Kaadhal Kondein

Kaadhal Kondein (English: I fell in love) is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language romantic psychological thriller film inspired from Fear, a 1996 American psychological thriller directed by James Foley, written and directed by Selvaraghavan, starring his brother Dhanush and newcomer Sonia Agarwal in lead roles, whilst newcomers Sudeep Sarangi, Nagesh and Daniel Balaji play supporting roles. The film, which has music scored by noted musician Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography handled by Arvind Krishna (cinematographer), released on 4 July 2003, winning critical acclaim and becoming a commercial success upon release, is considered as the breakthrough for Dhanush that catapulted him into the foray of lead actors in the Tamil film industry.

Kaadhal Kondein
Directed by	Selvaraghavan
Produced by	Dr. K. Vimalageetha
Written by	Selvaraghavan
Starring	Dhanush Sonia Agarwal
Music by	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cinematography	Arvind Krishna (cinematographer)
Edited by	V. T. Vijayan
Production company	R. K. Productions
Distributed by	ITV Bombay
Release date	4 July 2003
Running time	185 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

The film was later remade in Telugu in 2004 as Nenu, in Kannada in 2009 as Ravana, in Indian Bengali in 2010 as Amanush, and in Bangladesh Bengali in 2004 as Onno Manush.

The story explores the mind of a youth who is mentally and physically abused in his childhood. The lack of a mother's love haunts the protagonist throughout the film as the girl of his infatuation is killed. Becoming a psychopath, he desperately tries to woo his newly found lady love and his efforts culminate in a nail-biting cliffhanger.

Plot

Vinod (Dhanush), who has grown up under the care of a church father Rozario (Nagesh), is an introvert but a genius. He is forcibly sent to college by Rozario but is a complete misfit in class. Though shunned by the rest of his class, Divya (Sonia Agarwal) becomes his friend, and he gradually warms up to her. His feelings soon turn into love, but he realizes that Divya considers him as only a friend and learns that she is in love with another classmate, Aadhi (Sudeep).

Divya's father is enraged on knowing about her love. He locks her up and prevents her from contacting anyone. Vinod comes and requests to meet her on the pretext of getting some old clothes for himself to wear. Pitying Vinod, her father allows him to meet Divya. Vinod escapes with Divya and convinces her that she will meet Aadhi in Ooty. Vinod has set up a secret place in Ooty for executing his plan of wooing Divya. He makes her stay with him, while convincing her by talking about Aadhi's arrival. On one such day, he reveals his miserable past, when he was made to work for paid labour after being orphaned at an early age. He revolts against the oppression one day. Promptly, he is beaten black and blue for his bravery. Moreover, he also loses his girlfriend to rapists in that place, who also kill her. After some days he kills the woman running the orphanage and also kills the rapist, helped by other children. They manage to break the place, escape from there, and seek refuge in the place of Rozario.

Divya is touched by his past. Incidentally, the police and Aadhi arrive at the place. While Vinod was away to get some food, they try to explain to Divya that Vinod is a psychopath. Divya scoffs at their claims, citing his gentlemanly behaviour over the days that she has been alone with him. Vinod, learning that the police have arrived at the scene, begins to indulge in violence. He opens fire, killing a police constable. Forcing them out of their hideout, he manages to evade the police inspector and Aadhi and successfully brings Divya back to their original place of stay. Divya soon identifies the tiger in the cow's skin. Vinod pleads with her, telling Divya that all he wanted in his life was her presence, but she called him a friend and stated her inability to accept him as her partner for life.

Meanwhile, Aadhi regains consciousness and comes back to attack Vinod and rescue his girlfriend. A violent fight follows, where Vinod treats Aadhi with disdain. The fight culminates with Vinod, Aadhi, and Divya teetering at the edge of a slippery cliff. While Divya clutches a tree bark tightly, Vinod and Aadhi slip out and barely manage to hold either of her hands. Divya is forced to choose between her boyfriend and friend. Aadhi's pleas notwithstanding, Divya does not have the heart to kill Vinod, who smiles wryly at Divya and lets go of her, falling to his death in the ravine.

Cast

• Dhanush as Vinod
• Sonia Agarwal as Divya
• Sudeep Sarangi as Aadhi
• Nagesh as Father Rozario[1]
• Daniel Balaji as Police Inspector
• Srikanth as Divya's father
• Hemalatha as Vinod's childhood friend
• Rambo Rajkumar
• Gowthami Vembunathan as Orphanage Caretaker

Production

Following the success of the previous film Thulluvadho Ilamai (2002), the team chose to collaborate again with the psychotic romantic thriller Kaadhal Kondein, credited as Selvaraghavan's first film. The venture, produced by his home production, also marked the first collaboration of Selvaraghavan with cinematographer Arvind Krishna, whom he would later associate with newcomer Sonia Agarwal. Selvaraghavan had written the script for the film in the late 1990s and had first narrated the story to Dhanush in their shared bedroom at home, before asking him to play the lead role of Vinod.[2]

