Ethir Neechal (2013 film)

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For the 1968 film, see Ethir Neechal (1968 film).

Ethir Neechal
Ethir Neechal 2013 poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byR. S. Durai Senthilkumar
Written byR. S. Durai Senthilkumar
Produced byDhanush
Starring
CinematographyVelraj
Edited byKishore Te.
Music byAnirudh Ravichander
Production
company
Distributed byVendhar Movies[1]
Release date
  • 1 May 2013 (2013-05-01)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Ethir Neechal (transl. Swimming against the tide) is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language sports comedy drama film written and directed by R. S. Durai Senthilkumar in his directorial debut. The film stars Sivakarthikeyan, Priya Anand and Nandita Swetha. Produced by Dhanush under his studio Wunderbar Films, it was distributed by S. Madhan under the banner Vendhar Movies.[2] Principal photography commenced on 23 July 2012, and was ended on 22 February 2013. The music for the film is composed by Anirudh Ravichander, with cinematography performed by Velraj and editing by Kishore Te. The film was released on 1 May 2013 and become a blockbuster.

Plot[]

In 1985, a woman named Sivagami has complications while giving birth. Sivagami's husband prays to his native deity that if she delivers his baby successfully, he would name the baby with the name of the deity. The baby is born without any problems and as per the wish, they name the baby Kunjithapadham. As a boy, Kunjithapadham faces many problems and embarrassments due to his name, as his peer mates call him "Kunju" or "Kunji" (the private part of the male body). He decides to change his name, but his mother falls ill, and he prays to God that he would never change his name.

Years later, Sivagami dies. Kunjithapadam's friend Peter advises him to change his name in order to have a change in his life. After meeting an astrologer Gunasekara Raja, he renames himself "Harish". Luck starts to him from that day onwards. He falls in love with Geetha, a teacher, and succeeds in winning her heart. He later gets a job, and life goes smoothly for him. One day, his lottery ticket hits victory, and he must cash it in for a TV as a prize. However, the lottery has registered his name as "Kunjithapadham". He gets the TV, but Geetha finds out his true name and berates him for lying to her about his name. She tells him that he needs to succeed something in life in order to win her heart.

Harish decides to participate in the Chennai Marathon. He meets with a trainer, J. Prakash alias JP, who takes him to his former student Valli, who had quit athletics. She agrees to train Harish. Later, he sees her crying in the terrace with a photo of her deceased father. Harish asks her to tell her past. Valli was a naturally talented athlete from her young days. Her father supported her talent and spoke with many men to get her past many tournaments. She got into a state level tournament where she beat the rookie of the corrupt coach Raja Singh. Infuriated, Raja Singh accused Valli of failing a gender verification test. The board punished Valli and stopped her from participating. Heartbroken, Valli's father died of a heart attack. JP then met with an accident.

Hearing this flashback, Harish is moved and decides to win the marathon. Geetha also urges him to win it for the sake of Valli. During the marathon, Harish faces stiff competition from another one of Raja Singh's rookies, but he eventually wins the race and publicly reveals Valli's innocence. Raja Singh is arrested, and Valli resumes athletics. Harish later opens and runs a training academy under his original name. A man named Dinakaran, acting on Harish's advice, proposes his love to Valli, and she accepts.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

Dhanush signed up actor Sivakarthikeyan in his maiden production venture, directed by newcomer R. S. Durai Senthilkumar, a former assistant of Vetrimaaran. Priya Anand was signed up as heroine.[2] She revealed, that Ethir Neechal is a city-based story without cheap comedy, vulgar dialogues or inappropriate scenes.[3] The film's title was derived from the 1968 film of the same name.[4] It was reported that Dhansika of Aravaan fame was cast as the second heroine. Soon after Dhansika left the project, Vasundhara Das was chosen to reprise the role. However Nandita Swetha of Attakathi fame was signed in, rehearsing the role of an athlete.[5] Anirudh Ravichander was hired as the music director, after his debut film 3. The film's technical crew included Velraj as the cinematographer, Kishore Te as the editor, G. Durairaj handling the art direction, Anu Parthasarathy as the costume designer, Stunt Silva choreographing the action sequences[6] and Baba Bhaskar as dance choreographer.

Filming[]

The film's photo shoot involving Siva Karthikeyan and Priya Anand happened at the Set Fire Studios, Chennai on 7 June 2012.[7] The principal photography for the film was commenced on 23 July 2012, with the first shot took by Balu Mahendra.[8] Dhanush and Nayanthara will be seen in a special appearance, dancing together in the Kuthu folk dance number Sathiyama Nee Enakku (Local Boys), with Nayanthara designing costumes for herself.[9] The song was shot in Nagercoil at a Punjabi dhabha restaurant.[10][11] The film's shooting wrapped up on 22 February 2013,[12] with the post production activities, being commenced after the shoot which was completed on 24 April 2013.[1][13]

Music[]

Ethir Neechal
Soundtrack album by
Anirudh Ravichander
Released11 January 2013
Recorded2012
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length24:11
LanguageTamil
LabelSony Music
ProducerAnirudh Ravichander
Anirudh Ravichander chronology
3
(2011) 		Ethir Neechal
(2013) 		David
(2013)

Following the success of the soundtrack of 3, Dhanush hired Anirudh Ravichander to compose the soundtrack album and background score, for Ethir Neechal, marking his second feature film as music director.[14] The soundtrack features six songs that belonged to varied genres; Vaali, Dhanush and R. S. Durai Senthilkumar penned lyrics for two songs each. For the title track "Ethir Neechal" composer Anirudh hired Punjabi rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh,[15][16] and Adhi from the duo Hiphop Tamizha, to croon the rap versions of the song.[17] The album's final mixing took place in Mumbai.[18]

