Kannedhirey Thondrinal

Kannedhirey Thondrinal
Kannedhirey Thondrinal
	Poster
Directed by	Ravichandran
Written by	Story & Screenplay:; Ravichandran; Dialogues:; Sujatha
Produced by	Sivasakthi Pandian
Starring	Prashanth; Simran; Karan
Cinematography	Thangar Bachan
Edited by	B. Lenin; V. T. Vijayan
Music by	Deva
Production; company	Sivasakthi Movie Makers
Release date	11 September 1998;
Running time	153 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Kannedhirey Thondrinal (transl. She appeared before the eyes) is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by newcomer Ravichandran. The film stars Prashanth and Simran. It was released on 11 September 1998,^[1] and emerged a major commercial success. The film was remade in Telugu as Manasulo Maata (1998), in Kannada as Snehaloka (1999), in Malayalam as Dhosth (2001), in Bengali as Sangee (2003) in Marathi as Friends (2016).^[2]

Plot

Vasanth is the son of a prominent industrialist in Coimbatore. He enrolls in an engineering college in Chennai, where he butts heads with Shankar, a short-tempered and somewhat violent senior. Their animosity persists, but after Vasanth helps Shankar fight off a bunch of ruffians, they become best friends. Vasanth proves to be a calming influence on Shankar, who is impressed by Vasanth's humility, in spite of his vast wealth.

Shankar's family is something of a puzzle to Vasanth: upon receiving an invite to Shankar's house, Vasanth overhears Shankar's mother asking him why he invited visitors over. The cold reception upsets Vasanth, who makes up an excuse to leave to an embarrassed Shankar. In due course, Shankar's mother understands Vasanth's good nature and becomes very affectionate towards him.

In a side story, Vasanth chances upon a girl in the Coimbatore railway station one day. Smitten, he chases her and while she seems uninterested, he persists in his affections, eventually landing up in jail for eve-teasing after a misunderstanding with the police relating to their relationship, which she does not attempt to clear. The twist – the girl is revealed to be Priya, Shankar's younger sister, who in the face of Vasanth's decency upon his release – he does not reveal anything about her role in his imprisonment to Shankar or his mother, and withdraws from her life – discovers that she loves him too. They make up, but before they announce their love to their families, Shankar tells Vasanth about an act of treachery committed by one of his closest friends against his family.

The flashback is revealed. Shankar's family has one more member not mentioned thus far – another sister Shanthi. There are happy scenes where Shankar, his friends and his mother prepare for her wedding. Of his friends, there is a particularly close one – Shakthi, who much like Vasanth today was Shankar's best friend at the time. Tragedy strikes when Shankar and his mother find that his sister had fled from the wedding hall, and they try to find her, encountering several humiliations along the way – from the groom's family and the police. Finally, they see an auto rickshaw, where his sister emerges from, and to his shock, Shakthi is with her. It turns out Shanthi had run off to marry Shakthi, which leaves Shankar and his mother broken-hearted. In their hurt and rage, they disown Shanthi, and become much more guarded with their interactions with Shankar's friends, explaining Shankar's mother's initial reaction towards Vasanth.

Seeing parallels between that story and his own, a shaken Vasanth resolves not to let love come before his friendship. Priya, on the other hand, is unwilling to let go, and requests him on repeated occasions to accept her love, to no avail. Her family prepares to arrange for her wedding, and increasingly desperate, she consumes poison and is taken to the hospital. Vasanth's friend Boopalan, who believes enough is enough, tells Shankar and his family about Vasanth and Priya's love for each other, and how Vasanth, for the sake of his friendship with Shankar, had sacrificed his love. An emotional Shankar tells Vasanth that he is proud of their friendship, and gives his approval for Vasanth and Priya's marriage.

Cast

Prashanth as Vasanth
Simran as Priya
Karan as Shankar
Vivek as Raju
Vignesh as Shakthi (guest appearance)
Rathan as Madhavan, Vasanth's father (Guest Appearance)
Ramji as Ram
Srividya as Lakshmi, Shankar, Shanthi & Priya's mother
Chinni Jayanth as Boopalan
Vaiyapuri as Jambu
Thalapathi Dinesh as Inspector Ravikanth
Indhu as Shanthi
Dinesh (special appearance in "Kothavaal Saavadi Lady")
Japan Kumar (special appearance in "Kothavaal Saavadi Lady")

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Deva.^[3]^[4] The song "Salomiya" is inspired by "Saiyoni" by the Pakistani band Junoon.^[5]^[6]

Song	Singer(s)	Lyrics	Length
"Chinna Chinna Kiliye"	Hariharan, Anuradha Sriram, Mahanadhi Shobana	Vairamuthu	05:14
"Salomiya"	Deva	Deva	04:38
"Eashwara Vanum Mannum"	Udit Narayan	Vairamuthu	05:07
"Chanda o Chanda"	Harini		05:05
"Kanave Kalaiyadhe"	P. Unni Krishnan, K. S. Chitra		05:10
"Chinna Chinna Kiliye" II	Krishnaraj, Anuradha Sriram, Mahanadhi Shobana		05:12
"Kothavaal Saavadi Lady"	Sabesh	Ponniyin Selvan	05:09

Reception

Ji of Kalki praised Ravichandran's direction, the acting of Prashanth and Simran, and Thangar Bachan's cinematography but panned Deva's music.^[7] D. S. Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote, "Debutant director Ravichandran has done a fairly impressive job, the momentum in the small nucleus of the plot being kept till the end by his screenplay and dialogue. Prasanth, after his recent success in Jeans and Karan have put up sterling performances".^[8] The film performed well at the Tamil Nadu box office.^[9]^[10]

Remakes

The film was remade in Telugu as Manasulo Maata (1998), in Kannada as Snehaloka (1999)^[11] in Malayalam as Dhosth (2001),^[12] and in Marathi as Friends (2016).^[13]

References

^ "கண்ணெதிரே தோன்றினாள் / Kannedhirey Thondrinal (1998)". Screen 4 Screen. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
^ Bhanage, Mihir (15 January 2016). "Friends Movie Review". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2023. he comes to know that the love of his life is his best friend's sister [...] It has ample dose of south film action
^ "Kannethirey Thondrinal – UnnidathiL Ennai Koduthen Tamil Audio CD". Banumass. Archived from the original on 26 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
^ "Kannethirey Thondrinal". JioSaavn. 16 August 1998. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
^ Suganth, M. (29 January 2019). "Movie Milestone: 20 years of Thullatha Manamum Thullum". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
^ S, Karthik. "Tamil [Other Composers]". ItwoFS. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
^ ஜி (11 October 1998). "கண்ணெதிரே தோன்றினாள்". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 96. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023 – via Internet Archive.
^ Ramanujam, D. S. (18 September 1998). "Film Reviews: Kaneethirae Thondrinaal/Senthooram/Deep Impact/An American Werewolf in Paris". The Hindu. p. 26. Archived from the original on 5 June 2001. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
^ Rajitha (28 October 1998). "Prashant makes his point". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
^ "Best of 1998". Indolink. Archived from the original on 8 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ Srinivasa, Srikanth (26 December 1999). "SNEHALOKA (Kannada)". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
^ "10 Remakes From Other Languages That Worked In Malayalam". Film Companion. 9 August 2021. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
^ Bhanage, Mihir (15 January 2016). "Friends Movie Review". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2023. he comes to know that the love of his life is his best friend's sister [...] It has ample dose of south film action