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Gentleman (1993 film)

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Gentleman
Theatrical release poster
Directed byS. Shankar
Written byS. Shankar
Uncredited:
Balakumaran
A. Venkatesh
Dialogues by
Produced byK. T. Kunjumon
StarringArjun
Madhubala
Subhashri
CinematographyJeeva
Edited byB. Lenin
V. T. Vijayan
Music byA. R. Rahman
Production
company
A. R. S. Film International
Distributed byA. R. S. Film International
Release date
  • 30 July 1993 (1993-07-30)
Running time
160 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Gentleman is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language action heist film co-written and directed by S. Shankar in his directorial debut, and produced by K. T. Kunjumon. The film stars Arjun, Madhubala and Subhashri, with M. N. Nambiar, Manorama, Goundamani, Senthil, Charan Raj, Vineeth, and Rajan P. Dev in supporting roles. It revolves around a respected Madras-based businessman who moonlights as a thief who steals from the rich and gives to the poor for their education.

Gentleman was released on 30 July 1993, and distributed by Kunjumon himself as distributors were reluctant. Despite this, the film became a major success, running for over 175 days in theatres besides winning three South Filmfare Awards (including Best Film – Tamil and Best Director – Tamil), four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards (including Best Actor and Best Director) and five Cinema Express Awards. It was remade in Hindi as The Gentleman (1994). The film was a breakthrough for Arjun, and established him as one of the top actors in Tamil cinema.

Plot

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In Ooty, Krishnamoorthy "Kicha" and his sidekick Mani perform a swashbuckling heist of money of several crores while being in disguise diverting the attention of police, and escape in Nilgiri Mountain Railway, much to the frustration of a chasing police inspector Ratnam. Kicha is a respected citizen who runs a legitimate papadam business along with Mani in Madras. Susheela, one of Kicha's many female employees, has a crush on him and is constantly demanding his attention. Another thing adding to her woes is the arrival of her jovial cousin Sugandhi, who makes the place so lively and playful with silly fights between Mani and Babloo.

Sugandhi later develops a crush on Kicha, after being saved by him from the goons who were trying to molest her. Kicha tells Sugandhi that he has no such feelings for her and wants her to find a suitable husband. Before leaving Madras, Sugandhi steals Kicha's ring as a souvenir. After several unsuccessful attempts at nabbing the thief, the disgraced police officer Azhagar Nambi shaves his head and is left with a ring mark on his face, after a scuffle with the thief. Nambi investigates the design of the mark, believing it was formed by a ceremonial ring worn by Brahmin priests, but to his vain, finds that such a design is uncommon to Brahmin priests, but rather resembles a mangala sutra.

Meanwhile, Nambi is forced by his parents into getting married and by coincidence to Sugandhi, from whom he gets the particular ring that he was tracking and finds out that it belongs to Kicha. In an attempt to trap and arrest Kicha, Nambi plots an attempt at Kicha's house where they were invited for a wedding dinner, hosted by Kicha, where he shoots Kicha, but the latter narrowly escapes with a bullet injury in his hand, along with Mani. Susheela follows them to their hideout, where Susheela finds the duo and accuses Kicha of his deed. After Susheela threatens to commit suicide, Kicha reveals his past.

As a student, Kicha was a district-level topper along with his best friend Ramesh, but they both were denied their desired medical college seats despite scoring high marks due to reservation and bribery, which lead Kicha's mother and Ramesh to commit suicide. Due to this, Kicha became a thief to build a college of his own, with the desire to make education available to the deserved, regardless of income, caste, or religion.

In the present, Kicha shows Susheela the under-construction college. To fund the final stages of the college building, aware of the police trap, Kicha makes one last attempt to steal money from the chief minister (CM) and succeeds, but Nambi manages to arrest him. In the courtroom, Kicha demands that the CM (who was previously the education minister who demanded the bribe from him) should come to the courtroom. Though the CM is exposed to the public, he is still let off, which infuriates a youth who was triggered by Kicha's testimony, and kills the CM in a suicide bombing. Six years later, Kicha and Mani complete their prison sentence and inaugurate the college.

