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Autograph (2004 film)

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Autograph
Poster
Directed byCheran
Written byCheran
Produced byCheran
StarringCheran
Gopika
Sneha
Mallika
Kaniha
CinematographyRavi Varman
Vijay Milton
Dwarakanath
Shanky Mahendran
Edited byS. Sathesh
J. N. Harsha
Music byOriginal songs:
Bharadwaj
Background Score
Sabesh–Murali
Production
company
Dream Theatres
Release date
  • 20 February 2004 (2004-02-20)
Running time
168 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Autograph is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written, produced and directed by Cheran. The film's soundtrack is composed by Bharadwaj. Cheran also plays the lead role in his film for the first time, and other cast members include Gopika, Sneha, Mallika and Kaniha.

This is both Gopika's and Mallika's debut film in Tamil cinema. The film was released in India in February 2004, and was screened at the Lyon Asian Film Festival in France and at the Montreal World Film Festival in Canada. Upon release, the film met with critical acclaim and commercial success. It was remade in Telugu as Naa Autograph, Kannada as My Autograph, and in Bengali as Amar Aponjon.

Plot

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The film begins with Senthil Kumar (Cheran) who runs an advertising agency, boarding a train on a journey to invite his friends and family for his forthcoming wedding. Along the way, he encounters various individuals from his past, who bring back memories of three women that have influenced his love life. During the journey, he reminisces his teenage days. The happenings in the school, his tussle with his friends and his first love with his classmate Kamala (Mallika) are all pictured with fun and drama. However, her father married her off early before her 11th grade. He meets Kamala 14 years later, and she is now a mother of three children, and a wife of a farmer. Senthil reaches the village and invites all including Kamala, who promises to come to the wedding.

Then, he goes to Kerala, where he had his college education. His major crush at that time was Lathika (Gopika), a Malayali girl from Chalakudy, with whom he falls in love, but later, the affair proves to be short-lived as her parents marry her off to her cousin Madhavan after knowing about her love affair with Senthil. On reaching Chalakudy to invite her, Senthil is slightly disturbed to see her as a widow living with her grandmother for the past 12 years. He attempts to rekindle his love for her, but she corrects him.

On his journey, he comes across his trusted friend Divya (Sneha), who instills confidence and elucidates him to the life lesson – that one has to go ahead in life without looking back. While she and Senthil travel on a bus, she reveals her tragic experience, that her mother is a paralytic patient and that she is the breadwinner of the family. As time passes by, she reveals that she was in love with someone and believed that he was the man of her life, but she was unfortunately let down. A poetic narration on the need for a good companion like Senthil who gives attention to her is stressed, even if it is not possible at his stage. After her unwilling engagement with a businessman from America, she leaves Senthil. Senthil meets her five years later, and she is now a divorcee.

In the end, Senthil marries the girl of his parents choice, Thenmozhi (Kanika). All the three girls who were a part in his life, along with his school and college friends attend his wedding. Also, this sets a very jovial ending to the story.

Cast

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  • Cheran as Senthil Kumar
    • Sivaprakasam as young Senthil Kumar
  • Gopika as Lathika
  • Sneha as Divya
  • Kanika as Thenmozhi (special appearance)
  • Mallika as Kamala
  • Ilavarasu as Narayanan teacher
    • Karuppiah Bharathi as Narayanan teacher, old age
  • Krishna as Kamalakannan
  • Benjamin as Oolamookkan Subramani
  • Rajesh as Pandian, Senthil's father
  • Vijaya Singh as Kamala, Senthil's mother
  • Pandian Raj as Mr. Rev. Albert Subramaniam, CEO of a US automobile company

Production

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Produced by Roja Combines, Cheran first cast Prabhu Deva in the lead role during October 2000, but the actor and producers later left the project.[1][2] Cheran himself took over production under the banner Dream Theatres.[3] Vikram was signed on as the new lead actor,[4][5] but left as, according to Cheran, he did not want to do a romantic film after the success of his action film Gemini (2002).[6] Vijay also showed interest after Cheran narrated the script, but the actor ultimately was unable to commit due to scheduling conflicts.[7] Arvind Swamy revealed that he was also offered the main role, but he declined because he was retired from cinema in that time period.[8] Cheran himself ultimately portrayed the role.[6] He said the film was partly autobiographical.[9] Four different cinematographers worked on the film; Ravi Varman had shot the school episode in Senthil's early life with a 35 mm lens for which he used light angle,[10] S. D. Vijay Milton shot the Kerala scenes, Dwaraknath shot the Chennai episode with a steady cam, and Shanky Mahendran shot the "'live' part" of the film when the camera uses the point of view of Senthil's character.[9] Some of the scenes were shot at Alapuzha, Kerala.[11]

