''Kalatpadai'' () is a 2003

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

romantic drama 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 ...

film directed by J. Ramesh, making his directorial debut. The film stars newcomer Jai and

Vidhya Venkatesh Vidhya Venkatesh is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil and Kannada language films. After making her debut with Kamal Haasan in the Tamil film '' Panchathanthiram'' (2002), she won critical acclaim for her performances in Kannada mov ...

, with

Radha Ravi Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan Ravi (born 29 July 1952) is an Indian actor and politician who played supporting roles throughout his career. He is the son of actor M. R. Radha and the uncle of Vasu Vikram and half-brother of Raadhika. He is a ...

J. Livingston Philip Livingston Jones, commonly credited by his mononym Livingston is an Indian actor, comedian and screenwriter who usually plays in supporting and comedy roles in Tamil films. He is credited as Ranjan in his earlier films such as '' Captain ...

Thalaivasal Vijay Thalaivasal Vijay is an Indian actor and dubbing artist. He was born on 4 August 1962 in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India. He has acted predominantly in numerous Tamil and Malayalam films. Career Vijay's debut film was '' Thalaivaasal'' (1992), ...

Nithin Sathya Nithin Sathya (born 9 January 1980) is an Indian actor, film producer. He works primarily in Tamil cinema, Tamil Cinema. He made his film debut in ''Kalatpadai'', directed by J. Ramesh, in 2003. He acted with Kamal Haasan, Kamal Hassan in a sma ...

, Rajsekhar, Jyothi,

Thennavan ''Thennavan'' is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language political action film written and directed by newcomer A. M. Nandakumar and produced by Vijayakanth, who played the title role Thennavan IAS, in-charge as the Chief Election Commissioner and fight ...

and

Kuyili Kuyili is a fictional character introduced by K Jeevabharathi in his book "Velu Nachiyar". She was portrayed as an army commander of queen Velu Nachiyar who participated in campaigns against the East India Company in the 18th century. She is ...

playing supporting roles. The film, produced by Chozha Ponnurangam, had musical score 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 ...

and was released on 15 January 2003.

Plot

Ram (Jai) is a carefree and jobless young man who mostly hangs out with his seven friends. They spent much of their time

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...

cigarettes A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the oppo ...

and teasing everybody, with not much thought about their future. One day, Ram meets his best friend Sridhar ( Arun) in his house and encounters his soft-spoken sister Priya (

). Thereafter, Ram comes across Priya on multiple occasions, they eventually fall in love with each other and ends up dating. Thus, he distances himself from his friends' outings. He even reveals his love to three of his friends. When Sridhar and his family find out about their love affair, they ask Priya to forget him straight away. Being from an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family, they could not accept because Ram was from another

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

. Sridhar then has a fight with Ram for dating his sister and misusing his friendship. The group of friends split up into two groups: the first group supported Ram and knew about his love before, while the second one supported Sridhar and knows about his love just now. Sridhar even beats up his sister at home for dating his friend, and her family starts to be very strict with her. Later, Priya convinces Ram's friends to support their love. Ram and Priya had no other choice but to get married, in a hurry, at the registrar office with the help of Ram's parents and friends. After the secret marriage, Ram's father Janakiraman (

) advises him to first find a job and then they will start their married life. The two families then decide to settle the problem once and for all. The film ends with Ram and Priya getting married as per the customs and with the blessings of both families.

Cast

*Jai as Ram *

as Priya *

as Janakiraman, Ram's father * Arun as Sridhar, Ram's friend *

as "Cut" Raj *

as Deenadayalan *R. Sekar as Priya's father * Jyothi as Bhama, Priya's mother *

as Priya's uncle *

as Priya's aunt *Anthony as Daniel, Ram's friend *Vijayganesh as Ram's friend *Santhosh as Ram's friend *Amit Gupta as Ram's friend *Riyaz as Ram's friend *Sreeni as Ram's friend *John Paul as John Paul *

Sampath Ram Sampath Ram is an Indian actor who works primarily in Tamil-language films. He is known for his villainous roles. Career Ram started his acting career with the television series '' Ethanai Manithargal'' that aired on Doordarshan as a thug. He ...

as Henchman

Production

After producing ''

Thalaivasal Thalaivasal ( ta, தலைவாசல்) is a town in the Salem district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is located 18 km away from the Sub-district headquarter Attur and 70 km away from the Salem District Headquarter. It is one of the Ta ...

