''Meen Kuzhambum Mann Paanaiyum'' () is a 2016 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of P ...

fantasy comedy Fantasy comedy or comic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and tone. Typically set in imaginary worlds, fantasy comedy often involves puns on and parodies of other works of fantasy. Literature The subgenre rose ...

movie filmed in parts of West

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

. It was written and directed by Amudheshwar and produced by Dushyanth Ramkumar. The film stars

Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...

Kalidas Jayaram Kalidas Jayaram (born 16 December 1993) is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. The son of film actors Jayaram and Parvathy, Kalidas made his debut in the Malayalam film '' Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal'' (2000) ...

Ashna Zaveri Ashna Zaveri is an Indian actress and model who acts in Tamil films. Career She made her film debut with ''Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham'' (2014), which was a success. Regarding her performance, a critic stated that "Ashna Zaveri does not hav ...

and

Pooja Kumar Pooja Kumar is an American actress of Indian descent who works in Tamil, Hindi, and English-language Indian films. After winning Miss India USA in 1995, she pursued a career as an actress and producer. She has appeared in a number of American f ...

in the lead roles. It was promoted as Prabhu Ganesan’s 200th film. Principal photography of the film commenced in November 2015 in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and the film got released exactly a year later. Kamal Haasan shot for a cameo appearance in the film. It also marked the feature film debut of

- son of noted film actors

Jayaram Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965) known mononymously as Jayaram, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam,Tamil films, along with a few Telugu films. He is also a chenda percussionist, mimicry artist, and occasional ...

and Parvathy having appeared as a child artist during the early 2000s and also his official Tamil debut.

Plot

Annamalai (

) is a single parent to Karthik (

) and owns an Indian restaurant in Malaysia. Annamalai is very fond of Karthik and loves to spend time with him, but Karthik is a fun-loving person who spends most of his time with friends and thinks that his father is too emotional. Karthik falls in love with his classmate Pavithra (

), daughter of an IFS officer (

Urvashi Urvashi ( sa, उर्वशी, Urvaśī}) is the most prominent apsara (celestial nymph) in Hindu mythology, considered to be the most beautiful of all the apsaras, and an expert dancer. She is mentioned in both ''Vedic'' and ''Puranic'' scr ...

) who is separated from her husband (

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) ...

). Meanwhile, Mala (

) is a don who falls in love with Annamalai as she is impressed by his cooking skill. Annamalai worries that Karthik always prioritizes his friends than him. One day, they meet a saint named Swami ( Kamal Haasan), who swaps both Annamalai and Karthik's souls to make them understand each other's love. Now Annamalai (in Karthik's body) goes to college, while Karthik (in Annamalai's body) takes care of the restaurant. Annamalai understands Karthik's love for Pavithra and gets close to her family. He also helps Pavithra's mother patch up with her husband in India. Similarly, Karthik understands the hardships faced by Annamalai in raising him from childhood following his mother's early demise and realizes his true love. Karthik also plans to have Mala marry Annamalai. There is also a don ( M. S. Bhaskar) who happens to be Mala's boss and does not want her to marry Annamalai. The don kidnaps Pavithra and Mala. Following a comical fight, both are saved. Karthik apologizes to Annamalai for not understanding his love towards him. Immediately, both souls are swapped back. The movie ends with Karthik getting united with Pavithra, while Mala and Annamalai are also united.

Cast

as Annamalai *

as Karthik *

as Pavithra *

as Mala *

as Pavithra's mother * M. S. Bhaskar as Don * Ilavarasu as Annamalai's friend * Santhana Bharathi as Pavithra's grandfather *

as Pavithra's father * R. S. Shivaji as Professor *

Thalapathy Dinesh Thalapathy Dinesh (also spelled Thalapathi Dinesh) is an Indian action choreographer who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He started his career in the cinema as an extra fighter in '' Naan Sigappu Manithan'' and later he became as a stunt master and ...

* Balaji * Kamal Haasan as Swami (guest appearance) * Y. G. Mahendra in a guest appearance * Sudha Mahendra in a guest appearance * Ester Noronha in a special appearance in the "Waka Wowra" song

Production

Dushyanth Ramkumar opted to set up a new production house, separate from his commitments for

Sivaji Productions Sivaji Productions was an Indian film production and distribution company based in Chennai. Established in 1958, it was involved mainly in Tamil and Hindi-language films until 2010. History Sivaji Productions company is owned by Prabhu and h ...

. Amudhesvar, who had previously worked as an associate to director

Suseenthiran Suseenthiran is an Indian film director and screenwriter in Tamil cinema. He rose to fame with his directorial debut '' Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu'' (2009). Career Suseenthiran, who originally hails from a small village called Amarapoondi in Pal ...

, was signed to direct the script. Production started in October 2015 and they started scouting for locations in Malaysia for the shoot for the film titled ''Meen Kuzhambum Mann Paanaiyum'', starring

and

. The film began production in Chennai during November 2015 and then held a second schedule in Malaysia during January 2016.

joined the team during January 2016 and revealed that she would portray a female don based in Malaysia. Kamal Haasan later shot for a cameo appearance in the film during March 2016.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by D. Imman.

Release

''The Times of India'' gave the film a rating of two out of five stars and wrote that "With a not-so-bad story line, the director has tried his best to weave a fantasy story laced with humour". Other critics called the film "tedious".

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 6264438 2016 films 2010s Tamil-language films 2010s fantasy comedy films Films scored by D. Imman Indian fantasy comedy films Films shot in Malaysia 2016 directorial debut films 2016 comedy films