| Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa | |
|---|---|
Poster |
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| Directed by | Gautham Menon |
| Produced by | Madhan VTV Ganesh S. Elred Kumar Jayaraman |
| Written by | Gautham Menon |
| Starring | Silambarasan Trisha Krishnan |
| Music by | A. R. Rahman |
| Cinematography | Manoj Paramahamsa |
| Editing by | Anthony Gonsalves |
| Studio | Escape Artists Motion Pictures R. S. Infotainment |
| Distributed by | Red Giant Movies Two95 Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 26 February 2010 |
| Running time | 157 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | 14 crore (US$2.66 million)[1] |
| Box office | 30 crore (US$5.7 million)[2] |
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (Tamil: விண்ணைத்தாண்டி வருவாயா, English: Will you Cross the Skies and Come?) is a 2010 Tamil musical romantic drama film directed and written by Gautham Menon, featuring Silambarasan Rajendar and Trisha Krishnan in the lead roles. The film, distributed by Udhayanidhi Stalin, features a successful soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa and editing by Anthony Gonsalves. The film's story was also simultaneously shot and released by Gautham in Telugu cinema as Ye Maaya Chesave, however, with a different cast and climax.[3]
The film explores the complicated relationship between a Hindu Tamil assistant director, Karthik, and a Christian Malayali girl, Jessie. Karthik falls in love with Jessie only to be met by her indifference and reluctance as they belong to different religions and her strict conservative family will never consent to this. Undeterred Karthik pursues her, going as far as her native town. She also falls in love with him. However, they have to face many problems and emotional conflicts. The film began its initial schedule in February 2009, following a mystery launch with a series of publicity posters being launched with no details of the cast or crew.[4] Shooting continued through 2009, with the film garnering significant media interest, through schedules in Malta and the United States.[5] Prior to release, the film became the first Tamil project to have a music soundtrack premiere outside of India, with a successful launch at the BAFTA in London.[6] The film released on 26 February 2010, along with the Telugu version to advanced bookings worldwide. Upon release, the film achieved positive reviews, with several critics giving the film "modern classic" status, whilst also becoming a commercially successful venture.[7][8]
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Karthik (Silambarasan) is a student of mechanical engineering in Chennai who aspires to become a filmmaker. His friend introduces him to cinematographer Ganesh (Ganesh Janardhanan). With Ganesh's help Karthik becomes an assistant to director K. S. Ravikumar. Karthik's family, who are Hindu Vellalars, rent Jessie's (Trisha Krishnan) house. Jessie is from a conservative Malayali Christian family from Alappuzha, Kerala, that lives upstairs. Karthik falls in love with Jessie the moment he meets her. Karthik expresses his love to Jessie, who is afraid of speaking to men around her strict father, and ends up angering Jessie. The two meet several times and Jessie begins to admit that she also likes Karthik, but wants to refrain from any problems because she knows her father wouldn't give her hand in marriage to a Hindu. Consequently, due to various misunderstandings between Jessie's brother and Karthik, her parents learn of their affair. They fix a match and schedule her wedding. The day arrives and midway through the ceremony, Jessie refuses to marry the groom, displeasing everyone in her family. Karthik and Jessie continue to love each other without the knowledge of their parents.
At this point of time, Karthik goes to Goa on a 40-day shoot, where he gets rather busy. Meanwhile, the topic of Jessie's marriage comes up again at her home when the guy whom she refused to marry earlier pays them a visit. Panicking, Jessie calls Karthik and tells him that she wants to elope with him. Karthik, since he is traveling through less than ideal places, tells Jessie to stay in Chennai for now, and that soon he would be back and they can discuss. Jessie doesn't take his calls-so Karthik goes back one night to check on Jessie. Jessie has decided to break up, as the relationship is not peaceful due to her parents' disapproval. She doesn't want Karthik to wait for her too long, as he has his dreams to fulfill. Karthik later comes to know that she is married and settled abroad.
Two years later, Karthik meets Nandhini (Samantha Ruth Prabhu). She falls in love with him, but is rejected by Karthik who saying that he hasn't yet gotten over Jessie. He then comes up with a script for his first film, which happens to be his very own love story. He calls upon Naga Chaitanya as the film's protagonist, Nandhini as the female lead and Ganesh as the film's cinematographer, and the film is eventually titled Jessie. While shooting for the film in New York, he sees Jessie and she comes to speak with him. She admits that she is not married and is still in love with him, and he too says she is still in his heart. Karthik proposes yet again and they get married the same day. This is actually revealed to be a scene in Karthik's movie - which Karthik and Jessie in real life are watching together in the theatre. After it gets over, Jessie tells Karthik that they cannot lead a life which is full of obstacles and they part, once and for all to lead different lives and different destinies.
