''Mr. Romeo'' 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, nati ...

-language

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of actio ...

directed by

K. S. Ravi K. S. Ravi (1959 2010 ) was an Indian film director of Tamil and Telugu films. His films included a mixture of genres from dramas to action thrillers. Personal life Ravi was born in 1959 in Paramakudi, Ramnad district. He was born to Mr. K ...

and produced by

R. B. Choudary Ratanlal Bhagatram Choudary is an Indian film producer who has worked in several film industries, predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil and Telugu language, Telugu along with a few films in Malayalam language, Malayalam and Hindi language, Hind ...

. 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 ...

in a dual roles with

Shilpa Shetty Shilpa Shetty Kundra (born Ashwini Shetty; Née Shetty; 8 June 1975) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi-language films. Shetty made her screen debut in the thriller ''Baazigar'' (1993) which garnered her nominations for two Filmfare ...

and

Madhoo Madhoo Shah (Madhubala) (born Padma Malini; 26 March 1969) is an Indian actress known for her works predominantly in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films. She was a part of Movies like ''Phool Aur Kaante'' (1991), ''Roja' ...

playing the female leading roles, with

Surendra Pal Surendrapal Singh (born 25 September 1953) is an Indian film and television character actor who works in Hindi films and TV series. He is best known for his roles of Dronacharya in ''Mahabharat'', Amatya Rakshas in ''Chanakya'', Tamraj Kilvish ...

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 ...

and Vijayakumar playing supporting roles.

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 ...

scored music for the film (in his 25th film composition). The film was released on 10 November 1996.

Plot

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, Romeo lives a privileged life as a celebrity with his widowed mother. He receives considerable assistance and encouragement from Sathyamoorthy to dance and sing. He meets and is attracted to Madhoo, who is also his fan. His mother meets with Madhoo's grandfather and both arrange their wedding. Then Romeo finds out that Sathyamoorthy has been stealing body organ from patients in the Sathyamoorthy Hospital, and then stages their deaths via bus accidents. He meets with Sathyamoorthy and warns him that he is going to expose him publicly. Before he could reveal their activities Romeo is shot and thrown off of a cliff. His friend Prakash is framed for his murder and is sentenced to life imprisonment. In

Dharavi Dharavi is a locality in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, considered to be one of the world's largest slums. Dharavi has an area of just over and a population of about 1,000,000. With a population density of over , Dharavi is one of the most dens ...

, Prakash's sister Shilpa comes across Madras a poor funeral dancer who is a lookalike of Romeo and convinces him to impersonate Romeo to clear her brother's name as well as to find the real perpetrator of the crime. After getting thrown off the cliff, Romeo is taken in by tribals living in the hills and manages to survive. Upon finding Madras impersonating him, Romeo realises that Madras is his twin brother long presumed dead, using this to his advantage he starts taking revenge on Sathyamoorthy. Meanwhile, Madras and Shilpa fall in love with each other. Sathyamoorthy Madras and Romeo eventually expose Sathyamoorthy's illegal activities to the public and Sathyamoorthy is sent to jail.

Cast

as Madras and Romeo *

as Shilpa *

as Madhoo *

as Vavval * Vijayakumar as DGP Vijayakumar *

as Sathyamoorthy *

Vennira Aadai Moorthy Vennira Aadai Moorthy (born 25 July 1936) is an Indian actor and comedian in Tamil cinema. He has starred in many Tamil films and television serials as a comedian and also played supporting roles. He is a lawyer by education, and holds a B.L. ...

as Madhoo's grandfather *

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 Natak ...

as Madras and Romeo's father *

Madhan Bob S. Krishnamoorthy (born 19 October 1953) professionally known as Madhan Bob, is an Indian actor and comedian, appearing in many Tamil films in supporting roles. Madhan Babu is known for his amusing facial expressions, laughter and protruding ey ...

as Sabapathy *

Mohan Ram Mohan Raman, also known as Mohan V. Ram (born 3 April 1956), is an Indian actor and writer. In 2017 and 2019, he was a Jury member for the National Film Award for Best Writing on Cinema. Raman is a film historian and writes for ''The Hindu''. He ...

