaj realises that his relationship with the daughter of a poor fisherman is not taken kindly by his eccentric Grand Mother & when she comes to know Raja's love with Chemaruthi, she accuses Pandy, of using his sister's beauty & charm to trap Raja for his money. She even offers Pandy cash to have Chembaruthi stop seeing Raja. Pandy feels highly humiliated by this accusation & reciprocates by insulting Bhanumathi. Their talk enters a deadlock & spells doom for Raja & Chembaruthi's tender love. Bhanumathi engages Raja to the daughter of Murugan in order to establish business ties with her rich father. Murugan also engages his sister to another fisherman Kumar (Mansoor Ali Khan) But Raj & Chembaruthi run away from home. Bhanumathi announces a reward for anyone who can help find her grandson. Murugan decides that he wants the money. He & his goons find the lovers, kidnap & lock them up in a Boat. Raja. fights his life out for Chembaruthi & save her from being drowned in the sea. Bhanumathi realize that their love is very strong & doesn't want to stand in the way of their happiness. She & Pandy accept their love & give their blessings to the union.




Aanazhagan is a 1995 Tamil language film directed by Thiagarajan and stars Prashanth and Suneha.  The film is based on Telugu film Chitram Bhalare Vichitram.

Plot

Raja (Prashanth), Sudhakar (Charle), Raghava (Chinni Jayanth), Ravi (Vadivelu) are good friends stay together as tenants at (Gandhimathi), after being thrown out of the house they start searching for a new house on rent but no one is willing to give their house for bachelors. Finally they come to know a landlady (K. R. Vijaya) in search of a family as her tenants. A plot is hatched by and all the four bachelors dress up to be a family man (Charle), his retarded brother (Chinni Jayanth), his uncle (Vadivelu) & his wife Lakshmi (Prashanth being the wife). Now Prashanth's (who happens to be in a woman's attire) lady love (Suneha - debut) happens to be the landlady's daughter. At one point of time by mistake the friends inform the landlady that Lakshmi is pregnant, the landlady arrange for valaikappu function, followed by a Doctor (Vaishnavi) checkup, burst into a series of rumbled conflicts & all hell breaks loose. In woman's disguise, Prashanth looked extremely beautiful & his dramatic histrionics & Bharatanatyam dance in a women’s costume are the best parts & highlight of the movie Anazhagan.

Cast

Production

Prashanth appeared in drag role in Aanazhagan and noted the most daunting aspects of the role were the "waxing, the threading, the works" as well as "wearing a sari in summer, doing a bharatanatya sequence in a woman's costume, and getting the nuances and variations right were the other challenges", revealing his mum had assisted him.  The actor was also involved in the production of the film.
The film became the first project to have scenes shot in the newly created JJ Studios in 1995.

Soundtrack

Aanazhagan
Soundtrack album by Ilaiyaraaja
Released 1995
Recorded 1995
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Producer Ilaiyaraaja
The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics written by Vaali. The soundtrack, released in 1994, features 8 tracks . All the songs were Massive Hits.




Jeans is a 1998 Indian Tamil romantic comedy film written and directed by Shankar. The cross over cinema was produced by Ashok Amritraj and Murali Manohar, with Prashanth, Aishwarya Rai and Nassar in the lead roles, whilst Raju Sundaram, Raadhika Sarathkumar and Lakshmi played other supporting role characters. The film features a chart-topping soundtrack from A. R. Rahman, whilst Ashok Kumar and the pair of B. Lenin and V. T. Vijayan took care of the cinematography and editing respectively.
The film opened to Indian audiences after several delays, on 24 April 1998 and was the most expensive film to be made in Indian cinema at that time.  Owing to its success, it was later dubbed into the Hindi and Telugu language and released with the same name. The film was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1998.

