Vaseegara

Vaseegara
Theatrical release poster
Directed byK. Selva Bharathy
Screenplay byK. Selva Bharathy
Story byTrivikram Srinivas
StarringVijay
Sneha
CinematographyBalasubramaniem
Edited byOriginal editor:
N. Ganesh Kumar
R. R. Eshwar
Editing supervisor:
V. T. Vijayan
Music byS. A. Rajkumar
Production
company
Shots N' Stills Ltd
Distributed bySatya Movies
Release date
  • 15 January 2003 (2003-01-15)
Running time
176 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Vaseegara (transl. Magical Charmer) is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by K. Selva Bharathy. It is a remake of the 2001 Telugu film, Nuvvu Naaku Nachav. The film stars Vijay and Sneha, while Vadivelu, Nassar, Gayatri Jayaraman and Manivannan play supporting roles. The film's title is based on a song of the same name from Minnale (2001). It was released on 15 January 2003, during Pongal.

Plot

Bhoopathy is a happy-go-lucky youth from Pollachi who is sent by his father Mani to stay with his best friend Vishwanathan at Villivakkam, Chennai, so that he can get a job and behave responsibly. Priya is Vishwanathan's daughter who is engaged to an NRI groom Prakash. Priya and Bhoopathy are at loggerheads and constantly fight and play pranks on each other. Soon, however, Priya falls for Bhoopathy. While Bhoopathy also loves Priya back, he realises that she is already engaged to another man and is also reminded of his father's words that he (Bhoopathy) should not make him (father) lose face with his friend under any circumstances. With this in mind, he starts to keep a distance from Priya and decides to return to Pollachi, only to be stopped by Vishwanathan.

Some days later, Priya and Bhoopathy, along with Priya's younger cousin sister Pappi, go to Ooty to attend the wedding of Priya's friend Asha. At Ooty, Bhoopathy attends the bachelor party of the groom Sriman. While drunk, he reveals his feelings about Priya. After the marriage, Bhoopathy, Priya and Pappi, along with a photographer Ganesh, go on a day-out to Black Thunder, where Ganesh takes a photo of Bhoopathy and Priya holding hands. Bhoopathy keeps snubbing Priya and her romantic overtures to him during the trip as he is reminded of his promise to his father but cannot forget her.

On the day before Priya's wedding, Mani arrives in Chennai and knows about the relationship between Bhoopathy and Priya. Later that night, Prakash and his family see the photo of Bhoopathy and Priya holding hands and Prakash's father Chandrasekhar decides to call off the wedding unless Vishwanathan can pay ₹1 crore to him, which Vishwanathan refuses to do. When Vishwanathan confronts Priya, Priya's aunt Lakshmi, who is aware of the love Priya has for Bhoopathy as well as Bhoopathy's dilemma, reveals the truth to Vishwanathan. Meanwhile, Bhoopathy is at the railway station, trying to convince Prakash to marry Priya. Vishwanathan, who has also arrived at the railway station, sees this, and realising the true reasons behind Bhoopathy backing out over his love for Priya, sends Prakash and his family away and accepts Bhoopathy's relationship with Priya. In the end, Bhoopathy marries Priya.

Cast

Production

K. Selva Bharathy, who had worked previously with Vijay in Ninaithen Vandhai and Priyamaanavale, opted to remake the 2001 Telugu hit Nuvvu Naaku Nachav into Tamil with his previous film Priyamaanavale's lead actor Vijay retained.[1] The remake's title Vaseegara was derived a song from Minnale (2001).[2] Sneha was signed on to as the lead actress,[3] acting with Vijay for the first time.[1] Gayatri Jayaraman was also signed on to play a supporting role.[4] A song from the film was canned in New Zealand,[5] while scenes were shot at Birla Planetarium and MGM Dizzee world.[1] Unlike the Telugu original which did not have any fight sequences, Tamil version included a fight sequence.[6]

Soundtrack

Vaseegara's soundtrack was composed by S. A. Rajkumar, which marked his fourth and final collaboration with Vijay after Poove Unakkaga, Thulladha Mananum Thullum and Priyamaanavale. While "Aaha Enparkal" and "Poopola Theepola" were reused from the original, "Venaam Venaam" was reused from "Vaana Vaana" from Daddy, also composed by Rajkumar.[citation needed]

Song Artist Lyrics
"Aaha En Parkal" Shankar Mahadevan Pa. Vijay
"Poopola Theepola" Hariharan Na. Muthukumar
"Oru Thadavai Solvaya" Hariharan, Chinmayi
"Marriage Endral" Karthik Pa. Vijay
"Nenjam Oru Murai" Srinivas, Mahalakshmi Iyer
"Venaam Venaam" Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam Na. Muthukumar

Release

Vaseegara was released on 15 January 2003, during Pongal, and opened alongside several prominent films such as Dhool and Anbe Sivam. The film grossed ₹8 crore during its lifetime,[7] and India Today estimated it suffered a loss of ₹5 crore (equivalent to ₹18 crore or US$2.2 million in 2023).[8]

Critical reception

Sify gave 3 stars out of 5 and stated "Vaseegara is Romantic-Comedy entertainment that leaves you with a smile on your face", calling it "a perfect outing with your family this festival season".[9] Ananda Vikatan rated the film 41 out of 100.[10] Franco of Nowrunning.com stated "I strongly believe Vijay has never been so hilarious before [...] all the characters have done their part well, especially Puppy" and rated 3 stars out of 5.[11] Visual Dasan of Kalki wrote even if you remove the small flaws, Vaseegara is half a poem and the rest is prose.[12] Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "The film opens interestingly enough, the earlier scenes being lively and enjoyable. It’s more to do with the characterisation of the hero than the situations. [..] But then the narration proceeds on the same plane, there are hardly any exciting moments in the script, and it all becomes a bit too monotonous in the end".[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Mannath, Malini (30 December 2002). "Vaseegara". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 17 April 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  2. ^ "'Priyamanavale' to 'Pokkiri': Five blockbuster Tamil films of Vijay that were remade from Telugu". The Times of India. 3 April 2020. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  3. ^ Pillai, Sreedhar (27 November 2002). "A charming persona". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 19 October 2003. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  4. ^ "From modelling to acting: A long haul for her". gayathrijayaram.tripod.com. News Today. Archived from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  5. ^ Kumar, S. R. Ashok (10 January 2003). "Films add glamour to harvest festival". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 July 2003. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  6. ^ Mannath, Malini (9 January 2003). "Releases for Pongal". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 27 November 2003. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  7. ^ Aarkay (23 January 2003). "Dhool Poised To Be Huge Hit". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  8. ^ Ram, Arun (18 May 2003). "Kollywood producer Venkateswaran suicide raises fears of box-office losses, empty theatres". India Today. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Vaseegara". Sify. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  10. ^ சார்லஸ், தேவன் (22 June 2021). "பீஸ்ட் : 'நாளைய தீர்ப்பு' டு 'மாஸ்டர்'... விஜய்க்கு விகடனின் மார்க்கும், விமர்சனமும் என்ன? #Beast". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  11. ^ Franco (9 January 2003). "Vaseegara Tamil Movie". Nowrunning. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  12. ^ தாசன், விஷுவல் (9 February 2003). "வசீகரா". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 36. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ Mannath, Malini (26 January 2003). "Vaseegara". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 11 December 2003. Retrieved 27 October 2024.