Keladi Kannmanii

Keladi Kannmanii
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Vasanth
Screenplay by	Vasanth
Story by	Ananthu
Produced by	A. Sundaram
Starring	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Raadhika Ramesh Aravind Anju
Cinematography	R. Raghunatha Reddy
Edited by	Ganesh–Kumar
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Production company	Vivek Chithra Productions
Release date	27 July 1990 (1990-07-27)
Running time	140 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Keladi Kannmanii (transl. Listen, sweetheart; also spelt Keladi Kanmani) is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Vasanth in his debut. The film stars S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Raadhika, Ramesh Aravind and Anju. It revolves around a terminally ill woman who seeks to make amends for a past mistake before she dies.

Producer A. Sundaram approached Vasanth to make a film for his banner Vivek Chithra Productions, although Vasanth did not have a story. Ananthu created the story of Keladi Kannmani, which Vasanth developed into a screenplay. Cinematography was handled by R. Raghunatha Reddy, editing by the duo Ganesh–Kumar, and Maghi made his debut as art director.

Keladi Kannmani was released on 27 July 1990 and became a commercial success, running for over 285 days at theatres. It won three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards (including Second Best Film) and Raadhika won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil.

Plot[]

Anu is a college student; her fellow student Sashi desperately tries to win her affection. Sashi and Anu play various pranks on each other. Anu eventually admits her affection for Sashi and they begin a courtship. All seems to proceed well, except that Anu is strangely melancholic from time to time; she repeats to Sashi that she senses an imminent danger to their relationship, although she is unable to pinpoint what the threat or describe why it may materialise so soon.

Some things are revealed when Anju begins to get sharp headaches frequently. Her father, A. R. Rangaraj (ARR), a widower, tries to help her, but is not able to get to the bottom of the matter. ARR is a gentle old man who has devoted most of his life to his daughter. On her 18th birthday, Anu visits her doctor who confirms she has bilateral renal artery stenosis and is almost certain to succumb within a year. She may require an operation within that time, but the likelihood of her coming through it alive is minimal.

Anu requests the doctor to keep her illness a secret between them. Unknown to Anu, her father accidentally discovers it when the local pharmacist sends some prescription drugs through him. When Anu discusses the matter with Sashi, he expresses his support despite his grave sadness (in proportion to his love for her). Anu reveals a thread from her past that may explain her melancholic mood.

The film flashes back to several years before, when ARR had a happy family. Anu, then five or six, attended school; ARR handled his job and his wife managed the home. When ARR lost his wife to an illness, Anu took this particularly hard. Yet, ARR tried to help cope with it somehow and move on. Some time thereafter, ARR met Sharada at a wedding. Sometime thereafter, ARR sought a tutor for young Anu, and Sharada happened to take the position. The friendship evolved into a courtship, to the point where ARR was about to propose marriage.

As time went on, Sharada realised her own bindings. Both her parents were deaf-mute, and she was the only way they could communicate with the rest of the world, this left her torn between her filial duty and her personal aspirations. Things were worsened when Anu experienced feelings of motherly yearning and was simply unable to accept Sharada (or anyone else for that matter) in the role of a mother. Sharada is bewildered and ultimately frustrated by all this. And in spite of ARR's assurances that they can work it out, she refused his proposal and moved to Bangalore to take a position as a schoolteacher. Since that time, Anu has been plagued by guilt for her part in the break-up.

The doctors pronounce a date and time for the unavoidable operation. Anu takes this with stoic grief, and asks Sashi for one last thing: to find Sharada and attempt to reunite her with ARR. They find an old picture of Sharada, and Sashi recognises her as the woman he had met in Bangalore a few weeks ago. He sets off on a frantic hunt for Sharada. On the day of the operation, Sharada happens to be in Chennai en route to a training event in the US. After a tricky set of near-misses, Sashi is able to locate her in the nick of time, and bring her to Anu and ARR moments before Anu gets anaesthetised. Anu later goes for one last ride with Sashi on his motorbike and right before they leave, she mentions that she has gained faith in surviving the surgery.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

When film producer A. Sundaram approached Vasanth, an erstwhile assistant of K. Balachander, to make a film for his banner Vivek Chithra Productions, Vasanth was sceptical; he recalled, "Maybe he thought that just like how he was making [Pudhea Paadhai] with Bhagyaraj's assistant Parthiban at that time, he should make one with KB sir's assistant. I said I'd get back to him." Vasanth's family scolded him for he "should be thankful that I’m getting a producer without me getting a story ready and approaching many producers to produce it".^[5] Sundaram told him to return once he had a story ready.^[6]

Vasanth wanted to make films like his mentor Balachander, Mahendran and Balu Mahendra so he decided to make one "that was mature for my age. So, a romance between two mature people was the starting point".^[5] The story was created by Ananthu, another assistant of Balachander, which Vasanth developed into a screenplay.^[3] The film, titled Keladi Kannmanii, was Vasanth's directorial debut,^[7] and was named after the song of the same name from Balachander's Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal (1989).^[8] Cinematography was handled by R. Raghunatha Reddy, editing by the duo Ganesh–Kumar, and Maghi made his debut as art director.^[9]