Soundtrack

Kaadhal Kondein
Soundtrack album by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Released	20 March 2003
Recorded	2002 / 2003
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	34:34 30:18 (OST release)
Label	Five Star Audio
Producer	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Pudhiya Geethai (2003) Kaadhal Kondein (2003) Winner (2003)

For Kaadhal Kondein, director Selvaraghavan and music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja came together again after their earlier successful collaboration in Thulluvadho Ilamai (2002), for which Selvaraghavan worked as a writer. The soundtrack of Kaadhal Kondein released on 20 March 2003, featuring seven tracks with lyrics written by Pazhani Bharathi and Na. Muthukumar. The music, especially the film score, received universal critical acclaim, establishing composer Yuvan Shankar Raja as one of the "most sought after music directors" in the Tamil film industry.[3]

More than one year after the release of the film, an "original soundtrack" was released, that followed the Hollywood-style. It was said to be the first time, that an original soundtrack was released for a film in India as the soundtracks released in India do not contain any film score pieces but full songs that feature in the film itself.[3] The OST of Kaadhal Kondein contains 20 tracks overall, which includes the seven earlier released tracks, four "montage" bit songs, that featured in the film, but not in the soundtrack, and nine pieces from the actual film score, which were titled as "Theme Music".

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Devathaiyai Kandaen"	Na. Muthukumar	Harish Raghavendra	5:11
2.	"Manasu Rendum"	Pazhani Bharathi	Shankar Mahadevan	6:41
3.	"Nenjodu"	Na. Muthukumar	P. Unnikrishnan, Sujatha	6:25
4.	"Kadhal Mattum Purivathillai"	Pazhani Bharathi	Vijay Yesudas	6:07
5.	"Thottu Thottu"	Na. Muthukumar	Harish Raghavendra	5:16
6.	"18 Vayathil"	Na. Muthukumar	Yuvan Shankar Raja	4:49
7.	"Kaadhal Kondein (Theme Music)" (Instrumental)			1:07

All music is composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja.

Original Soundtrack release

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
8.	"Thathi Thathi"	Yuvan Shankar Raja	2:48
9.	"Natpinilae"	Harish Raghavendra	1:19
10.	"Unnai Thozhi"	Ranjith	2:05
11.	"Kai Padamalae"	Yuvan Shankar Raja	2:16
12.	"Theme Music 1"	Instrumental	2:42
13.	"Theme Music 2"	Instrumental	2:12
14.	"Theme Music 3"	Instrumental	0:58
15.	"Theme Music 4"	Instrumental	2:05
16.	"Theme Music 5"	Instrumental	2:24
17.	"Theme Music 6"	Instrumental	1:46
18.	"Theme Music 7"	Instrumental	2:29
19.	"Theme Music 8"	Instrumental	4:31
20.	"Theme Music 9"	Instrumental	2:43
Total length:			30:18

Release

The film opened in July 2003 to critical acclaim and commercial success.[4] A reviewer from The Hindu noted, "his story, screenplay, dialogue and direction are focussed and hit the bull's eye straightway — hardly missing the mark."[5]

Awards

• 2004: Filmfare Best Actor Award Nominated - Dhanush
• 2004: Filmfare Best Female Debut (South) - Sonia Agarwal

Nominations

• 2004: Filmfare Best Director Award - Selvaraghavan

Remakes

Since its release, the film has been remade into several Indian languages; Boney Kapoor bought the rights to remake the film in Hindi, but the project did not materialise.[6] The film was later remade in Telugu as Nenu (2004),[7] in Kannada as Ravana (2009),[8] in Indian Bengali as Amanush (2010),[9] and in Bangladeshi Bengali as Onno Manush (2004).[10]

Legacy

The film provided career breakthroughs for both Selvaraghavan and Dhanush in the Tamil film industry.[11][12] The success of the song "Devathaiyai Kandaen" prompted Boopathy Pandian to name his 2005 film starring Dhanush after the song title.

References

1. ""Nagaichuvai Mannan" Nagesh: Monarch of Humorous Actors in Tamil Movies". dbsjeyaraj.com. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
2. http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/08/20/stories/2003082000060100.htm
3. "Generation NEXT". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 27 October 2003. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
4. "The Kolaveri Kid". The Telegraph. 29 April 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
5. http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2003/07/11/stories/2003071101230201.htm
6. Dias, Noel Singh (14 August 2013). "Dhanush owes Boney Kapoor some money". The Free Press Journal. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
7. Bhandaram, Vishnupriya (1 April 2012). "Different strokes". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
8. "Lucky lips". Bangalore Mirror. 30 November 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
9. Ghose, Chandreyee (12 September 2010). "Copycat chronicles". The Telegraph (Calcutta). Retrieved 11 December 2018.
10. "பாசமலர் முதல் திருமலை வரை - வெளிநாடுகளில் ரீமேக்கான தமிழ் படங்கள்! #VikatanPhotoCards". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). slide 7. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
11. http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/aug/11south.htm
12. http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/aug/06kadhal.htm

External links

• Kadhal Konden on IMDb