Time (1999 film)

Time
Directed by	Geetha Krishna
Written by	Geetha Krishna, Gokula Krishnan (dialogues)
Produced by	Vatte Veerabadhra Rao
Starring	Prabhu Deva Simran Radhika Chaudhry
Cinematography	M. V. Panneerselvam
Edited by	Suresh Urs
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Release date	3 December 1999
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Time is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Geetha Krishna. The film features Prabhu Deva, Simran and Radhika Chaudhry in the lead roles. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Cast

• Prabhu Deva as Srinivasa Murthy
• Simran as Thulasi
• Radhika Chaudhry as Priya
• Babloo Prithiveeraj as Dhilip
• Charle as Chittappa, Srinivasa Murthy's friend
• Manivannan as Appasamy
• Nassar as Govindarajan, Thulasi's father
• Moulee as Natarajan
• Devan as Seetharaman, Dhilip's father
• Bobby Poonia as David
• Pandu as Priya's father
• Vaiyapuri as Servant
• Thadi Balaji as Srinivasa Murthy's friend
• Ambika as Srinivasa Murthy's mother
• Kovai Sarala as Natarajan's wife
• Sabitha Anand as Dhilip's mother
• Chandra Mohan as Car driver
• J. V. Ramana Murthi as Shop owner
• Raviraj as Govindarajan's friend
• Kallu Chidambaram as Postman
• Sharmili as Priya's mother
• Radhabhai as Dhilip's grandmother
• Bhanusri as Servant
• Lekhasri
• Manga Reddy as Lakshmi, Thulasi's mother
• Dubbing Janaki as Chittappa's mother
• Baby Jennifer as Priya's sister
• Master Bharathkumar as Thulasi's brother
• Sahadevan as Postman
• Mahadevan as Postman
• Harikumar as Srinivasa Murthy's friend
• Gopi as Srinivasa Murthy's friend
• Johnny as Srinivasa Murthy's friend
• Ajay as Srinivasa Murthy's friend
• Krishna as Srinivasa Murthy's friend
• Anandaraj as Local don (guest appearance)

Production

The film marked the directorial debut of Geetha Krishna in Tamil, and began as a quadrilingual venture in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. Prashanth was initially announced as the hero in the film as early as November 1997 when the movie launch took place. Prashanth started working for the film in Kodaikanal during October 1998 but later backed out, while Ajith Kumar also refused the film due to lack of time. After several delays, Prabhu Deva was subsequently selected to play the lead role and the film was made only in Tamil. Two debutant actresses were announced to portray the lead female roles, Menaka Senail and Radhika Chaudhari, though the former was later replaced by Simran. Model Bobbu Poonai made his acting debut as the antagonist.

Music

The songs were composed by Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics were written by Pazhani Bharathi. To compose the songs, Ilayaraaja and Geetha Krishna, had gone on a recce to Maldives and had longlisted thirty songs for the film, before picking six.

• "Kadhal Neethana" – Unni Krishnan, Sujatha Mohan
• "Muthu Nilave" – Devan, Gopika Poornima
• "Naan Thanga Roja" – S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Swarnalatha
• "Ninachapadi" – Unni Menon, Devan, Malgudi Subha
• "Niram Pirithu" – Sujatha Mohan
• "Thavikkiren" – Hariharan, Bhavatharani

Reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. BBThots wrote the film "has Ilaiyaraja's music and good photography. But inept direction and a muddled screenplay make a mess of the already flimsy story". Thiraipadam wrote "The ending is implausible, the storyline weak, but you can watch it once, I guess, if you have the time (no pun intended) and if you're an avid lover of Tamil movies." New Straits Times wrote the film has shades of Kadhal Kottai "the story gets a little muddled in the end".