Oru Pakka Kathai

Oru Pakka Kathai
Poster
Directed byBalaji Tharaneetharan
Written byBalaji Tharaneetharan
Produced byK. S. Sreenivasan
StarringKalidas Jayaram
Megha Akash
CinematographyC. Premkumar
Edited byR. Govindaraj
Music byGovind Vasantha
Production
company
Vasan's Visual Ventures
Distributed byZEE5
Release date
  • 25 December 2020 (2020-12-25)
Running time
124 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Oru Pakka Kathai (transl. One-side story) is a 2020 Indian Tamil language romantic fantasy film written and directed by Balaji Tharaneetharan. It stars Kalidas Jayaram and Megha Akash. The movie is produced by K.S. Sreenivasan under the banner of Vasan's Visual Ventures. It was released on ZEE5 on 25 December 2020.

Plot

Meera and Saravanan are lovers who decide to marry after graduation. Both have their parents' blessings. In their conservative society, their intimacy begins before marriage and Meera gets pregnant. This causes panic among the couple and their respective family members. Doctors diagnosed her condition as parthenogenesis (becoming pregnant without intercourse as a virgin). Meera’s story goes viral on social media, and becomes the talk of the town. Despite the unwanted attention, Saravanan manages to convince his parents and marries Meera.

Cast

  • Kalidas Jayaram as Saravanan
  • Megha Akash as Meera
  • Jeeva Ravi as Saravanan's father
  • Lakshmi Priya Menon as Meera's mother
  • P. V. Chandramouli as Meera's father
  • Meena Vemuri as Saravanan's mother
  • Chef Damodharan as Lawyer
  • Sahasra Rajeesh as Saravanan's and Meera's child

Production

After the success of his debut venture, Balaji began pre-production on his second film titled Seethakaathi for Vasan's Visual Ventures. After a year of scripting, Balaji announced that he had temporarily shelved the venture and would resume it later (eventually restarted it in April 2017). In August 2014, he subsequently made an official announcement that his next venture would be Oru Pakka Kathai[1] and would feature Kalidas Jayaram, son of actor Jayaram in the lead role. The launch for the movie was held on 1 September 2014 at Prasad Lab in Vadapalani. Kamal Haasan showed up for the event to introduce Kalidas to the audience.[2] Shooting began in December 2014.[3] The film was produced by K. S. Sreenivasan[4] for Visual Ventures.[5]

Release and reception

The film's distribution rights were bought by ZEE5 after a theatrical release failed to happen.[6] It released on 25 December 2020.[7] Baradwaj Rangan wrote for Film Companion, "Balaji Tharaneetharan may be the gentlest filmmaker in Tamil cinema today. The smallest of plot points is treated with dignity. But the second half needed more work".[8]

References

  1. ^ "Kamal to officially announce Balaji's next". The Times of India. 1 September 2014. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Kamal launches Jayaram son Kalidas's debut film Oru Pakka Kathai – Photos". Kollytalk. 1 September 2014. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  3. ^ Soman, Deepa (12 December 2014). "Kalidasan starts shooting on Jayaram's birthday". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Balaji Tharaneetharan gets his next producer!". Sify. 26 January 2013. Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  5. ^ "NKPK fame Balaji Tharaneetharan's next titled 'Oru Pakka Kathai'". Only Kollywood. 30 August 2014. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  6. ^ Rajendran, Gopinath (24 December 2018). "Interview | Despite his growth, Vijay Sethupathi's still the same: 'Seethakaathi' director Balaji Tharaneetharan". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 27 December 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  7. ^ Kumar, Pradeep (23 December 2020). "Balaji Tharaneetharan thought 'Oru Pakka Kathai' would remain unreleased". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  8. ^ Rangan, Baradwaj (25 December 2020). "Oru Pakka Kathai on ZEE5: Kalidas Jayaram and Megha Akash In A Story About a Miracle That Has Its Moments". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.