Plot

Nachiappan (Nassar) is a restaurateur in Los Angeles, USA. His twin sons Vishwanathan (Visu) and Ramamoorthy (Ramu) (both played by Prashanth), are medical students, who help him out in the evenings and on weekends, alongside with the restaurant's chief cook, Juno (Senthil). One evening, Vishwanathan goes to the airport to check on the family's supply concession and sees that some fellow Indians – Madhumitha (Aishwarya Rai), her brother Madhesh (Raju Sundaram) and their grandmother Krishnaveny (Lakshmi) – have difficulty with an address. He pitches in to help and learns that they just flew in from India so that Krishnaveny can undergo a crucial surgery to remove her brain tumour.
The story shifts to the hospital where Vishwanathan, an intern, visits Krishnaveny's room after the operation, and notices she has been operated on the wrong side of her brain. Vishwanathan appeals aggressively to the doctors and has the error corrected by another surgery and then spearheads an angry fight for compensation. The hospital compensates $2 million to avoid a messy court case. Viswanathan's drastic measures win the respect and love of Madhumitha and her family.
When the grandmother realises that Vishwanathan and Madhumitha had fallen in love, she extends the family's stay in the United States and takes a liking to Vishwanathan's good nature. However, Nachiappan objects to the budding romance and wants his sons to marry identical twins because he himself has an identical twin brother, Pechiappan (Nassar). They both had married for love in their youth, but are now estranged because Pechiappan's wife Sundaramba (Raadhika Sarathkumar) showed such tyrannical behaviour towards Nachiappan's wife (Geetha), that the latter died delivering the twin boys.
Krishnaveny tries to solve the problem by telling Nachiappan that Madhumitha also has an identical twin, Vaishnavi. The story spun by Krishnaveny is that Vaishnavi has been brought up in an orthodox Brahmin household. At this point they ring in Madhumitha's alter ego, contrasting Madhumitha with a very demure, typically traditional Indian version. Ramamoorthy falls for the act and visits India along with his sons to meet Vaishnavi, unaware that Vaishnavi and Madhumitha are the same person. Meanwhile, Pechiappan arrives to a warm welcome by his brother, but later attempts suicide. Nachiappan then rescues him and comes to hear of his sad story and comes up with a plan. Accordingly, Nachiappan and Pechiappan switch places. Nachiappan goes to his brother's wife and impersonate as her husband to convince and reunite with her through his sons'(Visu and Ramu) marriage plan talks. He succeeds. Pechiappan impersonated as his brother towards his nephews. Vishwanathan then meanwhile, figures out that Vaishnavi is Madhumitha and she was impersonating Vaishnavi. In anger, he immediately leaves Madhumitha's household along with his family, but Ramamoorthy persuades his father to have Madhumitha and Vishwanathan married. Though not knowing, it was not his father he talked critically about his uncle who was right there impersonating. That made him guilty. He decided to have Vishwanathan married to Madhumitha. When Nachiappan figure out that Madhumitha doesn't have a twin,he goes and stops the wedding. There they figure out that the brothers impersonated each other as well to get along. Nachiappan's brother Pechiappan's wife(Sundaramba) persuades Nachiappan to have them married because Madhumitha did the same thing the brothers did. In the end, Visu and Madhu get married followed by a grand dinosaur reception specially given by Madhesh.

Cast

The cast features three actors who appear in multiple roles. As in previous films by Shankar, the supporting cast included guest appearances by prominent artists.
  • Prashanth as Vishwanathan and Ramamoorthy. The twin brothers are both medical students, who assist their father run a catering business. While Vishwanathan is more fun-loving and has a relationship with Madhumitha, Ramamoorthy is more reserved and emotional, especially after being deceived by the double act of Madhumitha. The name of the roles is clearly inspired by the Music Director duo, Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy.
  • Aishwarya Rai as Madhumitha and Vaishnavi. Madhumitha is a loving and optimistic young woman who leads her family to the United States seeking medical attention for her grandmother. Vaishnavi is the double act improvised by Madhumitha to deceive Nachiappan.
  • Lakshmi as Krishnaveny, Madhumitha's grandmother, who encourages her granddaughter to play a double act in order to meet with the groom's father's marriage requirements. She first begins her role by playing a brain patient who has come to America with her grandkids for a surgery.
  • Raadhika as Sundaramba, a vital cameo as Pachiappan's wife, who starts the friction between the brothers.
  • Nassar as Nachiappan and Pechiappan Rajamani. A naive father of twin sons, who remains upbeat on re-uniting with his own twin, Pachiappan. Nachiappan Rajamani insists on his twin sons getting married to twin daughters since his brother and him were split due to the non-chemistry between the women they both married. Because of this Nachiappan's wife and Visu and Ramu's mother died after giving birth.
  • Raju Sundaram as Madhesh, Madhumitha's energetic brother with a habit of ruining the situation due to his innocence and cracking jokes.
  • Senthil as Juno. A cook who works at Nachiappan's catering company. The character provides comic relief throughout the film, and instigates complicated situations for the bride's family.
  • Other characters are portrayed by S. V. Shekhar, Geetha and Janaki Sabesh among others.

Production

Development

The entire production of the movie took about a year and a half to be completed and released. Jeans, unlike the others, was his first film which was shot outside of India for major portions of the film. The producers of the film were Ashok Amritraj, Michael Soloman and Murali Manohar, whom all made their Tamil film debuts with Jeans respectively.[1] The film reunited Shankar with his award-winning technical crew from his previous film Indian, whilst the cast was finalized by him after he had finalized the story. Genes was the title selected but Shankar felt it would not apply to the masses so he used the homonym, Jeans.
The film's launch was held at the AVM Studios in Vadapalani, Chennai in December 1996. The Jeans invitation was printed, wrapped in Jeans cloth and was hand delivered by Shankar to his close colleagues and friends in Chennai, which included prominent actors in the Tamil filmdom.  The cast and crew of the film, wore their favourite pair of blue jeans as per request from the producers to the launch.

Casting

The original actor considered for the dual roles of Vishwanathan and Ramamoorthy was Abbas, who rejected the project citing that his dates were booked for the full year of 1997. The second choice for the lead role, Ajith Kumar, also opted out due to call sheet problems.  The role eventually went to Prashanth, who sacrificed seven films in the process, and chose to work exclusively on the project during the period.  Aishwarya Rai, a former Miss World 1994, was the original choice for the roles of Madhumitha and Vaishnavi and collaborated with Shankar after she had been unable to work with him in his previous venture Indian. The supporting cast included Senthil, Nassar and Raju Sundaram, with the latter making his debut as an actor. Prominent supporting actresses Lakshmi and Geetha were signed up for the film, whilst Radhika agreed to appear in a guest appearance. Another supporting role was taken by S. Ve. Sekhar after noted playback singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam opted out of the role.
The other substitution in the project involved the cinematographer. Despite reports that Shankar would again sign on Jeeva, whom he had worked with in Kadhalan, Gentleman and Indian, Santhosh Sivan was announced as the cinematographer for the film. Though between the time of the announcement and the finishing stages of the film, cinematographer Ashok Kumar was publicised as the official cinematographer for the film. In mid-1997, film organisation FEFSI striked and in the midst of this, the film's art director Thotta Tharani, a FEFSI supporter, refused to sacrifice his position in FEFSI and stopped working in Jeans.  Without much choice, Shankar signed a newcomer Bala to take over the set design and art work for the film. The film's art direction is credited with both Thotta Tharani and Bala. Venki was signed up to deal with the special-effects in the film, with Jeans. The film also was assisted in graphics effects created by Pentafour Company.

