Kandukondain Kandukondain

Kandukondain Kandukondain
Directed by	Rajiv Menon
Produced by	Kalaipuli S. Dhanu A. M. Rathnam
Written by	Sujatha
Screenplay by	Rajiv Menon
Based on	Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Starring	Mammootty Ajith Kumar Tabu Aishwarya Rai Abbas Manivannan Srividya Raghuvaran
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Ravi K. Chandran
Editing by	Suresh Urs
Distributed by	V Creations
Release date(s)	5 May 2000
Running time	158 min.
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	10 crore
Box office	50 crore

Kandukondain Kandukondain (Tamil: கண்டுகொண்டேன் கண்டுகொண்டேன்; English: I Have Found It) is a 2000 Tamil musical and romantic film based on Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility. Directed and co-written by Rajiv Menon, the film features an ensemble cast of Mammootty, Ajith Kumar, Tabu, Aishwarya Rai and Abbas in the lead roles. Veteran actors Srividya, Raghuvaran and Manivannan also play other pivotal roles.

The plot features two young sisters with differing views on love who find themselves with three suitors. The elder sister attracts the attention of an aspiring film director, while a wounded commando falls for her younger, hopelessly romantic sister but hesitates because he is much older than she. Meanwhile, the younger sister meets and falls for an upcoming businessman with a passion for Indian poetry. However, problems lap up from different directions, resulting in emotional turmoil for both sisters. Whom the sisters marry forms the crux of the story.

The film opened to Indian audiences, after several delays, on 5 May 2000 gaining positive reviews and becoming a successful venture commercially. Kandukondain Kandukondain was dubbed and released in Telugu as Priyuraalu Pilichindi, and the producers released subtitled versions worldwide. The film's soundtrack scored by A. R. Rahman won critical acclaim and set a ten-year-long sales record; a song composed by him and sung by Shankar Mahadevan won a National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in the process. The film went on to feature in international film festivals and gain notable awards.

Synopsis

Kandukondain Kandukondain opens with army commando Major Bala (Mammootty) fighting in a war and losing his left leg in a grenade explosion. After the opening credits, Sowmya (Tabu) and Meenakshi (Aishwarya Rai) are shown as the adult daughters of Mahalakshmi (Srividya) living in a Chettiar mansion in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu with their grandfather (Unnikrishan Nambooripad), grandmother (S. N. Lakshmi) and younger sister (Shamili). Sowmya is a school principal while Meenakshi is passionate about classic Tamil poetry, music and dance. The other rich man in Meenu's village is Major Bala. He falls in love with Meenu, but Meenu falls in love with Srikanth (Abbas). Manohar (Ajith Kumar) is a director who comes to Meenu's house for a film shoot. Sowmya and Manohar fall for each other and he convinces Sowmya to wait to be married until the he completes making his first movie.

Sowmya's grandfather Chandrasekhar, even on his deathbed, tries to say something about the will which was written by him and kept in a box. No one understood what he said or opened the box until after he died. After their grandfather's death, they open the box and found out that their grandfather had bequeathed all his property to his son, remembering the fact that his daughter Lakshmi had eloped without his knowledge. Unable to bear Lakshmi's brother's and his wife's behavior, Sowmya and her family move away to Chennai.

In Chennai, Sowmya finds a respectable job in a software company while Meenu becomes a playback singer. Meanwhile, Srikanth's finance company goes bankrupt and he has to pay back his investors. A minister (an elected politician of the state) offers to bail out Srikanth and his company if Srikanth marries his daughter. When Meenu finds this out by chance, she is shocked and overwhelmed at Srikanth's hypocrisy. She falls in a ditch and gets rescued by Bala. Realizing Bala's true love for her, Meenu falls in love with him.

Manohar's movie project is in disarray and he is thrown out. He plans his own movie, a path-breaking action one with Nandhini Varma as the heroine. Nandhini Varma falls for Manohar's charm although not with any serious intentions. Rumours of an affair spread which affect Sowmya deeply. The movie becomes a big commercial success. When he visits Sowmya's house in Chennai he finds out that Sowmya is going to California. Manohar manages to convince Sowmya after some drama. He asks her to marry him and she agrees. Meenu's and Sowmya's weddings take place on the same day and the movie ends on happy note.