'' (1992), ''

Amaravathi Amaravati () is the capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the river Krishna in Guntur district. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone at a ceremonial event in Uddandar ...

'' (1993) and ''Sathi Sanam'' (1997), producer Chozha Ponnurangam of Chozha Creations took a long sabbatical from films. Chozha Ponnurangam launched his new film titled "Kalatpadai". A youthful story centring round eight friends, J. Ramesh, who had apprenticed under director

Selva Selva () is a coastal comarque (county) in Catalonia, Spain, located between the mountain range known as the Serralada Transversal or Puigsacalm and the Costa Brava (part of the Mediterranean coast). Unusually, it is divided between the provinc ...

, was chosen to direct the film. Newcomer Jai, who had completed his pilot's training and was all set to work for an airlines, signed to play the hero.

, an air hostess, who had already played a role in ''

Panchathantiram ''Panchatanthiram'' () is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by K. S. Ravikumar and written with Kamal Haasan, with the dialogues by Crazy Mohan. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Jayaram, Ramesh Aravind, Sriman, Yugi Sethu, Simran, R ...

'' (2002), was selected to play the female lead role. The supporting cast has Arun (

), Vijayganesh, Antony (of Naiyandi Durbar fame), Livingston, Radha Ravi, Rajsekhar, Kai Thennavan, Jyoti, Thalaivasal Vijay and Kuyili.

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by Bharathwaj. The soundtrack, released in 2003, features 9 tracks with lyrics written by Kamakodiyan,

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 Legis ...

, Newton and J. Ramesh.

Release

The film was originally planned to release in 29 November 2002 but was postponed to 15 January 2003 which coincided with the

Thai Pongal Pongal (, ), also referred to as Tai Pongal (), is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka.

festival. It opened alongside six other films, including ''

Dhool ''Dhool'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language masala film written and directed by Dharani. The film stars Vikram, Jyothika and Reema Sen. Vivek, Sayaji Shinde, Telangana Shakuntala, and Pasupathy, among others, play important roles. Produced by ...

'', ''

Chokka Thangam ''Chokka Thangam'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by K. Bhagyaraj and produced by G. Venkateswaran under the banner GV Films. It stars Vijayakanth, Soundarya, and Uma with Goundamani, Senthil, Prakash Raj, and ...

'', '' Vaseegara'', and ''

Anbe Sivam ''Anbe Sivam'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Sundar C. and produced by K. Muralitharan, V. Swaminathan and G. Venugopal under the banner of Lakshmi Movie Makers. The film was written by Kamal Haasan, and Ma ...

''.

Critical reception

Balaji Balasubramaniam of ''bbthots.com'' rated the film 2.5 out of 4 and stated, "The single factor that elevates this movie from mediocrity is the script. Almost everyone in the movie speaks sensibly and the dialogues sparkle with rare intelligence". S. R. Ashok Kumar 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 ...

'' gave the film a positive review citing that "credit must be given to director, J. Ramesh, who has written the story, for the screenplay and the artists for their performance. Ramesh's dialogue actually is the strength of the film" and that "both the new find Jai and Vidhu have given good accounts of themselves. They make a charming pair. The other new face Arun (Nithin Sathya) is promising". Malini Mannath said, "The director makes no pretensions of giving a great film, there are a couple of flaws in the narration too, but in totality it's a simple love story well told, that gives a good feeling in the end".

Box office

The film flopped at the box office.

References

{{reflist 2003 films 2000s Tamil-language films 2003 romantic drama films Indian romantic drama films Films scored by Bharadwaj (composer) 2003 directorial debut films