Filming


The crew of Jeans at Taj Mahal
The initial scenes of the Rajamani family's catering company was filmed in Las Vegas, whilst other scenes were shot in California at the Universal Studios, who usually do not grant permission for foreign films to conduct shooting there. However with influence from the film's producer Ashok Amritraj they were able to obtain special permission to film a few scenes inside. Besides the King Kong set, Jeans was also shot in the "simulated earthquake experience" sets.  The filming in Los Angeles received much publicity as well as the filming at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Other Jeans shooting locations in the United States of America included the Valley of Fire, Manhattan Beach, Malibu Lake and many scenic spots throughout California. The song Columbus was picturised at the shores of Venice Beach, California with some foreign male and female dancers. Shankar also filmed in New Jersey and New York at the World Trade Center when co-producer Michael Salomon and his wife, Luciana Balusia visited the sets of Jeans.
After a 45 day schedule in the United States, Shankar and the team returned to India to film a couple of scenes in the climax. The team then visited several other countries to picturise the song Poovukkul, with featured scenes with seven prominent buildings in the world, dubbing Aishwarya Rai as the "eighth wonder of the world".  Shankar admitted that due to no real list being present, thought had been put into which wonders were selected.  The team made a thirty day trip around the world stopping to can scenes at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Empire State Building, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Egyptian pyramids, the Roman Colosseum and the Eiffel Tower.  During the shooting in Paris the death of Princess Diana had taken place and shooting was delayed in the France, due to her death. Shankar, the cast and crew of the film described the experiences as "tremendously vivid and memorable".  Three weeks prior to the release of the film, on 1 April 1998 a screening was held labelled the Making of Jeans with prominent personalities invited, however the short film showed the real manufacture of jeans. The prank was claimed by Shankar and his crew who utilised an April Fools joke.

Release

Reception

Jeans was released worldwide on 24 April 1998 soon after Tamil New Year's Day, over three months after its original release date of 14 January 1998. This high-budget production won positive reviews and was successful at the box office. With 240 prints, the films holds the 1998 record for a Tamil film.   Upon release the film was subsequently dubbed into two languages, Telugu and Hindi. The film completed 100 days of screening in the theatres in the state of Tamil Nadu. 
The film was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1998,.    The film won four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Best Comedian, Best Female Playback Singer, Best Choreographer and Best Costume Designer with Senthil, Nithyasree Mahadevan, Raju Sundaram and Kasi picking up awards in their categories.  The film also won a Filmfare Award for Best Music for A. R. Rahman's musical score.

Reviews

Jeans opened to positive reviews from most critics. A reviewer from Rediff praised the lead characters Prashanth, Aishwarya Rai and Nassar as "ever dependable", whilst singling out praise for Radhika whom she describes that " with her startling cameo, sweeps the acting honours".  The reviewer praised the technical crew describing Venky's FX as a "virtual reality", Ashok Kumar's cinematography as "throughout and outstanding", Raju Sundaram's choreography as "memorable" and A. R. Rahman's score as "entirely hummable".  Shankar's directorial attributes were described to be to a "perfect flow of narrative and a penchant for demanding and getting perfection out of every element of his cast and crew" and that the film was an "easy fit".
The reviewer from The Indian Express called the film a "hilarious comedy" and drew significant praise to the performance of Aishwarya Rai and the music of Rahman.  Another critic, labelled Jeans as "glossy and extravagant" and comments that the "film clicks".  The lead actors were mixed with Prashanth labelled as "impressive", while Aishwarya Rai is described as "pretty" and that she "exhibits grace in dancing" but that "her performance leaves lots of room for improvement" and that she "overacts" in the character of Vaishnavi.  Nassar, Lakshmi and Raju Sundaram were all appreciated for their roles. Rahman's musical composition of the film was described as "one of his best soundtracks", whilst Vairamuthu's "terrific lyrics" also stood in the song Poovukkul.
In contrast, the film was described by the Deccan Herald as a "colossal waste" criticising Shankar's story and direction and the performances of Prashanth and Lakshmi.





Jodi (English: Couple) is a 1999 romantic musical film directed by Praveen Gandhi and produced by Murali Manohar. The film features Prashanth and Simran in the lead roles, with Vijayakumar, Nassar and Srividya playing other pivotal roles. The film's soundtrack is composed by A.R. Rahman, while Sabesh-Murali compose the background score for the film. The film opened in September 1999 to positive reviews and became a commercially successful venture.

