Duet (1994 film)
Duet is a 1994 Tamil-language musical romance film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Prabhu, Ramesh Aravind, Meenakshi Seshadri, and Prakash Raj. Inspired by the 1990 French film Cyrano de Bergerac, which itself was based on the 1897 play of the same name by Edmond Rostand, it revolves around two musician brothers in love with the same woman. The film was released on 20 May 1994, and failed commercially.
| Duet | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | K. Balachander |
| Produced by | Rajam Balachander Pushpa Kandaswamy |
| Written by | K. Balachander |
| Starring | Prabhu Ramesh Aravind Meenakshi Seshadri Prakash Raj |
| Music by | A. R. Rahman |
| Cinematography | R. Raghunatha Reddy |
| Edited by | Amirjan (2nd Unit) Ganesh–Kumar (Uncredited) |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 156 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Plot
In a bridge across a sea, saxophone music is heard which is played by Guna (Prabhu). He recollects about the tragedy which happened two years back in his life.
Guna and Siva (Ramesh Aravind) are two brothers who own an orchestra and are very popular with their performances. Both are very affectionate towards each other. Both of them look for their love and eventually find one. The girl whom Siva chose accepted his love, while the girl chose by Guna insults him of his fat size, which hurts him. Siva's love fails, and he is heartbroken. To console him, Guna shifts to city with Siva and his sister Seema (Roopa Sree).
Guna's father had an illegal affair with a woman named Sitamma (Sudha) during their childhood, and on his deathbed, his father gets a promise from Guna that he should accommodate her with them as she does not have any relation. Guna, who lost his mother, invites her to live with them. Sitamma accepts on the condition that nobody in the family should know how she is related to them and also she should be introduced as a cook. Unwillingly, Guna accepts that. Guna as a saxophone player, music director, and lyricist and Siva as a singer both flourish in their career. Sitamma finds that Guna is a very affectionate person and Siva is a very sensitive person who cannot bear any downfalls in life even to a little extent.
Next to Guna's home is the house of film choreographer Anjali (Meenakshi Sheshadri), a very beautiful woman. Both Guna and Siva see her separately and fall in love. Siva approaches her directly and impresses her. Anjali hears saxophone music and misunderstands that it is Siva who is playing it. She gets attracted to him for that reason. Siva also lies to her that all his brother's talents are his talents. Guna, who has got a complex about his fat size, decides to begin a friendship to Anjali's father and gradually to her, not knowing that she already loves Siva. Anjali responds to his indirect approach, thinking that it is done by Siva, but Guna is very happy that she loves him.
Film superstar Sirpy (Prakash Raj) also gets attracted to Anjali and behaves very closely to her, which irritates possessive Siva. This creates a fight between the two. Sitamma finds about the misunderstanding among Guna, Anjali, and Siva and tells Guna about the love affair between them, which shocks Guna. She convinces Guna to drop his love for her as Siva cannot tolerate any defeat in his life, to which Guna does not accept it. Anjali gets confused when Guna confesses his love for her. Anjali also comes to know that Siva has lied to her about his saxophone and poem writing talent and gets furious on him. She asks him to drop the love as she does not want be the reason for the heat between two brothers. Siva decides that he will not accept anyone between them even if it happens to be his own brother.
Sirpy compels Anjali to marry him, and she refuses to it. On anger, he gives a fake statement to press that both himself and Anjali are in love and planned to get married shortly. Guna gets furious that Anjali cheated both him and his brother, but Anjali explains that she is not responsible. Anjali's father assures Anjali that Guna is right for her as she got attracted only to his talents and eventually her love should be for him. Sirpy provokes the heat between Guna and Siva and because of which Siva insults his brother and Sitamma, resulting in Sitamma's demise. Sirpy kidnaps Anjali to marry her. Unable to save Anjali, Siva comes back to his family, pleading to save her. Guna fights with Sirpy and rescues Anjali. However, Sirpy threatens Guna with Siva on the top of the hill. Siva pulls Sirpy, jumps from the hilltop, and dies with him.
Back to the present, it was the day when Siva died on the same place where Guna is playing saxophone on his memory. Anjali's father convinces Guna about Anjali and requests him to marry her or he will kill her by his hands as he could not tolerate her sufferings. Guna and Anjali finally unite.
