Kamali, a graduate, lives with her sister Malliga and brother-in-law Shekar in Kotagiri, and is searching for a job. While visiting Madras, her purse is stolen and she fears she has lost her academic credentials. Suriya, an orphaned, carefree man who works in Jaipur, finds the purse and sends it back to her, and a love develops through letters. They agree to love each other without meeting, as she sews and sends a gift pack containing a lotus embroidered woollen sweater for him to wear when they meet for real. Suriya is soon transferred to Madras and stays with Siva, his new colleague.
Kamali too comes to Madras to find a job and stays with her friend Jensi. Neya, Suriya's new boss, is immediately smitten by him, but her repeated attempts to gain his love and affection fail as he is staunch about his love for Kamali. In the meantime, Suriya and Kamali run over each other without knowing who they really are, resulting in negative perception and misunderstanding. Refusing a job offer which would move her to Singapore, making it difficult for her to find Suriya, Kamali moves back to her home in despair.
Unable to withstand the advances of Neya, Suriya quits his job and gets sheltered by his friend Paneer, an auto rickshaw driver, who arranges for him to drive for a living. Jeeva, a wealthy businessman, expresses his interest in marrying Kamali to Shekar, but Kamali excuses herself from considering her as a prospective bride when she meets Jeeva in private and shares her unflinching love for Suriya, who even allows her to meet him for one last time. Shekar, who initially dissuades Kamali's love finally gives in and allows her to go to Madras half-heartedly.
Upon arriving in Madras, which is experiencing severe monsoons, Kamali finds out that Jensi and the other hostel mates are not in town. Pinning hopes, she boards Suriya's auto rickshaw, without knowing that it is him, and searches for him desperately. At the end of the day, both of them get refreshed at his place, where he dons the sweater gifted by her, covering it with his uniform. As Kamali plans to head home, depressed, Suriya helps her board the Nilgiri Express. As the train departs, Suriya removes his shirt after tea spills over it. Kamali notices the sweater, deboards the train, and the pair finally unite, as Paneer and Jensi look on and rejoice.
The basic theme of the film was inspired from Purananuru literature on the relationship between King Kopperum Chozhan and poet Pisirandhaiyar, though they never met until Chozhan is close to death.[2] Agathiyan initially wanted to make his directorial debut with this subject since no producer were willing to produce the film, he made few films and earned his breakthrough with Vaanmathi. Post its success, he chose Ajith Kumar, the actor from that film to play the leading role with Sivasakthi Pandian agreeing to produce the film.[3]
Sangita was the first choice for the lead actress, but declined due to her commitments to Poove Unakkaga, resulting in Devayani being cast.[4] Agathiyan had asked Devayani to change her glamorous on screen image for the film, and Devayani duly agreed with the film becoming the start of several other similar roles for her.[3][5] The film was initially titled Nila Nila Odi Vaa before it was renamed Kadhal Kottai.[6]Raja was initially reluctant to act, but joined the cast at the director's insistence.[7]
Themes and influences
Agathiyan has stated that many of the characters are intentionally named to convey their characteristics. Thalaivaasal Vijay was given the name "Paneer" (fragrant) as the director felt the character was "a sweet person who spreads happiness", while Heera was named Neya (derived from the Tamil term Neyam) as Agathiyan felt she "deserved a lot of love". He described Karan's character Siva as "a representation of the quintessential friend in every gang, who loves to be in love, but hates staying in it for too long", contrasting him with Suriya's (Ajith) ideologies on romance.[2]
The Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan appreciated the film by giving 52 marks, mentioning that the basic plot was a novel idea which had been given a good shape and life by the filmmaker.[9] K. N. Vijiyan of New Straits Times wrote, "I had expected the usual story of college boy meeting girl with both parents objecting to their relationship. So I was pleasantly surprised when [Kaadhal Kottai] turned out to be a totally different experience."[10] R. P. R. of Kalki also favourably reviewed the film, though they felt certain distracting moments such as Heera's revealing outfits, the dream sequence, auto stunt and fight sequences could have been avoided.[11] D. S. Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote "A new kind of love story is given the trimmings and gloss in right proportion under the expert eye of director Ahathiyan (Vanmathi, Madhumathi) in Sivasakthi Movie Makers' Kathal Kottai making the viewers sit back and enjoy every frame."[12]
Kadhal Kottai was remade in Kannada as Yaare Neenu Cheluve (1998),[17] in Bengali as Hothat Brishti (1998),[18] and in Hindi by the same director as Sirf Tum (1999).[19] A Malayalam remake was planned by Mohan Paiyanur in early 1998, but the project eventually did not materialise.[20]
Legacy
Kadhal Kottai is considered a cult film and a landmark in Tamil cinema diverging from traditional romantic films of the time.[21][16] This film has been included in the book Pride of Tamil Cinema written by G. Dhananjayan, which covers films between 1931 and 2013 that have earned national and international recognition. Dhananjayan wrote, "Kadhal Kottai is a trendsetting film which breathed new life into Tamil cinema and paved the way for revival of love themes in a big way".[22] According to The Times of India the film hits the top list of romantic films made in Tamil cinema.[23][24] The film also hit the list of top romantic films of Tamil magazines Ananda Vikatan and Dinamani.[25][26] The film is considered one of the blockbuster films in the career of Ajith Kumar.[27] Vijay's dance in the song "Kavalai Padathe Sagothara" also gained popularity.[28] The film was released as a novel in 2010 under the same name.[29] In the 2021 film Master, a reference is made about the film when JD (Vijay) talks to Charu (Malavika Mohanan).[30]