Cast

• Mammootty as Bala, who has lost his leg in an army mission in Sri Lanka and uses a wooden leg. His drinking habits make him unpopular initially, but his kind-hearted work and his occupation as a florist win over the family. He carries love for Meenakshi and is irritated with Srikanth, but opts to help her out than nurse his own ambitions.
• Ajith Kumar as Manohar, a struggling film director, who opts away from listening to his family's demand to pursue a professional career. He is determined to direct his own feature film, but his relationship with Sowmya slows him down, prompting the couple to quarrel and have misunderstandings.
• Tabu as Sowmya, the responsible elder sister of Meenakshi and Kamala, is branded as being "unlucky" for prospective grooms, following the death of a prospective husband. Despite opting to avoid marriage altogether, she begins an emotional topsy-turvy relationship with Manohar.
• Aishwarya Rai as Meenakshi, a loving and optimistic young woman, aspires to become a singer. Furthermore, her passions include poems of Bharathi, a famous Tamil poet. She has ambitions of how her husband should be and is surprised to find that Srikanth fits the bill.
• Abbas as Srikanth, an upcoming Indian businessman, likes Meenakshi and has a passion for classical music. He first appears as the boy of Meenakshi's dreams, but he is forced to marry a mortgager's daughter, after his business nearly collapses.
• Manivannan as Sivagnanam, a friend to Bala with whom he operates as a florist. He tries to help Bala change for Meenakshi to be impressed.
• Srividya as Mahalakshmi, the widowed mother of Sowmya, Meenakshi and Kamala who lives as in Karaikudi with her children and bed-ridden father, estranged from her brother.
• Raghuvaran as the boss of Sowmya's company, who helps her regain confidence in life, by offering her a place in an American company.
• Nizhagal Ravi as Swaminathan, Mahalakshmi's estranged brother, who inherits the family home at the expense of Mahalakshmi following their father's death.
• Shamili as Kamala, the youngest sister of Sowmiya and Meenakshi who has a passion for science.
• Anita Ratnam as Meenakshi and Sowmya's aunty.
• Pooja Batra in a special appearance as Nandhini Verma, the actress who has a crush on Manohar.
• Dino Morea in a special appearance as Vinod, the guy who wanted to get married to Meenakshi, but she refuses his offer.
• The film's music director A. R. Rahman appears as himself, as does musician Gangai Amaren and actor Senthil.

Production

Development

After the success of his maiden venture Minsaara Kanavu, Rajiv Menon was signed by Kalaipuli S. Dhanu to direct a film under his production in the final quarter of 1998. Menon subsequently wanted a bigger storyline and scripted a screenplay based on the Jane Austen novel, Sense and Sensibility and the project emerged as Kandukondain Kandukondain. Menon claimed that the story of two sisters reflected in the film were reminiscent of him and his brother through difficult parts of their lives. The film was initially launched as a multilingual project in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam, though it only released in Tamil with a subsequent dubbed version in Telugu titled Priyuraalu Pilichindi. After most of the production was complete in November 1999, Menon wanted a rough copy of the film to be previewed by the village audience first, to ensure that they could relate to the subject, after his previous film failed to fare well in rural areas. After showing parts of the film, they eventually held a group discussion before thanking the volunteers with gifts, while receiving positive feedback.

The audio release function of the film was held, with Kamal Haasan in attendance. The film was initially scheduled for release in the Diwali season of 1999, before delays postponed the makers to announce that the film would release on 1 January 2000, becoming the first film of the millennium. However, further delays due to the success of other films Padayappa and Vaali ensured that the film evaded that date. The release of Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey pushed Kandukondain Kandukondain to be released in May 2000.

Casting

Initially Menon cast his main lead in his previous film Prabhu Deva in a main role with Ajith Kumar in January 1999. However, Prabhu Deva's role was briefly taken by Prashanth, who then opted out with Abbas being signed on. Leading Malayalam language actor Mammootty was signed to play the leading role of the former army general, making a rare appearance in Tamil films. Soundarya was offered Aishwarya Rai's role. She had to turn it down because of scheduling clashes. Aishwarya Rai was signed on to the project for 1.25 crores, making her third appearance in Tamil films after critical success in Mani Ratnam's Iruvar and Shankar's Jeans. Despite being crowded with Hindi film offers, Rai claimed that she was a large fan of Menon's work and could strongly identify with the character, hence accepting the offer. Tabu was subsequently signed on to play another leading role in the project. Aishwarya Rai and Tabu's characters were largely different from one another, with Rai claiming that working with her co-actress was exciting because of the differences. Srividya was signed on to play Tabu and Rai's mother, while Shamili of Anjali fame played their sister. Nizhagal Ravi and Anita Ratnam were also a part of the family, with relatively unknown Malayalam actor, Unnikrishnan Nambooripad, making his debut as the bed-ridden grandfather. Prominent actors Raghuvaran and Manivannan were selected for supporting roles in the film, while Hindi actors Dino Morea and Pooja Batra appeared in small character roles, with the latter playing an actress. Senthil is credited with a guest appearance in the film, while technicians Gangai Amaren, A. R. Rahman and Rajiv Menon all play one-scene cameos.

Rajiv Menon and Dhanu retained several of the technical team from his previous venture, with only Sujatha added to write the dialogues. Menon cited that he often thought of the dialogues in his native language Malayalam before telling writer Sujatha to translate them into Tamil. Furthermore a cinematographer himself, Menon opted not to be so in the project and appointed Ravi K. Chandran to control the camera. Music by the film was composed by Rahman, while lyrics were written by Vairamuthu, with the pair having a spat during the production. Suresh Urs edited the film, while Vikram Dharma directed stunts, Nagu directed arts and Rekha Prakash, Brindha and Raju Sundaram choreographed the songs.