Cast
- Prabhu as Guna
- Ramesh Aravind as Siva
- Meenakshi Seshadri as Anjali
- Prakash Raj as Sirpy
- Sarath Babu as Paramaguru
- Sudha as Sitamma
- Sathyapriya as Anjali's mother
- Shanthi Anand as Chandrika
- Senthil as Karumbaayiram
- Charle as Vellaiyan
- Subhalekha Sudhakar as Co-musician
- Kavithalaya Krishnan as Co-musician
- Dhamu as Beggar
- Mayilsamy as Mayilsamy
- Yuvasri as Anupama
- Roopa Sree as Seema
- Pasi Sathya as Anupama's maid
- Mohan Raman as Guna, Siva and Seema's father
- T. V. Varadarajan as TV anchor
- Ayyappan Gopi as Sirpy's friend
- Kazan Khan as Sirpy's friend
- Sakthi Kumar as Film director
- Yuvarani as Student
- Ilavarasi as Herself (Cameo appearance)
- Vichithra as Herself (Cameo appearance)
- Kasthuri as Herself (Cameo appearance)
- Arvind Swamy as Himself (Cameo appearance)
- Nassar as Himself (Cameo appearance)
- Nizhalgal Ravi as Himself (Cameo appearance)
- Solomon Pappaiah as Himself (Cameo appearance)
Production
The film is based on the 1990 French film Cyrano de Bergerac, which itself was based on the 1897 play of the same name by Edmond Rostand, which was about a swashbuckler who is self-conscious about his long nose and feels his love will go unrequited. When the girl he loves gets infatuated with a dasher, he helps him by pouring his emotions in poems soaked in love. In Duet, the hero's ungainly nose was replaced by his girth.[1] This was the first film of actor Prakash Raj in Tamil as the antagonist. In remembrance, he named his production house Duet Movies.[2] Saran was one of the assistant directors in the film.[3]
Soundtrack
| Duet | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 1994 | |||
| Recorded | Panchathan Record Inn | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Label | Pyramid Aditya Music | |||
| Producer | A. R. Rahman | |||
| A. R. Rahman chronology | ||||
| ||||
The soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman and lyrics were written by Vairamuthu. The soundtrack features eight songs, three recitals and three instrumental pieces.[4][5] The saxophonic instrumentation was done by Kadri Gopalnath and Raju.[6][7] Gopalnath reached public fame after this album. He once told about this album, "I played some 30 ragas for Rahman. He wasn't satisfied. Finally I played Kalyana Vasantam, and he said, "That's it!"".[8] The song "Mettu Podu" is set in the raga Anandabhairavi,[9] and "Anjali Anjali" is set in Maand.[10]
Tamil version
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Anjali Anjali" | S. P. Balu, K. S. Chithra | 6:16 |
| 2. | "Vennilavin Theril" | K. J. Yesudas | 4:08 |
| 3. | "Mettuppodu Mettuppodu" | S. P. Balu, P. Susheela | 5:58 |
| 4. | "En Kadhale (Male Version)" | S. P. Balu | |
| 5. | "Kulicha Kuthalam" | S. P. Balu, T. K. Kala | 4:48 |
| 6. | "Kathirikka Kathirikka" | Sujatha Mohan, Prasanna | 5:27 |
| 7. | "En Kadhale (Female Version)" | K. S. Chithra | 0:56 |
| 8. | "Naan Paadum" | S. P. Balu | 3:53 |
| 9. | "Kavithaikku Porul (Poem)" | Prabhu, Sreeja | 1:20 |
| 10. | "Saththatinal Vantha (Poem)" | Prabhu | 0:54 |
| 11. | "Love is Torture (Poem)" | Noell James | 0:47 |
| 12. | "Sax Lullaby (Saxophone Music)" | Instrumental | 1:43 |
| 13. | "Title Theme Music" | Instrumental | 3:13 |
| 14. | "Naan Parthathile (Saxophone Music)" | Instrumental | 0:55 |
| 15. | "Tabla prelude" | Instrumental | 0:23 |
Telugu version
All the lyrics were penned by Vennelakanti. As per that existing trend in Telugu film industry Rahman used the common voices of all the films, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam & K. S. Chithra, for all the songs.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Anjali Anjali" | S. P. Balu, K. S. Chithra | 6:13 |
| 2. | "Vendimabhu Raagame" | S. P. Balu | 4:07 |
| 3. | "Gutti Vankayi" | K. S. Chithra | 5:28 |
| 4. | "Na Necheli" | S. P. Balu | 5:14 |
| 5. | "Kalame Kammaga Saage" | S. P. Balu | 5:58 |
| 6. | "Kodite Kolatam" | S. P. Balu, K. S. Chithra | 4:50 |
| 7. | "Title Theme Music" | Instrumental | 3:13 |
| 8. | "Nee Paade Geetam" | S. P. Balu | 3:50 |
| 9. | "Sax Lullaby" | Instrumental | 1:43 |
Hindi version
All the lyrics were penned by P.K. Mishra.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Anjali Anjali" | S.P. Balu, K.S. Chithra | 6:17 |
| 2. | "Dil Ka Raja" | Sujatha Mohan | 5:27 |
| 3. | "Man Dole" | S.P. Balu | 5:54 |
| 4. | "Aye Chandini" | S.P. Balu | 5:14 |
| 5. | "Sun Le O Janam" | Sujatha Mohan, Nabarun Ghosh | 4:53 |
| 6. | "Geeton Mein" | Unni Menon | 3:57 |
| 7. | "Mohabbat Mein Teri" | S.P. Balu | 4:08 |
| 8. | "Title Theme Music" | Instrumental | 3:13 |
Reception
K. Vijiyin of New Straits Times wrote, "It is a simple story but Balachander's screenplay and handling of the cast make it memorable".[11] The film failed commercially.[12]
References
- Kumar, S. Shiva (6 March 2014). "The age of remakes". The Hindu. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- Joseph, Meedhu Miriyam (12 December 2011). "When small-budget is beautiful..." The Hindu. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- Rangarajan, Malathi (28 January 2010). "Spreading cheer ..." The Hindu. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- Rahman, A. R. "Duet". MusicBrainz. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
- Trilok, Krishna (18 September 2018). Notes of a Dream: The Authorized Biography of A.R. Rahman. India: Penguin Random House. ISBN 9353051967.
The soundtrack featured fourteen songs, including poems, multiple versions of songs and instrumental tracks.
- "Crowning glory". The Hindu. 7 March 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- "Changing lanes". The Hindu. 1 May 2003. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
- Rajan, Anjana (11 March 2010). "Blowing glory". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
- Mani, Charulatha (28 October 2011). "A Raga's Journey – The allure of Anandabhairavi". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- Mani, Charulatha (22 June 2012). "Mesmeric Maand". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- Vijiyin, K. (4 June 1994). "Stimulating study of the various aspects of love". New Straits Times. p. 28. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- "Locked horns". Industrial Economist. Vol. 32. 1999. p. 55.
