''Nee Naan Nila'' () is a 2007 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 Pudu ...

romantic fantasy Romantic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction, describing a fantasy story using many of the elements and conventions of the chivalric romance genre. One of the key features of romantic fantasy involves the focus on relationships, social, ...

film directed by M. P. S. Sivakumar. The film stars newcomers London Ravi, R. V. Bharathan and Meghna, with

Manivannan S. Manivannan Rajagopal (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013), better known by his mononym Manivannan, was an Indian film director, actor and activist who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and also worked in a few Telugu & Malayalam films. In a care ...

Karunas Karunas (born 21 February 1970 as Karunanidhi Sethu) is an Indian actor, politician and comedian in the Tamil film industry. Appearing mostly in supporting roles, he has also played lead roles in films including '' Dindigul Sarathy'' (2008) a ...

Achamillai Gopi Gopalakrishnan (born 9 May 1955), known professionally as Achamillai Gopi, is an Indian actor, singer, dramatist, and a Dubbing (filmmaking), voice over & dubbing artist. He has acted in a number of films and TV serials and has also given his v ...

, Sangeetha Balan,

Manobala Manobala (born 8 December 1953) is an Indian film director, producer, actor and comedian who predominantly plays supporting roles in Tamil-language films. He started his career in Tamil cinema in the early 1970s and with Kamal Haasan's referen ...

Appukutty Sivabalan, better known as Appukutty, is an Indian actor and comedian, who mainly appears in Tamil films. He became recognized following his performance in ''Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu''. His role as Azhagarsami in ''Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai'' was prai ...

Balu Anand Balu Anand (1954 – 3 June 2016) was an Indian actor and director who worked in Tamil-language films (Kollywood). He appeared in over 100 films as an actor and directed several films, such as ''Naane Raja Naane Mandhiri'', ''Annanagar Mudhal T ...

, and

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. ...

playing supporting roles. The film, produced by R. Viswanathan, had musical score by

Dhina Dhina (also credited as Dheena) ( ta, தினா; born on 15 January 1966) is an Indian film and television series composer from Tamil Nadu, India. Biography and career Dhina first worked as an assistant musician under popular composer G. K ...

and was released on 25 May 2007.

Plot

Raja (London Ravi) and Vinoth (R. V. Bharathan) hate each other after they got into a fight during a

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. They are now college students studying in the same class. Vinoth is a person with a rough personality but is also a talented drawer, whereas Raja is a soft and simple person. They both fall under the spell of their classmate Nila (Meghna) and befriend her. Raja changes his clothing habits and his character and even stops playing cricket for her. During a college trip to

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () is a hill station which is located in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long ...

, Raja takes care of the sick Nila and spends much time with her. One day, Vinoth reveals his love to Nila, but she chooses Raja as her lover. Vinoth then becomes a drunkard. After a serious bike accident, Nila is admitted to the hospital. Raja discovers he is now a

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

and died in the bike accident. Afterwards, Raja meets Chellappa (

), another ghost, who reveals to him that a ghost can be seen and can interact with a human only if the ghost wants. The loss of her lover makes Nila sad and depressive. She attempts to hang herself, but her family saves her in time. Raja, therefore, visits Vinoth's house and finds paintings of Nila in his room, so he decides to help Vinoth conquer Nila's heart. When Raja meets Vinoth on multiple occasions, Vinoth, afraid of him, ran away from him. One day, Raja tells Vinoth that he wants to help him and gives him good advice to woo Nila. After unsuccessful attempts to woo her, Vinoth completely changes his character and spends time with Nila. Vinoth then makes a marriage proposal to Nila, but she refuses to marry him. Nila considered Vinoth as a friend who wants to make her happy. She also said that she has no feelings for him and he behaves exactly like her deceased boyfriend Raja. Consumed with anger, Vinoth reveals to her that Raja is now a ghost and helped him woo her. Raja appears to Nila's eyes. He tries to convince her to move on and to marry Vinoth, but she categorically refused. Vinoth pushed Nila onto the railway tracks, and she died after being hit by a train. Vinoth explains to Nila, now a ghost, that he wanted her to be happy and that she can now be with her lover. The film ends with Raja and Nila walking hand in hand.

Cast

Production

R. Viswanathan produced the film under the banner Bharathan Films, with M. P. S. Sivakumar making his directorial debut. London Ravi and R. Viswanathan's son R. V. Bharathan were cast as the heroes of the film and Miss

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

Meghna was chosen to play the female lead role.

signed to play an important role.

and Muthukalai were selected to play comedy roles.

composed the musical score of the film and actor

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 ...

has rendered his voice for a

Kuthu ''Kuthu'' () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by A. Venkatesh, starring Silambarasan, Ramya and Kalabhavan Mani. It is a remake of the 2003 Telugu film '' Dil''. The music was composed by Srikanth Deva. Released on 14 Apr ...

song. The climax scenes were shot at the same train accident spot that figured in Kamal Haasan's ''

Anbe Sivam ''Anbe Sivam'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Sundar C. and produced by K. Muralitharan, V. Swaminathan and G. Venugopal under the banner of Lakshmi Movie Makers. The film was written by Kamal Haasan, and Ma ...

'' (2003). A train was hired for three days for the shooting.

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by

. The soundtrack, released in 2007, features 8 tracks with lyrics written by P. Vijay,

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 ...

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 ...

and M. G. Kanniappan. Saraswathy Srinivas of ''

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

'' gave 2.5 out of 5 and concluded, "All in all, an okay album".

Reception

''Behindwoods.com'' wrote, "Nee Naan Nila is a punishment you don't really deserve if you do have a thing for logic and expect the movie to follow the acceptable laws of movie making". A reviewer from ''filmibeat.com'' criticized the film's songs, the story depth and the logic-less ending. Another reviewer compared the film's similarities to ''

Kadhal Desam ''Kadhal Desam'' () is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language action romance film written and directed by Kathir and produced by K. T. Kunjumon. The film starred Vineeth and debutant Abbas in the main leads, along with actress Tabu (in her Tamil debut ...

'' (1996) and ''

Japanil Kalyanaraman ''Japanil Kalyanaraman'' () is a 1985 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by S. P. Muthuraman, starring Kamal Haasan and Radha . A follow up to '' Kalyanaraman'' (1979), it is the first sequel film in Tamil cinema. It garnered mixed re ...

'' (1985) and concluded, "If director Sivakumar had concentrated more on the story and the screenplay, Nee Naan Nila would definitely have been an innovative film". ''Chennai Online'' wrote "It's a debutant's work, and the director has tried to give a different dimension to a love triangle. The narration is at times jerky, and the second half lags."

References

{{reflist 2007 films 2000s Tamil-language films Indian romantic fantasy films Indian romantic drama films Indian ghost films Films about invisibility Films shot in Tiruchirappalli Films shot in Kerala Films shot in Hyderabad, India Films shot in Kodaikanal 2007 romantic drama films 2000s romantic fantasy films