''May Maadham'' () is a 1994 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 romantic musical film directed by Balu and produced by G. Venkateswaran via GV Films. The film stars

Vineeth Vineeth Radhakrishnan (born 23 August 1969) is an Indian actor, Bharatanatyam dancer, voice artist and choreographer who primarily works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. He has also appeared in a few Hindi and Kannada films. He h ...

and Sonali Kulkarni, and has music by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

. It is based on the 1953 American film ''

Roman Holiday ''Roman Holiday'' is a 1953 American romantic comedy film directed and produced by William Wyler. It stars Audrey Hepburn as a princess out to see Rome on her own and Gregory Peck as a reporter. Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress f ...

''. The film was released on 9 September 1994.

Cast

Production

Ajith Kumar Ajith Kumar Subramaniam (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. To date, he has starred in over 63 films, and won four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Ta ...

was initially considered to play the lead role before

was cast. The film marks Sonali Kulkarni's only Tamil film to date. She was encouraged to audition for the film by

Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...

. The song "Madrasa Suthi" was filmed in

Marina Beach Marina Beach, or simply the Marina, is a natural urban beach in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, along the Bay of Bengal. The beach runs from near Fort St. George in the north to Foreshore Estate in the south, a distance of , making it the second longest ...

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

with lyrics by

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he firs ...

. The song "Margazhi Poove" is set in Hindolam raaga, while "Enmel Vizhundha Mazhaithuli" is set in Kapi. In a 2018 interview, Vairamuthu recalled that after he had written most of the lyrics for "Margazhi Poove", Rahman wanted him to write further lyrics for "a short tune that plays between the BGM". Vairamuthu felt it was impossible to fit words into the tune but Rahman remained adamant. Though irritated, Vairamuthu accepted the challenge and found the perfect lyrics: "Venba... Paadivarum Vandukku/ Senthaen... Thandhuvidum sempookkal/ Konjam... Paadavarum Pennukku/ Sandham... Thandhuvidum Mynahkkal". Rahman reused the songs in the

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film '' Love You Hamesha'' (2022).

Release and reception

''May Maadham'' was released on 9 September 1994. Malini Mannath of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' wrote on the same day, "Despite its flaws, ''May Maadham'' is an engaging little film that is worth viewing". Thulasi 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 ...

'' appreciated the film for Sreeram's cinematography, Rahman's music, Mohan's dialogues and the cast performances. The film was commercially successful, breaking GV Films' success streak that began in 1990. The film was subsequently dubbed in Telugu under the title ''Hrudayanjali'' in 1998.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1990s Indian films 1990s romantic musical films 1990s Tamil-language films 1994 directorial debut films 1994 films Films produced by G. Venkateswaran Films scored by A. R. Rahman Films set in Chennai Films shot in Chennai Films shot in Ooty Indian remakes of American films Indian romantic musical films Tamil-language Indian films