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Happy Days (2007 film)

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Happy Days
Directed bySekhar Kammula
Written bySekhar Kammula
Produced bySekhar Kammula
Starring
CinematographyVijay C. Kumar
Edited byMarthand K. Venkatesh
Music byMickey J. Meyer
Production
company
Amigos Creations
Distributed byAmigos Creations
Release dates
  • 28 September 2007 (2007-09-28) (United States)
  • 2 October 2007 (2007-10-02) (India)
Running time
160 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTelugu
Budgetest. ₹2 crore[1]

Happy Days is a 2007 Indian Telugu-language musical coming of age film written, produced and directed by Sekhar Kammula. The film features Varun Sandesh, Tamannaah Bhatia, Rahul Haridas, Nikhil Siddharth, Vamsee Krishna, Sonia Deepti, Gayatri Rao, and Monali Chowdhary in the lead roles. The plot explores the college life and experiences of eight friends.

Happy Days received a positive response and was a box office success.[1] The film was dubbed in Malayalam and remade in Kannada as Jolly Days and in Tamil as Inidhu Inidhu by actor Prakash Raj. The film won six Filmfare Awards South,[2] and three Nandi Awards.[3]

Plot

[edit]

Happy Days tells us a story that explores the lives of eight friends through the four years of their engineering course. Each of them join CBIT with their own set of idiosyncrasies, eccentricities, beliefs and ideals. What starts off as a journey of individuals, slowly becomes a collective one over time. They bond as they go through bullying-seniors, stringent professors, intense examinations, over the top celebrations, love, betrayal, sacrifice and every other possible emotion that an individual can experience in a college. The movie portrays the mindset of a typical engineering student which helped youth connect with the characters.

Cast

[edit]
Cameo appearance

Production

[edit]

Casting

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Sekhar Kammula held a talent search at Big FM and idlebrain.com and managed to select seven of the eight lead actors. He had to cast Tamannaah Bhatia as a suitable actress was not found.[5] The main lead of the film, Varun Sandesh, was selected using the internet without any direct audition. He sent his photograph by e-mail in response to the idlebrain.com advertisement and subsequently sent a video clip of himself enacting certain scenes along with a song. Damidi Kamalakar Reddy, founding Secretary and Treasurer of Chaitanya Engineering College, acted as a Professor/Lecturer in a brief cameo role.

Filming

[edit]

Most of the shooting took place at Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT) and Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology (MGIT). The opening scene between Appu and Rajesh was shot in MGIT with select scenes shot outdoors. Sekhar being an alumnus of CBIT, found it to be a suitable location. He had to arrange a special screening of Anand to the chairman of CBIT and its board members to convince them for an on-site shoot. Apparently, after watching Anand, the board granted their permission to shoot the film.[6]

Cost cutting measures

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Sekhar Kammula cut costs of producing the film through various methods. By casting newcomers, he reduced expenses to a reasonable level. As most of the shooting took place in the college, there was no need to construct sets. By partnering with Pantaloon Group, he saved an additional ₹10 lakh on the costumes budget.[7]

Music

[edit]

Music was composed by Mickey J Meyer and released by Big Music.[8] The audio launch took place at Annapurna Studios on 24 August 2007, 100 students selected from various colleges in Hyderabad attended. The guests for the evening included BN Reddy (CBIT), Kamalakar Reddy (CBIT), Dil Raju, Sekhar Kammula, Ravi Naidu (BIG Music), Mahesh Kumar (Reliance business head), Ilayaraja, Swapna, C Vijaya Kumar, Ashok and the star cast. BN Reddy launched the audio CD and gave the first unit to Kamalakar Reddy.[9]

Mickey J Meyer won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Telugu and Nandi Award for Best Music Director for this soundtrack.

Happy Days
Soundtrack album by
Mickey J Meyer
Released24 August 2007
Recorded2007
GenreSoundtrack
Length28:27
LanguageTelugu
LabelT-Series
ProducerMickey J Meyer
Mickey J Meyer chronology
10th Class
(2006) 		Happy Days
(2007) 		Hare Ram
(2008)
Telugu Track-List
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Arere Arere"VanamaliKarthik4:59
2."Jill Jill Jiga"Venkatesh PatvariKrishna Chaitanya, Kranti, Aditya Siddharth, Sashi Kiran4:34
3."Happy Days Title Track"VeturiMickey J. Meyer, Harshika3:51
4."Ya Kundendu"TraditionalPranavi1:24
5."Ye Cheekati"VanamaliRanjith, Sunitha Sarathy4:45
6."O My Friend"VanamaliKarthik5:03
7."Happy Days" (Rock Version)VeturiNaresh Iyer, Mickey J. Meyer3:51
Total length:28:27
Happy Days
Soundtrack album by
Mickey J Meyer
Released2007
Recorded2007
GenreSoundtrack
Length21:01
LanguageMalayalam
LabelRedakh Arts
Universal Music India
ProducerMickey J Meyer