Cast

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Uncredited

Production

[edit]

Development

[edit]

After scoring back-to-back successes like Vasanthakala Paravai (1991) and Surieyan (1992), producer K. T. Kunjumon of A. R. S. Film International wanted to collaborate again with director Pavithran and actor R. Sarathkumar; however since they went on to do other projects, the collaboration did not happen. Photographer Stills Ravi and editor V. T. Vijayan suggested the name of S. Shankar who worked as an assistant in these two films. Shankar had prepared a story, but it was rejected by many producers. After listening to the story, an impressed Kunjumon decided to produce the film which would later be titled Gentleman, but on the condition that Shankar accept any changes he suggest, to which Shankar agreed,[12] making his directorial debut.[13] While Shankar also wrote the screenplay, Kunjumon selected Balakumaran to write the dialogues.[12] Cinematography was handled by Jeeva, editing by Vijayan and B. Lenin, and art direction by Maghi,[1] while Vikram Dharma was the action choreographer.[2]

Casting and filming

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The initial story revolved the militancy of a Brahmin youth. Shankar wanted Kamal Haasan to play the lead at this stage, but he refused because he felt the story was too similar to Guru (1980) in which he acted and did not like Shankar's take on the concept.[14][15] When Arjun was approached, he was reluctant. According to him, no directors wanted to make a film with him until the success of Sevagan (1992) which was directed by Arjun himself. Therefore when Shankar approached him with the script of Gentleman, he decided to decline without listening to the script just as he did to a few other directors. But he listened to the script after much persuasion and, impressed by the story, decided to do it.[16][17]

The song "Chikku Bukku Rayile" was mostly shot at Egmore railway station.[9] The climax scene where a student kills the antagonist in a suicide bombing was inspired from the assassination of the then President of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa.[12][18] Kunjumon insisted Shankar to rewrite the climax by adding this element, much to the dissatisfaction of Arjun, who felt that his heroism would get diluted. However, Kunjumon remained adamant and it was shot as per his wish.[12] The filming took seven months to be completed.[19]

Themes

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Critics have noted the film's resemblance to Ore Oru Gramathiley (1987) due to caste-based reservation being a mutual theme in both and the protagonist being a Brahmin who rebels against this,[20] and Karuppu Panam (1964).[21]

Soundtrack

[edit]
Gentleman
Soundtrack album by
A. R. Rahman
Released1993
RecordedPanchathan Record Inn
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length23:42
LabelPyramid
Aditya Music
Lahari Music
T-Series
ProducerA.R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman chronology
Pudhiya Mugam
(1993) 		Gentleman
(1993) 		Kizhakku Cheemayile
(1993)
External audio
audio icon Audio Jukebox (Tamil) on YouTube
audio icon Audio Jukebox (Telugu) on YouTube

The score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman.[22] Vairamuthu wrote the lyrics for all songs except "Chikku Bukku Rayile" and "Parkathey", which were written by Vaali.[12] The songs were recorded at Panchathan Record Inn, and the soundtrack was released under the Pyramid label.[23] The film and soundtrack were dubbed and released in Telugu with the same name. The lyrics were penned by Rajasri for this version.[24] The original Tamil soundtrack sold over 300,000 cassettes.[25]

The opening of the song "Ottagathai Kattiko" is often thought to have been inspired from the 1991 Telugu song, "Eddem Ante Teddam Antav", composed by Raj–Koti and sung by Malgudi Subha from the album Chik Pak Chik Bam; in reality, Rahman, who was an arranger in Raj–Koti's team, helped them in composing the original song.[26] Once when Rahman went to visit a friend whose house was near a railway station, the sound of trains frequently disturbed their conversation; nonetheless, the train sounds inspired Rahman to compose "Chikku Bukku Rayile".[27] "Ottagathai Kattiko" is set in the Carnatic raga known as Dharmavati,[28][29] "En Veetu Thotathil" has shades of Chenchurutti and Neelambari,[30] "Parkathey" is set in Mohanam,[31][29] "Usalampatti Penkutti" is also set in Dharmavati.[32]

The songs from Gentleman were reused in the Hindi remake The Gentleman (1994), though only Anu Malik was credited for the music.[33][34] "Ottagathai Kattiko" was later remixed by the French rap group La Caution as "Pilotes Automatique".[35]

