Launched after a wave of publicity posters with no details about the cast and crew, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa began its first schedule of filming in February 2009.[2] Shooting continued through 2009, with the film garnering significant media interest, with schedules in Malta and the United States.[3] Before release, it became the first Tamil project to have a music soundtrack premiere outside of India, with a successful launch at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs) in London.[4] The film features soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa and editing by Anthony Gonsalves.
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa explores the complicated relationship between a HinduTamil boy, Karthik Sivakumar, and a MalayaliChristian girl, Jessie from Alappuzha, Kerala. Karthik falls in love with Jessie only to be met by her indifference and reluctance as they belong to different religions and her strict conservative family will never consent to their union. The film released on 26 February 2010, along with the Telugu version to advance bookings worldwide.[5][6] It was later remade in Hindi as Ekk Deewana Tha.[7] A short film/sequel titled Karthik Dial Seytha Yenn, again directed by Menon with Silambarasan and Trisha reprising their roles, was released in May 2020.
Plot
Karthik (Silambarasan) is a Mechanical Engineering graduate in Chennai with poor results who aspires to become a filmmaker instead of an engineer. His friend introduces him to Ganesh (Ganesh Janardhanan), a cinematographer. With Ganesh's help Karthik becomes an assistant to director. Karthik's family, who are Tamil Hindus, rent the bottom floor of Jessie's house. Jessie (Trisha Krishnan) is from a conservative MalayaliNasrani Christian/Syrian Catholic family from Alappuzha, who lives upstairs.[8]
Karthik falls in love with Jessie the moment he sees her on the street in front of their house. He tries to interact with Jessie, who is afraid of speaking to men around her strict father, and ends up angering her. Unable to hide his feelings any longer, Karthik confesses his love for her but she does not accept. A few days later, Karthik learns from his sister that Jessie has gone to Kerala to visit her grandmother. He and Ganesh end up in Kerala to look for her. After several days, he finds her and apologises. She introduces him to her family in Kerala as her "classmate". Jessie denies she has any feelings for him but agrees to only be his friend. However, on the train journey back home, Karthik purposely sits closely next to her and kisses her a few times but she eventually gently slaps him to make him stop. Karthik is convinced that Jessie loves him and repeatedly expresses his love towards her while she continues rejecting him by stating that her parents would not allow them to be together. She says that both of them are from different religious and ethnic backgrounds, and she is also a year older than him. The two meet several times and Jessie begins to realize that she also likes Karthik, but wants to refrain from any problems because she knows her father wouldn't accept the union. Eventually, due to various misunderstandings between Jessie's brother (Ranjith Velayudhan) and Karthik, her parents learn of their supposed affair. They arrange for Jessie to be married to a different man and schedule her wedding. The wedding day arrives and midway through the ceremony, Jessie refuses to marry the groom, displeasing everyone in her family. Karthik, who had, without anyone's knowledge, come to Kerala to witness the wedding is ecstatic and secretly visits Jessie at her home. It is then that Jessie admits she has indeed fallen in love with him. Karthik and Jessie continue to see each other without the knowledge of their parents.
At this point of time, Karthik goes to Goa on a 45-day film shoot, where he gets rather busy. Meanwhile, the topic of Jessie's marriage comes up again at her home when the guy whom she refused to marry earlier pays them a visit. Panicking, Jessie calls Karthik and tells him that she wants to elope with him. Karthik, since he is traveling through less than ideal places, tells Jessie to stay in Chennai for now, and that soon he would be back and they can discuss. Jessie then stops taking Karthik's calls and so he goes back one night to check on Jessie. He learns that Jessie has decided to break up, as the relationship is not peaceful due to her parents' disapproval. She says she has agreed to marry a boy of their choice. When Karthik pleads her not to do it, she tells him that a time had come when she was willing to elope, but the moment was gone. She doesn't want Karthik to wait for her too long, as he has his dreams to fulfill. Karthik later learns that she is married and has settled in the UK.