Filming

Scenes with Mammootty's army general character were shot from February to April 1999, close to the outbreak of the Kargil War. During the shoot in the Chettiar mansion in Karaikudi, Menon cited that the unit bonded with Aishwarya Rai and Tabu becoming good friends, Ajith Kumar learning off Mammootty and the whole unit joining over dinner. In May 1999, the crew along with Aishwarya Rai and Abbas went to Scotland to film the title song on a lake in Dornie with the backdrop of a castle, the Eilean Donan. In the "Konjum Mainakale" song, professional Kathakali artists were used; the video for "Yengay Yenedhu Kavidhai" was shot in the backdrop of Chennai monsoonal rains. The production team planned a four-day shoot trip to Egypt to film a song with the backdrop of the pyramids, however, the stay turned into a week-long schedule. The team of director, Ajith, Tabu, choreographer Raju Sundaram and cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran daily traveled three hours from Cairo and shot in the heat, with one day of shoot being cancelled after Tabu fainted. The film was delayed for six months due to the success of Aishwarya Rai's Taal and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, which prompted the revival of other projects she had signed up to at the period. Furthermore, Menon's insistence that A. R. Rahman reworked some of the music to provide a better fusion of classical and contemporary music, also postponed progress. The film subsequently ended filming six months behind the schedule devised by Menon, but he cited that everything had fallen in place as planned.

During post-production, the film ran into problems with dubbing with Mammooty initially showing hesitance for dubbing for his character, before eventually giving in to the producer's demands. Actor Vikram dubbed for Abbas's character while actress Revathi dubbed for Tabu's character.

Reception and box office

The film opened to mostly positive reviews. Indian Express stated "A progressive film encouraging female independence, yet staying a warm family tale in essence, Kandukondain Kandukondain is the kind of film every intelligent movie-goer ought not to miss. Almost every supporting character pitches in an impressive performance, thus making Kandukondain Kandukondain a wonderful watch". Rediff stated "Kandukondain... had a powerful story with intense and well-developed characters. It is not that the film does not have any memorable moments. It is a delight to see a young woman who is passionately in love with poetry and quotes Bharatiyar liberally; a symbol of a bygone era when books were a passion with youngsters. One of the most poignant scenes in the film is Mammootty's outburst against the system, which forgets war heroes who lay down their lives for a cause".

The film successfully completed 100 days. It grossed $10 million at the box office. Audio rights were sold for 2.2 crores.

Awards

• The film won the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil.
• Rajiv Menon, the director, won the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil.
• Shankar Mahadevan won a Silver Lotus Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song "Enna solla pogirai".

Soundtrack

Kandukondain Kandukondain
Soundtrack album by A. R. Rahman
Released	15 March 2000
Recorded	Panchathan Record Inn
Genre	Film soundtrack
Label	Sa Re Ga Ma
Producer	A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman chronology
Alaipayuthey (2000) Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) Fiza (2000)

A. R. Rahman composed the original score and the songs with lyrics by Vairamuthu. Rahman collaborated with Menon for the second time, after their critically acclaimed and successful Minsara Kanavu. The album rights were bought by Sa Re Ga Ma for a then-record sum of 2.2 crores.

The soundtrack features eight songs, including a poem by Bharathiyar, tuned by Rahman. The song "Kanamoochi" is based on Carnatic raga ragamalika, "Kandukondain Kandukondain" is based on Nalinakanthi raga, "Smayiyai" is based on jazz music, and "Enna Solla Pogirai" is a folsky and romantic number. All songs became chartbusters and "Enna Solla Pogirai" earned Shankar Mahadevan the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer.

#	Track	Artist(s)	Lyrics	Length
1	"Enna Solla Pogirai"	Shankar Mahadevan	Vairamuthu	6:00
2	"Smayiyai"	Devan, Clinton Cerejo, Dominique Cerejo	Vairamuthu	5:09
3	"Kanamoochi"	K. S. Chithra	Vairamuthu	5:11
4	"Suttum Vizhi"	Hariharan	Bharathiyar	2:21
5	"Konjum Mainakkale"	Sadhana Sargam	Vairamuthu	4:43
6	"Kanamoochi (Duet)"	K. S. Chithra, K. J. Yesudas	Vairamuthu	3:30
7	"Yengae Enathu Kavithai"	K. S. Chithra, Srinivas	Vairamuthu	5:16
8	"Kandukondain Kandukondain"	Hariharan, Mahalakshmi Iyer	Vairamuthu	5:18

External links

• Kandukondain Kandukondain at the Internet Movie Database
• Kandukondain (I Have Found It)/ Kandukondain Kandukondain at Rotten Tomatoes