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Minnale

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the TV series, see Minnale (TV series).

Minnale
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGautham Vasudev Menon
Written byGautham Vasudev Menon
Vipul D. Shah
Nagarajan
Produced bySunanda Murali Manohar
Starring
CinematographyR. D. Rajasekhar
Edited bySuresh Urs
Music byHarris Jayaraj
Production
company
Cee (I) TV Entertainment
Release date
  • 1 February 2001 (2001-02-01)
Running time
174 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Minnale (transl. 'Lightning') is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon in his directorial debut. The story was written by Menon and Vipul D. Shah. The film, starring Madhavan, Abbas and Reema Sen, tells the story of a man stealing the identity of his former college enemy, to pursue his lady love, and the eventual repercussions he has to face when his enemy arrives.

The film's original soundtrack composed by debutant music composer Harris Jayaraj, became popular prior to the film's release. The cinematography of the film was handled by R. D. Rajasekhar and it was edited by Suresh Urs. Reema Sen made her Tamil debut through this film.

Minnale was released on 2 February 2001 and became a major commercial success. Menon remade the film in Hindi the same year as Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, with Madhavan reprising his role and debuting in Hindi cinema. The Hindi one was remade in Punjabi in 2010 as Mel Karade Rabba starring Jimmy Shergill, Neeru Bajwa and Gippy Grewal with Diljeet Dosanjh in a cameo. The film was also remade in Kannada as Mr. Duplicate (2011).

Plot

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Rajesh Shivakumar and Sam are students at an engineering college in Ooty. Sam is a top-performing student who is popular with the students and faculty, while Rajesh, an underperforming student, is notorious for his rebellious, violent and misogynistic attitude. This contrast in personalities puts the two students at loggerheads throughout their college days, with both of them engaging in constant fights and pranks with each other. Upon graduating, Sam and Rajesh decide to never see each other ever again. Sam goes to the United States as he has secured a job while Rajesh decides to stay in India.

Two years later, Rajesh is a software engineering instructor in Chennai and roams around in his free time with his close friend Chockalingam "Chokku". He stays with his grandfather Subbuni, a librarian from the Aminjikarai neighbourhood of Chennai. Rajesh's affection for his grandfather is such that he even refuses to accept an on-site opportunity in Singapore so that he can be with him. While on a trip to Bangalore, he comes across a young woman dancing with children in the rain and gets immediately smitten by her when he sees her face lit by the flash of a lightning bolt. He comes across this woman again during a friend's wedding and soon learns that the woman's name is Reena Joseph and she works as a chartered accountant at Ford, Bangalore. Some days later, Rajesh, who is back in Chennai, notices Reena again, this time exiting a Ford office cab. He and Chokku pursue Reena but lose track of her in a mall.

Rajesh and Chokku meet Reena's best friend Vasuki at a market and enquire about Reena. Vasuki informs them that Reena has been transferred to Chennai, however, when she realises that Rajesh is in love with Reena, she angrily says that Reena has already been engaged to an Indian American software engineer from Seattle named Rajiv Samuel, who happens to be her childhood friend, hence it would be futile to pursue her. Rajesh is upset at this development; however, on learning that Reena has never seen Rajiv since her childhood, and on the goading and encouragement of Subbuni and Chokku, decides to pursue Reena. He comes to her house impersonating Rajiv. Reena is smitten by Rajesh and within a few days, she reciprocates Rajesh's love. Rajesh decides to reveal his true identity to her, but before he can, the real Rajiv arrives in Chennai. When Reena realises that the "Rajiv" she loves is an impostor, she breaks up with him and warns him never to come near her again.

Rajesh, Chokku, and their friends decide to meet Rajiv to somehow convince him to break his engagement with Reena. To Rajesh's shock, he finds out that Rajiv is his old nemesis, Sam. Enraged that Rajesh cheated Reena, Sam refuses to break up their engagement. Rajesh also tries to seek Reena's forgiveness, to no avail, and stalks her while she is on a date with Sam at a restaurant. Sam notices this and both he and Rajesh engage in a brawl which is stopped by Reena, who again warns Rajesh never to come near her. Sam even threatens to kill Rajesh if he sees him at the same place as Reena ever again. Enraged, Rajesh, Chokku, and their friends decide to beat up Sam in a parking lot, but Rajesh quickly backs out at the last minute, accepting the bitter truth that Sam and Reena are going to get married as well as realising that resorting to violence against Rajiv will not help him win Reena.

