Kadhal Virus

Kadhal Virus
Audio CD cover
Directed by	Kathir
Produced by	Kathir
Written by	Kathir
Starring	Richard Sridevi Vijayakumar Abbas
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Arjun jena (Cinematographer)
Studio	Sound & Light Studios
Release dates	December 27, 2002 (2002-12-27)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Kadhal Virus is 2002 Tamil romantic film directed and produced by Kathir. The film featured Richard and Sridevi Vijayakumar making their acting debuts in the lead role with Abbas in a supporting role. A. R. Rahman composed the music for the film, while Arjun Jena was the cinematographer for the project. The film tells the story of a young director, trying to pursue his dream by overcoming all hurdles. After much delay, the film opened in December 2002 but was ultimately panned by critics and fared poorly at the box office.

Plot

Deepak is a budding filmmaker trying to get his first production out. He meets and falls in love with Geetha, and decides to take his relationship with her further once his first film is made. Misunderstandings lead to their separation, and her eventual marriage to Rajiv, a struggling actor who is looking for a role in Deepak's next film.

Cast

• Richard as Deepak
• Sridevi Vijaykumar as Geetha
• Abbas as Raajiv
• Manorama
• Raghuvaran
• Vivek

A sequence in the film features guest appearances from:

Production

Through the 1990s, Kathir developed a reputation of producing successful romantic films with critically acclaimed soundtracks by A. R. Rahman and his work in Kadhal Desam (1996) and Kadhalar Dhinam won commercial and critical acclaim.^[1]

In January 2001, Kathir announced that his next film would also be a love story titled Kadhal Virus. Richard, the brother of actresses Shalini and Shamili, was selected to make his debut in the leading role. Abbas, who Kathir introduced with Kadhal Desam, was also signed on to make a special appearance in the film. Early reports suggested that Bhumika Chawla would star in the film but this proved to be untrue.^[2] Her role was later handed to Sridevi Vijayakumar, daughter of veteran actor couple Vijayakumar and Manjula, who would make her debut as a leading heroine with the film.^[3]

Release

Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu mentioned that "the screenplay is incoherent in parts" and that "he dialogue and expressions are sometimes too cliched". The critic blamed the film's production delay revealing that "initially the film did kindle a lot of interest — what with A. R. Rahman as composer and a fresh lead pair to boot, but because it has been in the making for too long, the euphoria first triggered did wane a little".^[4] Another critic from AllIndianSite.com mentioned that "Richard looks good and als performs well while Sridevi acts with ease and looks beautiful".^[5]

The film became a box office failure and despite a high-profile launch, actor Richard has since struggled to get a meaningful breakthrough.^[6] The director of the film, Kathir, also went into a hiatus and has yet to make a film since the failure of Kadhal Virus.^[7] Debutant cinematographer Arjun Jena won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer for his work in the film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack consists of 6 songs composed by A.R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Vaali and Pa. Vijay.

References