Friends (2001 film)

Friends is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language comedy-drama film, directed by Siddique and produced by Appachan. The movie is a remake of Siddique's own 1999 Malayalam film of the same name. The film stars Vijay, Suriya, and Ramesh Khanna in lead roles, while Devayani, Vijayalakshmi, Abhinayashree, Vadivelu, and Radha Ravi played the supporting roles. The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, while Anandakuttan handled cinematography. It was released on 14 January 2001 and completed a 175-day theatrical run at the box office.[1] This film also marks the second collaboration of Vijay and Suriya after Nerrukku Ner.

Friends
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySiddique
Produced byAppachan
Screenplay bySiddique
Story bySiddique
Based onFriends (Malayalam)
StarringVijay
Suriya
Ramesh Khanna
Devayani
Vijayalakshmi
Music byIlaiyaraaja
CinematographyAnandakuttan
Edited byB. Lenin
V. T. Vijayan
Production
company
Swargachitra
Release date
14 January 2001
Running time
167 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

Aravindan, Chandru and Krishnamoorthy value friendship over everything else, even family. For this reason, Chandru resists the advances of Aravindan's sister Amutha. When the trio takes up a painter's job at a mansion under contractor Nesamani, Krishnamoorthy's paternal uncle, Aravindan falls in love with Padmini, who lives there. Padmini's jealous cousin Abhirami makes him believe that his overtures are reciprocated. When the truth is revealed and Padmini rejects him outright, Chandru stands up for his friend and speaks ill of her. This makes her swear to separate the friends. After the marriage, Aravindan realises the hand of Abhirami behind all the mishaps, and Padmini too realises that Chandru is innocent. Then, Chandru and Amutha's marriage is arranged.

Gautham is Aravindan's cousin who is in love with Amutha and wants to separate the pair. He makes Chandru believe that Padmini is trying to kill Amutha. Padmini is now angry with Chandru. At last, Aravindan tells the truth that in their young ages, he unknowingly killed Chandru's deaf and mute brother. Gautham tells this truth to Chandru. Chandru and Aravindan then fight and go by their ways. Aravindan tries to convince Chandru but falls from the top of a mountain to his assumed death.

Five years later, Chandru is a major in the Indian Army. He learns through a letter from Krishnamurthy telling that Aravindan is not dead but has ended up in a coma. Unfortunately, Gautham is now torturing his family a lot. When he comes to know that Chandru has come back to Meenakshipuram, he starts to beat him up. After hearing Chandru's cry of pain, Aravindan wakes up from his coma. Finally, Aravindan beats up Gautham, and everyone rejoins and lives happily.

Cast

Production

After their teaming in Nerukku Ner, Vijay and Suriya came together again in this film, a remake of a successful Malayalam film of the same name that was produced by actress Saritha, and had her husband Mukesh co-starring with Jayaram. Siddique who directed the original has directed the Tamil version too. Ramesh Khanna was selected to play the role which was enacted by Sreenivasan in original.Jyothika was signed with Suvalakshmi to play the lead actresses in the film but soon Simran replaced Jyothika. Both Simran and Suvalakshmi also then too backed out due to date problems and were replaced by Devayani and new girl Vijayalakshmi from Mysore. Shooting was held in a fast pace on location in Ooty, Pollachi, Pazhani and Udumalaipettai.[2] The song 'Thendral Varum Vazhiye' is shot in New Zealand, etc.

Soundtrack

The film featured music composed by Ilaiyaraaja received positive response and topped the charts. All lyrics of the songs were penned by Palani Bharathi.

Friends
Soundtrack album by
Ilaiyaraaja
Released2001
Recorded2001
GenreSoundtrack
Length40.55
LabelFive Star Audio
Ilaiyaraaja chronology
Mugam
(2001)		 Friends
(2001)		 Housefull
(2001)
Track-list
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Thendral Varum"Hariharan, Bhavatharini05:03
2."Kuyilikku Koo Koo"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan05:06
3."Rukku Rukku"Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vijay Yesudas, Sowmya Raoh04:30
4."Manjal Poosum Manjal Poosum"Sujatha Mohan, Devan Ekambaram05:08
5."Penkaloda Potti"Hariharan, Sujatha Mohan, Ranjith05:02
6."Poonkatrae"Hariharan05:26
7."Vaanam Perusuthan"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Vijay Yesudas, Arun Mozhi05:10
Total length:40.55

Critical response

Friends was released on 14 January 2001, Thai Pongal day.[3] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu stated, "With friendship as the theme, Siddique presents a decent entertainer, which of course could have been crisper."[4] A review from Zee TV noted "at last, we have one thoroughly enjoyable picture this year" and "except for the end, which is a bit melodramatic, Friends is an excellent movie for debutant director Siddique."[5]

Despite facing competition from Dheena, released on the same day,[3] the film emerged a commercial success, running for more than 175 days in theatres.[6]

See also

References
  1. "10. Friends (2001) | Top 20 Best Films of Vijay". www.behindwoods.com.
  2. Friends. Cinematoday2.itgo.com. Retrieved on 26 July 2015.
  3. "Thala v/s Thalapathy battle begins". Sify.
  4. "Film Review: Friends". 26 January 2001 – via www.thehindu.com.
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20010408174438/http://cinema.zeenext.com/reviews/2302reviewfriends.asp
  6. "Tamil actor Vijay completes 26 years in the industry. Take a look at his journey, in pictures | Entertainment News". www.timesnownews.com.
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