Plot

Kannan (Prashanth), a young music shop employee dreams of his dreamgirl with gold anklets. He sees a running girl's leg and finds he has found his girl and follows her with his anklets. Kannan goes to a music college to repair musical instruments and a group of college girls lead by Gayatri (Simran) the girl which Kannan found as his dreamgirl approach him to request him to not to repair the instruments all they are very old and unfit to use for the music contest. Kannan uses the opportunity to become initmate to her but Gayathri does reciprocate him instead gets angry on his behaviour. Kannan accompanies Gayathri to Bangalore for the music contest. Gayathri once sees Kannan getting money from one of the musical bands who has come to participate in the contest. On the day of the contest Gayathri and her team are shocked that the song which they have composed was stolen by other troop and she misunderstands that Kannan has stolen and sold their work for money despite Kannan's protest that he is innocent. Kannan lends the love poems which he had written for her to sing for the contest. Gayathri gets the song and sings which wins her the prize. Gayathri understands that Kannan has no role in the stealing of the song and he got money from the troop for fixing their repaired musical instruments. Gayathri now realised her blunder for hurting him and rushes to apologize and accept his love. Kannan gets news that his father was injured and rushes to his home.
Rudramurthy (Nassar) is an employee in a register office who witnesses many marriages take place without the consent of couple's parents. He is against such marriages and tried to prevent one such marriage by advising the girl who had come to marry her lover and sending her home which led to quarrel and attack by groom and his friends. Kannan understood that he is going to have a tough time with his love and his father who hates love marriages. Gayathri on other hand has a family with a father who is very depressed by one incident which happened in his life. Gayathri's friend and her lover commit suicide due to pressure put up by the parents against their love. This upsets Gayathri and she is scared on how to get herself married to Kannan. Both Kannan and Gayathri plan to visit the family of the other, impress them, attract them and get permission for the marriage and set for their mission.
Gayathri sets out to Kannan's home as a daughter of troublesome neighbour of Kannan and Kannan sets to Gayathri's home only to earn a name of vagabond from her family. Both Gayathri and Kannan try their level best to get into the home of other's families and succeed to some extent. Gayathri manages to win the heart of Rudramurthy when she tried to stop his daughter who was about to ran away from her home with her lover and succeed in that. This makes Rudramurthy accept her as his daughter-in-law. On the other hand Kannan visits his home with much depression reason being failing to accompolish his mission. Kannan finds the reason for Gayathri's father Vengudu's condition as one incident. Vengudu is a musical critic and his criticism plays a vital role in one's musical career. Vengudu once made a bad criticism about a male vocalist in front of the audience and also in the next day newspaper which led the vocalist to commit suicide. The wife of vocalist shouts at him and curses him for bring her a fate. From then he stopped his critic job and living a guilty feeling life. Kannan attempts to solve his problem by visiting the vocalist's house and explains the current condition of Vengudu. He requests them forgive him and visit his home to which the lady accepts. On the day of the visit the lady proposes marriage alliance of her son who met Gayathri on the music contest at Bangalore with Vengudu's daughter Gayathri to which Vengudu accepts. On hearing about her marriage, Gayathri screams that she will not let this happen and sets her to convince her father. On seeing her father she is not able to speak with him as she finds her father has changed a lot and her marriage would bring him complete relief from his guilt.
However on the day of the marriage the groom sings one of the love song written by Kannan for Gayathri and which she sang in the musical contest. One hearing the song she runs to Kannan. The groom explains to Vengudu that both are intimate lovers and not to separate them. Vengudu accepts them as he does not want to commit another mistake in his life and spend his life in guilt. Kannan and Gayathri are united.

Cast

Production

Cee I TV's Murali Manohar signed on Prashanth to appear in their third successive Tamil production after the successes of Jeans and Kaadhal Kavidhai.  The director, Praveenkanth, with the film reverted to his original name after being known as Praveen Gandhi in his debut film Ratchagan.  The director also played a cameo role in the film.
Aishwarya Rai was offered the female lead role by producer Murali Manohar after the success of her previous Tamil film, Jeans but her busy schedule in Hindi films resulted in Simran eventually bagging the role. Aishwarya had then agreed to appear in a guest appearance in the film, but her unavailability led to Isha Koppikar eventually doing the part.   Trisha Krishnan, winner of the Miss Chennai 1999 beauty pageant, made an appearance in an uncredited role as a friend of Simran's character.
The film shared a similar storyline to Vasanth's Poovellam Kettuppar, which incidentally had Vijayakumar and Nassar playing similar roles of leader of feuding families.