Two years later, Karthik meets Nandini. She falls in love with him, but Karthik rejects her by saying that he hasn't yet gotten over Jessie. He then comes up with a script for his first film, which happens to be his very own love story and is shot in Tamil. He calls upon Naga Chaitanya as the film's protagonist, Nandini as the female lead and Ganesh as the film's cinematographer. The film is eventually titled "Jessie". While shooting for the film in New York, he sees Jessie and she comes to speak with him. Angry at her parents for not allowing her to be with Karthik, Jessie moves to New York. She admits that she is not married and is still in love with him, and he too says she is still in his heart. Karthik and Jessie spend time with each other around New York City. Karthik proposes yet again and they get married the same day. This is actually revealed to be the end scene in Karthik's film – which Karthik and Jessie in real life are watching together in the theatre. After the film ends, it is revealed to the audience that Jessie had in fact seen Karthik in New York but had not come forward to meet him. She is married now and hence asks Karthik to move on. She tells Karthik that they cannot lead a life which is full of obstacles as well as without parents' approval and hence they depart separately, to lead different lives and different destinies.
After making a series of action films, Gautham Vasudev Menon actively chose to make an "out and out love story" at the insistence of his close associates, and marked a return to the genre for the first time since Minnale (2001). Initially titled Vennilavae Vennillavae, inspired by the title of a song from Minsara Kanavu, Menon started writing the film as a simple love story which slowly became an intense love story, as the scripting phase progressed. Stating that the film would narrate the romantic tale of two people called Karthik and Jessie over a period of almost three years, he revealed that the film would be "conversation driven" and hoped "everybody will identify with the lead pair".[9] Menon took the script to producer Manjula Ghattamaneni, who asked him to narrate the film to her brother Mahesh Babu and the movie was a Tamil and Telugu bilingual. Menon initially felt that the film would not suit the actor, but later agreed preliminary terms to make it in Telugu titled Jessie with the actor and have A. R. Rahman as the music composer, as he was impressed with the story.[10]
Development
Continuing from the earlier proposed theme of Vennilavae Vennillavae, Menon later chose to use the second line of the song to title his film as Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, after it was suggested by the cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa.[11] Menon discussed a Tamil and Telugu version of the script with several actors including Dhanush, Jai and Allu Arjun who had wanted changes to be made to the climax, and described being "one week away" from starting the project with a debutant actor.[12][13][14][15] But in late January 2009, Menon confirmed that he was in discussions with Silambarasan and Trisha to portray the lead roles from the script. After finding out that Silambarasan had dates available as a result of the delay in the shoot of Vignesh Shivan's Podaa Podi (2012), Menon chose to halt the production of his ongoing Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam and finalise pre-production work on Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa.
Menon added that Silambarasan was "apt for this kind of a film" and was "ready to experiment and try something different" from his usual film roles, prompting him to agree to star in the film.[11] As Menon was working with Trisha on Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam, he chose to use her dates for Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa instead.[16] To pique interest before the official announcement, the makers released a series of film posters featuring Silambarasan and Trisha inspired from previous classic Tamil films. The team used posters inspired from Geethanjali (1989), Minsara Kanavu (1997), Dil Se (1998), Alaipayuthey (2000) and Kaakha Kaakha (2003). Other members of the technical crew included Menon's regular collaborators editor Anthony, art director Rajeevan, costume designer Nalini Sriram and lyricist Thamarai. The project was jointly produced by Escape Artists Motion Pictures and RS Infotainment, with Elred Kumar, Ganesh, Madhan as producers.[17][18]
Casting
For the role of a mentor to Karthik's character, Menon first approached Vivek, but he turned down the opportunity. Later, one of the film's producers, Ganesh, was cast in the role, in what later became his breakthrough film as an actor.[19][20] Chennai-based model Janani Iyer was recruited to portray the role of an assistant director who falls in love with Karthik, but the role was later reshot with Samantha, who worked as the lead actress of the film's Telugu version. Janani Iyer was subsequently seen in the background of several scenes where Karthik is shown to be a part of a film production team.[21]Ashwin Kakumanu also auditioned for the role of Jessy's brother in the film and was selected, but eventually did not feature after having a clash of dates.[22][23] Singer Chinmayi dubbed for the lead actresses - Trisha, Samantha and Amy Jackson in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi respectively.