as Judge * Kavitha as Madras and Romeo's mother *

Jyothi Meena Jyothi Meena is an Indian actress who has predominantly appeared in Tamil films. She is best remembered for her item numbers and supporting roles in ''Ullathai Allitha'' and '' Azhagana Naatkal''. Personal life Jyothi Meena was born in Chenn ...

as Indigenous woman *

Ajay Rathnam Ajay Rathnam is an Indian actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil films and serials. He is known for his supporting and negative roles and has acted in over 300 movies. Standing at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm), Rathnam is one of the t ...

as Ajay *

Uday Prakash Uday Prakash (born 1 January 1952) is a Hindi poet, scholar, journalist, translator and short story writer from India. He has worked as administrator, editor, researcher, and TV director. He writes for major dailies and periodicals as a freelance ...

as Prakash * Krishnamoorthy as Singaram *

A. K. Veerasami A. K. Veerasamy was an Indian actor who acted in over 500 films in the Tamil language, in supporting and minor roles. One verse that he spoke of in the Mudhal Mariyadhai film, "''Enakku Oru Unmai Therinchavunum"'' dialogue is still far from ...

as Vettiyan * Chitraguptan as Kathirikka * Radhabhai as Midwife *

K. S. Jayalakshmi K. S. Jayalakshmi is an Indian actress who works in the Tamil film and television industries. She has acted in comedy roles in movies. Jayalakshmi made her acting debut in the Tamil film ''Etharkum Thuninthavan'' released in 1976. Career Sh ...

as Idli seller *

Crazy Mohan Mohan Rangachari (16 October 1952 – 10 June 2019) known professionally as Crazy Mohan, was an Indian actor, comedian, screenwriter and playwright. An engineer by profession, Mohan started writing plays and established his own drama troupe calle ...

as Shop manager

Production

signed the film after securing a blockbuster with

Shankar Shankar may refer to: People * Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * San ...

's ''

Kaadhalan ''Kadhalan'' ( ) is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film written and directed by S. Shankar and produced by K. T. Kunjumon. The film stars Prabhu Deva and Nagma (in her major Tamil cinema debut), while Vadivelu, Raghuvaran, Giris ...

'' (1994) and demanded for his work in the film. North Indian actress

was roped in to star in her first Tamil film, while

, who appeared in

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...

's ''

Roja Roja may refer to: * ''Roja'' (film), a 1992 Tamil-language film by director Mani Ratnam * ''Roja'' (soundtrack), a soundtrack album from the film * Roja Selvamani Roja Selvamani (born Sri Latha Reddy; 17 November 1972), also known as R. K. ...

'' and Shankar's ''

Gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

'' was signed on to play second lead. The producer of the film asked the director,

to be credited simply as Ravi in the film, to avoid confusion with another director

K. S. Ravikumar K. S. Ravikumar (born 30 May 1958) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, primarily working in Tamil films. Career 1990–1997 Ravikumar worked as co-director on R. B. Choudary's production ''Pudhu Vasantham'' direct ...

. Mitchell camera weighed 50 kg was used for all the "double action" shots.

Release

The film opened in November 1996 and failed to meet the expectations at the box office, becoming Prabhu Deva's second consecutive average after '' Love Birds''. A.R. Rahman played a role in recommending the director K. S. Ravi to work in ''

En Swasa Katre ''En Swasa Kaatre'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic crime film written and directed by K. S. Ravi. The film stars Arvind Swamy and Isha Koppikar, while Raghuvaran, Prakash Raj and Thalaivasal Vijay play supporting roles. The film ...

'', a production of Rahman's acquaintances. ''Mr. Romeo'' was also belatedly dubbed and released in Hindi under the same title.

Soundtrack

The music is scored by

for the lyrics penned by

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...

and Vaali and the soundtrack was distributed by Pyramid AV International. The lyrics for the Hindi version was penned by P. K. Mishra. The soundtrack won positive reviews and became chartbusters. ; Original Version ; Hindi Version (''Mr. Romeo'')

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1990s Tamil-language films 1996 action comedy films 1996 films Films directed by K. S. Ravi Films scored by A. R. Rahman Films set in Chennai Films with screenplays by Crazy Mohan Indian action comedy films Super Good Films films Twins in Indian films