Release

A critic from Indolink.com reviewed that "the director's light-veined screenplay keeps the movie moving at a good pace. As for the performances, Prasanth rises above the material and gives yet another breezy performance. A ravishing Simran emotes with ease and parades her umblical beauty in the song sequences."
The film was dubbed into Telugu under the same name, while a Kannada language version, Sajni, was released in 2007. A Hindi version of the film was also planned by the director with different songs and small changes in the storyline, but the project never took off.  The film's success prompted director Praveen Kanth to collaborate with Prashanth and Simran again in a project called Star, but Simran soon dropped out and the film failed to replicate the success of Jodi.  Furthermore Simran and Prashanth were later paired together in Saran's Parthen Rasithen (2000), after being dubbed as a "hit pair".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features 6 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, who reused the songs he composed for the 1997 Hindi film Doli Saja Ke Rakhna, with a new song Oru Poiyavadhu added. The background score for the film was composed by duo Sabesh-Murali. Lyrics were penned by Vairamuthu
Jodi
Soundtrack album by A. R. Rahman
Released
1999
Recorded Panchathan Record Inn
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Producer A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman chronology
Sangamam
(1999)		 Jodi
(1999)		 Thakshak
(1999)
Track Song Singer(s) Notes
1 "Kai Thatti Thatti"" Srinivas, Timmy Reused "Taram Pum" from "Doli Saja Ke Rakhna"
2 "Kadhal Kaditham" S. Janaki, Unni Menon Reused "Kissa Hum Likhenge" from "Doli Saja Ke Rakhna"
3 "Vannapoongave" Mahalakshmi Iyer Reused "Jhula Bahon Ka" from "Doli Saja Ke Rakhna"
4 "Anjathe Jeeva" Seerghazhi Siva Chidambaram, Swarnalatha Reused "Chal Kheva Re Kheva" from "Doli Saja Ke Rakhna"
5 "Velli Malarae" Instrumental Reused "Bol Sajni" from "Doli Saja Ke Rakhna"
6 "Velli Malarae" S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Mahalakshmi Iyer Reused "Bol Sajni" from "Doli Saja Ke Rakhna"
7 "Oru Poiyavadhu" Srinivas, Sujatha
8 "Oru Poiyavadhu" Hariharan
9 "Mel Nattu Isai" K. S. Chithra




Parthen Rasithen (English: Saw Admired) is a 2000 Indian Tamil movie starring Prashanth, Simran and Laila in the lead roles and directed by Saran. The film music was composed by Bharadwaj. Much of the plot and plot elements have been lifted from the 1971 American thriller Play Misty for Me, directed by Clint Eastwood. The film was remade in Telugu as Naa Manasistha Raa with Meka Srikanth, Soundarya and Richa Pallod.

Plot

Shankar(Prashanth) is a graduate of BSC nautical science, waiting for a job in the shipping industry. He is a tenant in the house of Banu(Simran), who is his good friend and confidante. They spend almost all their time together and she seeks him out as a refuge from her step brother Panneer(Raghuvaran), whom she dislikes but is forced to live together with. Shankar falls in love with Sarika(Laila). She reciprocates but problems and misunderstandings plague their romance.

Cast

Casting

Initially Nandita Das and Simran were choice of director to play lady leads. Saran first offered the script to Simran and she wanted to play the character of Bhanu a villainous role. then Saran asked her to come for a screen test and she got good feedback from Saran.
Then Laila was selected to play the other lead after Saran impressed by her in the movie Rojavanam.

Music

The music has been composed by composer Bharadwaj and the title track still remains an all time favourite melody. The highlight of the title track is the beautiful mouth organ prelude by Mr.Venkatasubramaniam aka Kyaba of the Madras chorale group with great backing provided by ace Bass guitarist Keith Peters and the lead vocals by Yugendran Vasudevan Nair. The lyrics were written by Vairamuthu. For the first time Prashanth lend his voice for a soundtrack.
Track Song Singer(s) Duration
"Vaa Endrathu" Prashanth
"Parthen Rasithen" Yugendran, Reshmi
"Enakena Yerkanave" Unnikrishnan, Harini 04.48
"Poove Punnagai" Sonu Nigam, Vasundra Das
"Kedaikkala" Srinivas
"Thinnadhey" Shankar Mahadevan, Anuradha Sriram

Critical reception

Simran's Performance was well praised by critics and its gained a nomitation in Filmfare Awards for Best Actors.
Hindu wrote: "It is a spectacular role for Simran and she has made optimum use of it. A well-etched character which is suspenseful at every turn. Simran's eyes sparkle with animus, jealousy and venom in the scene in which she confronts Laila. Laila as the docile, taciturn beauty is an appealing foil to the fiery and vibrant Simran. Prashanth's plausible reactions to Simran's unrelenting moves, saying that he cannot think of her as a venomous person, are natural, and his performance is laudable. Raghuvaran is his usual self as the brother of Simran. There is no scope for him to show his mettle because though the character floats limpidly there is not much depth".
Lolluexpress wrote: "An excellent movie and its worth watching in big screens. After watching few movie that were released in the recent times i really consider "PARTHEN RASITHEN" to be the best one".
Balaji wrote: "The movie has a good story that keeps us guessing regarding the path it is going to take, a genuinely surprising twist, some nice characterizations and good comedy".
Chennaionline wrote: "film begins promisingly enough and moves at an interesting pace in the first half. The script is well worked out, the director paying attention to minute details. But then he moves away from the main plot, brings in some twists and turns, gets confused and comes back to the story again".

Trivia

  • Simran's first film as villain.
  • The film ran for 150 days and was a super hit in box-office.






Piriyadha Varam Vendum is a 2001 Tamil language film written and directed by Kamal, which was a remake of his 1999 Malayalam film Niram. The movie stars Prashanth and Shalini in the lead roles, while an ensemble cast featuring Manivannan and Janagaraj among others play supporting roles. Featuring music by S. A. Rajkumar, the film opened to positive reviews in February 2001.

Plot

Sanjay (Prashanth) and Nithi (Shalini) are best friends right from their childhood days. They are neighbours, have grown up together, attend the same college and spend every minute of their waking hours together. Both have their admirers in college with Sneha (Jomol) wooing Sanjay and Praveen (Krishna) revealing his love for Nithi. Nithi's week long trip to Bangalore, along with some prodding by his housemaid, makes Sanjay realise how much he misses Nithi and that he is in love with her. But respect for their friendship and her makes him hide his feelings. Meanwhile, Nithi accepts Praveen's proposal and things quickly move towards their marriage. But when things come together Nithi realises that she cannot stay without Sanjay and at that time he reveals that he too loves her.

