Minnale (English: Lightning) is a 2001Tamilromantic drama film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The film featured R. Madhavan, Abbas and Reemma Sen in the lead, with Vivek and Nagesh also appearing in pivotal supporting roles. The film's soundtrack was composed by newcomer Harris Jayaraj, which became very successful prior to the release, helping the film at the box office. The film’s cinematography was handled by R. D. Rajasekhar and Ravi Varman. Suresh Urs handled the editing. Marketed as a Valentine's Day release, Minnale opened to positive reviews from critics and enjoyed commercial success.^[1]

Plot[edit]

The movie opens in an engineering college in Ooty with a narration by Rajesh Shivkumar (R. Madhavan). Rajiv Samuel (Abbas) is a computer engineering student and is one of the top students in the college, whereas Rajesh is a mechanical engineering student who is the bad guy of the college. A mutual problem between the two groups led by both Samuel and Rajesh puts both of them at loggerheads and they pull pranks on each other to get the other in trouble. It culminates into a fist fight but is soon broken up by one of their Teacher and the security of the college. In the fight, Rajesh punches Rajiv in the face, which is against the rule, and They graduate from the college soon and promise to not see each other ever again. Samuel goes abroad for job, while Rajesh stays back in India saying that he does not want to leave his motherland.

A few years later, Rajesh becomes responsible and settles in an IT job that involves teaching software classes for newcomers and interns. Rajesh lives with his librarian grandfather Subrahmanyam aka Subbuni (Nagesh), who means the world to him; he even turns down a very lucrative job assignment in Singapore to be with his grandfather. Rajesh, on a trip to a friend's wedding in Bangalore, comes across Reena (Reema Sen) and is smitten by her beauty but does not get to meet her. To his pleasant surprise, he sees her again in Chennai, but is again unable to meet her.

A friend of Rajesh, Chockalingam (Vivek), spots Reena's friend Vasuki in a market one day and recognizes her from the wedding pictures. They both extract information about Reena's whereabouts from Vasuki, posing as her family friend. Though they get Reena's phone number, Rajesh is disappointed when he learns that Reena is engaged and is about to marry soon a guy called Rajiv, whom Reena has only talked to on the phone but is yet to meet. Goaded by his Subbuni and his friends, Rajesh decides to enter Reena's life pretending to be Rajiv. Within a few days of hanging out with each other, both fall in love with each other. Before Rajesh could actually tell Reena the truth, the real Rajiv comes to Chennai and both their families get-together. Reena is shocked to learn that the person she loves is an imposter.

Rajesh comes clean with Reena and pleads to be forgiven, but Reena is adamant that she does not want to talk to Rajesh anymore and asks him to forget her. Chockalingam takes his friends and Rajesh to meet Rajiv to force him to break up the engagement with Reena. They are surprised when they learn that Rajiv is actually Rajiv Samuel, Rajesh's foe from his college days. Rajiv becomes enraged when he learns the truth, but believes that Reena was duped and refuses to break up the engagement. After repeated attempts to talk to Reena fail and when Rajiv and Reena's wedding is fixed, Rajesh sadly accepts the bitter truth.

Heartbroken and unable to live in the city anymore, he plans to leave. Reena finally realizes that even though she was duped by Rajesh, she had indeed fallen in love with him. Rajiv senses this on the eve of their wedding. Just before Rajesh boards his flight, Rajiv appears and says that they are still bitter enemies but he does not want to marry a girl who loves someone else. Both Reena and Rajesh embrace each other and the movie ends.

Cast[edit]

• R. Madhavan as Rajesh Sivakumar
• Abbas as Rajiv Samuel
• Reema Sen as Reena Joseph
• Nagesh as Subrahmanyam (Subbuni)
• Vivek as Chockalingam
• Kitty as Joseph, Reena's father
• Fathima Babu as Reena's mother
• Rajiv Choudhry as Rajiv's father
• Janaki Sabesh as Rajiv's mother
• Krishna as Lorry Driver
• Raji Iyer as Vasuki
• Pondy Ravi as Ravi
• Gautham Menon as the Flower Deliverer (uncredited)
• Vidharth as Rajesh's classmate (uncredited)
• Nagendra Prasad as a dancer in Azhagiya Theeye song (uncredited)
• Shobi as a dancer in Azhagiya Theeye song (uncredited)
• Sridhar as a dancer in Azhagiya Theeye song (uncredited)

Production[edit]

