''Love Birds'' is a 1996 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, na ...

-language

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

directed by

P. Vasu Vasudevan Peethambharan, known professionally as P Vasu, is an Indian director, writer and actor who works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam language films. In a career spanning three decades, Vasu has directed over 64 films. ...

. The film stars

Prabhu Deva Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada language films. In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed a ...

and

Nagma Nagma Arvind Morarji (born Nandita Arvind Morarji on 25 December 1974) is an Indian politician and former actress. She was a popular lead actress in the 1990s. She made her cinematic debut in the film '' Baaghi'' opposite Salman Khan in 1990. ...

with

Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested ...

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 ...

and Sarath Babu playing other pivotal roles. The film's score and soundtrack composed by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

was highly successful. The film was released on 15 January 1996 and had an average performance commercially. The film is a remake of the 1986 Kannada film ''

Ratha Sapthami ''Ratha Sapthami'' is a 1986 Indian Kannada-language romantic musical film directed by M. S. Rajashekar and produced by S. A. Govindaraj. It stars Shiva Rajkumar in his second venture after '' Anand''. Debutant actress Asha Rani and playwrig ...

'' for which P. Vasu was the co-screenplay writer.

Plot

After accidentally meeting, Mridula (

) and Arun (

) fall in love. The young couple both come from affluent families, and so, to test whether they will be suited for a long-term relationship, they both decide to live together. However, a few months into their relationship, Arun and Mridula get in an accident and Arun dies. A devastated Mridula is unable to get over his absence, and before long starts seeing Arun in strange visions everywhere she goes. Her family eventually decide that relocating to another country might help Mridula move on, and so they send her to the UK. Once she arrives there, she meets Mano (

), a young man attracted to her. She knows that her parents expect her to fall for Mano. But as she can't move on, she runs away. She meets David who looks exactly like Arun. She follows him and finds out where he lives and works. Whenever she tries to talk to him, he denies his relationship with her and says he doesn't know her. However, she later finds out that her father had Arun sent away as he had helped with Arun's sister's marriage and had threatened to let it all go downhill for her. Arun moves to the UK in hopes that he can forget about Mridula but he can't and when he meets her, he realises this. When Mridula's father finds out Arun is still alive, he tries to kill him. However, he realises his mistake and lets the lovebirds reunite.

Cast

as Arun/David *

as Mridula * Vijayakumar as Rathnakumar * Sarath Babu as Prakash * Manorama as Susheela *

as Mano *

as Raja * Veniradai Moorthy as Professor *

Santhana Bharathi Santhana Bharathi is an Indian film director and actor who has primarily worked in Tamil cinema. Career Santhana Bharathi originally wanted to be a director but didn't get the right opportunity, even after working for a well known director ...

as College principal * Raviraj as Professor *

Chinni Jayanth Chinni Jayanth (born Krishnamurthy Narayanan on 26 July 1960) is an Indian film director, producer, comedian, actor and mimicry artist who has appeared in many main, character and supporting roles in Tamil films. He is also a popular television ...

as Arun's friend *

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Nata ...

as Ramalingam * Veera Pandiyan as Student *

H. Ramakrishnan Popular news caster, Carnatic vocalist and Konakkol exponent H. Ramakrishnan has over 40 years of experience as a journalist. He has worked in State-run media doordarshan, ((All India Radio)), Press Information Bureau and Directorate of Advertisi ...

as Susheela's husband * LIC Narasimhan as Raghupathy * Dhamu as Dhamu, Arun's friend * Meena Kumari as Sheela, Arun's sister * Vittal Rao as Vittal *

Apache Indian Steven Kapur (born 11 May 1967), known by the stage name Apache Indian, is a British singer-songwriter and reggae DJ. He had a series of hits during the 1990s. He is best known in the UK for the song " Boom Shack-A-Lak", which reached the top ...

in a special appearance *

in a cameo appearance *

Vijay Sethupathi Vijaya Gurunatha Sethupathi (born 16 January 1978), known professionally as Vijay Sethupathi, is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Tamil films. He is a recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award. Fo ...

(uncredited) as a man who asks for Arun whereabouts

Production

was signed to work on the film after working in Shankar's 1994 blockbuster '' Kaadhalan'', and his pair from that film,

, was also roped in again. British Indian musician

was also roped in to sing and dance for a music video in the film. The film was predominantly shot across

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, with scenes also canned at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

and at a Hilton Hotel. The producers had earlier location scouted in the city and took music director,

along to get a feel of the city.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features 5 songs composed by

, his only collaboration with P. Vasu till date with lyrics by Vairamuthu for the original Tamil version, by

Sirivennela Sitaramasastri Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry (born Chembolu Seetharama Sastry; 20 May 1955 – 30 November 2021) was an Indian poet and lyricist known for his works in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He acquired the stage name Sirivennela after writing the ...

for the Telugu version and by P. K. Mishra and

Mehboob Mahbūb (also spelled Mahboob, or Mehboob, from Arabic: , passed to other languages such as ur, محبوب is a masculine given name. Given name Mahboob * Maulana Mahboob Alam (1863–1933), founder of the daily Pakistani newspaper ''Paisa Akhbar ...

for the Hindi version. The album was appreciated by critics.

Tamil

Hindi

Telugu

Release and reception

The film opened in January 1996. The film opened days earlier in Malaysia than India and was shown across 27 theaters in the country, a figure only usually exceeded for Tamil films starring

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

, and this mirrors the large release the film received. K. Vijiyan of ''

New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...

'' gave a positive review saying, "This movie seems made for courting couples, especially those who are facing problems with disapproving parents" and added that "strong dialogue makes the film rise slight above the ordinary". ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' called it yet another blowback for Prabhu Deva. ''Love Birds'' became an average grosser at the box office but was a little better than Prabhu Deva's next, ''

Mr. Romeo ''Mr. Romeo'' is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by K. S. Ravi and produced by R. B. Choudary. The film stars Prabhu Deva in a dual roles with Shilpa Shetty and Madhoo playing the female leading roles, with Surendra Pa ...

''. The actor thus had to go through a slump in his film career. The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu and Hindi under the same title.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Love Birds (Film) 1996 films 1990s Tamil-language films Films scored by A. R. Rahman Films directed by P. Vasu Indian romantic drama films 1996 romantic drama films Tamil remakes of Kannada films