| Unnale Unnale | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jeeva |
| Written by | Jeeva |
| Dialogues by | |
| Produced by | V. Ravichandran |
| Starring | Vinay Sadha Tanishaa |
| Cinematography | Jeeva |
| Edited by | V. T. Vijayan |
| Music by | Harris Jayaraj |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 147 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Unnale Unnale (transl. Because of You) is a 2007 IndianTamil-languagemusicalromantic comedy film The movie is written, cinematograph and directed byJeeva and produced byOscar Ravichandran. It starsVinay,Sadha andTanishaa in lead roles;Srinath,Raju Sundaram andSathish Krishnan in supporting roles; andLekha Washington,Aravind Akash,Uma Padmanabhan, andVasundhara Kashyap in cameo roles. Raju Sundaram also worked as achoreographer in the film. This film marked Vinay's feature film debut and Tanishaa's only Tamil film that she ever acted. The soundtrack and film has received acult status over the years.
The film revolves around the aftermath of a relationship between a careless man and a serious woman. Despite being in a relationship, the latter walks out on the former due to his antics with other women. However, the man changes his ways and on a business trip toMelbourne, he encounters another woman. This other woman's boss turns out to be the man's former lover. The events that follow and who the man eventually gets together with form the crux of the story. TheTelugu dubbed version was titledNeevalle Neevalle and released simultaneously with the Tamil version.
The film opened to Indian audiences after several delays, on 14 April 2007, coinciding with theTamil New Year. The film received positive reviews and became a blockbuster hit at box office. It marked the last directorial venture of Jeeva before his death on 26 June 2007.[2]
The film opens with a man (Aravind Akash) and woman interviewing civilians onlove and the opposite sex. After a mixture of answers, they cease their questions, and the credits roll. The credits end as a boy, after being rejected by his girlfriend, is accidentally hit by a passing car and dies. Karthik (Vinay) walks off, disturbed, to his girlfriend Jhansi's (Sadha) office. There, he is criticized by her for his antics with other women and his lack of passion for their love. She walks off, ending their relationship.
Karthik is then shown as acivil engineer inChennai, still playful and fun-loving. Accepting a request from his manager to go on a six-month business trip toMelbourne, he bids farewell to his friends Raju (Raju Sundaram) and Sathish (Sathish Krishnan). On the plane, he encounters a playful, flirtatious girl named Deepika (Tanishaa), whom he sits next to during the flight. After spending hours together, they become friends and exchange contact details. However, by coincidence, Deepika is travelling to Melbourne to work in the same company as Jhansi, who is settled there. Together they seem to conveniently bump into Karthik at every corner, prompting an unwelcome reunion for Jhansi and Karthik.
While Deepika takes a liking to Karthik, Jhansi ignores him, even though he has hopes of getting back together. At a restaurant, Karthik bumps into a fellowTamilian named Vaidyanathan (Srinath) and explains his love for Jhansi. The story then flashes back two years. Karthik had met Jhansi at a festival in a temple, where she played a prank on him and his friends. Taking a liking to Jhansi, Karthik begins to follow her intentionally, hoping for her to fall in love with him. Soon after, she becomes more and more suspicious of Karthik. This comes to a head when Karthik acts as the boyfriend of Raju's girlfriend Pooja (Paloma Rao), only for Jhansi to get confused and mistake him. His reputation as a trusting boyfriend takes another turn for the worse, when at a wedding, the bride (Lekha Washington) gives him a kiss after he improvises a song.
As the pair have a love-hate relationship, the breakup beckons when Jhansi sends her friend (Vasundhara Kashyap) undercover to flirt with Karthik. However, he lies by claiming that he was at home ill, prompting Jhansi to end their relationship. At the end of the flashback, Vaidyanathan suggests to Karthik that it is more important to move on than think regretfully, and Karthik gets over his relationship with Jhansi. However, finding out about Deepika's love towards Karthik, Jhansi becomes jealous and reinstates her love for Karthik. Soon, as she sees Deepika and Karthik's compatibility and understanding her fault, she finally understands what went wrong in their relationship. Then, Karthik tells her through a meaningful conversation that he still loves her, not Deepika. After this, Jhansi runs away toSydney surreptitiously.
At the end of the film, the male interviewer who appeared at the start questions Jhansi on her decision to leave anonymously; however, she refuses to answer at first. Later, she replies that though she still loves Karthik, she was unable to understand him well. She knew that it would not work out and that she did not want to hurt Karthik further, thus becoming the sole reason for her departure. She then confirms that she met up with Deepika recently, and had found that she is married to Karthik and they have a child. She then walks away, claiming that her future lies in her own hands, and she is happy the way she is now.
The entire production of the film took about a year and a half to be completed and released.[3]Unnale Unnale becameJeeva's last finished film prior to his death on the sets of his next film,Dhaam Dhoom.[4]
The film was originally announced under the title ofJuly Kaatril (In the Winds of July) with a scheduled casting ofArya,Sonia Agarwal andParvati Melton. However all three of the proposed lead cast opted out of the film. Agarwal cited that her marriage was on the cards and she would find it difficult to sign on for a year, whilst the other two were unable to star in the film due to undisclosed reasons.