Cast

Production

Following the success of the 1999 Malayalam film Niram starring Kunchacko Boban and Shalini, the film's director Kamal chose to make his debut in Tamil films by remaking the film. Initially titled Kadhal Neethana, he signed up Prashanth to play the lead role while Shalini retained the leading female role after agreeing to work on it on stage at the success function of Niram.  Sneha and newcomer Krishna were signed up to play the second leads for the film, while it was reported that Kushboo would also play a pivotal role.  Sneha was later replaced by Jomol, who had played the role in the original version of the film and Kushboo did not feature. Delays in production due to the producer's financial problems meant that the dates of the lead pair went awry and they were unable to combine to finish the shoot quickly. Prashanth chose to prioritise making his other film Appu as he had to sport a beard and thus Shalini was left waiting, although she had stated that she would not act again after her impending marriage.  Shalini subsequently got married to actor Ajith Kumar and the actor was unwilling to let his wife rejoin the team stating that they had misused her dates. The team considered releasing the film in October 2000 using Shalini's scenes from the Malayalam version, while using graphics to edit out Kunchacko Boban and place in Prashanth, before Shalini readily agreed to feature.   It subsequently became her final film before retirement.
Retitled as Piriyadha Varam Vendum, the film continued shoot in late 2000 with sequences including a song being filmed in Kochi with Mink Brar making a guest appearance. Owing to the earlier date problems, the team had shot the song "Vasco Da Gama" with guest dancer Raghava Lawrence but Prashanth was not pleased about the sudden change of cast in the song and requested to re-shoot it at his own cost.  The song was financed by Murali Manohar while Prashanth's father Thiagarajan supervised the production of the song, which was guest directed by R. Madhesh and shot by Priyan, who had all volunteered.

Release

The film's production delays had constantly led to the release being postponed from dates ranging from September 2000 til February 2001 and it consequently had an average commercial performance at the box office.    The film, however, won positive reviews upon release with a critic noting "this is an entertaining and enjoyable film, probably the best film of 2001 so far" at the time of release in February 2001.  Another critic noted "It is a fairly well-told, engaging story of best friends becoming lovers, though one realises this much before the other."
It was later dubbed and released in Telugu as Chakkani Chukka, despite the film already having been remade in 2000 as Nuvve Kavali by K. Vijaya Bhaskar.

Soundtrack

Untitled
Soundtrack album by S. A. Rajkumar
Released 2001
Recorded 2001
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Producer S. A. Rajkumar
The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer S. A. Rajkumar. The soundtrack, released in 2001, features 5 tracks .
Track Song Singer(s)
1 'Azhagu Poonu' Devan
2 'Privondrai Santhithen' Hariharan
3 'Dikki Dikki Lona' Sujatha, Mano
4 'Vidaikodu Vidaikodu' Swarnalatha, Unnikrishnan
5 'Vasco Da Gama' Sujatha, Devan





Chocolate is a 2001 Tamil film directed by A. Venkatesh and produced by R. Madhesh. Featuring Prashanth and Jaya Re in the lead roles, the film also has Livingston, Suhasini, Mumtaj and Nagendra Prasad in supporting roles, while the film's score and soundtrack are composed by Deva. The film opened to a positive response at the box office in September 2001.

Plot

Aravind (Prashanth) meets Anjali (Jaya Re) & falls in love at first sight without knowing her background. When this two meets Anjali tells Aravind that she would like to go for a trial-romance for a week, which might lead to a long-term romance, for which Aravind agrees.
Meanwhile, Anjali is the daughter of Jayachandran (Livingston) – (the Commissioner of Police) & Saradha (Suhasini). Aravind maintains a cordial acquaintance with both of them, not knowing that Anjali is their daughter. Anjali acknowledges them as her parents. Jayachandran convinces Anjali to dispense with this trial romance, & make a deeper commitment as he finds Aravind a gentleman. Aravind convinces Anjali's mother Saradha to support him as her suitor and so Saradha makes Aravind marry Anjali .

Cast

Production

The film began production in January 2001 and scenes were shot at Mayajaal for three days later that month.  At an official launch event held soon afterwards, producer R. Madhesh donated seventy five kilogrammes of chocolate to poor children, equivalent to the weight of the film's actor Prashanth. A fight scene was shot at Koyambedu Market Road near Chennai with 16 cameras, while a song was shot on a cruise ship between Cambodia and Vietnam.

Release

The film opened to mixed reviews in September 2001, after having an initial premiere at Bay Area, San Francisco. A critic from Sify.com noted "The film tantalises in the beginning only to loose its fizz halfway through", adding "our heart goes straight out to Prashanth who despite the odds, comes up with a decent performance."  Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu reviewed the film and added that "this youthful bonanza gets stretched, testing one's patience towards the end, none but the screenplay is to blame."  Rediff.com meanwhile gave the film a negative review noting "Matters are built towards a loud, dramatic, implausible climax. This one's a mess and what you keep wondering is why an accomplished actress like Suhasini Mani Rathnam had to make this the vehicle for one of her rare celluloid appearances."  A critic from Cinesouth.com noted "The film is bubbling with youthful feelings. It contains some admirable scenes also. Thus, movie manages to make its mark with a lot difficulties."
The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu in March 2002 with the same name and won positive reviews from critics.  The success of the film led Prashanth and A. Venkatesh re-unite and announced a project called "Petrol" in 2005   but Prashanth's marital problems eventually led to delays in the director's schedule and the film remains uncompleted.

