King (2002 film)
| King | |
|---|---|
| File:King VCD Cover.jpg VCD Cover | |
| Directed by | Prabhu Solomon |
| Written by | Prabhu Solomon |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | G. Ramesh |
| Edited by | Lancy Mohan |
| Music by | Dhina |
Release date |
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Running time | 163 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
King is a 2002 Tamil language film directed by Prabhu Solomon and produced by Krishnakanth. The film featured Vikram in the title role, while Sneha, Vadivelu and Nassar played supporting roles. Dhina scored the film's music, while G. Ramesh handled cinematography. It released in September 2002.[1] The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu as Remo.
Plot
Raja Krishnamoorthy (Vikram) is the only son of Shanmugam (Nasser) and they both live in Hong Kong. One day while travelling, their car meets with an accident and both get admitted to the hospital. Dr. Cheenu (Santhana Bharathi) is their family doctor who diagnoses their blood and finds that Shanmugam is infected with multiple sclerosis, a disease for which therapy is only at primitive stage.
Dr. Cheenu, being a close friend of Shanmugam informs this to Raja alone. Shanmugam’s life is expected to last only for the next 60 days and Dr. Cheenu requests Raja to keep his father happy for the short period he is expected to be alive. Raja is shocked hearing this but makes up his mind and pretends to be casual. Raja does not inform about his father’s disease instead tries to keep him happy.
Now Raja insists his father to get back to India to meet his family. A small flashback is shown where Shanmugam married a girl by his choice against his family’s wishes which made him leave the home along with his wife. Shanmugam relocated to Hong Kong and had set up a business there. Shanmugam’s wife died when Raja was born and it was only Shanmugam who had taken care of Raja after that.
Raja knows that his father longs to meet his family again and so he decides to get the family united again to make his father’s last few days memorable. Raja convinces his father and both leave to India to meet their family members who all live together as a joint family. Everyone in the family is surprised seeing Shanmugam after so many years and they share some good old memories with him except Shanmugam’s father (Janaka Raj) who is still angry at him.
Raja feels happy seeing his father having good time with his family while on the other side he feels sad that he will die soon. Raja is skilled in magical tricks and also in mimicry and he impresses everyone in the family with his skills. Tamil (Sneha) is the niece of Shanmugam. Tamil is responsible and loved by everyone in the family. She takes care of everyone in the family with love and affection. Raja decides to love Tamil after knowing that Shanmugam also likes her. Raja proposes his love to Tamil but she does not accept and instead says that she will marry only the guy as per their family’s wish. Raja creates a scene that Janaka Raj should talk with Shanmugam and if not Raja will commit suicide. Now Shanmugam also gets united with his father.
Meanwhile, Raja keeps on frequent touch with Dr. Cheenu to keep him updated with Shanmugam’s condition. One day, Raja suddenly feels headache and he could not visualize any colour. Raja gets puzzled and takes some rest. At that time, Shanmugam’s mobile gets a call from Dr. Cheenu. Raja picks it up and modulates as Shanmugam. Dr. Cheenu enquires about the health of Raja believing the person at the other end to be Shanmugam. Now Raja understands that the disease is actually for him and not for his father.
Raja continues speaking like his father to confirm the symptoms related to the disease such as colour blindness, headache etc. But he does not reveal this and tries to behave normally. Raja understands that his father has requested Dr. Cheenu to lie to Raja, so that Raja, in the process of making his father happy will eventually be happy himself.
Raja feels sad knowing that he has only a few more days to live. Despite knowing the truth, he does not disclose this to his father and Dr. Cheenu and maintains the situation as before. One day, Dr. Cheenu calls Raja and informs about a research going on for multiple sclerosis in Europe and insists him to take Shanmugam there to get treated which might provide a chance for revival. Raja understands that the therapy is intended for him but pretends not knowing it.
Raja again convinces his father to get back to Hong Kong saying some false reasons for which Shanmugam agrees. Everyone in the family does not want Shanmugam and Raja to leave and they insist them to stay with them. Raja says that there are some pending works and they need to get back immediately. On the day of leaving, Tamil proposes her love to Raja for which he does not reply.
The movie ends with an open climax where it is shown that Raja and Shanmugam leave for treatment.
Cast
- Vikram as Raja Krishnamoorthy "Raja"
- Sneha as Tamil
- Nassar as Shanmugam
- Vadivelu
- Janagaraj
- Santhana Bharathi as Dr. Cheenu
Production
King was the first production venture of S. K. Krishnakant, who had earlier worked as the production executive for Lakshmi Movie Makers. The film was written and directed by A. X. Solomon who had directed the Arjun-Sonali Bendre starrer Kannodu Kanbathellam in 1999, under the name Prabhu. However, as that film did not perform to expectations at the box office, the director wanted to be credited as A. X. Solomon for his second Tamil film. He has since gone on to make a career under the name of Prabhu Solomon.[2]
The film was initially titled as Vikadan with Suvaluxmi being the first choice lead actress.[3] During the period Vikram had accepted another film titled King where he was set to play dual roles, but the film eventually was shelved, hence the title King was chosen to replace Vikadan in this project. Vikram took up magic lessons and learnt how to roller-blade for his role in the film.[4]
Release
The film did not fare well commercially.[5] Post-release, Solomon revealed that he was unconvinced about Vikram portraying the lead role, feeling that he was too old to play Nassar's son, but the actor insisted the project went ahead. Delays in the production in the film, meant that Vikram's star image had risen and reviewers labelled the film as a disappointment upon release. The director noted that the story was written with the expectation of a small-time actor in the lead role, and hence Vikram's sudden popularity worked against his film. He revealed that his early career in film involved making significant compromises and was strictly against the type of cinema he had actually ventured to make.[5]
References
- ^ "Filmography of king". Cinesouth.com. 6 September 2002. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
- ^ "tamil movie site". Reocities.com. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
- ^ "Special4". Cinematoday2.itgo.com. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
- ^ "Strongman in search of a challenge". The Hindu. 22 July 2001. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
- ^ a b http://silverscreen.in/features/prabhu-solomon-interview-the-perfect-wave/