''Kalavani'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written and directed by newcomer

A. Sarkunam A. Sarkunam is an Indian film director, working in the Tamil film industry. He worked as an associate with director A.L Vijay. Career Sarkunam made his directorial debut with the romantic comedy '' Kalavani'' (2009). Featuring Vimal and Oviy ...

. It stars Vimal and debutante

Oviya Helen Nelson, (born 29 April 1991) better known professionally by her stage name Oviya, is an Indian model and actress who works in the Tamil and Malayalam films. She made her breakthrough as an actress in Sarkunam's rural romantic comedy ' ...

, with

Saranya Ponvannan Saranya Ponvannan (born Sheela Christina) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam language films. Saranya made her debut in a lead role in Mani Ratnam's ''Nayakan'' (1987) and went on to play lead roles from ...

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

Ilavarasu Ilavarasu is an Indian cinematographer and actor, who works in the Tamil film industry. He started his career as a cinematographer and worked for 13 films, winning a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for one of them. He, however, became better known ...

in supporting roles. The film was made on a shoe-string budget, and released on 25 June 2010. and became a

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...

of 2010. Later the movie was remade in Kannada as ''

Kirataka ''Kirataka'' is a 2011 Indian Kannada-language romantic comedy film directed by Pradeep Raj, starring Yash and Oviya in the lead roles. It is the remake of Tamil film, ''Kalavani'' (2010). The film was a success at the domestic box-office. Thi ...

'' with Oviya reprising her role.

Plot

Two villages in

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

area are always at loggerheads with each other, and it spills even to T20

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

match between kids from both villages. Arivazhagan aka Arikki ( Vimal) is a wayward son of Lakshmi (

), who is in awe but at the same time fears him. Her husband Ramasamy (

) is away 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 of ...

, and a large part of the money he sends home is taken away by Arikki using extortionist methods, such as threatening to break the TV set at home. He is yet to pass his 12th standard. Arikki spends time in bars with friends, teases girls, asks them to profess their love for him, and gets into brawls after conning others. He meets Maheshwari (

) and wants her to declare her love for him, which she finally confesses. He abducts her, and they eventually marry. Her brother Ilango ( Thirumurugan) is a tough guy who has an axe to grind against Arikki and his gang, which leads to the twist in the climax. Ilango, fuming with rage, is out to slice him into pieces. Does he do that? If he did not, then how did Arikki manage to avert that? All this is answered in an interesting climax that is pleasantly humorous.

Cast

* Vimal as Arivazhagan (Arikki) *

as Maheshwari (Mahesh) *

as Lakshmi *

as Panchayathu *

as Ramasamy * Soori as Manikandan *

Sujatha Sivakumar Sujatha Sivakumar is an Born: (27 September 1973) Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil films. Sujatha rose to fame with her performance in Ameer's ''Paruthiveeran'' (2007), before appearing in several supporting roles as a mother in Tamil ...

as Rajee * Thirumurugan as Ilango * Antony as Arikki's friend * Kannan as Florist * Kalaiarasan as supporting comedian *Mu Ramaswamy as Maheshwari's Elder Paternal Uncle

Production

approached

K. Bhagyaraj Krishnasaamy Bhagyaraj (born 7 January 1953) is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter, music director, producer and politician active mainly in Tamil films. He has also written and directed Hindi and Telugu films and TV serials. As an actor, ...

with his script, and asked for help in improving the script and for Bhagayraj's son Shanthanu to play the lead role. Sarkunam later moved away from Bhagayraj citing that his producer was uncomfortable with the potential salary that Shanthanu may have expected.

Soundtrack

The film score and soundtrack for Kalavani was composed by S. S. Kumaran. The album consists of seven tracks featuring lyrics penned by

Na. Muthukumar Nagarajan Muthukumar (12 July 1975 – 14 August 2016) was a Tamil poet, lyricist, and author. Best known for his Tamil language film songs, he received the most Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist in Tamil and was a two-time recipient of the Nat ...

. The song "Oru Murai" was well received and was retained in the Kannada remake.

Release

Critical reception

''Kalavani'' generally opened to positive reviews. Bhamadevi Ravi from

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 4/5 and calling it "a complete entertainer."

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 ...

rated the movie 4 out of 5 and stated that "Kalavani is a knockout entertainer set in a rural milieu." A critic from ''Top10Cinema'' wrote that "Kalavani is a blatant revision of Bharathiraja's yesteryear films based on villager's conflicts and guy-gal falling in love." Gautaman Bhaskaran 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 ...

gave it 3/5 and wrote that "Kalavani is a canvas of delightful rural romance."

Remakes

Following the film's success, director

Gautham Vasudev Menon Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. He has also directed Telugu cinema, Telugu and Hindi cinema, Hindi films th ...

Photon Kathaas Photon Kathaas was an Indian film production company led by director Gautham Vasudev Menon. It was established in 2010 by Menon along with Venky Somasundaram and Reshma Ghatala, who worked as the co-promoters. Its name is derived from Gautham M ...

has acquired the film's rights to remake it other languages. It was remade in Kannada as ''

'' with

being retained as the female lead. It was also remade in Telugu as ''Umapathi'' in 2022.

Litigation

Seven years after the film's release, the Chennai branch of the Censor Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) was served a notice by the High Court after a minor pregnant girl told the court that she obtained inspiration from the film ''Kalavani''. The girl's parents claimed that the censor board had acted negligently in giving the film a U certificate.

Sequel

A sequel, ''

Kalavani 2 ''Kalavani 2'' () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed and produced by A. Sarkunam. The film stars Vimal and Oviya, with RJ Vigneshkanth amongst others in supporting roles. A sequel to ''Kalavani'' (2010), the film beg ...

'', was announced in 2016.

References

External links

* {{A. Sarkunam 2010 films 2010 romantic comedy films Tamil films remade in other languages 2010s Tamil-language films Indian romantic comedy films 2010 directorial debut films Films directed by A. Sarkunam