Kondattam
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''Kondattam'' ( ) is a 1998 Indian
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
-language
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars Arjun and Simran. It was released on 6 February 1998.


Plot

Raja is a rich fun-loving man, who lives alone in an bungalow and owns a company where his friends Anand, Babu and Siva will be working at. Despite being rich, Raja lost both his parents and often yearns for love and affection hence he often spends time in homes of his friends. Raja often plays pranks on his friends and others however a boat ride with his friends turns tragic after his friends die in an accident. Raja is heart-broken after his fiancée Lalitha blames him for his friends' deaths. Feeling remorse for his actions, Raja writes off his properties to the families of his deceased friends. He gets a call that Anand's wife died after giving birth to a baby boy. Raja gives the baby to Anand's family who wants him to stay in their home for some time. Except the older couple, other members initially do not like his presence but he wins their love and affection. Raja discovers that someone is attempting to kill the child. He then gets himself into a situation where he can continue staying in the house and detect the mystery. Lalitha who is engaged to be married to Gopikrishna comes to stay in the same home and still hates Raja. During the naming ceremony of the baby, the family learns that Raja killed Anand. Arjun's servant reveals that Anand's property will be inherited by the baby. While getting thrashed by their car driver Pazhani, Raja who accidentally sees Pazhani's ring realises he was the one who attempted to kill the baby. Pazhani was in love with Purushothaman's daughter and had an eye on the property, after coming to know that child is the heir of the property he tried to kill it. In the end, Raja marries Lalitha and becomes a part of the huge family.


Cast


Production

The film was developed with the working title of ''Uthama Puthiran'', before the team changed title.
Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...
was initially considered to play the patriarchal head of the family, though his unavailability meant that
Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred as Kaadhal Mannan (King of Romance) for his romantic roles in films. G ...
was selected instead. Since Ravikumar could not shoot the film in Chennai due to the 1997 FEFSI strike, he shifted the crew to Kerala and shot there but there also he faced problems while he planned to shoot at Mauritius island which did not happen; however the opposite teams who were part of strike helped the crew to shoot. Ravikumar revealed this was the first Tamil film to be shot inside Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad.


Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by M. M. Keeravani, with lyrics by Kalidasan. The song "Mai Vizhi Un Imaigalile" is based on "Escape" by the American band
The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson (musician), Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar acro ...
. ''Kondattam'' and '' Chandramukhi 2'' (2023) are the only Tamil films where Keeravani was credited by his real name, unlike his other Tamil ventures where he was usually credited as Maragathamani.


Release and reception

The film was initially announced to be released in
Diwali Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual v ...
season of 1997 but got delayed, and was released on 6 February 1998. D. S. Ramanujam of ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' wrote that Ravikumar "weaves an interesting and entertaining tale of family sentiments and friendship of the unusual variety, to some extent Quixotic too, in Sailakshmi Moviemakers' 'Kondattam''" He added, "This film is bound to boost the stock of Arjun who shows maturity in taking on a part that requires emotional display which he does without sweating much and the fire in his action scenes have not diminished". K. N. Vijiyan wrote for ''
New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as a local offshoot of Singapore-based ''The Straits Ti ...
'', "It is not a bad production but not what you would expect from Ravikumar. The fun factor is grossly missing". Ji of ''
Kalki Kalki (), also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnavism, Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages i ...
'' wrote the film's central loophole is that the family members do not seem to shower affection on each other despite a very large family that is affectionate. Ji said it is understandable that Ravikumar has tried to bring a freshness to the story and scenes. The film did not do well at the box-office.


Notes


References


External links

* * {{K. S. Ravikumar 1990s Indian films 1990s Tamil-language films 1998 drama films 1998 films Films about families Films directed by K. S. Ravikumar Films scored by M. M. Keeravani Films shot in Kerala Films with screenplays by K. S. Ravikumar Indian drama films Tamil-language drama films Tamil-language Indian films