Music

The film features song composed by Deva. Producer R. Madhesh opted against having a traditional audio cassette release function and chose to distribute the cassettes to music shops enclosed with Cadbury chocolate.
Chocolate
Soundtrack album by Deva
Released July 2001
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Track Song Singer(s)
1 "Anjumani" Mathangi
2 "Chocolate"
3 "Dhuryodhana Dhuryodhana" Shankar Mahadevan, Mahalakshmi Iyer
4 "Hosima Hosima" Devan Ekambaram, Anupama
5 "Kappaleh Kappaleh" Hariharan, Mahalakshmi Iyer
6 "Kokaragiri" Sabesh-Murali, Mathangi
7 "Malai Malai" Anuradha Sriram, A. R. Reihana
8 "En Nizhalai " Srikanth, Timmy, Mathangi
9 "Oru Five Star Paarvai" Niruban




Winner is a 2003 Indian Tamil language action comedy film written and directed by Sundar C. The film stars Prashanth and Kiran in lead roles, while Vadivelu, Vijayakumar, M. N. Nambiar and Riyaz Khan among others play other supporting roles. The film, which has music scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja and camera work handled by Prasad Murella, released on 27 September 2003 and became a commercial success at the box office.

Plot

Sakthi (Prashanth) studying in a college in the city & he gets into quarrels every other day. Not able to withstand the threats from hooligans, Sakthi’s mother (Jayamurali) & father (Vijayakumar) packs him up to their village where Sakthi’s grandfather Velayutham (M. N. Nambiar) & grandmother Sivagami (M.N.Rajam) are cultivating Paddy. In that village an innocent servant Kaipulla (Vadivelu) constantly challenged by Sakthi’s relative Kattadurai (Riyaz Khan). Sakthi visits the grandparents & decides to stay there. A marriage of their relative is planned & the whole family from all over Tamil Nadu assembles. Neelaveni (Kiran) who accompanies her relatives falls in love with Sakthi. Kattadurai is supposed to marry Neelaveni. Many event follows. Kattadurai often clash with Sakthi & gets beaten up. Amidst the wedding preparation a group of former enemies (Rajkapoor, Anuradha) along with Neelaveni’s father (Prathap Singh) kidnap Neelaveni. Sakthi goes after them. After a huge tussle whether Sakthi brings back Neelaveni, Whether they unite or not is the rest of the story.

Cast

Production

Prashanth signed on to star in the film, being produced by R. Bhooma Ramachandran in late 2001, with Aarthi Aggarwal signed on the play the film's heroine.  It was reported that she had impressed actress Kushboo with her performances in Telugu films and Kushboo thus receommended her to her film maker husband, Sundar C.  However she was later replaced by Kiran Rathod and filming for project began as early as January 2002. The film was primarily shot in Chennai and Pollachi, while scenes showcasing a wedding at Kiran's house was shot at Vasan House, Chennai.   Prashanth was briefly hospitalised after injuring himself filming an action scene for the film. 
Despite being completed by the end of 2002, the release of the film was held up after Sundar C decided to prioritise his work on Kamal Haasan's Anbe Sivam.

Release

The film opened to positive reviews in September 2003. A critic noted "It is a typical Sundar C. brand entertainer with comedy, stunts, romance and sentiment thrown in to make the product racy", concluding it was set to be a "box office winner".  Another critic also noted "Vadivelu’s comedy is the highlight of the film. He has given a consistent performance in the film".

Soundtrack

Winner
Soundtrack album by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Released 17 March 2003
Recorded 2002
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Label Classic Audio
Producer Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Pop Carn
(2002)		 Winner
(2003)		 Kaadhal Kondein
(2003)
After Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga (1998) and Rishi (2000), Sundar C. and Yuvan Shankar Raja worked together for the third time for the music composition of this film. The soundtrack, released on 17 March 2003, features 6 tracks with lyrics penned by Pa. Vijay and Viveka.
Track Song Singer(s) Duration
1 "Eye Um Eye Um" Devan 4:23
2 "Endhan Uyir Thozhiyae" Udit Narayan 4:38
3 "Mathapoo" Tippu, Premji Amaran, Sri Ranjani 3:59
4 "Mudhal Murai" Srinivas, Mahalakshmi Iyer 5:10
5 "Engirundhai" Harish Raghavendra 4:06
6 "Kozhi Kokkarra" Udit Narayan, Prashanthini 4:25





Mambattiyan is a 2011 Tamil action film directed by Thiagarajan, starring his son Prashanth as the titular character.  The film, also starring Meera Jasmine, Prakash Raj, Vadivelu and Mumaith Khan in other pivotal roles, is a remake of the 1983 Tamil blockbuster Malaiyoor Mambattiyan that starred Thiagarajan himself and Saritha. The film released on December 16, 2011 to above average reviews from critics. 