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack features eight songs composed by Bharadwaj. The film's background was scored by the duo Sabesh–Murali.[citation needed] The song "Ovvoru Pookalume" also featured the performance of the members of Raaga Priya orchestra which also included its founder Comagan.[12]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Gyabagam Varuthe"CheranBharadwaj5:02
2."Ninaivugal Nenjil"CheranUnni Menon4:38
3."Kizhakke Paarthen"SnehanYugendran, Poni4:32
4."Jagatho Tharana"Purandara Dasar KeerthanaiReshmi, Srividya2:47
5."Ovvoru Pookalume"Pa. VijayK. S. Chithra5:25
6."Manasukkulle Dhagam"SnehanReshmi, Harish Raghavendra5:22
7."Maname Nalama"SnehanBharadwaj0:54
8."Meesa Vecha Perandi"Pa. VijayKovai Kamala, Karthik, Chorus4:28
Total length:33:08

Critical reception

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Sify wrote, "A major plus point of Autograph is that Cheran has chosen three cameramen to do the three episodes in his life which makes the film lively and nostalgic."[13] Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote, "Well-mounted production has too much familiar melodrama, and few real highlights (notably one delightful homage to ’70s Tamil musicals), but remains an easy watch."[14] G Dhananjayan in his book Pride of Tamil Cinema wrote "A trend setting film recollecting love memoirs in various phases of life".[15] Visual Dasan of Kalki wrote that Cheran's creative maturity, re-emerging not only as an actor but also as a fine artist, was recorded as an art form in Autograph.[16] Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "'Autograph' is nostalgia, tackled with sensitivity and sensibility. Yet another feather in Cheran's cap!".[17]

Accolades

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Event Category Recipient(s) Ref.
52nd National Film Awards Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Autograph
Best Female Playback Singer K. S. Chithra
Best Lyrics Pa. Vijay
52nd Filmfare Awards South Best Film – Tamil Autograph [18]
Best Director – Tamil Cheran
Best Supporting Actress – Tamil Mallika
Best Music Director – Tamil Bharadwaj
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Best Film Autograph
Best Director Cheran
Best Female Playback Singer K. S. Chithra

Remakes

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Year Language Title Ref.
2004 Telugu Naa Autograph [19]
2006 Kannada My Autograph [20]
2017 Bengali Amar Aponjon [21]

References

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  1. ^ "Gossip". Dinakaran. 18 October 2000. Archived from the original on 10 February 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Cine News". Dinakaran. 26 October 2000. Archived from the original on 8 November 2004. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Gossip". Dinakaran. 12 December 2000. Archived from the original on 15 June 2004. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  4. ^ ""That only one vote separated me from the award contributes to my self-confidence"". Tamil Guardian. 20 June 2001. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  5. ^ "New sensation Vikram in Autograph". go4i.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2001. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Director-actor Cheran reveals THESE top actors were approached for playing the lead in 'Autograph'". The Times of India. 22 February 2020. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  7. ^ "Turning down a Thalapathy Vijay movie: Cheran reveals his biggest career regret". OTTPlay. 8 September 2023. Archived from the original on 7 November 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  8. ^ "விகடன் பிரஸ்மீட்: "எனக்கு அரசியல் அழைப்பு வந்தது!" – அர்விந்த் சுவாமி". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 31 May 2018. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  9. ^ a b "I had immense faith in 'Autograph': Cheran". Sify. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  10. ^ "இலக்கணம் மீறியிருக்கிறேன்!". Kalki (in Tamil). 11 April 2004. pp. 72–73. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ Mannath, Malini (23 June 2003). "Autograph". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 4 April 2004. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  12. ^ "Visually impaired musician Comagan passes away". The Hindu. 6 May 2021. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  13. ^ "Autograph". Sify. 19 February 2004. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  14. ^ Harvey, Dennis (6 September 2004). "Autograph". Variety. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  15. ^ Dhananjayan, G. (2014). Pride of Tamil Cinema: 1931–2013. Blue Ocean Publishers. p. 434. OCLC 898765509.
  16. ^ தாசன், விஷுவல் (7 March 2004). "ஆட்டோகிராஃப்". Kalki (in Tamil). pp. 68–69. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ Mannath, Malini (23 February 2004). "Autograph". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 5 February 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  18. ^ "Surya shines, Cheran sizzles". IndiaGlitz. 9 July 2005. Archived from the original on 11 July 2005. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  19. ^ "Charan to team up with Sharwanand and Nithya Menen". News18. 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  20. ^ Vijayasarathy, R G (9 March 2006). "Sudeep: Back with My Autograph". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  21. ^ "Out of court settlement between Soham and Jeet". The Times of India. 21 May 2017. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
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