Chellamae
| Chellamae | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | Gandhi Krishna |
| Written by | Story & Screenplay: Gandhi Krishna Dialogues: Sujatha |
| Produced by | V. Gnanavelu Jayaprakash |
| Starring | Vishal Bharath Reema Sen |
| Cinematography | K. V. Anand |
| Edited by | V. T. Vijayan |
| Music by | Harris Jayaraj |
Production company | GJ Cinema |
Release date |
|
Running time | 156 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Chellamae (transl. Oh darling) is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film directed by Gandhi Krishna, who directed the critically acclaimed Nila Kaalam. The film stars Vishal and Reema Sen in the lead role, while Bharath plays an antagonistic role.[1] Vivek and Girish Karnad play supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Harris Jayaraj. This film marks the debut of Vishal as an actor.
Plot
[edit]Mythili (Reema) showers love and affection on her neighbour Vishwa (Bharath) since childhood. Vishwa happens to be the only son of a rich business tycoon named Rajasekhar (Girish Karnad), who loses his mother at a young age. Mythili treats Vishwa as her younger brother and spends all her time with him. Ragunandan (Vishal), an Income Tax Inspector, turns up at Rajasekhar's house for an IT raid and happens to meet Mythili there. They eventually fall in love, and after a series of incidents, they get wed locked and later settle in Goa. The trouble begins when Vishwa reaches Goa in search of Mythili. He manages to kidnap her and bring her to Chennai. The reasons for Vishwa's obsession and possessiveness towards Mythili unfolds as the movie progresses. Ragunandan, who comes back to Goa, finds the house deserted. The next-door neighbour tells him that Mythili eloped with Vishwa. He then begins to track her down and finds that the duo had left to Chennai. Ragunandan reaches Chennai. With the help of his colleague Income Tax Inspector Harichandra (Vivek), he tries to trace Mythili out. A chance look at the video of their marriage throws light on Vishwa's hatred towards Ragunandan. Ragunandan is convinced that Mythili did not go on her own will. He confronts Rajasekhar, but he is of no help. Finally, he traces out the location of Vishwa's hideout. Mythili pleads with Vishwa to release her. She explains that she cannot be his wife and can see him as a son or little brother. The plea falls on deaf ears. In a racy climax on high seas, the three protagonists fight it out, and Mythili hits Vishwa with the boat oars. He plunges into the sea in an unconscious condition, taking Mythili along. Ragunandan soon saves her. Even though Mythili had killed Vishwa because of her attack on him, she is filled with remorse.
Cast
[edit]- Vishal as C. Ragunandan
- Bharath as Vishwa
- Reema Sen as Mythili Ragunandan
- Reshmi Menon as Young Mythili
- Vivek as Harichandra, Raghu's friend.
- Girish Karnad as Rajasekhar, Vishwa's father.
- Sriranjani as Vaishnavi, Ragunandan's sister.
- Crane Manohar
- Sampath Ram as Kumar
- K. P. Mohan as Dr. K. Bangaru Babu
- Boys Rajan as Income Tax Officer
- Mumtaj as herself (guest appearance).
- Bhanupriya in a special appearance in song "Kummi Adi".
Production
[edit]Newcomer Vishal was signed to work on the film, after Arjun, who worked with Vishal in Vedham, encouraged Vishal to accept the role.[2][3] Bharath was cast in the role of "obsessed teenage lover" for the first time.[4] Majority of the shoot was held in Goa while it was also shot at places like Chennai, Maldives, Mumbai and Bangkok and was completed in 50 days.[5]
Soundtrack
[edit]The music was composed by Harris Jayaraj.
All lyrics are written by Vairamuthu
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Aariya Udhadugal" | Hariharan, Swarnalatha | 5:32 |
| 2. | "Chella Kiliyo" | Ranjith, Anuradha Sriram | 4:17 |
| 3. | "Kadhalikkum Aasai" | Kay Kay, Timmy, Mahathi, Chinmayi (Humming only), Premgi Amaren | 4:25 |
| 4. | "Kummiyadi" | Sandhya | 5:43 |
| 5. | "Vellaikkara Mutham" | Mahathi | 5:01 |
| Total length: | 24:58 | ||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Aaryula Hrudayapu Sannidhi" | Veturi | P. Unnikrishnan, Swarnalatha | 5:30 |
| 2. | "Muddula Chilaka" | Sahithi | Devi Sri Prasad, Anuradha Sriram | 4:15 |
| 3. | "Venditeralo Bulliteralo" | Chandrabose | Chakri, Chinni, Timmy, Mahathi, Chinmayi (Humming only) | 4:25 |
| 4. | "Gummadamma Kanne Gummadamma" | Sahithi | Sandhya | 5:38 |
| 5. | "Pettadey Oh Muddu" | Veturi | Mahathi | 4:45 |
| Total length: | 24:33 | |||
Release and reception
[edit]Sify wrote "The story and screenplay of Gandhi Krishna is somewhat in the manner of Yash Chopra?s Darr and so many other obsessive love stories. Still he has come out with a racy film that is sure to satisfy the youth audience and has been packaged strictly to suit their tastes".[8] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "Traces of "Guna" and "Kadhal Kondain" are evident in "Chellamae," but Gandhi Krishna's refreshing approach to the storyline gives the necessary spark to make the venture watch-worthy till the end".[9] Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "Gandhi Krishna's apprenticeship under Shanker seems to have been a fruitful one, he having picked up the right ingredients, and extracting excellent team work from his cast and crew, to make Chellamay, an engaging entertainer".[10] Visual Dasan of Kalki wrote that by taking the outline of the epic Ramayana, the director had given it an interesting plot set in a contemporary setting, strong incidents, seamless character creation, and a flawless script.[11]
Chellame ran for 100 days. It was made with a budget of ₹3.5 crore and collected a share of ₹6 crore selling 3 million tickets worldwide.[12] The film was dubbed and released in Telugu under the title, Prema Chadarangam (transl. Love Chess).[13][14]
References
[edit]- ^ Gerald, Olympia Shilpa (12 March 2011). "Transition Time". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- ^ "Vishal assisted Arjun in the film Vedham". The Times of India. 19 October 2015. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Raghavan, Nikhil (18 October 2014). "Vishal in Poojai: Action unlimited". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Poornima (29 November 2004). "Bharath: Hot property!". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ Mannath, Malini (27 July 2004). "Chellamay". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 23 August 2004. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ "Chellamay (2004)". Music India Online. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ "Prema Chadarangam (2004)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ "Chellame". Sify. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (17 September 2004). "Chellamae". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 13 October 2004. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ Mannath, Malini (20 September 2004). "Chellamay". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 27 September 2004. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ தாசன், விஷுவல் (26 September 2004). "செல்லமே". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 33. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2023 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Chitchat with Vishal". Idlebrain.com. 10 October 2006. Archived from the original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ Jeevi. "Movie review — Prema Chadarangam". Idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
- ^ "Audio release — Prema Chadarangam". Idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