Plot

A landlord (Kota Srinivasa Rao) rules a village in western Tamil Nadu. When he is opposed by Mambattiyan's father (Vijayakumar), the 'jameen' kills him. Coming to know of this, Mambattiyan (Prashanth) kills the influential person and those in support of him.
A group of youngsters in the village join hands with Mambattiyan. They lead a life in a forest. By robbing the rich and distributing the wealth to the poor, Mambattiyan becomes the local Robin Hood.
Meanwhile, police forces led by DIG Ranjith (Prakash Raj) go from pillar to post to nab Mambattiyan. This is the start of a cat and mouse game between the two. Also, Mambattiyan has romance in the form of Kannathal (Meera Jasmine) and Sornam (Mumaith Khan). When Sornam raises a green flag that means she needs him to come an officer in disguises realizes this and reports it to Ranjith, so one by one all of his gang members die. At the end a villager, Bullet, shoots him because whoever captures Mambattiyan gets a rewards of money and land so Kannathal hits him and he dies then she dies too. at the end Ranjith is sad that the whole village is crying and he takes Mambattiyan's chain.

Cast

Production

It was first reported in September 2008, that Thiagarajan would remake Rajasekhar's successful 1983 film Malaiyoor Mambattiyan, with his son Prashanth portraying the lead role of a Robin Hood-esque figure. Meera Jasmine, Prakash Raj and Mumaith Khan were assigned roles shortly after, while the team also held talks with Kalabhavan Mani unsuccessfully for another role.   The team began filming in early 2009, with Thiagarajan noting that apart from the plot, most features in the film would be different from the original. Prashanth grew his hair and put on weight for this film and the team shot in the forests of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.  The team also filmed scenes in virgin locales across Orissa in the backdrop of waterfalls.
By April 2010, production had been ongoing for fifteen months and the film was still incomplete. The team also announced that they were planning to bring in Mallika Sherawat to play a role depicted by Silk Smitha in the original, but it did not eventually materialise.   Thiagarajan approached Thaman to compose the film's music only after completing the film's shoot and asked him two retain two songs from the original film.  Prashanth and Thiagarajan then briefly postponed the film and began work on another venture, the historical Ponnar Shankar, and subsequently released that film earlier than Mambattiyan. The film finally geared up for release in December 2011, more than three years after production began, when the son of a tribal leader called Mambattiyan filed a petition preventing the release of the film. He withdrew the claims shortly after, gaining an out of court settlement.  Prior to the film's release, Thiagarajan considered a possible sequel to the venture, stating he would decide after seeing the audience's response.

Release

The film opened in December 2011 to above average reviews from film critics. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu claimed that "Thyagarajan has developed and executed a screenplay without gaffes, which gallops at commendable speed. Eschewing frills, he holds the viewer's attention throughout". In her review, she also added "in action, comedy, sadness and sedateness, Prashanth always makes a mark" and that "Mambattiyaan should be a milestone in Prashanth's career".  The New Indian Express also gave the film a positive review, noting "For, makers while replicating the content, invariably fail to capture the soul of the original. But, Thiagarajan has managed to recapture the essence of his earlier work, even while giving the rustic saga a more contemporary feel. The screenplay is taut, the director rarely losing his grip on his narration."  A reviewer from Sify.com noted the film "is a bit dated, though it moves at a rapid pace" and that it "is not engaging like the original".  Another critic from Sify also noted "It is predictable, tame, out-dated and slow. No single scene could be cited as well conceived or well made. Full of cliches".  A critic from Behindwoods.com noted "Mambattiyan could have been so much better if the period setting was maintained in the 80s or if the characters were moulded to suit current times".
The film took a good opening at the box office, but petered out to do average business commercially and due to it's big budget, failed to recover costs.  The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu as Bebbuli.

Soundtrack

Mambattiyan
Soundtrack album by S. Thaman
Released November 23, 2011
Genre Film soundtrack
Label Saga Music
Producer S. Thaman
S. Thaman chronology
Mouna Guru
(2011)		 Mambattiyan
(2011)		 Bodyguard
(2011)
The soundtrack was composed by Thaman and was released live on Sun Music's channel on 23 November 2011.[19] Actor Silambarasan recorded a song for the film, with the making of the song video being used for promotional purposes.[20]
Track Song Singer(s)
1 "Chinna Ponnu" Harish Raghavendra, Shaila
2 "Karuppanswamy" Ranjith, Priya Himesh
3 "Kaattuvazhi" Thiagarajan
4 "Kaattuvazhi Remix" Silambarasan[21]
5 "Malaiyiru" Thaman, Srivardhini, Megha, Janani, Rita
6 "Yedho Agudhey" Rita
7 "Kaattuvazhi" Silambarasan



Saahasam is an upcoming 2014 Tamil film being directed by Arun Raj Varma, and produced by Thiagarajan. The film features Prashanth in the lead role. The film, which will have music composed by Devi Sri Prasad, began production in November 2013 and is scheduled for a mid-2014 release. 

Cast

Production

Prashanth and his father, Thiagarajan scouted locations to make the film while on business trips to Kuwait and Australia.  The team soon requested fans to name the film through a poll on Facebook, with the titles considered including Asthiram and Modhi Paar, before Saahasam was finalised. The film progressed through the end of 2013 with little media coverage, and the technical crew and cast remained unannounced. In early February 2014, it was announced that Arun Raj Varma was making his debut as a director while Sakthi Saravanan and Devi Sri Prasad would be cinematographer and music composer respectively. A second schedule started in mid February 2014, with Prashanth revealing that Nassar and Tulasi would play his parents, while Thambi Ramaiah and actress Leema Babu were also in the cast.

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