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Minnale

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Minnale
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGautham Vasudev Menon
Written byGautham Vasudev Menon
Vipul D. Shah
Nagarajan
Produced bySunanda Murali Manohar
Starring
CinematographyR. D. Rajasekhar
Edited bySuresh Urs
Music byHarris Jayaraj
Production
company
Cee (I) TV Entertainment
Release date
  • 1 February 2001 (2001-02-01)
Running time
174 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Minnale (transl. 'Lightning') is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon in his directorial debut. The story was written by Menon and Vipul D. Shah. The film, starring Madhavan, Abbas and Reema Sen, tells the story of a man stealing the identity of his former college enemy, to pursue his lady love, and the eventual repercussions he has to face when his enemy arrives.

The film's original soundtrack composed by debutant music composer Harris Jayaraj, became popular prior to the film's release. The cinematography of the film was handled by R. D. Rajasekhar and it was edited by Suresh Urs. Reema Sen made her Tamil debut through this film.

Minnale was released on 2 February 2001 and became a major commercial success. Menon remade the film in Hindi the same year as Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, with Madhavan reprising his role and debuting in Hindi cinema. The Hindi one was remade in Punjabi in 2010 as Mel Karade Rabba starring Jimmy Shergill, Neeru Bajwa and Gippy Grewal with Diljeet Dosanjh in a cameo. The film was also remade in Kannada as Mr. Duplicate (2011). Despite the Hindi remake, it was also dubbed into that language as Mad Mad Ishq (2020).[1]

Plot

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Rajesh Shivakumar and Rajiv Samuel "Sam" are engineering students at a college in Ooty. Sam is a top-performing, well-liked student, while Rajesh is an underachiever known for his rebellious, violent, and misogynistic behavior. Their opposing personalities make them bitter rivals, and they constantly clash throughout college. After graduating, they part ways, hoping never to see each other again. Sam moves to the United States for a software engineering job, while Rajesh remains in India.

Two years later, Rajesh works as a software engineering instructor in Chennai and lives with his beloved grandfather, Subbuni, alongside his close friend Chockalingam "Chokku." Although offered an on-site opportunity in Singapore, Rajesh declines it so he can stay with his grandfather. During a trip to Bangalore, he falls in love at first sight with Reena Joseph, a chartered accountant. After several chance encounters, Rajesh learns that Reena has been transferred to Chennai.

Rajesh and Chokku meet Reena's best friend, Vasuki, who reveals that Reena is engaged to her childhood friend, Rajiv Samuel, an Indian American software engineer from Seattle, and insists there is no point in pursuing her. However, Rajesh regains hope when he learns that Reena has not seen Rajiv since childhood. Encouraged by Subbuni and Chokku, he impersonates Rajiv to get close to her. Believing him to be Rajiv, Reena falls in love with Rajesh, and the two spend five days together. Before Rajesh can reveal the truth, however, the real Rajiv arrives in Chennai, shocking Reena. After discovering the deception, Reena ends their relationship and warns Rajesh to stay away from her.

Determined to salvage their relationship, Rajesh and his friends go to meet Rajiv, only to discover that he is actually Sam, his former college rival. Furious over Rajesh's deception, Sam refuses to cancel his engagement to Reena, believing Rajesh's actions were driven by their past enmity. Rajesh repeatedly tries to win Reena back, but she rejects him. After Rajesh disrupts a date between Reena and Sam, the two men fight, and Sam warns firmly Rajesh never to come near Reena again. Rajesh and his friends later plan to attack Sam, but Rajesh backs out at the last moment, accepting that Sam and Reena will likely get married and maturely realizing that violence will never help him win back Reena's love.

Heartbroken, Rajesh accepts the Singapore assignment that he had previously declined in order to move on from Reena. Meanwhile, Reena realizes that she has fallen in love with Rajesh despite his deception after finding herself unable to forget the memories they shared. On their wedding day, Sam realizes that Reena doesn't love him after noticing her lack of happiness. Unwilling to marry someone whose heart belongs to another, he calls off the wedding and takes Reena to the airport, where Rajesh is about to depart for his new job in Singapore after bidding farewell to his friends. Setting aside their long-standing rivalry, Sam reunites the couple before departing, intending never to see Rajesh again. Rajesh and Reena reconcile and begin their life together.