Casting[]

Vasanth approached S. P. Balasubrahmanyam to portray ARR. The pair had earlier worked in Manathil Urudhi Vendum (1987) where Vasanth worked as an assistant director. Vasanth was impressed with his realistic acting style and felt a "strong impression of him as a good actor, so we roped him in as an acting coup". Balasubrahmanyam was initially hesitant to accept the offer as he did not want Vasanth to take a risk of making a film with him as a lead actor. Vasanth remained firm with his selection because he wanted ARR "to be a character, which would not be possible with a popular face".^[5]

Suhasini was Vasanth's first choice for the role of Sharada, but she could not accept the offer due to busy schedules; Raadhika was chosen instead. Ramesh Aravind was cast as Sashi because Vasanth worked with him in the Kannada film Sundara Swapnagalu (1986).^[5] According to Ramesh, he was not the original choice for the role; he said Vasanth approached him because the original actor left.^[10] For the role of Anu, Sukanya and Ramya Krishnan were initial choices before Anju was chosen, while Neena played the character as a child after Vasanth saw her in Idhayathai Thirudathe, the Tamil-dubbed version of the Telugu film Geethanjali (1989).^[5]

Filming[]

While scouting for filming locations, Vasanth came across an old house which was available for filming only for two days; he decided this would be the original house of Sharada.^[11] The first shot Vasanth directed was the scene where Sharada cries over the death of her parents.^[12][13] Before filming the scene, Raadhika asked for some time to prepare; she came forty-five minutes later and finished filming the scene in one take.^[11] Ramesh's first scenes to be filmed were those with Raadhika; he had only three days to film those scenes as Raadhika was due to leave for London soon after. His other scenes, including those with Anju, were filmed after he worked on his call-sheet dates.^[10]

Due to Balasubrahmanyam's various playback singing commitments, he was available to shoot only for two hours everyday.^[9] The scooter that Balasubrahmanyam drove as ARR was a Bajaj Chetak.^[14] The song "Mannil Indha Kaadhal" was filmed at a beach in East Coast Road, Mahabalipuram.^[15][16]

Soundtrack[]

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.^[17] The song "Nee Pathi Naan Pathi" is set in Chakravakam, a Carnatic raga,^[18][19] and "Mannil Indha Kaadhal" is set in Keeravani.^[20] The song "Varanam Aayiram" is a ragamalika, i. e. a song set in multiple ragas; one stanza is set in Nayaki.^[21][22] "Mannil Indha Kaadhal" was not originally planned to appear in the film; Vasanth wanted to showcase Balasubrahmanyam's singing prowess in a scene, but did not know how to. The idea of "breathless singing" eventually struck Vasanth, and after he shared this idea, Balasubrahmanyam agreed.^[5] The song has Balasubrahmanyam singing two stanzas seemingly without taking a single breath in between the lines.^[23] Vasanth initially proposed that the entire song be sung in one breath, until Ilaiyaraaja told to restrict that to specific stanzas. Balasubrahmanyam took 40 seconds to sing the second breathless stanza; he sang breathlessly for the first 25 seconds, and the last 15 seconds after briefly inhaling. It was therefore edited to look like he sang the entire stanza without taking breath.^[3] When Ilaiyaraaja asked if the song "Karpoora Bommai Ondru" could be used in bits throughout the film, rather than as a whole at once, Vasanth agreed because "it would be like something that haunts the characters, and make audiences expect for the moment when we would play it in its entirety".^[5] The entire soundtrack (except for "Mannil Indha Kaadhal") was completed within 45 minutes.^[5][13] For the Telugu-dubbed version O Papa Lali, all lyrics were written by Rajashri.^[24]

Release[]

Keladi Kannmanii was released on 27 July 1990.^[25] The film was a commercial success, running for over 285 days in theatres,^[13] thereby becoming a silver jubilee film.^[26] The success of the film enabled Ramesh Aravind to obtain acting chances in other Tamil films.^[10]

Critical reception[]

N. Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express wrote, "Class photography by Raghunatha Reddy, brilliant decors created by debutant art director Maghi along with choice of new-look locales, rich music music by [Ilaiyaraaja] and excellent staging of action by director Vasanth – even in his first film, this protege of K. Balachander shows a great deal of competence – put Vivek Chitra's [Keladi Kannmanii] in the top bracket."^[27] Ananda Vikatan, in a review dated 5 August 1990, said Vasanth had taken a weighty script in his very first attempt and told it very clearly without any confusion for the audience, that he demonstrated his self-confidence by choosing Balasubrahmanyam for the male lead and Anju for the role of his daughter, and that he made his guru (Balachander) proud with this film, rating it 55 out of 100.^[28]

Accolades[]

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Dhananjayan, G. (2011). The Best of Tamil Cinema, 1931 to 2010: 1977–2010. Galatta Media. OCLC 733724281.
• Sundararaman (2007) [2005]. Raga Chintamani: A Guide to Carnatic Ragas Through Tamil Film Music (2nd ed.). Chennai: Pichhamal Chintamani. OCLC 295034757.

External links[]

• Keladi Kannmanii at IMDb