Boys (2003 film)

Boys
Directed by	Shankar
Produced by	A. M. Rathnam
Written by	Shankar Sujatha
Starring	Siddharth Genelia D'Souza Bharath S. Thaman Nakul
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Ravi K. Chandran
Editing by	V. T. Vijayan
Studio	Sri Surya Movies
Release date(s)	29 August 2003
Running time	170 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	18 crore (US$3.96 million)

Boys (IPA: [bɔɪz]; Tamil: பாய்ஸ், Pāys, IPA: [bɑːjs] ^?) is a 2003 Tamil film directed by S. Shankar. The film stars Siddarth, Genelia, Bharath, Manikandan, Nakul and Sai Srinivas. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by A. R. Rahman.

Plot

Munna (Siddharth Narayan), Babu Kalyanam (Bharath), Juju (Nakul), Krishna (thaman) and Kumar (Manikandan) are five friends who spend their time ogling at girls, watching porn and complaining about their parents. Much to the chagrin of their parents, they have no interest in studies. They even go as far as hiring a prostitute but all of them back down at the last moment. They meet a depressed middle-aged man, Mangalam (Vivek) in a bar one day and help him home after he passes out. Although they first use him as a source to get alcohol, Mangalam enjoys their company and becomes a mentor of sorts for these kids.

One day, the boys see a teenage girl, Harini (Genelia D'Souza) and all five decide to ask her out. Everyone’s try ends in disaster, but they all become friends. Soon, Harini and Munna fall in love. The parents find out and are furious, as they want them to focus on their studies first. The parents and their kids decide that the kids will not contact each other till their studies are over and after that, if they are still in love, the parents would not stand in their way. Although the kids agree to this, they start longing for each other. They get married, prompting the parents to throw them out. To show solidarity to Munna, the other four friends walk out of their homes too. Mangalam helps them find a modest residence and the teenagers take up part-time jobs to support themselves. Mangalam encourages them to explore their natural musical talents, after which they are approached by a radical group to make songs against the government. This gets them into prison, where they experience some tough times.

After they get out, they show more resolve to succeed. After a few unsuccessful attempts, they are finally signed and record their first album. When celebrating their success, Krishna accidentally tells Harini about the prostitute earlier. A deeply-hurt Harini leaves them. As the prostitute is the only one who could prove that Munna did not sleep with her, the friends begin searching for her. Kumar spots the prostitute but while chasing her, dies in a road accident. Munna decides that his words were more than enough proof for Harini and accepts Harini’s decision.

Their album releases and becomes a huge hit. When the boys request Harini’s presence for the live show, as she was the lead female vocal for the group, her parents accept on the condition that Munna sign the divorce papers. Munna agrees and the group has a very successful live debut. On the day of the divorce hearings, Mangalam, now the pop group’s manager fields many calls to replace Harini. When she looks at pictures of all the pretty girls vying to be the group’s new singer, a bout of jealousy strikes her. She gets angry and starts hitting Munna. As they fight, they finally share a kiss. The judge sees this as a sign that she still cares and does not agree to the divorce. Harini and Munna get back together.

Cast

• Siddharth as Munna
• Genelia D'Souza as Harini
• Bharath as Babu Kalyanam
• Sai Srinivas Thaman Sivakumar as Krishna
• Manikandan as Kumar
• Nakul as Juju
• Vivek as Mangalam
• Senthil as Anna Veriyan

Production

Development

In December 2001, it was announced that Shankar would make a film titled Boys featuring newcomers and at a cost of 3 crores. He had postponed the making of Robot featuring Kamal Haasan and Preity Zinta in the lead roles to start this film, with the announcement prompting hundreds of applications from youngsters who wanted to feature in the film. For the film, Shankar opted to introduce five debutants to play the lead characters and held auditions in 2002, with over five hundred applicants being video tested. Siddharth had initially worked as an assistant director to Mani Ratnam in Kannathil Muthamittal, and the script writer of that film, Sujatha, were insistent that Siddharth auditioned for Boys. After consulting with Mani Ratnam, he met Shankar, auditioned, and got the role of Munna. Shankar had seen Bharath at a dance programme, Inspirations at the Music Academy by `Swingers`, and called him to appear in screen tests that included delivering dialogues and dancing before selecting him to do the role of Bob Galy. Bharath was initially earmarked to play the lead role in the film before the team found Siddharth. Sai Srinivas, a percussionist and a drummer, who had worked with leading music directors was added after a successful audition in which he had to play the drums and went on to help out with the background score of the film. Nakul, brother of actress Devayani, was a second year college student was also chosen for the film. His family had sent some pictures of Nakul's elder brother Mayur to Shankar's office, but after seeing Nakul in one of the pictures, Shankar approached him. Manikandan, a visual communications graduate who had featured in Kala master’s dance troupe doing stage shows was also selected. Genelia D'Souza, who was also shooting for Hindi film Tujhe Meri Kasam at the time, was chosen among 300 girls after Shankar was impressed by her Parker Pen commercial alongside Amitabh Bachchan.

