Ullam Ketkume
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''Ullam Ketkumae...'' () is a 2005
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
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
coming of age film In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, ...
written, cinematographed and directed by Jeeva, with dialogues by Sujatha. The film stars
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,
Arya ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''),Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood i ...
,
Laila Leila (, , ) is a feminine given name primarily found in the Middle East, including all Arab countries, as well as Iran, Turkey, and Israel. In the Latin alphabet, the name is commonly spelled in multiple ways, including Leila, Layla, Laylah, ...
,
Asin Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononyomusly as Asin, is an Indian former actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu films. Asin is a recipient of List of awards and nominations ...
and Pooja as five college students. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by
Harris Jayaraj J. Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil cinema, Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Cinema of Andhra Pradesh, Telugu and two films i ...
, while
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 ...
penned the lyrics for the songs. The film tells the reunion of five friends who were together at college and exploring their relationships during the years. The film released after several delays in 2005 and went on to win critical and commercial success. The film marked the first successful film for Jeeva and Shaam, while Arya and Asin received several film offers after the release of the film.


Plot

The film is about a group of five college friends — Shyam, Emaan, Pooja, Priya and Irene. The friends gather for Emaan's wedding, years after everyone has parted ways. The film starts with Pooja leaving the United States to go to Indian cricketer and her friend Emaan's wedding. Meanwhile, back in India, everyone else is helping Emaan with the preparations for his wedding and catching up with their long-lost college friends. The movie goes through series of flashbacks of old memories during their college days. Emaan and Irene meet for the first time after years. It turns out that they were once in love during their college days, but Irene, who is from an unstable family, decides to part ways with Emaan after he loses focus on his longtime goal of becoming a successful cricketer. Another flashback occurs when Shyam gets reminded of Pooja, a fun-loving tomboyish and naive girl who is best friends with him. Shyam realizes that he is in love with Priya, but on the other hand, Pooja realizes that she is falling for Shyam. Shyam and Pooja had respectively decided to propose their love interests on the coming Valentine's Day, but on that day, Pooja learns beforehand that Shyam is in love with Priya instead. Heartbroken by what she has just learned, she decides to keep her love for him a secret. When Shyam proposes to Priya, she rejects his love as she believes in a more traditional approach towards finding a life partner. She reveals to him that she will be getting married, right after their graduation, to the man of her parents' choice. Pooja eventually goes to the US for her higher studies and settles down there. Shyam has also tried to move on since then and becomes a fashion designer. The film transitions back to the present on Emaan's wedding day. Everyone attends his wedding as Pooja finally arrives. She is no longer the same girl she was back then as she is much more mature now and not as tomboyish as she was back then. Over sometime, Shyam has come to realize that he missed Pooja's presence and is much fond of her now. He realizes that he had failed to appreciate her all those times when she was there with him. The day after Emaan's wedding, Pooja leaves to catch her flight back to USA. Right before her departure, she decides to pass Shyam the Valentine's Day card that she had wanted to hand him during their college days and reveals her love for him. Shyam realizes that Pooja is the one that was meant to be for him and not Priya. The movie ends with Shyam accepting Pooja's love for him.


