Friends (2001 film)
Friends | |
---|---|
Directed by | Siddique |
Written by | Siddique Gokula Krishnan |
Story by | Siddique |
Based on | Friends (Malayalam) |
Produced by | Appachan |
Starring | Vijay Suriya Vadivelu Devayani Vijayalakshmi Ramesh Kanna Sriman |
Cinematography | Anandakuttan |
Edited by | B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan |
Music by | Ilaiyaraaja |
Production company | Swargachitra |
Release date | 14 January 2001 |
Running time | 167 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Tamil |
Friends is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language comedy-drama film, directed by Siddique and produced by Appachan. The movie is a remake of the Siddique's own 1999 Malayalam film by the same name. film features Vijay, Suriya, Devayani, Vijayalakshmi, Ramesh Kanna, in the title roles while Vadivelu, Sriman play supporting roles. The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, while Anandakuttan handled cinematography.
It was released on 14 January 2001 and completed a 175-day theatrical run at the box office.[1] This film also marks the second collaboration of Vijay and Suriya after Nerrukku Ner.
Plot
Aravindan (Vijay), Chandru (Suriya) and Krishnamoorthy (Ramesh Khanna) value friendship over everything else, even family. For this reason, Chandru resists the advances of Aravindan's sister Amutha (Vijayalakshmi). When the trio takes up a painter's job at a mansion under contractor Nesamani (Vadivelu), Krishnamoorthy's paternal uncle, Aravindan falls in love with Padmini (Devayani), who lives there. Padmini's jealous cousin Abhirami (Abhinayashree) makes him believe that his overtures are reciprocated. When the truth is revealed and Padmini rejects him outright, Chandru stands up for his friend and speaks ill of her. This makes her swear to separate the friends. After the marriage, Aravindan realises the hand of Abhirami behind all the mishaps, and Padmini too realizes that Chandru is innocent. Then, Chandru and Amutha's marriage is arranged.
Gautham (Sriman) is Aravindan's cousin who is in love with Amutha and wants to separate the pair. He makes Chandru believe that Padmini is trying to kill Amutha. Padmini is now angry with Chandru. At last, Aravindan tells the truth that in their young ages, he unknowingly killed Chandru's deaf and mute brother. Gautham records this truth and makes Chandru hear it. Chandru and Aravindan then fight and go by their ways. Aravindan tries to convince Chandru but falls from the top of a mountain. Chandru then believes that Aravindan is dead, but after five years, he is a major in the Indian Army and finds out through a letter from Krishnamurthy telling that Aravindan is not dead but has ended up in a coma. Unfortunately, Gautham is now torturing his family a lot. When he comes to know that Chandru has come back to Meenakshipuram, he starts to beat him up. After hearing Chandru's cry of pain, Aravindan wakes up from his coma. Finally, Aravindan beats up Gautham, and everyone rejoins and lives happily.
Cast
- Vijay as Aravindan
- Suriya as Chandru
- Ramesh Khanna as Krishnamoorthy
- Vadivelu as Nesamani, Krishnamoorthy's Young Paternal Uncle
- Devayani as Padmini
- Vijayalakshmi as Amutha
- Sriman as Gowtham, Aravindan and Amutha's cousin
- Radha Ravi as Ramanathan, Abhirami's Father
- Abhinayashree as Abhirami, Padmini's Cousin
- Charle as Gopal, Nesamani's Assistant
- Rajeev as Raghuraman, Aravindan and Amutha's Father
- Saritha as Savithri, Aravindan and Amutha's Mother
- Rathan as Vishwanthan, Padmini's Father
- Pyramid Natarajan as Varatharajan, Gowtham's Father
- Sathyapriya as Rajalakshmi, Gowtham's Mother
- A. R. Srinivasan as Chakaravarthi , Vishwanthan's Friend
- Shanthi Williams as Parvathi, Chakaravarthi's Wife
- S. N. Lakshmi as Maragatham, Aravindan's Grandmother
- Radhabhai as Kasthuri, Padmini and Abhirami's Grandmother
- Santhana Bharathi as Sethupathi
- Madhan Bob as Manager Sundaresan
- Crane Manohar as Muthu, Nesamani's worker
- Vaishnav Balachandran as Chandru, Aravindan's son
- Master Jayanth as Young Aravindan
Production
After their teaming in Nerukku Ner, Vijay and Suriya came together again in this film, a remake of a successful Malayalam film of the same name that was produced by actress Saritha, and had her husband Mukesh co-starring with Jayaram. Siddique who directed the original has directed the Tamil version too. Ramesh Khanna was selected to play the role which was enacted by Sreenivasan in original. First Meena was approached to play the female lead as she did the Malayalam version. Due to dates problem, she could not be part of it. Then Jyothika was signed with Suvalakshmi to play the lead actresses in the film but soon Simran replaced Jyothika. Both Simran and Suvalakshmi also then too backed out due to date problems and were replaced by Devayani and new girl Vijayalakshmi from Mysore. Shooting was held in a fast pace on location in Ooty, Pollachi, Pazhani and Udumalaipettai.[2] The song 'Thendral Varum Vazhiye' is shot in New Zealand, etc.
Soundtrack
The film featured music composed by Ilaiyaraaja received positive response and topped the charts. All lyrics of the songs were penned by Palani Bharathi.
Friends | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | 2001 | |||
Recorded | 2001 | |||
Genre | Soundtrack | |||
Length | 40.55 | |||
Label | Five Star Audio | |||
Ilaiyaraaja chronology | ||||
|
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Thendral Varum" | Hariharan, Bhavatharini | 05:03 |
2. | "Kuyilikku Koo Koo" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan | 05:06 |
3. | "Rukku Rukku" | Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vijay Yesudas, Sowmya Raoh | 04:30 |
4. | "Manjal Poosum Manjal Poosum" | Sujatha Mohan, Devan Ekambaram | 05:08 |
5. | "Penkaloda Potti" | Hariharan, Sujatha Mohan, Ranjith | 05:02 |
6. | "Poonkatrae" | Hariharan | 05:26 |
7. | "Vaanam Perusuthan" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Vijay Yesudas, Arun Mozhi | 05:10 |
Total length: | 40.55 |
Critical response
Friends was released on 14 January 2001, Thai Pongal day.[3] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu stated, "With friendship as the theme, Siddique presents a decent entertainer, which of course could have been crisper."[4] Despite facing competition from Dheena, released on the same day,[3] the film emerged a commercial success, running for more than 175 days in theatres.[5]
See also
References
- ^ "10. Friends (2001) | Top 20 Best Films of Vijay". www.behindwoods.com.
- ^ Friends. Cinematoday2.itgo.com. Retrieved on 26 July 2015.
- ^ a b "Thala v/s Thalapathy battle begins". Sify.
- ^ "Film Review: Friends". 26 January 2001 – via www.thehindu.com.
- ^ "Tamil actor Vijay completes 26 years in the industry. Take a look at his journey, in pictures | Entertainment News". www.timesnownews.com.
External links
- 2001 films
- Tamil-language films
- 2000s Tamil-language films
- 2000s comedy-drama films
- Tamil film scores by Ilaiyaraaja
- Films directed by Siddique
- Indian films
- Indian buddy films
- Indian comedy-drama films
- Tamil remakes of Malayalam films
- Indian Army in films
- Films shot in Ooty
- Films shot in Pollachi
- Films shot in Palani
- Films shot in New Zealand
- 2001 comedy films
- 2001 drama films