It was announced that Sony Music had brought the marketing rights for the film's soundtrack album.[19] The soundtrack was initially slated to be released on 20 December 2012. However it was not confirmed from official sources.[20] The making of the album was launched by the film's crew members, prior to the audio launch.[21] The tracklist was released on 9 January 2013.[22][23] The soundtrack album was released on 11 January 2013.[24][25] The release coincided with the promotional launch event held at 92.7 Big FM Radio Station with Dhanush, Sivakarthikeyan, Anirudh, Durai Senthilkumar and RJ Balaji in attendance.[26][27] To make the album launch more unique, Dhanush promoted that the film's album would be released on "Internet, CDs, YouTube and piracy sites" which received attention from movie buffs.[28][29]

The album topped the iTunes charts upon release.[30] Musicperk gave 8 out of 10 starts saying that "Anirudh seals this year".[31] Behindwoods rated 3.5 of 5 saying, "The album does well to consolidate Anirudh's sensational debut."[32] Indiaglitz gave the album 3 out of 5 stating Ethir Neechal re-introduces us to Anirudh's refreshing instrumentals and quick-impact music. Boomi Enna Suthudhe is likely to be enjoyed by most while the title track and Velicha Poove let you tune in to some interesting compositions. The lyrics are natural for most of its part, and will be liked by the youth. Our man Anirudh deserves a pat on his back for all his effort and will have a lot of promising music to offer in the upcoming years.[33] Milliblog gave a verdict "With Ethir Neechal, Anirudh proves that he’s not a one-hit or one-album wonder!"[34] India Study Channel gave 8 out of 10 to the album stating "Anirudh is back with powerful album and Ethitr Neechal is simply the best albums of recent time. It deserves special appreciation as each track belongs to different genre and still keeps the pace and freshness in each track. This is another album that proves that Anirudh is one of the best music directors hat we can rely upon in future."[35] The Times of India gave 3.5 out of 5 stating Ethir Neechal isn’t as rich as 3 in its sounding, but it’s a worthy follow up by composer Anirudh."[36] Kaushik LM reviewed it as "Ethir Neechal is a solid follow-up to 3, though sounding somewhat similar. Anirudh has created a distinct sound for himself very early in his career. Now it’s up to this youngster to prove that he can try different styles and genres."[37]

No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Nijamellam Maranthu Pochu"DhanushDhanush, Anirudh Ravichander03:45
2."Boomi Enna Suthudhe"DhanushAnirudh Ravichander04:18
3."Ethir Neechal"Vaali, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Hiphop TamizhaAnirudh Ravichander, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Hiphop Tamizha04:29
4."Velicha Poove"VaaliMohit Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal05:10
5."Un Paarvayil"R. S. Durai SenthilkumarAnirudh Ravichander, Vivek Siva01:37
6."Local Boys"R. S. Durai SenthilkumarDhanush, Velmurugan04:31
Total length:24:11

Release[]

Initially, it was speculated that, Sun Pictures had acquired the distribution rights of the film.[38] However, it was proved untrue. The distribution rights of the film were secured by Vendhar Movies. The satellite rights of the film were purchased by STAR Vijay. Ethir Neechal was initially scheduled to release on April,[39] later being pushed to 1 May 2013.[40][41] The theatrical trailer of the film was released on 13 April 2013.[42] The film was given a U certificate by the Censor Board with no cuts.[43]

Ethir Neechal was released in 300 screens across Tamil Nadu on 1 May 2013,[44] clashing with Soodhu Kavvum and Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal.[1] Apart from the Tamil Nadu release, the film was simultaneously released in the US, by Gramaphone LLC, which acquired the distribution rights.[45] The film's success was celebrated at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland, along with audio functions of three other films distribuited by Vendhar Movies.[46]

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

The Times of India gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "The first half of Ethir Neechal follows the current Tamil cinema formula of ‘laughs first, plot next’."[47] Behindwoods gave 3 out of 5 stars stating it as "A wholesome package which has something in it for everyone."[48] Baradwaj Rangan for The Hindu wrote "Sivakarthikeyan looks like he’s getting there — he’s not yet a star, at least in the leading-man sense,[sic] he gets a feature-length platform to display his comic chops".[49] The New Indian Express stated "Ethir Neechal is a mild passable entertainer".[50] News18 stated "The film starts off like every other romantic-comedy with adequate amount of comedy and drama, but there's hardly anything spectacular to rave about, including the story."[51] S. Saraswathi of Rediff gave 3.5 out of 5 stating "Ethir Neechal  is a simple city-based romantic comedy that is guaranteed to provide some wholesome family entertainment."[52] Indiaglitz gave 3.5 out of 5 stating "A romcom and a sports film , put together makes you smile and inspire."[53]

Box office[]

The film opened 80 – 90% occupancy on first day collected ₹ 4 crore.[54] The film collected ₹17.97 lakh (US$25,000) in UK and ₹10.60 lakh (US$15,000) in United States in first weekend. The film collected ₹5.51 lakh (US$7,700) in United States in first day, ₹9.12 lakh (US$13,000) in three days including Thursday previews, around ₹1.5 lakh (US$2,100) on 5 April and total collection of ₹17.97 lakh (US$25,000).[55]

References[]

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  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Priya Anand in Dhanush's home production". Sify. Archived from the original on 1 June 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  3. ^ Jeshi K. (17 March 2013). "In a happy place". Chennai, India. The Hindu. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Dhanush's 'Ethir Neechal' has Siva Karthikeyan". Sify. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  5. ^ Jeshi, K. (4 October 2012). "A good start". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  6. ^ Manigandan, K. R. (9 June 2012). "Cool connect". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
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External links[]

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