Cast


Production


Development and casting

In April 2002, where it was reported that
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and
Richa Pallod Richa Pallod(born August 30,1980) is an Indian model and actress who appears in films of 5 languages. Predominantly in Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu, she has also been featured in Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam language films ...
were going to team up with director Jeeva, who had launched Shaam in '' 12B'' ''(2001)'', for a college love story titled ''Pepsi''.
Susi Ganeshan Ganesan Subbiah (born 25 August 1969), popularly known as Susi Ganesan, is an Indian film director, producer, and writer who predominately works in Tamil films apart from a few Hindi remakes of his own films. Early life Ganesan was born on (25 ...
had appealed for the title ''Pepsi'' for a film; however, since the title ''Pepsi'' was registered by Jeeva, Ganeshan ended up renaming his film ''
Five Star Five Star (also styled as 5 Star) were a British Pop music, pop group, formed in 1983 and comprising siblings Stedman Pearson, Stedman, Lorraine, Denise Pearson, Denise, Doris, and Delroy Pearson. From 1985 to 1988, Five Star had four top-20 a ...
'' (2002). The title ''Pepsi'' had stemmed from the first letter from the names of the five friends — Priya, Emaan, Pooja, Shyam and Irene. The film was later renamed and the film took part of the brand
Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...
's tagline in Tamil Nadu – ''Ullam Ketkumae More'' – as the new title.
Laila Leila (, , ) is a feminine given name primarily found in the Middle East, including all Arab countries, as well as Iran, Turkey, and Israel. In the Latin alphabet, the name is commonly spelled in multiple ways, including Leila, Layla, Laylah, ...
was reported to be the lead heroine among the cast.
Asin Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononyomusly as Asin, is an Indian former actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu films. Asin is a recipient of List of awards and nominations ...
signed the film and the film was meant to mark her début in Tamil films. This was the second film that Asin worked on after the Malayalam film ''
Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka ''Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka'' () is a 2001 Indian Malayalam-language satirical film directed by Sathyan Anthikkad and written by Sreenivasan. The film stars Kunchacko Boban, Samyuktha Varma and Asin. The story follows Jayakanthan (Kunch ...
'' (2001). While working as a software engineer, Jamshad was approached by Jeeva to audition for the film in 2003 after Jeeva spotted him walking in his neighbourhood. Jeeva gave Jamshad the stage name of
Arya ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''),Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood i ...
for this film. Pooja was also signed on to make her début. Srinath, who worked as an assistant director under Jeeva in ''12B'', was cast in this film as Shaam and Arya's friend. Rajesh dubbed for Malayalam actor
Murali Murali may refer to: People Mononyms *Murali (Malayalam actor) (1954–2009), name of Malayalam film actor Muraleedharan Pillai, who appeared in ''Neythukaran'' and ''Aadhaaram'' *Murali (Tamil actor) (1964–2010), Tamil actor who appeared ...
in the film. Model Hemanth Kumar was cast as a college student.


Filming

Art director
Thota Tharani Thota Tharani is an Indian art director, production designer and painter known for his work in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi cinema. With over six decades of experience, he is recognized for his detailed set designs and visual storytellin ...
created a college campus for the film to be shot in, with his work drawing appreciation. A scene featuring an inter college day cultural had 100 students from various states take part in the shooting while decorations and a podium were put up for a marriage scene in Taj Connemara hotel.
Raju Sundaram Basuva Raju Sundaram (born 6 September 1968) is an Indian dance choreographer, actor and film director, who works primarily in Tamil, Telugu films also appeared in Kannada and Malayalam films. He appeared as an actor in films like ''Jeans'' (19 ...
choreographed five songs including a song shot at hot water springs in
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. The film went through production hell, with three years being spent on the announcement till release. The film was supposed to be the debut film of Arya, Asin, and Pooja. The delay of the film enabled the lead actors to gain popularity with other releases: '' Arinthum Ariyamalum'' (2005) for Arya, '' M. Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi'' (2004) for Asin, and ''
Jay Jay ''Jay Jay'' is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Saran. The film stars R. Madhavan, Amogha and Pooja, while Kalabhavan Mani, Charle, Dhamu and Malavika Avinash also play key supporting roles. Produc ...
'' (2003) and ''
Attahasam ''Attahasam'' () () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Saran. The film stars Ajith Kumar in dual roles alongside Pooja while Sujatha, Nizhalgal Ravi, Babu Antony, Karunas, and Ramesh Khanna play supporting ro ...
'' (2004) for Pooja. Despite giving indications that the film would release after delays on 14 April 2004 it was further pushed back due to financial issues. In May 2005, the Supreme Court finally cleared the decks for the release, as earlier the Madras High court by a 25 February order appointed "Joint Receivers" for the film, which was objected by Prasad Labs who had gone to Supreme Court. It was agreed that the collections from the film will be received by "joint receivers" who will pay Prasad Labs for 72 prints of the film.


Music

The music and background score were composed by
Harris Jayaraj J. Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil cinema, Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Cinema of Andhra Pradesh, Telugu and two films i ...
and became popular upon release.


