''Farhana'' is a 2023 Indian
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
-language
thriller 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. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...
written and directed by
Nelson Venkatesan
Nelson Venkatesan is an Indian film director, who has directed Tamil language films. He rose to fame through the romantic drama ''Oru Naal Koothu'' (2016), and has gone on to make feature films including the comedy drama ''Monster (2019 film), ...
and produced by S. R. Prakash Babu and
S. R. Prabhu
S. R. Prabhu is an Indian film producer. During his tenure at Studio Green (2010–13), he has produced 10 Tamil language, Tamil films and distributed 16 films in Tamil and Telugu. Later he founded Dream Warrior Pictures, a film production comp ...
of
Dream Warrior Pictures
Dream Warrior Pictures is an Indian film production company based in Chennai. It was founded in 2010 by brothers S R Prakashbabu and S R Prabhu, who were partners in Studio Green during 2010–2013. They are also relatives of the veteran acto ...
. The film stars
Aishwarya Rajesh
Aishwarya Rajesh (born 10 January 1990) is an Indian actress who works primarily in Tamil films, alongside Telugu and Malayalam films. She is a recipient of four SIIMA Awards, one Filmfare Award South and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award.
Aish ...
and
Selvaraghavan
Selvaraghavan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who has directed and acted predominantly Tamil cinema, Tamil films. His directorial debut had with ''Thulluvadho Ilamai'' (2002) but his father is credited for business reasons, w ...
. The music for the film was composed by
Justin Prabhakaran
Justin Prabhakaran (born 10 June 1986) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer. He has scored music mostly for Tamil films and also a few Malayalam and Telugu films besides one Hindi film. He made his debut as a film composer in the 2014 ...
.
The film was released on 12 May 2023.
Plot
The story revolves around Farhana, a middle class woman who is living with her father and her husband Kareem. Farhana is always in need of money as the shoe shop, which her father and Kareem are running, is short of money.
As she is in need of money, one of the seniors of Farhana's friend, calls her for an interview at a bank call centre. Farhana who is reluctant at first, later clears the interview and goes to the job, because of which she gets a lot of money. So she decides to keep it further until her youngest infant, Nabha, gets hospitalized because of her health condition, which causes a lot of money.
Now, Farhana is in need of money when she notices her friend, Nithya, getting a lot of incentives when she recently shifted her department. Farhana requests her to put her also in that department to which Nithya assigns her a name, 'ISHA' , in a friendship chat center. But people there, talk in a lewd and inappropriate manner, which causes a lot of mental pressure and disgust for her.
As she is about to quit, a random person talks to her in a sympathetic and sweet manner. Since nobody has ever talked to Farhana like that, she feels overwhelmed and reciprocates his energy and talks back in the same way. Soon they both strike and talk to each other almost everyday. This causes a feeling in both of them. Later he also confesses his name to be 'Dhayalan' . So Farhana started to fall for him. But one day, he stopped calling her which caused a lot of confusion in Farhana.
Later, as this became a concern, Farhana confessed her feelings when he started calling her. He too tells her that they would meet immediately the next day, but Farhana refuses as it was Eid the next day. But yet she decides to meet him but goes back when she comes to know that her friend and colleague, Sofia, died because she did like this too, but unlike Farhana, she gets killed when in an instance with her boyfriend, whom she met in the call, accidentally kills her. So Farhana, feeling hurt, decides to stop talking to Dhayalan, thinking about Sofia.
This wreaks havoc in her life as Dhayalan starts to torture Farhana to love him and marry him, by blackmailing her that he would send all their recorded calls to Kareem. A fed up Farhana decides to fight back and find him. With the support of Nithya and her colleague, Prithvi (who has a crush on Farhana), she locates Dhayalan and finds him, but that becomes a failure too.
A failed Farhana finally confesses everything to Kareem, to which Kareem understands and tells her that he loves her so much that he cannot tolerate that she cheated him (later when Farhana goes to meet Dhayalan, Kareem sees her and follows her). Farhana who feels hurt, hugs Kareem and says that she has to end this as soon as possible, to which Kareem tells that he will support her at any cost.
They both plan to make Farhana go to Dhayalan's house. But when she goes there, she finds out that Dhayalan faced a lot of humiliation when he mistakes a girl to be Isha and then gets slapped by the girl. He also tells her that he loved her more than anything else, but before he could speak any further, Kareem and the Police arrive just in time and arrest Dhayalan.
