''Unakkum Enakkum'' (), also known by its formal title ''Unakkum Enakkum ... Something Something'', is a 2006 Indian
Tamil-language
romantic drama film
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
directed by
M. Raja. A remake of Telugu film ''
Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana
''Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana'' (; ) is a 2005 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film directed by Prabhu Deva in his directorial debut and produced by M. S. Raju under Sumanth Art Productions who gave the screenplay as well. The film star ...
'' (2005), it stars
Prabhu
''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...
,
Jayam Ravi
Mohan Ravi (born 10 September 1980), better known by his stage name Jayam Ravi, is an Indian actor who works in the Tamil film industry. He has won a Filmfare Award and three SIIMA Awards. The son of veteran film editor A. Mohan, Ravi made hi ...
and
Trisha in the lead roles and an ensemble cast that includes
Richa Pallod
Richa Pallod is an Indian model and actress who predominantly appears in Hindi films.besides Hindi, she has been featured in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam language films. After appearing as a child artiste in ''Lamhe'' (1991), she appea ...
,
K. Bhagyaraj,
Geetha and comedians
Santhanam and
Ganja Karuppu
Ganja Karuppu is an Indian actor who has predominantly appeared in comedy roles in Tamil cinema. After making his debut in Bala's ''Pithamagan'' (2003), Ganja Karuppu experienced success in the late 2000s with his roles in '' Raam'' (2005), ' ...
in supporting roles. The score and soundtrack was composed by
Devi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad (; born 2 August 1979) is an Indian film composer, lyricist, singer-songwriter and performer. Popularly known by his initials DSP, he is best known for his work in Telugu-language films, and has also worked in a few Tamil film ...
, who also scored the music in the original version of the film, whilst cinematography was handled by
A. Venkatesh and editing by S. Suraj Kavee.
Plot
The film starts with Muthupandi (
Prabhu Ganesan
Prabhu Ganesan (born 25 December 1956), known professionally as Prabhu, is an Indian actor, businessman and film producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He is the son of veteran actor Sivaji Ganesan. He is popularly known as ''Ilaya Th ...
) sitting alone in his jail cell when the police officer (
Vijayakumar) comes to meet and talk with him. Muthupandi is getting released the next day and expresses his feelings of seeing his married sister Kavitha (
Trisha) and his nephew. On the police officer's request, Muthupandi tells his own flashback.
Muthupandi took care of his only sister Kavitha, following their mother’s early death when they were young. Muthupandi lived in
Panpoli, a remote village near
Tenkasi
Tenkasi is a town and headquarters of the Tenkasi district in Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Being one of the most significant spiritual and cultural places in South Tamilnadu,Tenkasi houses The Kutraleeshwarar temple (Chitra Sabha), one of the ...
and raised up Kavitha with a lot of care and affection. In the meantime, Muthupandi had an aversion towards arrogant and rich people in the society, as his father (
O. A. K. Sundar
O. A. K. Sundar (born 3 January 1970) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Tamil cinema and television. He is known for his antagonistic roles starting with ''Virumaandi''. He played the main character in the television series, ''Romapuri Pan ...
), who was once rich, abandoned his mother (
Sriranjini) following which she died due to depression.
Santhosh (
Jayam Ravi
Mohan Ravi (born 10 September 1980), better known by his stage name Jayam Ravi, is an Indian actor who works in the Tamil film industry. He has won a Filmfare Award and three SIIMA Awards. The son of veteran film editor A. Mohan, Ravi made hi ...
) was the only son of a
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
-settled
Tamil business tycoon named Krishnan (
K. Bhagyaraj) and Janaki (
Geetha). He came to
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...
along with Janaki to attend the wedding of his cousin Lalitha alias Lalli's (
Richa Pallod
Richa Pallod is an Indian model and actress who predominantly appears in Hindi films.besides Hindi, she has been featured in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam language films. After appearing as a child artiste in ''Lamhe'' (1991), she appea ...
) wedding. Lalli was Kavitha's best friend, and she too came to Chennai a few days before the wedding. Santhosh, a fun-loving person, developed an attraction immediately after seeing Kavitha, but Kavitha didn't reciprocate his feelings, and maintained a distance with Santhosh.
