Malai Malai

Malai Malai
File:Malai Malai film poster.jpg Official film poster
Directed by	A. Venkatesh
Story by	A. Venkatesh
Starring	Arun Vijay Vedhika Prabhu Prakash Raj Kasthuri Santhanam
Music by	Mani Sharma
Release date	31 July 2009 (2009-07-31)
Country	Template:Film India
Language	Tamil

Malai Malai is a 2009 Tamil language film, starring Arun Vijay and Vedhika in the lead roles. Prabhu and Prakash Raj also have significant roles in the film. The film released on 31 July 2009 and turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office.

Plot

Palani Vel (Prabhu) and Vetri Vel (Arun Vijay) are two brothers who eke out a living as a farmer and a mini van driver respectively in a village on the foothills of Palani temple. They are inseparable and they fight, sing and booze together and when Vetri falls in love with a city based RJ Anjali (Vedika) who is on a visit to Palani, he finds another girl Lakshmi (Kasturi) to romance his brother.

Meanwhile the village simpleton Vetri goes to Chennai in search of a job and in search of his lady love. He gets a job as a driver in a courier company which also employs people like Vimala Hassan (Santhanam) a crazy fan of Kamal Hassan. Enter the villain Essakki (Prakash Raj) a dreaded don who controls Saidapet area of the city, and soon locks horns with Vetri. The rest of the story moves along predictable lines before the steamy sentimental action packed climax.

Cast

• Arun Vijay as Vetrivel
• Vedhika as Anjali
• Prabhu as Palanivel
• Prakash Raj as Essaki
• Kasthuri as Lakshmi
• Santhanam as Vimala Haasan
• Ganja Karuppu as Karuppu
• Vijayakumar as police
• Mayilsamy as an artist
• Aarthi as Arundathi
• Lollu Sabha Manohar
• Shakeela

Production

Pooja Umashankar walked out of the film due to the film's long delay to start. instead Vedhika was selected. Kasthuri was selected to play a important role making her comeback to tamil cinema. Actor Arjun Vijay and the cinematographers were arrested by the Thai army when the shoot was on for this film at Ko Man Islands near Pattaya City, It was only when the location manager and the producer explained the story to concerned officials that those arrested were been released, The shooting came to a halt until the crew were been released. The shooting of the film took place in Langavi Islands in Malaysia. Arun Vijay , Choreographer and Vedhika went as a team to the island for shooting. The shooting took place for a long time and by the time crew left it became dark and they missed the way and stranded in the mid sea for more than 2 hours but luckily they were saved. Set of the temple town Palani has been erected at Sriperambadhur for shooting of the film, Since the story of the film happens in Palani, set of the temple including market place, shops and streets have been erected in Sriperambadhur for 50 lakhs. A fight sequence featuring Arun Vijay clashing with the villains has been shot under the guidance of the stunt master Kanal Kannan. Scenes featuring Vedhika is also being shot here. Four cameras are being used for the shooting at this spot. Mumtaj was said to be appearing in an item number which proved false. During the shooting, the makers did a charity work to underprivileged rural areas. These donations have been used to provide adequate number of Ambulance facility to the villages of Ramanadhapuram, Pattukottai, Dindugal. Shooting for the climax has been on at Binny Mills and whilst acting out a stunt sequence involving jumping over the camera, Arun Vijay hurt his rib cage and arm. Luckily, the injuries weren't major and the actor went about shooting the scenes after rest for a couple of hours.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack is composed by Mani Sharma. The audio was launched by Suriya in 2009.

• Anbumanam - Karthik, Reeta
• Nee Hello - Jyotsna
• O Maare - Ranjith, Saindhavi
• Othaikku Othaiyai - Naveen, Rahul Nambiar
• Pooparikka - Karthik, Swetha

Reception

The film was officially announced as a hit by the reports given by top ten movies in kalaignar TV and other websites .It ran successfully for more than 100 days.

Reviews

Kollywood today wrote: "There’s nothing exceptional you will be witnessing with Malai Malai". Oneindia wrote: "Director Venkatesh uses all his usual techniques to entertain the viewers. The techniques he has applied may be old but guaranteed for a 2 hours 30 minutes entertainment". Sify wrote: "a typical mass masala movie with all essential ingredients". Nowrunning wrote: "Malai Malai an out-and-out Arun Vijay movie". Behindwoods wrote: "Scenes and narration are the same old run-of-the-mill types but for Prabhu’s and Prakash Raj’s friendship. Director had attempted to give something different but his efforts fall flat".

The success of Malai Malai, prompted the producers of his long-delayed film Thunichal to use his newfound publicity to launch their own film. Arun Vijay, worried that the move could hamper his new found image at the box office, lodged a complaint with the Nadigar Sangam, alleging that the producers of Thunichal were attempting to release the film without his voice. Soon after, he retracted his statements and refuted that the film would not damage his reputation.

After Malai Malai, the crew of previous film re-united with Maanja Velu which is a remake of telugu film Lakshyam.

External links

• Malai Malai at Paadal.com
• Malai Malai at IMDb