Release

''Ullam Ketkumae'' was released on 3 June 2005 and became a commercial success at the box office with pundits describing the film as a "super hit". The film took a 90 percent opening in four Chennai screens with large collections reported at the Devi theatre in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
in the opening weekend. The film opened at number two at the Chennai box office despite stiff competition, just below the
Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 170 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, ...
starrer ''
Chandramukhi ''Chandramukhi'' () is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language psychological comedy horror film written and directed by P. Vasu. It is a remake of Vasu's Kannada film '' Apthamitra'' (2004) which itself was based on the Malayalam film '' Manichitrathaz ...
''. This was the first commercially successful film for both Jeeva and Shaam after their previous venture ''12B'' did not fare as well. The film was also dubbed in Telugu as ''Preminchi Choodu'' and released on 30 March 2006.


Critical reception

A critic from ''
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'' gave the film a verdict of above average and stated that "On the whole, Jeeva has been successful to make an entertainer with a very good story. Everything, from the choice of lead actors, their lines and gestures, interpersed with perfect song-n-dance is perfectly coordinated". Malini Mannath of ''Chennai Online'' opined that Laila's performance was the "surprise packet" and that "Jeeva's camera provides some colourful visuals and together with Harris Jairaj's peppy numbers adds to the film's entertainment value. ''Ullam Kelkumae'' is an urban ''
Autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...
'', worth a watch". Visual Dasan 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 ...
'' praised Jeeva's realistic characters, the acting of the cast, and Harris Jayaraj's music. He said the film can be rewatched for the feelings it induces. Regarding the Telugu dubbed version, a critic from ''Full Hyderabad'' wrote that "It’s refreshingly free of sweaty, gory fights and ugly villains. Instead it’s eye-candy all the way, from beginning to end. Now that’s what the best Telugu films always are, so this definitely calls for a closer look".


Legacy

''Ullam Ketkumae'' was notably one of the first Tamil films in the reunion genre. Several news websites including ''
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'' and ''
The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...
'' listed this film as one to watch on Friendship Day along with several other films including ''
Thalapathi ''Thalapathi'' () is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language gangster drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam, and produced by G. Venkateswaran. The film stars Rajinikanth and Mammootty with Arvind Swamy in his feature-film debut, Jaishankar, ...
'' (1991), ''
Kadhal Desam ''Kadhal Desam'' ( ) is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language romance film written and directed by Kathir and produced by K. T. Kunjumon. The film stars Vineeth, Abbas and Tabu. This marked Abbas's feature debut and Tabu's Tamil debut. The supporting ...
'' (1996), ''
Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...
'' (2001), ''
Chennai 600028 ''Chennai 600028'' is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language sports comedy film written and directed by Venkat Prabhu in his directorial debut. It stars Jai, Shiva, Premji, Aravind Akash, Nithin Sathya and newcomers Ajay Raj, Vijay Vasanth, Prasanna, ...
'' (2007), ''
Naadodigal ''Naadodigal'' () is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Samuthirakani and produced by S. Michael Rayappan of Global Infotainment. The film stars Sasikumar along with Vijay Vasanth and Bharani, while Ananya ...
'' (2009), and '' Nanban'' (2012). The success of the film brought a series of offers for
Shaam Syria, ( or ''Shaam'') also known as Greater Syria or Syria-Palestine, is a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. The region boundaries have changed throughout history. Howe ...
, whose career was struggling prior to release. The success of the film prompted '' ABCD'', another film starring Shaam, to release two months later.
Arya ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''),Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood i ...
and
Asin Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononyomusly as Asin, is an Indian former actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu films. Asin is a recipient of List of awards and nominations ...
were able to consolidate their positions as rising actors.


References


External links

* {{Sujatha 2000s buddy films 2000s Indian films 2000s Tamil-language films 2005 films 2005 romantic drama films Films directed by Jeeva Films scored by Harris Jayaraj Films set in universities and colleges Indian buddy drama films Indian romantic drama films Tamil-language Indian films Tamil-language romantic drama films