''Malai Malai'' is a 2009 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

masala film Masala films of Indian cinema mix multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. They also tend to be ...

written and directed by A. Venkatesh. The film stars

Arun Vijay Arun Vijay (born 19 November 1977), formerly known as Arun Kumar, is an Indian actor who works primarily in Tamil cinema. He also starred in a few films in Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. Born as Arun Kumar and being the only son of veteran actor ...

Vedhika Vedhika Kumar is an Indian actress and model who has established a career in the Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. She started her acting career with the Tamil film '' Madrasi''. She made her breakthrough portraying ''Angamma'' in B ...

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 appen ...

Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of several ...

and Kasthuri in lead roles. while, Santhanam,

Ganja Karuppu Ganja Karuppu is an Indian actor who has predominantly appeared in comedy roles in Tamil cinema. After making his debut in Bala's '' Pithamagan'' (2003), Ganja Karuppu experienced success in the late 2000s with his roles in '' Raam'' (2005), ...

, Vijayakumar and

S. N. Lakshmi Sennalkudi Narayana Lakshmi (1927 – 20 February 2012) was an Indian actress, who appeared in supporting roles, often playing roles of a mother or grandmother in films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani and Kalaiselvam awards, ...

play supporting roles. The music was composed by

Mani Sharma Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina ...

with editing by

V. T. Vijayan V. T. Vijayan is an Indian film editor who works in Malayalam, Telugu, and 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 ilank ...

. The film released on 31 July 2009 and turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office. This film ran for 100 days in theaters.

Synopsis

Palanivel and Vetrivel are inseparable brothers who eke out a living as a farmer and minivan driver respectively in a village on the foothills of Palani temple. When Vetri falls in love with a city-based RJ Anjali, who is on a visit to Palani, he finds Lakshmi to romance his brother. Meanwhile, Vetri goes to Chennai in search of a job and his ladylove. He gets a job as a driver in a courier company, where Vimala Hassan, a

fanboy A fan or fanatic, sometimes also termed an aficionado or enthusiast, is a person who exhibits strong interest or admiration for something or somebody, such as a celebrity, a sport, a sports team, a genre, a politician, a book, a movie, a vid ...

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali f ...

, is an employee and becomes Vetri's friend. Now enters Essaki, a dreaded don who controls Saidapet area of the city. He initially helps Vetri but soon locks horns with him. Palani comes to Chennai to meet Vetri and runs into Essaki, and it is revealed that they are childhood friends. In order to not worry his brother, Vetri does not mention the ongoing feud between him and Essaki, and circumstances do not let Essaki and Vetri meet in front of Palani.

Cast

as Vetrivel *

as Anjali *

as Palanivel *

as Essaki * Kasthuri as Lakshmi * Santhanam as Vimala Haasan *

as Karuppu * Vijayakumar as Assistant Commissioner of Police * Riyaz Khan as Deputy commissioner *

as Vetri and Palani's grandmother *

Mayilsamy Mayilsamy (born October 2, 1965) is an Indian actor and comedian who prominently plays supporting roles. Appearing in many Tamil films, he is also a regular guest judge on '' Asathapovathu Yaaru'' on Sun TV in Chennai. Career He is a popular ...

as Sketch Artist * Aarthi as Arundathi *

O. A. K. Sundar O. A. K. Sundar (born 3 January 1970) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Tamil cinema and television. He is known for his antagonistic roles starting with ''Virumaandi''. He played the main character in the television series, '' Romapuri Pa ...

as Pandidurai *

Dhandapani Kadhal Dhandapani (17 April 1943 – 20 July 2014) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He rose to fame portraying the antagonist in Balaji Sakthivel's ''Kaadhal'' (2004), and is credited with the film's name as ...

Pandu In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', Pandu ( sa, पाण्डु, Pāṇḍu, pale) was a king of the Kuru Kingdom. He was the foster-father of the five Pandava brothers, who were the boons bestowed upon his wife Kunti by a number of deitie ...

Thambi Ramaiah Thambi Ramaiah is an Indian actor, director and comedian who works in the Tamil film industry. He has also worked occasionally as a lyricist. He directed three films, ''Manu Needhi'' (2000), '' Indiralohathil Na Azhagappan'' (2008) and '' Mani ...

Lollu Sabha Manohar Lollu Sabha Manohar is an Indian actor and comedian who has appeared in Tamil cinema. He started his career with the television show ''Lollu Sabha'' alongside other comedians, including Santhanam. Career Manohar first garnered attention throug ...

Singamuthu Singamuthu (born 8 December 1958) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films as a comedian. Career Singamuthu has primarily appeared in comedy roles in films as a supporting actor debuting in ''Neram Nalla Irukku'' (1987). He ...

Shakeela C. Shakeela, known mononymously as Shakeela, is an Indian actress and politician who has predominantly acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. She is a member of Indian National Congress. Shakeela debuted in the film ''Playgirls' ...

