Once More (film)

Once More
Directed by	S. A. Chandrasekhar
Produced by	Sri Ganesh
Written by	S. P. Rajkumar
Starring	Sivaji Ganesan Vijay Simran Saroja Devi
Music by	Deva
Release date(s)	4 July 1997
Running time	170
Language	Tamil

Once More is a 1997 Tamil romantic comedy film directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. The film features veteran actor Sivaji Ganesan and Chandrasekhar's son Vijay in the lead roles, while Saroja Devi and Simran play other leading roles.

Plot

Vijay (Vijay) is a rich young business man, whose only one aim in life is to have fun, is the managing director of a big tea estate in Ooty and his company goes on a big loss because of his mismanagement. Vijay spends most of his time in partying and flirting with girls whenever he feels like. To manage the loss to his company, Vijay invites his father Rajasekar (who is in the United States) to come to India to sign some documents. As fate would have it, Vijay's father dies in a plane crash on his way to India. His maternal uncle (Manivannan) comes up with the idea of having another elderly person to act as Vijay's father for a while until the documents are signed. So they visit a senior home, where they meet Selvam (Sivaji Ganesan) and they request him to act as Vijay's father. He agrees to it and starts to act as Vijay's father.

Selvam observes the careless, take-it-easy life style of Vijay and is reminded of his old days when he used to be like Vijay (movie clips from an old Sivaji film Iruvar Ullam come to help). Selvam is very affectionate towards Vijay and he considers him as his son. Vijay finds out about Selvam's past life, that Selvam was married to Shantha (Saroja Devi) and they have been living separated for the past 30 years. He wants them to get united and he searches and finds the whereabouts of Shantha. Meanwhile, Kavitha (Simran) joins Vijay's company and she talks to Vijay in his own style. Vijay is knocked out by Kavitha's beauty and he falls in love with her. Then, their love gets into trouble because of Kavitha's mother. Now, Vijay tries to unite Selvam and Santha. In return Selvam tries to unite Vijay and Kavitha. Will Selvam and Shantha meet and get married 'Once More'. Will Vijay and Kavitha get married 'At least Once' forms the rest of the story.

Cast

• Sivaji Ganesan as Selvam
• Vijay as Vijay
• Simran as Kavitha
• Saroja Devi as Shantha
• Manivannan as Vijay's maternal uncle
• Anju Aravind as Anju
• Charle
• S. S. Chandran

Production

The director, Chandrasekhar, convinced Sivaji Ganesan to feature in the film despite his semi-retirement from the industry. The veteran actor had contemplated permanant retirement before this film and only signed on after visiting Sathya Sai Baba who told him to continue. Some scenes from the film are directly taken from a yesteryear Sivaji-Saroja Devi starrer, Iruvar Ullam, to show the couple in a flashback sequence. The film also marked the debut of actress Simran in Tamil films, with Once More and her other film, VIP both releasing on July 4, 1997.

Release

A critic from the New Straits Times gave the film a mixed review citing "to watch the film for Sivaji". The reviewer describes that Vijay "breezes through his role" and Simran "gets a good opportunity" but that the director "should have paid more attention to obvious holes in the plot". Another critic gave the film a mixed review, criticizing the direction, music and performance of the lead actors - though mentioned that Manivannan and Sivaji's "majestic presence" are the film's saving grace.

Soundtrack

Once More
Soundtrack album by Deva
Released	1997
Genre	Feature film soundtrack

There are 5 songs composed by Deva.

• 1. Chinna Chinna Kaadhal - Malaysia Vasudevan, Deva, Anuradha Sriram, Krishnaraj
• 2. Malargale - Krishnaraj
• 3. Ooty Malai Beauty - S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Swarnalatha
• 4. Oormila Oormila - Vijay, Shoba Chadrashekhar
• 5. Poove Poove Sempoove - Surender, K. S. Chitra