''I Love You Da'' is a 2002 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, nativ ...

-language

action romance 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 C. Raajadurai. The film stars

Raju Sundaram Basuva Raju Sundaram is an Indian dance choreographer, actor and director, who works primarily in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu films. He appeared as an actor in films such as but not limited to: '' Jeans'' (1998), '' 123'' (2002), '' I Love Yo ...

and

Simran Simran (Gurmukhi: ਸਿਮਰਨ; hi, सिमरण, सिमरन ; from Sanskrit: , ''smaraṇa'', 'to remember, reminisce, recollect'), in spirituality, is a Sanskrit word referring to the continuous remembrance of the finest aspect of ...

, with

Raghuvaran Raghuvaran Velayutham (11 December 1958 – 19 March 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly acted in films made in South India. He has acted in more than 200 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. According to the ''Hindustan T ...

and Prakash Raj in supporting roles. The film which had music composed by

Bharathwaj Ramani Bharathwaj known professionally as Bharadwaj is an Indian music director, composer, singer-songwriter, and music producer, predominantly known for his work in Tamil cinema. He is trained in Hindustani, Western and Carnatic music and is a ...

, released in November 2002 to poor reviews.

Plot

Raju is a small time cricketer who makes it big. Priya is his neighbour in love with him. But Raju pretends that he does not care for her, as he knows that his brother Madhan has a crush on her. This creates some confusion but finally the lovers get united. In between Raju is selected in the Indian team and makes it to the World Cup. The finals are played between India and Pakistan. Priya's father is a bookie who tries to induce Raju into match fixing. But he does not fall into his trap and scores the required 20 runs to win the World Cup.

Cast

as Raju *

as Priya *

as Rajkishore * Prakash Raj as Siddharth * Senthil as Raju's Grandfather *

Janagaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthu ...

as Sadasivam *

Vennira Aadai Moorthy Vennira Aadai Moorthy (born 25 July 1936) is an Indian actor and comedian in Tamil cinema. He has starred in many Tamil films and television serials as a comedian and also played supporting roles. He is a lawyer by education, and holds a B.L. ...

as Pattabi * Alex as Inspector Pandiyan * Ramesh Khanna as Madhan *Indhu as Sudha *

Singamuthu Singamuthu (born 8 December 1958) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films as a comedian. Career Singamuthu has primarily appeared in comedy roles in films as a supporting actor debuting in ''Neram Nalla Irukku'' (1987). He ...

as Police constable

Production

The film marked the debut of choreographer

as the protagonist in films, after he had appeared in

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and ...

s as well as a supporting role in Shankar's '' Jeans''. The director of the film was to be Raajadurai, who had been an erstwhile assistant of director Manoj Kumar during the making of '' Vaanavil''. When the film began production in late 2001, a Telugu version titled ''I Love You Raa'' was also planned. Actress

, Raju Sundaram's girlfriend during the period, was signed to play the female lead role. The couple however split during the production of the film. Early reports suggested that noted South Indian cricketers including

Sadagoppan Ramesh Sadagoppan Ramesh (சடகோபன் ரமேஷ்) (born 13 October 1975) is a former Indian cricketer and actor who appeared in Tamil movies. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler. In September 1999, he became t ...

Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...

, Rahul Dravid and

Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...

may feature as themselves in the film, but this proved to be untrue. Despite the completion of the film's scenes by early 2002, production delays meant that the film faced a belated release at the end of the year.

Release

The film gained unanimously poor reviews upon release, with Malathi Rangarajan 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 ...

stating that the film "falls flat due to identifiable reasons — the director has not done his homework properly, the dialogue makes you squirm at times, none of the actors seems involved in the role taken up and to top it all the lead pair fails to make even a slight impression".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by

. Lyrics were written 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 first ...

Snehan Snehan (born Sivaselvam) is a Tamil poet, politician, lyricist, and actor who has worked in the Tamil film industry. In the year 2018 he entered politics with Makkal Needhi Maiam and contested in the Lok Sabha election. In 2021 Tamil Nadu Legi ...

and P. Vijay.

References

{{reflist 2002 films Films about cricket in India 2000s Tamil-language films Films scored by Bharadwaj (composer) 2002 directorial debut films