Slowly, Santhosh and Kavitha became good friends, and love later blossomed between them. Shalini alias Shalu (
Tejashree
Tejashree (born Sonali Jaikumar Khele) is an Indian actress who has appeared predominantly in Tamil films. Besides, she has also acted in Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati and Marathi films.
Tejashree is originally a from Nashik ( Tivandha Lane, Bhad ...
) was the daughter of Santhosh’s uncle Ravichandran's (
Cochin Haneefa
Muhammed Haneefa (22 April 1951 – 2 February 2010), better known by his stage name Cochin Haneefa, was an Indian actor, film director, and screenwriter. He started his career in the 1970s mainly portraying villainous roles, before going on t ...
) friend Jagadhalapradhaban alias JP (
Manivannan
S. Manivannan Rajagopal (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013), better known by his mononym Manivannan, was an Indian film director, actor and activist who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and also worked in a few Telugu & Malayalam films. In a care ...
), and she developed an infatuation towards Santhosh. Janaki got furious knowing about Santhosh and Kavitha’s love affair, as she thought that Kavitha was poor and from low societal status. On the day of Lalli’s wedding when they sent Santhosh away to buy some gifts for Lalli, Janaki and JP spoke ill of Kavitha and asked her to leave the place before Santhosh's return. When Kavitha was about to leave the place, Muthupandi suddenly arrived with his friend Karuppayya (
Ganja Karuppu
Ganja Karuppu is an Indian actor who has predominantly appeared in comedy roles in Tamil cinema. After making his debut in Bala's ''Pithamagan'' (2003), Ganja Karuppu experienced success in the late 2000s with his roles in '' Raam'' (2005), ' ...
) and was shocked to see her condition. He got angry, scolded everyone there for hurting his sister, and also took her back to Panpoli. Santhosh, who was still upset as Kavitha left him, learnt from Lalli what has happened the previous day. He went to the room where Kavitha stayed and found her horse clay doll, her favourite doll which Muthupandi made for her and modified by Santhosh after Shalu broke it out of anger and jealousy. While waiting for a connecting flight in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
, Santhosh escaped from Janaki and went back to Tenkasi instead, with the idea of heading to Kavitha's village. When he arrived in the village, everyone got shocked. Muthupandi didn't like Santhosh because of Janaki’s attitude and thought that he too would ill-treat Kavitha in the future.
Santhosh apologized to Muthupandi for the misunderstandings and requested him to get Kavitha married to him. Hence Muthupandi came with a challenge. He allotted an acre of agricultural land to Santhosh and asked him to do farming there. Santhosh, in order to prove his love for Kavitha, challenged him that he would cultivate one more bundle in the end. When Muthupandi agreed, Santhosh started work, although he didn't know farming. Santhosh tried hard to do farming, and somehow, he managed to learn cultivation. Krishnan came to Tenkasi to confront Kavitha and Muthpandi and bring back Santhosh. He saw Santhosh living a typical farmer's life, and eating plain rice with chilli powder and got triggered emotionally. He tried to convince Santhosh and asked him to come back to London. When Santhosh said that he believed in his love for Kavitha and didn't wish to return, Krishnan went to confront Kavitha, who was the cause for his son's condition.
Krishnan overheard Kavitha's conversation with her servant and realized that she too had been sleeping on the floor despite cold conditions and proper bed and was eating the same food as Santhosh. Krishnan felt overwhelmed thinking about the young lovers and blessed Kavitha. He also told her that their true love would win and asked her to stay strong.
Meanwhile, JP and Shalu wanted Santhosh to lose so that he would return. They sought help from a local goon named "Mark" Mayandi (
Kalabhavan Mani
Kunnisseri Veettil Raman Mani (1 January 1971 – 6 March 2016), better known by his stage name Kalabhavan Mani, was an Indian actor and singer. Mani started his career as a mimicry artist with the Kalabhavan comedy troupe. He had starred in o ...