Rajesh decides to accept the on-site opportunity in Singapore which he had earlier rejected, to move on from Reena. Meanwhile, Reena realises that she has fallen in love with Rajesh, despite having been cheated on by him. On the wedding day, Sam realises the love Reena has for Rajesh. He immediately cancels the wedding and takes Reena to the airport, where Rajesh is awaiting his flight to Singapore. Sam tells Rajesh that despite their enmity, he is unwilling to marry a girl who does not love him. He tells him to take good care of Reena and leaves, intending to never meet Rajesh again. Rajesh and Reena are reunited.

Cast

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Uncredited

Production

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Gautham Vasudev Menon launched a Tamil romantic film titled, 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.[1] 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, Suresh Urs, being a prominent technician in the industry.[2] 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 Alai Payuthey. 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.[2] Miss World 1999, Yukta Mookhey was considered to play the film's heroine during July 2000, as was Isha Koppikar, but eventually they were left out and Reema Sen, who appeared in her first Tamil film, was cast.[3][4] Minnale also saw Madhavan collaborating with Abbas for second time after Kannada film Shanti Shanti Shanti.[5] Post-release, Abbas felt that his role had been reduced and accused Madhavan of playing a role in editing his sequences out from the film.[6]

Music

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Main article: Minnale (soundtrack)

The music and background score were composed by Harris Jayaraj, previously a keyboard player under other composers, in his debut at composing. The audio cassette of the film was released in Chennai at a function in January 2001, where the songs were also screened.[7]

Release and reception

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Minnale was released on 2 February 2001.[8][9] Upon release it went on to become a major commercial success. Madhavan became extremely popular among the youth after the release of Alai Payuthey, but had a setback as his next film Ennavalle underperformed. Minnale made him once again popular among the youth.[10] Savitha Padmanabhan of The Hindu claimed that the film had a "lot of verve and vigour" and that it was "sure to go down well" with the "yuppie, college-going youngsters".[11] A reviewer, Shilpa Kannan from Zee Next, also gave the film a positive review, writing "the entire movie is given an advertisement like treatment by the director. It is glossy, stylish, youthful and trendy".[12] Visual Dasan of Kalki rated the film "above average".[13] Harris Jayaraj won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil,[14] the film's only nomination at the 49th Filmfare Awards South.[15] Jayaraj broke A. R. Rahman’s 9 year long Filmfare winning streak.[16]

Other versions

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Minnale was dubbed into Telugu under the name Cheli and also performed well at the box office, owing to Madhavan's popularity in Andhra Pradesh.[5] The film was remade by Menon in Hindi the same year as Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, with Madhavan reprising his role. The Hindi version became an above average grosser at the box office, but belatedly gained popularity and subsequently developed a cult following amongst young audiences.[17] The film was also remade in Kannada as Mr. Duplicate (2011).[18]

References

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  1. ^ Ashok Kumar, S. R. (3 July 2009). "My First Break". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  2. ^ a b Rangan, Baradwaj (12 February 2011). "Shooting from the Lip". Baradwaj Rangan. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  3. ^ "TAMIL CINEMA 2000 – Comic characters". cinematoday2.itgo.com. Archived from the original on 16 August 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  4. ^ Rajitha (21 July 2000). "Yukta signs her first film". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Madhavan wave hits Telugu filmdom". go4i.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  6. ^ "This Week's Allegation". cinematoday2.itgo.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  7. ^ Mannath, Malini. "'Minnale' audio cassette release". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 4 February 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  8. ^ Sunder, Gautam (2 February 2021). "20 years of Gautham Menon: A retrospective on his movies, romance and everything in between". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  9. ^ Manickavel, Kuzhali (25 January 2021). "20 years of Minnale: How does the Madhavan-Reema-Abbas romance hold up in a more woke era?". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  10. ^ Kamath, Sudhish (12 July 2001). "How stars 'Cee' success". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 24 December 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  11. ^ Padmanabhan, Savitha (9 February 2001). "Film Review: Minnale". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 13 November 2002. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  12. ^ Kannan, Shilpa. "Madhavan proves his mettle". Zee Next. Archived from the original on 8 April 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  13. ^ தாசன், விசுவல் (25 February 2001). "மின்னலே". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 64. Retrieved 2 May 2026 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ "The 49th Annual Filmfare Awards -South | Winners". Indiatimes. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  15. ^ "The 49th Annual Filmfare Awards -South | Nominees". Indiatimes. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  16. ^ Ananth, Tivyasruthi Nair Prem (8 January 2024). "Harris Jayaraj: Celebrating His Iconic Albums And Unique Heartbreak Anthems". Varnam Malaysia. Archived from the original on 2 May 2026. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  17. ^ "Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein turns 15: Watch Madhavan deliver THE dialogue from the film". India Today. 19 October 2016. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  18. ^ Suresh, Sunayana (6 August 2011). "Kannada film review: 'Mr Duplicate' is a remake after all". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
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