| Kaathala Kaathala | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Singeetam Srinivasa Rao |
| Produced by | P. L. Thenappan |
| Written by | Crazy Mohan Kamal Haasan |
| Starring | Kamal Haasan Prabhu Deva Soundarya Rambha |
| Music by | Karthik Raja |
| Cinematography | Thirunavukkarasu |
| Editing by | N. P. Sathish |
| Studio | Saraswathi Films |
| Distributed by | Rajkamal International |
| Release date(s) | 14 April 1998 |
| Language | Tamil |
Kaathala Kaathala is a Tamil language film directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and produced by P. L. Thenappan. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Prabhu Deva, Soundarya and Rambha in the lead roles with an ensemble cast in supporting roles. The film released on April 14, 1998 to positive reviews and became a commercial success.
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Ramalingam (Kamal Haasan) & Sundaralingam (Prabhu Deva) are simpletons who are always in search of ways to earn a quick buck. Sundaralingam is an artist with good talent while Ramalingam is the business brain who brings in money, mostly by fraudulent means. They fall in love - Sundaralingam with Janaki (Rambha) and Ramalingam with Sundari (Soundarya). Both are students of art.
Janaki's father, played by the music director M. S. Viswanathan, rejects Sundaralingam. Sundari convinces Janaki to write letters falsifying Sundaralingam's rise to fame and big money, eventually lying that Janaki & Sundaralingam now have a son, in order to win over the parents with sentiment. Janaki's dad, worried that his grandson might be brought up poorly, arrives at a mansion that has been set up to look like Sundaralingam's new property, along with her mom (Srividya). Meanwhile, Sundari's dad (Moulee) also makes an unexpected stop there to check out on his daughter.
A small misunderstanding during introductions and progressively bigger lies to cover the initial lies lead to a side-splitting laugh riot. How those four eventually evade all their problems and become happy is the film's story. All the scenes are peppered with funny one- liners by Kamal and even the songs in the film are filmed in a comical manner.
The film was initially expected to be directed by K. S. Ravikumar who directed the successful Avvai Shanmughi with Kamal Haasan in the lead earlier, but he was later replaced by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao after he refused to sign the film until the FEFSI strike of 1997 had stopped.[1] Actresses Meena and Simran's unavailability led to Rambha being cast in a lead role.[2] After Soundarya's death in 2004, Kamal Haasan paid tribute by revealing that "she came forward to do the movie, when the rest of the industry was unwilling to work with me [Kamal Haasan]".[3]
Critics from Indolink.com gave the film a mixed review, citing that "if one can put the inspirations behind, the movie is quite enjoyable" and that "the going gets very complicated and absolutely hilarious".[4]
In 2010, the producer of the film P. L. Thenappan threatened legal action against the makers of the Hindi film, Housefull for remaking scenes from the film without permission. Thenappan revealed he had dubbed the film into Hindi in the late 1990s as Mirchi Masala, but the version did not release.[5][6]