) to distract Santhosh. Also, there was a factionist named Sivaji (
Kadhal Dhandapani), a local rich man in the village. His son wanted to marry Kavitha at any cost. The cultivation was completed, and rice grains were bundled in both Santhosh and Muthupandi’s farms.
One night, when Sivaji's son tried to burn Santhosh's land, it backfired, and Mayandi intervened the chaos and got burned on his back. He also set the shed on fire where Santhosh was staying. Everyone tried to extinguish the fire and Santhosh rescued Muthupandi from a near accident due to the fire. Also, he saved Kavitha’s horse doll. On the day before the counting, Mayandi took a few bundles from Santhosh and placed it along with Muthupandi’s so that Santhosh would lose the challenge. The next day, Muthupandi revealed to his guardian, a railway manager (
Moulee) that he added extra bundles in Santhosh's so that he could win. He also revealed that Santhosh was the right match for his sister. Santhosh won the challenge as he had cultivated more compared to Muthupandi, following which he agreed for their wedding.
Sivaji and his son got angry upon seeing this. His son planned to forcefully marry Kavitha. JP and Mayandi also got angry, and they plotted to murder Muthupandi. They kidnapped Kavitha but were beaten up by Santhosh and Muthupandi. A fight erupted in which Sivaji’s son was killed by Santhosh, who saved Kavitha, while JP and Sivaji were violently defeated by Muthupandi. When police arrived at the spot, Muthupandi took the blame for the murder and requested Santhosh to marry Kavitha and lead a happy life. He got jailed for seven years.
Now Muthupandi completes telling his story and the officer gets surprised for seeing such a golden personality. When he asks him why is he telling the truth a day before completing his sentence, Muthupandi says that he wants his sister to stay happy forever with the man she loves. The officer feels proud of him and blesses him.
When Muthupandi gets released, he gets shocked upon seeing Santhosh and Kavitha still unmarried and waiting for him in wedding attire. Santhosh and Kavitha were waiting to conduct the marriage only after Muthupandi is released. Muthupandi feels proud of them. Also, Janaki realizes her mistake and apologizes to Muthupandi. In the end, Santhosh and Kavitha are married. Also, it is hinted that Muthupandi and his servant maid Valli (
Mallika) finally develop love for each other.
Cast
Production
After two successful remakes, Raja opted to remake successful Telugu film ''Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana'' (2005) with his brother Ravi in lead role alongside Trisha reprised her role from original.
Prabhu
''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...
was signed on to play Trisha's brother after unsuccessful negotiations with several other actors.
Mohan was offered the role of Jayam Ravi's father, but he declined the offer and the role went to
K. Bhagyaraj.
The film was initially titled ''Something Something Unakkum Enakkum'', but removed the English prefixes to exploit the Tamil Nadu Government's then rule of entertainment tax exemption for films with Tamil titles.
Music
The film has six songs composed by
Devi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad (; born 2 August 1979) is an Indian film composer, lyricist, singer-songwriter and performer. Popularly known by his initials DSP, he is best known for his work in Telugu-language films, and has also worked in a few Tamil film ...
who retained and reused all the tunes from the original Telugu film except for "Paripoke Pitta", which was replaced with "Kozhi Veda Kozhi".
Release
The film opened to positive reviews in July 2006, with ''Behindwoods.com'' noting Raja "should be applauded for hand picking a cast that makes the movie worth watching", while remarking that "it has everything that can well set the box office collections soaring". Likewise ''
Sify
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...
'' added the film was "like a
saccharine
Saccharin (''aka'' saccharine, Sodium sacchari) is an artificial sweetener with effectively no nutritional value. It is about 550 times as sweet as sucrose but has a bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. Saccharin is ...
coated
candy floss champion that is superbly packaged". ''The Hindu'' stated "Raja has a way of making remakes successful". The venture went on to become profitable, and scored the third straight success for the actor-director duo.
References
External links
*
{{M. Raja
2006 films
Tamil remakes of Telugu films
Indian romantic drama films
Films directed by Mohan Raja
Films scored by Devi Sri Prasad
2006 romantic drama films
2000s Tamil-language films