Jai (2004 Tamil film)

Jai is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language supernatural action thriller film directed by S. Narayan, who had previously worked primarily in Kannada language films. The film features Prashanth and Anshu in the lead roles, while the former's father Thiagarajan, along with Rajkiran, Bhanupriya, and Rajan P. Dev play supporting roles. A remake of the successful 2002 Telugu film Aadi which itself was inspired by the 1997 Kannada film Simhada Mari [1], the film was produced by Thiagarajan and has music composed by Mani Sharma. Jai was released in January 2004 to negative reviews.[2]

Jai
Directed byS. Narayan
Produced byThiagarajan
Written byJai Prabhakar (dialogues)
Story byV. V. Vinayak
Based onAadi (Telugu)
StarringPrashanth
Anshu
Thiagarajan
Rajkiran
Bhanupriya
Rajan P. Dev
Music byMani Sharma
CinematographyP. K. H. Dass
Edited byP. R. Soundar Raj
Production
company
Lakshmi Shanthi Movies
Release date
  • 14 January 2004 (2004-01-14)
Running time
163 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

Nallamuthu (Rajkiran) meets Veerapandi (Thiagarajan), his wife (Bhanupriya), and 8-year-old son Jai returning from USA after a long gap. Veerapandi’s late father was a well-known factionist in that area and owned 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of land. While leaving for USA, Veerapandi gave the responsibility of managing this land to Vajravelu (Rajan P. Dev). Now back in India, Veerapandi realises that Vajravelu has been misusing his power. He wants to donate all his land to the 2000 families staying in that village. When Vajravelu comes to know of this impending charity, he attacks Veerapandi, killing him and his wife. Nallamuthu, being a trusted lieutenant of Veerapandi, takes Jai and escapes to the city. After the murders, Veerapandi’s trusted people are put in jail for 14 years.

After 14 years, the now grown up Jai (Prashanth) studies in a college and falls in love with Nandhini (Anshu Ambani), who is Vajravelu's daughter. Nallamuthu has raised Jai in Chennai as a fun-loving boy, but he grows up as a hot-tempered young lad. Completing her studies, Nandhini returns to her hometown. Jai comes along with other trusted members of his father who are released from jail. Nallamuthu wants to take revenge on Vajravelu and get back all the land so that he can distribute it to the villagers. The rest of the film deals with how Jai succeeds in avenging his parents.

Cast

Production

Thiagarajan purchased the remake rights of the successful of V. V. Vinayak's successful Telugu film Aadi (2002) and signed on R. Madhesh to be the film's director. An initial pre-production poster of the film was reported in the media to have attracted a clash with another film in production during the period, Saamy (2003), which featured Prashanth's paternal cousin Vikram.[3] Madhesh planned Tibet as a potential location to film and began negotiations with international stunt choreographers Sammo Hung and Yuen Woo-ping to have them in the film. However, after filming a song featuring Prashanth and lead actress Simran which was choreographed by Remo D'Souza, he left the project and began work on another film Madhurey, starring Vijay.[4] He was then replaced by Kannada director S. Narayan, who with the venture marked his debut in Tamil cinema.[5] Simran also subsequently left the project and the song which had been shot was converted into an item number, the song was shot at AVM Studios with a set erected costing 1 and half crore with using a technology called Mirror Image.[6] The team then approached Preity Zinta, though the actress was unwilling to commit to star in a Tamil film during the period.[7][8] Subsequently, the team signed on London based actress Anshu Ambani, who had appeared in the Telugu films Manmadhudu (2002) and Raghavendra (2003).[9] Producer Thiagarajan also made an acting comeback with the film after a long gap with Jai and featured as father to his real life son, Prashanth, while Rajkiran and Rajan P. Dev (who played the role in original film) were signed on for other pivotal roles.[10]

The film adapted a Madurai backdrop instead of the Telugu backdrop in the original, although the second schedule was canned in Nanakramguda, Hyderabad.[11] Two songs from the film were shot in Sri Lanka, while stuntmen from Netherlands, Malaysia and Nigeria were selected to be a part of the film.[12]

Release

The film opened in January 2004 to negative reviews.[13] A critic from Sify.com called the film "tedious" and added that "all the hype about Jai being big budget extravaganza seems out of place as the story is as old as the hills. Simran's appearance in an item number fails to impress. On the whole Prashanth has to try out something new."[14] Another reviewer added "it is filled with everything that marks a bad movie - an unrealistic college setting, a weak romance, an over-the-top villain and loads of violence."[15] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu revealed "the ballyhoo for many a scene including the opening one is puzzling because it gives the impression that something big is to follow suit, but nothing of that sort happens".[16] The satellite rights of the film were sold to Jaya TV.

The film became a box office failure. Post-release, Prashanth noted that as a producer of the film, the team had tried hard but ran into problems to begin with, lamenting that the project had been delayed by a year before filming started and thus the script lost its freshness.[17]

Soundtrack
Jai
Soundtrack album by
Mani Sharma
Released2004
Recorded2004
GenreFeature film soundtrack
ProducerMani Sharma

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer Mani Sharma. The soundtrack, released in 2004, features 6 tracks.

TrackSongSinger(s)Lyrics
1'Aazhaku Neyya'Kalpana Raghavendar, TippuVaali
2'Kanavu Kaanalam'Vijay Yesudas, K. S. ChithraIlakiyan
3'Kanna Simittina 'Karthik, Mahalakshmi IyerP. Vijay
4'Alek'Shankar Mahadevan, Kalpana RaghavendarVairamuthu
5'Medhu Medhuvai'K. S. Chithra, S. P. BalasubrahmanyamThamarai
6'Shockadikkuthu'Ranjith, SuchitraP. Vijay
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References
  1. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=fXadeHSaMx0
  2. http://www.sify.com/movies/jai-review--pclvzpaacgbed.html
  3. "Prashanth". Cinematoday3.itgo.com. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  4. "Maverick maker - Hosur". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20030828143837/http://www.chennaionline.com/reeltalk/08thaug15th.asp#rtalk3#rtalk3
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20030225174005/http://www.chennaionline.com/reeltalk/jan081.asp#rtalk1#rtalk1
  7. "tamil movie site". Reocities.com. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  8. "A Tamil entertainment ezine presenting interesting contents and useful services". Nilacharal. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  9. "`I'll be as loving as can be'". The Hindu. 24 February 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  10. https://web.archive.org/web/20030225175416/http://www.chennaionline.com/reeltalk/oct031.asp#rtalk1#rtalk1
  11. "Telugu cinema news". idlebrain.com. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  12. "Welcome to". Sify.com. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  13. https://web.archive.org/web/20040820015831/http://www.chennaionline.com/Moviereviews/tammov327.asp
  14. "Review :". Sify.com. 21 January 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  15. "JAI". Bbthots.com. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  16. ""Jai"". The Hindu. 30 January 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  17. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/interview/6036.html
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