In late January 2009, speculation arose surrounding a potential collaboration between Silambarasan Rajendar, Gautham Menon and A. R. Rahman, but none confirmed the news.[9] However, in a surprise move, in early February 2009 a poster appeared in Indian papers featuring Silambarasan, but with no names of crew members. This was a significant move as this was Gautham's first project after his split with Harris Jayaraj. Furthermore, the early poster suggested that the film was titled Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, in homage to the song "Vennilavae Vennilavae" from the 1997 film, Minsaara Kanavu.[10] Subsequently, each day leading up to Valentine's Day saw the launch of a new poster, still without details of the crew except the inclusion of Trisha Krishnan as the lead actress; posters released after the one tributing Minsara Kanavu were those of stills from Dil Se, Alaipayuthey, Kaakha Kaakha and Geethanjali.[11] The film eventually surfaced as a Gautham Menon film, with music by Rahman and cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa. Gautham stated that the film would be his return to the love genre after having opted to direct action thriller post his debut venture, Minnale.[12] Nagarjuna Akkineni approached Gautham Menon to do a Telugu version of the film simultaneously. He agreed and the scenes were simultaneously shot. The film was passed with a U/A (Parental Guidance) rating by the Indian Censor Board due to many intimate scenes between Silambarasan and Trisha.[13]
The shooting started on February 14, 2009 and was held in several locations as New York City, Malta, Kerala, Chennai, Trichy, Thanjavur and Rome. The songs of the film were shot in Malta at sets and choreographed by Flexi Stu.
The film took a grand opening, grossing Rs.64,66,062 in its first three days in Chennai.[14] The film grossed 5.75 crores at the Chennai box office. It totally grossed 33 crores and was officially declared a commercial success.[2]
The movie opened up to positive reviews from critics. Oneindia.in said "The slow phase of the second half and frequent use of bad words (Chennai Tamil) are major minuses in Goutham's narration. But these are all not preventing one to enjoy the content of true and painful love of the film!"[15]
Indiaglitz stated "If and only if, you have all the time in the world, and you like the slow romantic genre, you'll enjoy this one."[16]
Sify said that the movie was "Very good" further citing "The film is a must watch for those who cares for cinema of sense and substance. It stresses the fact that Tamil cinema has to break the mould if it aims to grab eyeballs. Gautham Menon has crafted a movie that will stay in our hearts for a long, long time."[17]
Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff called the film a "Must watch" further citing "The best part about VTV is that it revolves around people, rather than events. It's like putting a camera into the intimate, everyday life of two people and following them on their adventures. The characters go through a whirlwind of emotions, laugh and cry, and take you along with them." However, the reviewer points out certain drawbacks in the film citing "On the minus side, VTV suffers from the same defect as Vaaranam Aayiram: the second half lags in pace. The dialogues and confrontations are repetitive. There's a would-be love-track that seems unnecessary before the story takes off again. "[18]
Aravindan D. I. of nowrunning.com gave the film three stars out of five and said "Gautam Vasudev Menon's "Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya" is a clean romantic story without any deviation or sub-plots."[19]
Malathi Rangarajan from The Hindu said "Twenty two-year old Karthik's true-to-life overtures, reactions and recklessness are just as you would expect from a director of Menon's calibre. It is his authentic depiction of Jessie's confusion that's all the more amazing — Menon's complete understanding of a woman's psyche bowls you over! So do the young lovers!".[20]
Chennai Online said "‘Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya’ (VTV) is an excellent effort on the part of Gautam Vasudev Menon in narrating a clean romantic story without any deviation from the plot." and further cited "As is Menon’s forte, the dialogues and the execution of scenes are top-notch. The joys of falling of love and the pangs of separation have been portrayed well. The way Simbu nurtures his love for Jesse and the positive but ambiguous reactions from Trisha to his overtures are very nice indeed."[21]
The soundtrack was composed by A.R. Rahman. The world premiere was held at BAFTA in London on 19 December 2009 and later it was relaunched in Chennai on January 12, 2010. The album consists of 7 tracks. Rahman re-recorded the background music in London.
| Tracklist | |||||||||
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| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Omana Penne" | Benny Dayal, Kalyani Menon | 5:30 | ||||||
| 2. | "Anbil Avan" | Devan Ekambaram, Chinmayi | 4:12 | ||||||
| 3. | "Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa" | Karthik | 3:12 | ||||||
| 4. | "Hosanna" | Vijay Prakash, Suzanne D'Mello, Blaaze | 5:30 | ||||||
| 5. | "Kannukkul Kannai" | Naresh Iyer | 3:52 | ||||||
| 6. | "Mannipaaya" | A. R. Rahman, Shreya Ghoshal | 6:56 | ||||||
| 7. | "Aaromale" | Alphons Joseph | 5:47 | ||||||
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Total length:
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35:02 | ||||||||
In 2011, Gautham Menon and Silambarasan confirmed the possibility of a sequel Vinnaithaandi Varuven to be made shortly after completion of a few projects, with an additional star cast of Amy Jackson and Santhanam.[27][28][29]
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