Farhana, later joins her previous job and feels satiated.
Cast
Production
Dialogues of the movie is written by Manushyaputhran and the writers Sankar Dass and Ranjith Ravindran have worked along with Nelson Venkatesan in the screenplay. The cinematography of the film was done by Gokul Benoy, and the editing of the film was done by
V. J. Sabu Joseph
V J Sabu Joseph is a film editor working in the Tamil Film Industry. His work on ''Vallinam'' brought him the National Film Award for Best Editing in the year 2013–2014.
Film career
He entered his Film Editing career in 2002. He had previ ...
. This film is the third collaboration between the director Nelson Venkatesan, editor
V. J. Sabu Joseph
V J Sabu Joseph is a film editor working in the Tamil Film Industry. His work on ''Vallinam'' brought him the National Film Award for Best Editing in the year 2013–2014.
Film career
He entered his Film Editing career in 2002. He had previ ...
, music composer
Justin Prabhakaran
Justin Prabhakaran (born 10 June 1986) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer. He has scored music mostly for Tamil films and also a few Malayalam and Telugu films besides one Hindi film. He made his debut as a film composer in the 2014 ...
, and cinematographer Gokul Benoy after the films ''
Oru Naal Koothu
''Oru Naal Koothu'' () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy drama film directed by Nelson Venkatesan and produced by J. Selva Kumar, featuring Dinesh, Miya, Nivetha Pethuraj, Abhinav, and Riythvika in lead roles. Lingesh, Karunakar ...
'' and ''
Monster
A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
''. The first look poster for the film was released on 5 October 2022. Farhana movie is censored in CBFC as U/A, the teaser of the movie is released on 22 April 2023.
Music
The soundtrack of the film was composed by
Justin Prabhakaran
Justin Prabhakaran (born 10 June 1986) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer. He has scored music mostly for Tamil films and also a few Malayalam and Telugu films besides one Hindi film. He made his debut as a film composer in the 2014 ...
in his third collaboration with the director.
Controversy
After the Trailer released film has been surrounded by controversy and demands for a ban. The producers of film
S. R. Prabhu
S. R. Prabhu is an Indian film producer. During his tenure at Studio Green (2010–13), he has produced 10 Tamil language, Tamil films and distributed 16 films in Tamil and Telugu. Later he founded Dream Warrior Pictures, a film production comp ...
,
Dream Warrior Pictures
Dream Warrior Pictures is an Indian film production company based in Chennai. It was founded in 2010 by brothers S R Prakashbabu and S R Prabhu, who were partners in Studio Green during 2010–2013. They are also relatives of the veteran acto ...
, issued a statement that read, "Farhana movie is for all fans: Not against any religion or sentiments".
Release
Initially, the film was scheduled to release on 26 January 2023, but it was postponed, and it was released on 12 May 2023.
Digital rights have been bought by Sony Liv.
Reception
Gopinath Rajendran critic of ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'' wrote that "Macroscopically, Farhana is an extremely simple and straightforward story. But it’s the treatment and performances from its cherry-picked cast that make the film deserve a place on a higher pedestal." Logesh Balachandran critic of ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' gave 3 stars out of 5 and stated that "While Farhana may encounter occasional pacing issues, it ultimately soars, showcasing its strengths". Kalyani Pandiyan S critic of ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...
'' wrote that "On the one hand, the credibility of the scenes conveys that this is happening to a member of the Islamic family, and on the other hand, Justin's music conveys it perfectly. The climax where Farhana finally meets him gives the film an incomplete feel. Farhana would have tasted great success if she had handled the space a little better". Anusha Sundar critic of ''
Cinema Express
''Cinema Express'' was an Indian Tamil-language entertainment fortnightly magazine published from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was a part of The New Indian Express Group, which also publishes ''Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika'' weekly as well as '' Din ...
'' rated 3 stars out of 5 and wrote that "''Farhana'' lacks due to tepid stretches".
References
External links
{{authority control
2020s Tamil-language films
2020s Indian films
Indian thriller films
Indian drama films
Films about Islam
Religious controversies in India
Islam-related controversies in Asia
Films produced by S. R. Prabhu
Religious controversies in film
2023 controversies