Cast

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Uncredited

Production

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Gautham Vasudev Menon launched a Tamil romantic film titled, O Lala in 2000 with the project eventually changing producers and title into Minnale with Madhavan, who was at the beginning of his career, being signed on to portray the lead role.[2] About the making of the film, Menon revealed that he found it difficult as the team was new to the industry with only the editor, Suresh Urs, being a prominent technician in the industry.[3] Menon had come under further pressure when Madhavan had insisted that Menon narrated the story to his mentor, Mani Ratnam, to identify if the film was a positive career move after the success of his Alai Payuthey. Despite initial reservations, Menon did so and Ratnam was unimpressed; however Menon has cited that he thought that Madhavan "felt sorry" and later agreed to continue with the project.[3] Miss World 1999, Yukta Mookhey was considered to play the film's heroine during July 2000, as was Isha Koppikar, but eventually they were left out and Reema Sen, who appeared in her first Tamil film, was cast.[4][5] Minnale also saw Madhavan collaborating with Abbas for second time after Kannada film Shanti Shanti Shanti.[6] Post-release, Abbas felt that his role had been reduced and accused Madhavan of playing a role in editing his sequences out from the film.[7]

Music

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The music and background score were composed by Harris Jayaraj, previously a keyboard player under other composers, in his debut at composing. The audio cassette of the film was released in Chennai at a function in January 2001, where the songs were also screened.[8]

Release and reception

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Minnale was released on 2 February 2001.[9][10] Upon release it went on to become a major commercial success. Madhavan became extremely popular among the youth after the release of Alai Payuthey, but had a setback as his next film Ennavalle underperformed. Minnale made him once again popular among the youth.[11] Savitha Padmanabhan of The Hindu claimed that the film had a "lot of verve and vigour" and that it was "sure to go down well" with the "yuppie, college-going youngsters".[12] A reviewer, Shilpa Kannan from Zee Next, also gave the film a positive review, writing "the entire movie is given an advertisement like treatment by the director. It is glossy, stylish, youthful and trendy".[13] Visual Dasan of Kalki rated the film "above average".[14] Harris Jayaraj won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil,[15] the film's only nomination at the 49th Filmfare Awards South.[16] Jayaraj broke A. R. Rahman’s 9 year long Filmfare winning streak.[17]

Other versions

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Minnale was dubbed into Telugu under the name Cheli and also performed well at the box office, owing to Madhavan's popularity in Andhra Pradesh.[6] The film was remade by Menon in Hindi the same year as Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, with Madhavan reprising his role and making his Hindi debut. The Hindi version became an above average grosser at the box office but belatedly gained popularity and subsequently developed a cult following amongst young audiences. [18] The film was also remade in Kannada as Mr. Duplicate (2011).[19]

References

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  1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypxq7oN7qlc
  2. ↑ Ashok Kumar, S. R. (3 July 2009). "My First Break". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  3. 1 2 Rangan, Baradwaj (12 February 2011). "Shooting from the Lip". Baradwaj Rangan. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  4. ↑ "TAMIL CINEMA 2000 – Comic characters". cinematoday2.itgo.com. Archived from the original on 16 August 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  5. ↑ Rajitha (21 July 2000). "Yukta signs her first film". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Madhavan wave hits Telugu filmdom". go4i.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "This Week's Allegation". cinematoday2.itgo.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  8. ↑ Mannath, Malini. "'Minnale' audio cassette release". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 4 February 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  9. ↑ Sunder, Gautam (2 February 2021). "20 years of Gautham Menon: A retrospective on his movies, romance and everything in between". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  10. ↑ Manickavel, Kuzhali (25 January 2021). "20 years of Minnale: How does the Madhavan-Reema-Abbas romance hold up in a more woke era?". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  11. ↑ Kamath, Sudhish (12 July 2001). "How stars 'Cee' success". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 24 December 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  12. ↑ Padmanabhan, Savitha (9 February 2001). "Film Review: Minnale". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 13 November 2002. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  13. ↑ Kannan, Shilpa. "Madhavan proves his mettle". Zee Next. Archived from the original on 8 April 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  14. ↑ தாசன், விசுவல் (25 February 2001). "மின்னலே". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 64. Retrieved 2 May 2026 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ↑ "The 49th Annual Filmfare Awards -South | Winners". Indiatimes. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  16. ↑ "The 49th Annual Filmfare Awards -South | Nominees". Indiatimes. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  17. ↑ Ananth, Tivyasruthi Nair Prem (8 January 2024). "Harris Jayaraj: Celebrating His Iconic Albums And Unique Heartbreak Anthems". Varnam Malaysia. Archived from the original on 2 May 2026. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  18. ↑ "Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein turns 15: Watch Madhavan deliver THE dialogue from the film". India Today. 19 October 2016. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  19. ↑ Suresh, Sunayana (6 August 2011). "Kannada film review: 'Mr Duplicate' is a remake after all". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
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