Ravi K. Chandran was the principal director of photography and with the film, he introduced the linking of 62 cameras for the first time and the use of time freeze technology. Cinematographers K. V. Anand and V. Manikandan were also creditted in the film for filming two songs, while directors Gandhi Krishna and Balaji Sakthivel were a part of Shankar's assistant team.

Filming

Boys was launched at the Kalaivaanar Arangam in Chennai with Rajinikanth attending the event was chief guest and the new cast was introduced to the media. Filming began later that day and two days later a teaser trailer of the film was broadcast on television.

The song "Ale Ale" was picturised at the Bridestowe Estate Lavender Farm in Scottsdale, Tasmania, Australia where cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran linked 62 cameras, using a new 'time freeze' technique with the help of Australian cinematographer Mark Ruff's rig. Mark Kobe, who had previously been a part of the teams of Godzilla and Independence Day, carried out the computer graphic effects for Boys and created a 3D female to feature in the song "Girlfriend". Another song, "Dating", was shot at a set created by Sabu Cyril on the Chennai seashore where he created a seaside swimming pool, restaurant, water volleyball, and discotheque for the song sequence. For "Boom Boom", Cyril made a set out of waste materials like steel, tin sheets, bottles, used cans of Pepsi, Coca Cola, Dalda (oil) and wood waste to create the backdrop, whilst the actors in the song were dressed by designer Arjun Fazil in matchsticks, film rolls, videotape, and crisps covers. "Maro Maro" was picturised on 500 young dancers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi, while for "Secret of Success", the team were given permission to use the MTV logo as the scene saw the band performing at the MTV Awards.

Reception

The film released to mixed reviews. Siddhu Warrier of Rediff cited that the film "gets enmeshed in an intricate array of sub-plots. And somewhere along the way, the story begins to meander", adding that "college students, especially guys, might watch Boys more than once for the titillating scenes, the non-veg jokes, and, most importantly, the skimpy, transparent clothing sported by the heroine." Guru Subramaniam from Rediff stated that "Shankar's overconfidence in selling situations to the audience has failed this time. Many scenes, including the climax, look ordinary without any build-up sequences. If the makers spent Rs 18 crore [approximately US $3.6 million], it is a lavish waste of money."

The film was declared a box office bomb, with Shankar later pointing out that "only youngsters" came to watch the film as he failed to appeal to "other age groups" as well.

Soundtrack

Boys
Soundtrack album by A. R. Rahman
Released	28 June 2003
Recorded	Panchathan Record Inn
Genre	Pop, pop rock, dance music, world music
Label	Star
Producer	A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman chronology
Parasuram (2003) Boys (2003) Warriors of Heaven and Earth (2004)

The soundtrack, featuring 7 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, was launched on 28 June 2003. It was the tenth collaboration of Shankar and Rahman, a combination that is widely accepted to be one of the most successful in whole India. About the making of "Girlfriend", Shankar said, "I had told my crew and associates in the beginning itself that we had to think like an 18-year-old as the film is about youth and their desires. So when lyricist Pa.Vijayan and Rahman sat together, we wanted a catchy number which the youth can relate to. At 18, every boy dreams of having a girlfriend. Rahman came up with a perfect fast paced peppy tune and Vijayan’s lyrics fell into place as it establishes the yearning for a girlfriend. It sets the mood for the film as it appears in the first reel of Boys."

#	Song	Singer(s)	Notes	Lyrics
1	"Girlfriend"	Karthik, Tippu, Timmy		Pa. Vijay
2	"Dating"	Blaaze, Vasundhara Das		Pa. Vijay
3	"Ale Ale"	Karthik, Chitra Sivaraman		Kapilan
4	"Secret Of Success"	Lucky Ali, Clinton Cerejo, Blaaze, Vasundhara Das		Vaali, Blaaze
5	"Boom Boom"	Adnan Sami, Sadhana Sargam		Kapilan
6	"Maro Maro"	Karthik, Kunal Ganjawala, George, Anupama, Sunitha Sarathy	Alternately called "Break The Rules"	Vaali
7	"Please Sir"	Kunal Ganjawala, Clinton Cerejo, S. P. B. Charan, Chinmayi	An A cappella song	Vaali

Critical reception

The album was met with positive reviews upon release but the sales were lagging initially. Star Music , the company which had bought the rights of the soundtrack ,was able to sell only 60,000 records in the first week. Fortunately ,in the following weeks ,sales drastically increased and the soundtrack became the best-selling album of the year. Rediff stated,"A R Rahman has helmed the scoring of what is certainly the best of Tamil music this year. Take note of Vaali's lyrics for 'Secret of success' and P.A Vijay's 'Dating'."

External links

• Boys at the Internet Movie Database
• Boys Film at Videos2Movies.com