Tamil
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."En Veetu Thotathil"VairamuthuS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sujatha Mohan3:56
2."Usalampatti Penkutti"VairamuthuShahul Hameed, Swarnalatha4:41
3."Chikku Bukku Rayile"VaaliSuresh Peters, G. V. Prakash Kumar5:24
4."Parkathey"VaaliMinmini, Srinivas, Noel James4:29
5."Ottagathai Kattiko"VairamuthuS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki, Sujatha Mohan, Minmini5:15
Total length:23:45
Telugu
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Kontegaadni Kattuko"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki5:15
2."Chikubuku Raile"Suresh Peters, G. V. Prakash5:24
3."Naa Inti Mundunna"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sujatha Mohan3:51
4."Maavele Maavele"Minmini, Srinivas, Noel James4:29
5."Mudinepalli"Shahul Hameed, Malgudi Subha, Swarnalatha4:40
Total length:23:39

Release

[edit]

Gentleman was released on 30 July 1993.[36] Kunjumon promoted the film by playing trailers on television sets situated on suburban railway stations.[37] He had to distribute the film on his own since no distributors were willing to buy this film as they felt "it looked like a dubbed film". Despite this, it became a major success,[12] running for over 175 days in theatres.[38]

Critical reception

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Writing for The Indian Express on 6 August 1993, Malini Mannath said, "Shankar makes a promising debut infusing his script with action, sentiment, comedy and even some titillating scenes for added measure and tries to give something different within the parameters of commercial cinema. Jeeva's camera is effective in capturing the well choreographed stunt scenes (Vikram Dharma)."[2] K. Vijiyan of New Straits Times wrote on 14 August 1993, "Sankar .. has provided thought-provoking story [..] build up the story well, making us eager to find out why the hero is committing all those robberies."[39] On 22 August 1993, Ananda Vikatan rated the film 50 out of 100.[40]

Accolades

[edit]
Event Category Recipient Ref.
41st Filmfare Awards South Best Film – Tamil K. T. Kunjumon [41]
Best Director – Tamil Shankar
Best Music Director – Tamil A. R. Rahman
1993 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Best Actor Arjun [42]
Best Director Shankar
Best Music Director A. R. Rahman
Best Female Playback Singer Sujatha (for "En Veetu Thotathil")
14th Cinema Express Awards Best Picture (Special Award) K. T. Kunjumon [43]
Best Actor (Special Award) Arjun
Best New Face Director Shankar
Best Music Director A. R. Rahman
Best Stunt Master Vikram Dharma