Gautham Menon launched a Tamil romantic film O Lala in 2000 with the project eventually changing producers and title into Minnale with Madhavan, who was at the beginning of his career, being signed on to portray the lead role.^[2] About the making of the film, Menon revealed that he found it difficult as the team was new to the industry with only the editor of the film, Suresh Urs, being a prominent technician in the industry.^[3] Menon had come under further pressure when Madhavan had insisted that Menon narrated the story to his mentor, Mani Ratnam, to identify if the film was a positive career move after the success of his Alaipayuthey. Despite initial reservations, Menon did so and Ratnam was unimpressed; however Menon has cited that he thought that Madhavan 'felt sorry' and later agreed to continue with the project.^[3]

Miss World 1999, Yukta Mookhey was considered to play the film's heroine during July 2000, but a delay meant that she was replaced with Reemma Sen, who appeared in her first Tamil film.^[4]Minnale also saw Madhavan collaborating with Abbas for second time after Kannada film Shanti Shanti Shanti. Post-release, Abbas felt that his scenes had been cut from the film and accused Madhavan of playing a role in editing his sequences out from the film.^[5]

Release[edit]

The film was advertised as a Valentine's Day release in 2001 but was released early on 2 February 2001 and upon release it went on to become a large success commercially. Madhavan became extremely popular among the youth after the release of Alaipayuthey, but had a setback as his next film flopped. Minnale made him once again popular among the youth. It won positive reviews from critics with claims that the film had a 'lot of verve and vigour' and that it was 'technically excellent'.^[6] The movie was dubbed into Telugu under the name Cheli and also performed well at the box office.^[7]

The success of the film led to producer Vashu Bhagnani signing Menon on to direct the Hindi language remake of the film, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, which also featured Madhavan with Diya Mirza and Saif Ali Khan added to the film. The Hindi version gained poor reviews and subsequently went on to become a below average grosser at the box office.^[8] However, the film belatedly gained popularity through screenings on television and subsequently developed a cult following amongst young audiences and the actors released a video thanking the film's admirers for their adulation on the fifteenth anniversary of the film's release ^[9][10]

Soundtrack[edit]

The music and background score were composed by Harris Jayaraj. Upon release, the soundtrack received critical acclaim and was a major contributor to the film's commercial success.^[11] The audio cassette of the film was released in Chennai at a function in early January 2001, where the songs were also screened.^[12]Harris Jayaraj won his first Filmfare Best Music Director award in Tamil. The song 'Vaseegara' is set in Natabhairavi raga.^[13]

All songs except Ivan Yaaro and Iru Vizhi Unadhu (Ore Nyabagam) were reused in the film's Hindi version Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein by Harris himself.

All tracks written by Bhuvana Chandra.

References[edit]

1. ^'More for Maddy's crowd'. The Hindu. 27 October 2001. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
2. ^Kumar, Ashok (2009). 'My First Break'. The Hindu. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
3. ^ ^abRangan, Baradwaj (2011). 'Shooting from the Lip'. Baradwaj Rangan. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
4. ^http://www.rediff.com/movies/2000/jul/21spice.htm
5. ^http://cinematoday2.itgo.com/HOT%20NEWS%20-%2002061.htm
6. ^Padmanabhan, Savitha (2001). 'Film Review: Minnale'. The Hindu. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
7. ^http://movies.fullhyderabad.com/cheli/telugu/cheli-movie-reviews-279-2.html
8. ^Adarsh, Taran (2001). 'Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein'. Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
9. ^'Bollywood's Cult Classics'. PINKVILLA. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
10. ^'Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein turns 15: Watch Madhavan deliver THE dialogue from the film'. India Today. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
11. ^https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-cinemaplus/my-first-break/article3021655.ece
12. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20010204044200/http://www.chennaionline.com/eevents/minnale.asp
13. ^https://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/18/stories/2004121802900600.htm
14. ^'Minnale - Harris Jayaraj - Download or Listen Free - Saavn'. 1 March 2001. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
15. ^'Cheli (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by K.P. Siva'. 20 February 2001. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
16. ^'Cheli - All Songs - Download or Listen Free - Saavn'. 15 February 2001. Retrieved 3 November 2018.

External links[edit]

• Minnale on IMDb
• Minnale at Rotten Tomatoes

• Published on Jun 13, 2016
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  Minnale is a 2001 Tamil film written and directed by Gautham Menon. The film featured Madhavan, Abbas and Reemma Sen, with Vivek and Nagesh also appearing in pivotal roles. The film's soundtrack was composed by debutant Harris Jayaraj, which became successful prior to release, helping the film take a good opening. The film opened to positive reviews from critics and enjoyed significant commercial success.
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