Filming
Scenes were shot in the lakes of Alappuzha during April 2009 for a month, with the houseboats doubling up as caravans.[24]
In May, the team moved to Malta to film the song sequences for "Hosanna" and "Omana Penne", choreographed by Flexy Stu.[25] For the particular song sequences in the film, Menon wanted "churches, water and caves" and convinced the producers to finance a trip to Malta, and in the process, the team became the first South Indian film to shoot in the country. Scenes were shot in places including Valletta, Mdina, Gozo and Comino, as well as in lanes, alleys, eight churches and during the time of a village feast. The makers brought along a crew of twenty-six people to Malta, with ten local workers also helping on the production. The shoot lasted ten days and cost approximately €90,000.[26][27]
The soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman. Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa marked the beginning of a collaboration between Rahman, Silambarasan and Gautham Vasudev Menon.[30]
The world premiere was held at BAFTA in London on 25 December 2009 and later it was relaunched in Chennai on 6 January 2010. The album consists of seven tracks.[31] The audio received good pre-release response and was marked as No. 1 in Asia, in advance bookings.[32] The album was ranked among the best musicals of 2010.[33] It retained the same tunes for the Telugu version of the film, Ye Maaya Chesave and the Hindi remake, Ekk Deewana Tha.
Oneindia.in said "The slow phase of the second half and frequent use of profane words (Chennai Tamil) are major minuses in Gautham's narration. But these are all not preventing one to enjoy the content of true and painful love of the film!"[35]
Sify said that it was "Very good" further citing "The film is a must watch for those who cares for cinema of sense and substance. It stresses the fact that Tamil cinema has to break the mould if it aims to grab eyeballs. Gautham Menon has crafted a movie that will stay in our hearts for a long, long time."[36]Indiaglitz stated "If and only if, you have all the time in the world, and you like the slow romantic genre, you'll enjoy this one."[37]
Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com called the film a "Must watch" further citing "The best part about VTV is that it revolves around people, rather than events. It's like putting a camera into the intimate, everyday life of two people and following them on their adventures. The characters go through a whirlwind of emotions, laugh and cry, and take you along with them." However, the reviewer points out certain drawbacks in the film citing "On the minus side, VTV suffers from the same defect as Vaaranam Aayiram: the second half lags in pace. The dialogues and confrontations are repetitive. There's a would-be love-track that seems unnecessary before the story takes off again."[38]
Malathi Rangarajan from The Hindu said "Twenty two-year old Karthik's true-to-life overtures, reactions and recklessness are just as you would expect from a director of Menon's calibre. It is his authentic depiction of Jessie's confusion that's all the more amazing – Menon's complete understanding of a woman's psyche bowls you over! So do the young lovers!"[39] Aravindan D. I. of nowrunning.com gave the film three stars out of five and said "Gautam Vasudev Menon's "Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya" is a clean romantic story without any deviation or sub-plots."[40]
Chennai Online said, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (VTV) is an excellent effort on the part of Gautam Vasudev Menon in narrating a clean romantic story without any deviation from the plot" and further cited "As is Menon’s forte, the dialogues and the execution of scenes are top-notch. The joys of falling of love and the pangs of separation have been portrayed well. The way Simbu nurtures his love for Jesse and the positive but ambiguous reactions from Trisha to his overtures are very nice indeed."[41]
Raman Nalluswamy Thevar, an Indian author wrote an E-book titled "One Awesome Girl" which narrates the dialogue "One-way ticket to Heart-break city" delivered by Simbu. Raman stated that his debut contains his auto-biography and semi-biography which received positive reviews.
Box office
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa took a grand opening, grossing around ₹9.7 million (US$120,000) in its first three days in Chennai.[42] The film grossed ₹157.5 million (US$2.0 million) at the Chennai box office in the 12th weekend. It totally grossed ₹500 million (US$6.3 million) and was officially declared a blockbuster.[6]
The dialogue "Inga Enna Solludhu" spoken by VTV Ganesh inspired a 2014 film of same name which was produced and acted by Ganesh.[52] The sequence when Karthik (Silambarasan) leans on the gate when he is in love with Jessie in the song "Hosanna" is parodied by Santhanam in Neethaane En Ponvasantham (2012).[53] The scene where Karthik proposes to Jessie is spoofed in Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal (2020). In the film, Pratap (played by Gautham Vasudev Menon) gifts Jessie (played by Ritu Varma) a necklace.[54] The scenes and dialogues were parodied in Tamizh Padam 2 (2018).[55] The song "Omana Penne" inspired a film of the same name, but being titled as Oh Manapenne (transl. Oh Bride).[56]
