Thulluvadho Ilamai

Thulluvadho Ilamai
Directed by	Kasthuri Raja
Produced by	M. Ramakrishnan
Written by	Selvaraghavan (Screenplay & Dialogue)
Story by	Kasthuri Raja
Starring	Dhanush Sherin Abhinay Ramesh Shilpa Gangeshwari Ramesh Khanna
Music by	Original songs: Yuvan Shankar Raja Background Score Viji Manuel
Cinematography	Ashok Raaj
Edited by	Suresh Urs
Production company	Karthik Cine Visions
Release dates	10 May 2002
Running time	144 min
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Thulluvadho Ilamai (English: Exuberance of Youth) is a 2002 coming of age film, co written and directed by Kasthuri Raja, written by his son Selvaraghavan and introducing his second son Dhanush as an actor, who enacted the lead role character. Besides Dhanush, the film had also introduced other newcomers Abhinay, Sherin, Ramesh, Shilpa and Gangeshwari and features prominent film personalities as Vijayakumar, Ramesh Khanna, 'Pyramid' Nadarajan as well. While the soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, Viji Manuel had composed the film score. The film released on 10 May 2002 and proved to be highly successful at the box office.^[1]

The film depicts the story of six high-school classmates, three boys and three girls, coming from different strata of society, who have each their own problems in their respective families and escape from their homes, deciding to live together on their own with the help of an older friend of theirs.

Plot

Mahesh (Dhanush) is the son of a poor fisherman (Thalaivasal Vijay), who grows up seeing his parents always having sex or fighting. Pooja (Sherin) is the daughter of an orthodox and very strict businessman (Pyramid Natarajan), who is always suspicious about her. Vishnu's (Abhinay) father neglects his mother and instead has his maid servant as his paramour. Anitha's (Shilpa) parents live abroad, concentrating merely on their work and business, having not time for their daughter and neglecting her. Harish (Ramesh) is regularly beaten up and mistreated by his sadistic father. These five people and another girl, Divya, (Gangeshwari) are high-school students and best friends. When they find out that one of them, Anitha, is addicted to drugs, they decide to run away from their homes along with Mani (Ramesh Khanna), a pavement bookseller and an older friend of theirs, in order to rehabilitate her, but also as a result of their discontent and feeling of alienation from their respective families.

However, the runaways have to face and deal with many problems and break down several barriers, realizing that they are not yet ready and matured enough to cope with life in the outside world and recognizing the importance of education. They finally return to their school, where the school principal (Vijayakumar) lectures the parents of the students, blaming them for the students' escape attempt and misbehaviour.

Cast

• Dhanush as Mahesh
• Sherin as Pooja
• Abhinay as Vishnu
• Ramesh as Harish
• Shilpa as Anitha
• Gangeshwari as Divya
• Ramesh Khanna as Mani
• Vijayakumar as School Principal
• Thalaivasal Vijay as Mahesh's Father
• Pyramid Natarajan as Pooja's Father

Production

Selvaraghavan, son of director Kasthuri Raja had written the script and also directed the film. When his family faced financial pressures in the early 2000s with his father was out of work, and subsequently they decided to put their remaining earnings into the film. Featuring his brother Dhanush in his first role, alongside Sherin and Abhinay, the film told the coming-of-age story of six high school students and featured a hit soundtrack by Yuvan Shankar Raja.^[2]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, marking the first collaboration of the Yuvan Shankar Raja-Selvaraghavan duo, which would later go on to become one of the most successful combos in Tamil cinema.^[3][4][5][6] Viji Manuel composed the film score on Yuvan Shankar Raja's request who had to leave for London on an urgent work.^[7] The soundtrack initially featured 7 songs overall, later a second CD was released which included 3 additional short tracks. The song "Theenda Theenda", based on the Carnatic rāga Reetigowla,^[8] had two versions, a female solo and a duet version. The lyrics were written by Pa. Vijay except for the song "Kann Munney", which has lyrics written by Selvaraghavan.

The album, receiving positive reviews, described as youthful and refreshing, is considered a breakthrough album for composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, turning him into a leading composer in the Tamil film industry. Thanks to this album, he grew up in popularity, particularly among the younger generation, who could identify themselves with the songs.^[9]

Release

After taking a small opening, the film began to get teen audiences to cinema halls for its adolescent themes, while also being publicized in quarters as "soft porn" film. It subsequently went on to become a sleeper hit and won positive reviews from critics for breaking the stereotypes of Tamil films.^[1] Post-release, Selvaraghavan stated that he had also directed the film but was forced to credit his more established film-maker father Kasthuri Raja as the director, in order to help the project find a distributor.^[2]

Remake

This film was later remade for Telugu audience, in 2003, as "Juniors" starring Allari Naresh and Sherin reprising her role.

References

External links