In an interview, Jeeva said, "Romance always finds a special place in Tamil films. My new film July Kaatril is also about love", confirming it was a romantic flick.[citation needed] WhileHarris Jayaraj was signed on as the music director with KavignarVaali andPa. Vijay assisting him with the lyrics, Jeeva's wife, Aneez was signed as a costume designer.[citation needed]
The casting ofVinay, afterArya opted out, as Karthik was due to some similarities with the character. Vinay made his debut into the film industry after modelling and featuring in a couple ofTulu advertisements.[citation needed] However, they finalised the choice of the actor only after the script was ready. The choice ofSadha was more difficult and sinceAnniyan she had received many negative reviews and the film became important to rekindle her success.[citation needed] The role of Deepika went toTanishaa, who despite being a leading heroine's sister (Kajol), she was yet to maintain a hit film. Mukherjee, came down toSouth India to look for new opportunities and attracted the producer into signing her on. She immediately expressed her satisfaction with the character and consented for the role.[citation needed]
The film was mostly shot inMelbourne, Australia overlooking theMelbourne Docklands.[citation needed] The climax was shot inSydney while the beginning and the flashback was picturized in various cities acrossSouth India.[citation needed] Playback singer,Chinmayi dubbed forTanishaa.[citation needed]
| Unnale Unnale | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 15 December 2006 | |||
| Recorded | 2006 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Length | 29:01 | |||
| Language | Tamil | |||
| Label | Saregama | |||
| Producer | Harris Jayaraj | |||
| Harris Jayaraj chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Neevalle Neevalle | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | 2007 |
| Recorded | 2007 |
| Genre | Soundtrack |
| Length | 27:26 |
| Language | Telugu |
| Label | Aditya Music |
| Producer | Harris Jayaraj |
The film has six songs composed byHarris Jayaraj with the lyrics primarily penned byVaali andPa. Vijay. The audio of the film released nationwide on 24 January 2007, three months prior to the movie release.[citation needed]Sify gave a positive rating stating "Full marks to Harris Jeyaraj for the songs especially the “Unnale Unnale...”, “June Pona...” and the background score which stays long after you leave the hall. They are picturised aesthetically in never-seen-before locations with utmost care going into details. "[5] The soundtrack was highly acclaimed and won the "Youthful Album of the Year" award at "Tamil Music Awards". Harris Jayaraj was also nominated for theFilmfare Award for Best Music Director and theVijay Award for Best Music Director.[6] The song "June Ponal" is based on "All Rise" byBlue.[7]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "June Ponal" | Pa. Vijay | Krish, Arun | 6:01 |
| 2. | "Hello Miss Imsaiyae" | Vaali | G. V. Prakash Kumar,Anushka Manchanda | 4:31 |
| 3. | "Vaigasi Nilavae" | Vaali | Haricharan,Madhushree | 5:40 |
| 4. | "Mudhal Naal" | Pa. Vijay | KK,Pop Shalini,Mahalaxmi Iyer | 4:27 |
| 5. | "Unnale Unnale" | Pa. Vijay | Krish,Karthik,Harini | 4:43 |
| 6. | "Ilamai Ulasam" | Pa. Vijay | Krish, Pop Shalini | 2:10 |
| 7. | "Siru Siru Uravugal" | Krish | Krish | 1:29 |
| Total length: | 29:01 | |||
All tracks are written byBhuvanachandra
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "June Pothe" | Krish , Arun | 6:00 |
| 2. | "Hello Miss" | G. V. Prakash Kumar,Chinmayi | 4:29 |
| 3. | "Vysakha Vennela" | Haricharan,Swarnalatha | 5:40 |
| 4. | "Modhalennadu" | Naresh Iyer, Pop Shalini, Mahalaxmi Iyer | 4:27 |
| 5. | "Neevalle Neevalle" | Krish, Karthik , Harini | 4:42 |
| 6. | "Yavvana Ullasam" | Krish, Pop Shalini | 2:08 |
| Total length: | 27:26 | ||
The movie was released worldwide alongsideMayakannadi,Madurai Veeran andArputha Theevu onTamil New Year's Day, 14 April 2007.[citation needed] Owing to the success of the film, the number of reels grew to about hundred. The film completed 100 days of screening in the theaters in the state ofTamil Nadu.[citation needed] The reception inMalaysia was equally successful and was released in six majormetropolises for up to 9 weeks, the film collected $114,883 (then approximately₹5 million) within its 50-day run.[9]
Along with its relative commercial success, the film received positive reviews on the storyline and the performances of the actors themselves.Rediff.com praisedSadha's, Tanishaa's, andVinay's performances.[10] Lajjavathi ofKalki praised the acting of lead pair, humour, Jayaraj's music, Ramakrishnan's dialogues and added Jeeva scored both as cinematographer and director and praised him for narrating the plot like a Haiku and felt the screenplay was fast paced and concluded saying let's welcome thisUnnale Unnale to come and sit in the row of films like 'Mozhi'.[11]Chennai Online wrote "A youthful colourful ambience, a handsome star cast, and some pleasant melodies, all packaged in attractive frames was the trademark of Jeeva's earlier films.Unnale Unnale the cinematographer-director's third venture, has all these elements. And when the narration tends to lag a little or the scenes turn repetitive, it's these factors that keep it going".[12]Sify wrote "Unnale Unnale is an urban romantic fun film that explores love from a slightly realistic and different point of view. The movie does not have clichéd characters nor the typical masalas associated with Tamil films and is packaged in Bollywood style. Though some of the scenes are straight lifts from various Hollywood and Bollywood films, director Jeeva has succeeded in bringing out brilliant performances from his lead actors and presenting the film in a chic and sophisticated manner".[13]
The DVD version of the film was released on 8 August 2007 in the United Kingdom. This DVD release was distributed byAyngaran International all around the world. It is available in16:9Anamorphic widescreen,Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround,progressive 24FPS,widescreen andNTSC format.[14] The satellite rights of the film were bagged byJaya TV.
The film made business for Vinay, who signed up many films after the project.[15] The original title of this film,July Kaatril, inspired a filmof the same name, also based on a love triangle between the lead actors, just like inUnnale Unnale.[16]