* Hemanth * Bujji Babu * Vengal Rao * Vijay Ganesh *

Crane Manohar Crane Manohar (born 4 October 1965) is an Indian actor who appears in Tamil films, mostly in comedy roles. He appeared in many Vadivelu and Vivek comedy tracks. Career Manohar initially worked as a crane technician for films and when he st ...

Chelladurai Chelladurai (1941 - 7 February 2015) was an Indian comedian who worked in Tamil-language films. He acted in over 350 films. Career Chelladurai made his film debut with '' Thooral Ninnu Pochchu'' (1982). He is known for his comic sequences ...

as Potential bride's father * Daisy Shah (special appearance in the song "Othaiku Othaiya")

Production

Casting

Pooja Umashankar Pooja Gauthami Umashankar, mononymously known as Pooja, is an Indian-Sri Lankan actress, who has primarily appeared in Tamil, Sinhala and Malayalam language films. Early and personal life Pooja's mother, Sandhya, is a Sri Lankan Sinhalese and ...

walked out of the film due to the film's long delay to start. instead Vedhika was selected. Kasthuri was selected to play an important role making her comeback to Tamil cinema.

Filming

Actor Arun Vijay and the cinematographers were arrested by the Thai army when the shoot was on for this film at Ko Man Islands near Pattaya City, It was only when the location manager and the producer explained the story to concerned officials that those arrested were released, The shooting came to a halt until the crew were released. The shooting of the film took place in Langavi Islands in Malaysia. Arun Vijay, Choreographer and Vedhika went as a team to the island for shooting. The shooting took place for a long time and by the time crew left it became dark and they missed the way and stranded in the mid sea for more than 2 hours but luckily they were saved. Set of the temple town Palani has been erected at Sriperambadhur for shooting of the film, Since the story of the film happens in Palani, set of the temple including market place, shops and streets have been erected in Sriperambadhur for 50 lakhs. A fight sequence featuring Arun Vijay clashing with the villains has been shot under the guidance of the stunt master Kanal Kannan. Scenes featuring Vedhika is also being shot here. Four cameras are being used for the shooting at this spot. Mumtaj was said to be appearing in an item number which proved false. During the shooting, the makers did a charity work to underprivileged rural areas. These donations have been used to provide adequate number of Ambulance facility to the villages of Ramanadhapuram, Pattukottai, Dindugal. Shooting for the climax has been on at Binny Mills and whilst acting out a stunt sequence involving jumping over the camera, Arun Vijay hurt his rib cage and arm. Luckily, the injuries weren't major and the actor went about shooting the scenes after rest for a couple of hours.

Music

Soundtrack is composed by

and lyrics by Vaali. The audio was launched by

Suriya Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known by his stage name Suriya, is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and a philanthropist. He primarily works in Tamil cinema where he is one of the highest paid actors. He received numer ...

in 2009.

Release

The film was officially announced as a hit by the reports given by Top 10 movies in Kalaignar TV and other websites. It ran successfully for more than 100 days.

Reception

Kollywood today wrote: "There’s nothing exceptional you will be witnessing with ''Malai Malai''". Oneindia wrote: "Director Venkatesh uses all his usual techniques to entertain the viewers. The techniques he has applied may be old but guaranteed for a 2 hours 30 minutes entertainment. Arun Vijay has successfully broken all the odds in the film ''Malai Malai'' and become a complete hero in this film through his good performance and heroine

also perform well in the sleek action masala. ". Sify wrote: "a typical mass masala movie with all essential ingredients". Nowrunning wrote: "''Malai Malai'' an out-and-out Arun Vijay movie and

is apt for the role". Behindwoods wrote: "Scenes and narration are the same old run-of-the-mill types but for Prabhu’s and Prakash Raj’s friendship. Director had attempted to give something different but his efforts fall flat".

Legacy

The success of ''Malai Malai'' and breakout success of star

prompted the producers of the critically-reviled then-unreleased and shelved film ''

Thunichal ''Thunichal'' ( ta, துணிச்சல்) ( en, Bravado) is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Majith who earlier directed Vijay starrer ''Thamizhan''. Starring Arun Vijay and newcomer Shiva Manjal, the film ...

'' to use his newfound publicity to launch their own film, in which a pre-fame Vijay had starred. Arun Vijay, worried that the move could hamper his new-found image at the box office, lodged a complaint with the Nadigar Sangam, alleging that the producers of Thunichal were attempting to release the film without his voice. Soon after, he retracted his statements and refuted that the film would not damage his reputation. After ''Malai Malai'', the crew of previous film re-united with '' Maanja Velu'' which is a remake of Telugu film '' Lakshyam''. which also went on to become a hit at the box office.

References

External links

Malai Malai at Paadal.com
* {{A. Venkatesh (director) 2009 films 2000s Tamil-language films Films scored by Mani Sharma Films shot in Palani Films directed by A. Venkatesh (director)