All tracks are written by Siju Thuravoor

Malayalam Track-List[10]
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Ayyayyo"Karthik4:36
2."Vida Chollam"Anu Pravin, Shobha3:52
3."Unarukayayi"Vidhu Prathap4:31
4."Manasinnu Marayilla"Ajay Satyan4:59
5."Ee Theeppori"Manjari, Ranjith3:03
Total length:21:01

Release

[edit]

Happy Days was released on 28 September 2007 in the United States and 2 October 2007 in India.[11]

Reception

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Critical response

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The film received positive reviews for its fresh story, cast, screenplay, and songs. A critic from Rediff.com wrote that "Don't miss Happy Days for you will be reminded of the days gone by. Savour that nostalgia as Sekhar gives you ample amount of it".[11] Jeevi of Idlebrain.com wrote that "If he sticks to his sensibilities, Sekhar Kammula can never make a bad film. Go and watch Happy Days."[12]

Awards

[edit]
Filmfare Awards South – 2008[2]
Nandi Awards – 2008[3]
CineMAA Awards – 2008
  • Best Film – Sekhar Kammula
  • Best Director – Sekhar Kammula
  • Best Story – Sekhar Kammula
  • Best Screenplay – Sekhar Kammula
  • Best Music – Mickey J Meyer
  • Best Lyricist – Vanamali (Arere Arere)
  • Best Lyricist – Veturi
  • Best Male Singer – Karthik (Arere Arere)

Dubbed versions and remakes

[edit]

The film was dubbed into Malayalam as Happy Days and re-made in Kannada as Jolly Days and released in 2008. Both versions proved to be successful. The Tamil remake, Inidhu Inidhu (2010),[13] was directed by noted cinematographer K. V. Guhan under actor Prakash Raj's Duet Movies banner. The first schedule was completed in Vellore Institute of Technology and featured newcomers as protagonists. Mickey J. Meyer was retained as the music director and the project was his first venture in Tamil.

In 2014, there were speculations that a Hindi remake of Happy Days would be directed by Sekhar himself, and would be co-produced by Salman Khan.[14][15][16] However, there were no further updates.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Happy days aren't money-driven". The New Indian Express. 25 October 2009. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b "55th Annual Tiger Balm South Filmfare Awards 2008: Winners – Malluwood News & Gossips" Archived 4 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Bharatstudent.com (14 July 2008). Retrieved on 2016-05-11.
  3. ^ a b "Nandi awards 2007 announced – Telugu cinema news" Archived 31 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Idlebrain.com (12 January 2008). Retrieved on 2016-05-11.
  4. ^ "Tollywood's favorite mommy". The Times of India. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  5. ^ Idle Brain Interview with Sekhar Kammula Archived 21 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Idlebrain.com (26 September 2007). Retrieved on 2016-05-11.
  6. ^ "Audio launch – Happy Days". Archived from the original on 11 March 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  7. ^ "Announcement – Happy Days". Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  8. ^ "Happy Days - All Songs - Download or Listen Free - Saavn". 13 April 2010. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Happy Days music launch - Telugu cinema function". www.idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Happy Days (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - EP by Mickey J Meyer on iTunes". iTunes. 1 January 2012. Archived from the original on 3 November 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  11. ^ a b Rajamani, Radhika (28 September 2007). "Happy Days -- Go for it!". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Telugu Movie review – Happy Days". Archived from the original on 31 August 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  13. ^ டோடோவின் ரஃப் நோட்டு — Tamil Kavithai – தமிழ் கவிதைகள் – நூற்று கணக்கில்!. Cinesouth.com. Retrieved on 11 May 2016.
  14. ^ "Salman Khan to remake Sekhar Kammula’s Happy Days in Hindi" Archived 5 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Times of India (29 April 2014). Retrieved on 2016-05-11.
  15. ^ Sekhar Kammula gears up for Bollywood debut" Archived 5 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Times of India (2 May 2014). Retrieved on 2016-05-11.
  16. ^ Sekhar Kammula confirms his next film" Archived 22 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Times of India (1 May 2014). Retrieved on 2016-05-11.
[edit]
Awards
Preceded by Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu)
2007 		Succeeded by
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