''Kovil'' () is a 2004 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

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), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

written and directed by

Hari Hari ( sa, हरि) is among the primary epithets of the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, meaning 'the one who takes away' (sins). It refers to the one who removes darkness and illusion, the one who removes all obstacles to spiritual progress ...

and produced by

A. M. Rathnam A. M. Rathnam is an Indian film producer, lyricist, screenwriter, and director known for his works in Telugu and Tamil cinema. Under the gamut of Sri Surya Movies Entertainment, Hyderabad, a movie production house owned by him, he has produced ...

. It stars

Silambarasan Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar, nicknamed as Simbu or his initials S. T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker and musician in Tamil cinema. He began his acting career by playing roles as a child artist in films directed by his father T. Rajendar, b ...

and

Sonia Agarwal Sonia Agarwal is an Indian actress known for her works predominantly in Tamil cinema and a few Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is best known for her performances in the films such as ''Kaadhal Kondein'' (2003), ''7G Rainbow Colony'' (2 ...

while

Vadivelu Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 12 September 1960), known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian actor, comedian and playback singer, having acted in supporting and lead roles in Tamil cinema. He gained widespread acclaim in Kollywood in the 2 ...

Rajkiran J. Mohideen Abdul Khadar, known by his stage name Rajkiran, is an Indian actor, producer and director, who has acted in more than 30 Tamil films. Early life Rajkiran was born as J. Mohideen Abdul Khadar on 16 March 1959 at Keelakarai into a Mu ...

Charle Velmurugan Thangasamy Manohar (born 6 March 1960), professionally credited as Charle, is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. He has acted in more than 800 Tamil films as a comedian and supporting actor. He was named after the English co ...

and

Nassar Nassar ( ar, نصار, lit=helper, protector, supporter, victory-maker), is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer ...

play supporting roles. The music was composed by

Harris Jayaraj Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Telugu and two films in Hindi. He has been honoured with K ...

, with editing done by V. T. Vijayan and cinematography by

Priyan Priyan (1964 – 9 November 2017) was an Indian cinematographer who has worked on Tamil language films. Beginning his career as an assistant to Balu Mahendra, Priyan began his career as an independent technician in the 1990s before establis ...

. The film released on 14 January 2004 and was released to positive reviews from critics and audience. The film was a super hit. It was dubbed into

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

as ''Rudrudu''.

Plot

Puliyankulam and Veppankulam are nearby villages with an enmity lasting for a few generations. Periyasamy is a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

from Puliyankulam and is widely respected by the villagers. Michael Soosai is a devout

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

from Veppankulam and does not trust other religions. Sakthivel is Periyasamy's son, who studies in a college in

Nagercoil Nagercoil, also spelt as Nagarkovil ("Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, it lies on an ...

. Angel is Michael's daughter, who also attends the same college. Sakthivel and Angel meet in college and fall in love. Angel is afraid that her father will never allow her to marry a Hindu, especially from the rival village. Michael and Periyasamy learn about the relationship between Sakthivel and Angel. Michael gets enraged and scolds his daughter, while Periyasamy agrees for the wedding. Michael does not want an inter-

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

marriage and decides to force his daughter to become a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

. Periyasamy arrives and tells the truth in front of everyone that Angel is Michael's adopted daughter who was born to

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

parents. Michael realizes his mistake and agrees for the wedding.

Cast

Production

For a scene in the film where Silambarasan races the antagonist and others on a cycle, the team collected about a thousand people for the scene. The team took about five days to shoot. The total shooting for the film was wrapped up in 59 days.

Critical reception

The film received generally positive reviews. ''The Hindu'' praised Simbu's performance as being "restrained and mature".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack comprises six songs composed by

, marking his first collaboration with Silambarasan. All lyrics written by

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 ...

except for "Collegikku" (

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 soundtrack received positive reviews upon release and became a commercial hit.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovil (Film) 2004 films Films directed by Hari (director) 2000s Tamil-language films Indian interfaith romance films Films scored by Harris Jayaraj Indian romantic drama films Films shot in Munnar 2004 romantic drama films