Legacy

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In the 2019 Tamil film Hero, Arjun reprises his role as Sathyamoorthy (whose name is similar to Krishnamoorthy), a man who takes away money from the rich to build a school that is free for everyone.[44] The 2021 film Dikkiloona was titled after the word used by Goundamani and Senthil in Gentleman.[45] In June 2022, a sequel was announced with Kunjumon returning to produce, and Gokul Krishna directing.[46]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Dhananjayan 2011, p. 153.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Mannath, Malini (6 August 1993). "Daring and caring". The Indian Express. p. 6. Retrieved 4 May 2017 – via Google News Archive.
  3. ^ Srinivasan, Pavithra (27 September 2010). "Shankar's landmark films before Endhiran/Robot". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  4. ^ Yamunan, Sruthisagar (12 October 2015). "When the camera rolled, she lived the character'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b Mohan, Ashutosh (24 March 2020). "Top 10 Tamil Films Where Senthil Got The Better Of Goundamani". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  6. ^ Kumar, Pradeep (3 April 2020). "Prabhudheva's best dance sequences: From 'Chikku Bukku' to 'Guleba'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Raju Sundaram talks about Chal Maar on Kings of Dance". The Times of India. 8 December 2017. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Gentleman Cast and Crew". Moviefone. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  9. ^ a b Raman, Sruthi Ganapathy (2 August 2023). "'Chikku Bukku Rayile': An Oral History of Shankar & AR Rahman's Megahit Song". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Haven't you watched Raghava Lawrence's amazing dances yet?". Onmanorama. 30 October 2018. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  11. ^ Sudha (29 December 2020). "ஜென்டில்மேன் திரைப்படத்தில் மொட்டை ராஜேந்திரன் நடித்துள்ளார் தெரியுமா தெரியுமா.? அதுவும் இந்தக் காட்சியில்தான் எப்படி இருக்கிறார் பார்த்தீர்களா.!". Tamil 360 Newz (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Menon, Vishal (21 July 2018). "KT Kunjumon and 25 years of 'Gentleman'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  13. ^ "Tamil Films". Gentleman Film KTK. Archived from the original on 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  14. ^ நவநீதகிருஷ்ணன், பா ஸ்டாலின் (2 September 2021). "Flashback: நடிக்க மறுத்த கமல்... டிஸ்கஷனில் வாக்குவாதம்... ட்ரெண்ட் உருவாக்கிய ‛ஜென்டில்மேன்'". ABP Nadu (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  15. ^ இந்தியன் படத்திலே எனக்கு ஏற்பட்ட கருத்து வேறுபாடு | Kamal Haasan Interview | பொக்கிஷம் 25 (in Tamil). Touring Talkies. 18 June 2019. Event occurs at 1:50. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via YouTube.
  16. ^ Kumar, S. Shiva (20 January 2012). "Silver screen's valiant hero". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  17. ^ Suganth, M. (22 June 2017). "I've completed 150 films; let me experiment at least now". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Tuesday Trivia: Assassination of Sri Lanka President inspired the climax of Shankar's Gentleman". India Today. 12 May 2020. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  19. ^ "Take it easy? Not for Me!". Kalki (in Tamil). 4 December 1994. pp. 58–59. Archived from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  20. ^ Thirumurthy, Priyanka (2 September 2019). "'Orey Oru Gramathiley' to 'Pariyerum Perumal': Caste-based reservation in Tamil films". The News Minute. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  21. ^ Chellappa (16 December 2022). "Kamal still comes out all guns blazing". Inmathi. Archived from the original on 29 October 2024. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Gentleman". JioSaavn. 16 November 2016. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  23. ^ "Gentleman Tamil Audio Cassettes By A.R Rahman". Banumass. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  24. ^ "Gentleman". JioSaavn. 30 July 1993. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  25. ^ "Audio tape producers ride crest of Bollywood's music boom, composers become stars". India Today. 30 November 1993. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  26. ^ Anand, S. (3 August 2009). "Medley Messiah". Outlook. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  27. ^ Mathai 2009, p. 62.
  28. ^ Mani, Charulatha (9 November 2012). "Twice as nice". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  29. ^ a b Sundararaman 2007, p. 151.
  30. ^ Mani, Charulatha (23 November 2012). "Folksy flavours". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  31. ^ Mani, Charulatha (16 September 2011). "A Raga's Journey – Magical Mohanam". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  32. ^ Sundararaman 2007, p. 164.
  33. ^ "Indian Idol judge Neha Kakkar's brother scores big with Kevin Pietersen days after Oscar-winner AR Rahman found himself in awe of former England cricketer". Janta Ka Reporter. 17 May 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  34. ^ Mathai 2009, p. 124.
  35. ^ "Urvasi Urvasi ripped off by Will.i.am & Cody Wise!". Sify. p. 8. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  36. ^ "Gentleman". The Indian Express. 30 July 1993. p. 3. Retrieved 13 April 2017 – via Google News Archive.
  37. ^ Vijaya Kumar, K C (27 August 2024). "A movie that pulled out all stops for promotion". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  38. ^ Selvaraj, N. (20 March 2017). "வெள்ளி விழா கண்ட தமிழ் திரைப்படங்கள்" [Tamil films that completed silver jubilees]. Thinnai (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  39. ^ Vijiyan, K. (14 August 1993). "Catchy songs pep up Gentleman's story". New Straits Times. p. 25. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2016 – via Google News Archive.
  40. ^ "சினிமா விமர்சனம்: ஜென்டில்மேன்" [Movie Review: Gentleman]. Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 22 August 1993. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  41. ^ "The Prized People". Filmfare. November 1994 – via Internet Archive.
  42. ^ Dhananjayan 2011, pp. 154–155.
  43. ^ "Kizhakku Cheemayile adjudged best film". The Indian Express. Express News Service. 13 March 1994. p. 3. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2021 – via Google News Archive.
  44. ^ Suganth, M (20 December 2019). "Hero Movie Review : Fairly good vigilante film, middling superhero movie". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  45. ^ "Santhanam's triple action film titled Dikkilona". The Times of India. 7 September 2019. Archived from the original on 12 September 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  46. ^ "Gokul Krishna to direct KT Kunjumon's Gentleman 2". Cinema Express. 6 June 2022. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.

Bibliography

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