Chennaiyil Oru Naal

Chennaiyil Oru Naal (transl. A day in Chennai) is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language thriller film written by brothers Bobby and Sanjay and directed by Shaheed Kader. The film features an ensemble cast led by R. Sarathkumar, Prakash Raj, Cheran, Prasanna, Raadhika Sarathkumar, Parvathy and Iniya. The film, a remake of the 2011 Malayalam film Traffic, has its narrative in a hyperlink format. A multi-narrative thriller that intertwines multiple stories around one particular incident, the film is inspired from an actual event in Chennai.[1] It was titled Naangu Vazhi Saalai earlier.[2] The film opened on 29 March 2013[3] to positive reviews.[4] The film was a blockbuster at the box office. A sequel titled Chennaiyil Oru Naal 2 was released on 2017.

Chennaiyil Oru Naal
Directed by	Shaheed Kader
Produced by	Raadhika Listin Stephen
Screenplay by	Bobby–Sanjay Ajayan Bala
Story by	Bobby–Sanjay
Starring	R. Sarathkumar Prakash Raj Cheran Prasanna Raadhika Sarathkumar Gabriella Charlton Parvathy Iniya
Music by	Mejo Joseph
Cinematography	Shehnad Jalal
Edited by	Mahesh Narayanan
Production company	I Pictures Magic Frames
Release date	29 March 2013
Running time	119 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

On 16 September, superstar Gautham Krishna (Prakash Raj) gets ready for the release of his new film. On the same day, Traffic Constable Satyamoorthy (Cheran) returns to duty after his suspension for taking bribes. The day is also special for Dr. Robin Joseph (Prasanna), a cardiologist who is celebrating his first wedding anniversary. Karthik Vishwanathan (Sachin Mani), an aspiring TV journalist, starts his first job with an interview with Gautham. On the same day, at a crowded traffic junction, Karthik, who was set to interview Gautham, and Ajmal (Mithun), traveling on a bike, is hit by a speeding car and is rushed to Global Hospital. Also at the junction, in another car, was Robin. Karthik goes into a coma and is declared brain dead, although he is kept alive on a ventilator.

Meanwhile, Gautham's ailing daughter Ria's (Gabriella Charlton) heart condition worsens, and she urgently needs a heart transplant. At first, Karthik's parents do not agree to donate their son's heart, but Ajmal and Karthik's girlfriend Aditi (Parvathy) persuade them. Now that the heart is available, the problem is how to transport it to Vellore. No chartered flights or helicopters were available, and so the heart must be taken by road. Someone had to drive 150 kilometers in under two hours during rush hour.

City Police Commissioner Sundara Pandian IPS (R. Sarathkumar) is asked to carry out the mission. He initially refuses, considering the complexity and risk involved, but finally succumbs to the persuasion of Dr. Arumainayagam (Vijayakumar). Accompanying him on the mission are Robin and Ajmal. At some point, they lose connection and the vehicle mysteriously disappears. Under pressure and stress, Satyamoorthy trusts his own instincts and takes his own route. Sundara Pandian loses patience and loses hope that he will be able to transport the heart in time, resulting in cancelling the mission. Just in time, Satyamoorthy manages to get connection, which motivates everyone to deliver the heart safely in time.

As the mission proceeds, it is discovered that before Robin committed to accompany Satyamoorthy on this mission, he had attempted to kill his wife Swetha (Iniya), due to her affair with his best friend. To escape from the police, Robin tries to sabotage the mission, but Gautham's wife (Raadhika) convinces him to save her daughter's life. They reach the hospital in time to save Ria's life just as Karthik's father (Jayaprakash) and mother (Lakshmy Ramakrishnan) prepare to cremate their son.

Cast

• R. Sarathkumar as Sundara Pandian IPS, the Chennai city police commissioner who carries out the mission despite refusing at first
• Prakash Raj as Gautham Krishna, a film superstar whose daughter Ria needs a heart condition
• Cheran as Satyamoorthy, a traffic police constable who returns to duty after suspension for taking bribes
• Prasanna as Dr. Robin Joseph, a cardiologist who celebrates his first wedding anniversary and later tries to sabotage the mission and kill his wife
• Raadhika Sarathkumar as Gautham's wife who convinces Robin to save her daughter's life
• Parvathy as Aditi, Karthik's love interest who persuades Karthik's parents to donate Karthik's heart to Ria
• Iniya as Swetha (Gayathri), Robin's wife whom he planned to kill after finding out that she had an affair with his best friend
• Mallika as Satyamoorthy's wife
• Sachin Mani as Karthik Vishwanathan, an aspiring TV journalist who plans to interview Gautham but ends up being brain dead after a car accident
• Mithun as Ajmal, a man who was involved in the car accident and who goes on the mission with Satyamoorthy and Robin
• Gabriella Charlton as Riya , Gautham's daughter who is in need of a heart transplant
• Aishwarya Devan as Jennifer Mary Tony
• Jayaprakash as Vishwanathan, Karthik's father
• Lakshmy Ramakrishnan as Karthik's mother
• Vijayakumar as Dr. Arumainayagam, the chairman of Global Hospital who convinces Sundara Pandian to carry out the mission
• Subbu Panchu as Murugan, Gautham's secretary
• Kitty as Dr. Sethuraman
• Devan as Dr. Senthil
• Manobala as Sathyamoorthy's friend
• Bala Singh as Councillor
• Arun Ittachan as Camera Man
• Santhana Bharathi
• Akshara
• Vaishali
• Boys Rajan
• Suriya as himself in a cameo appearance
• RJ Dheena as Suriya's fan in a cameo appearance
• Sneha in a cameo appearance

Production

At the hundredth day celebrations of the 2011 Malayalam film Traffic, Kamal Haasan, who was the chief guest at the ceremony announced that he would remake the film into Tamil with Rajesh Pillai as the film's director.[5] However, due to his extended involvement in his directorial venture, Haasan opted out of the film by November 2011 and R. Sarathkumar was subsequently chosen to replace him. The director postponed the film, mentioning that it would restart after the Hindi version was complete.[6] Soon the actor's wife, Raadhika, joined the film and agreed to produce the venture alongside Listin Stephen. Remya Nambeesan was signed on to reprise her role from the original.[7] In March 2012, Rajesh Pillai left the remake citing scheduling issues and was replaced by his assistant Shaheed Khader.[8]

The film was officially launched on 21 June 2012. She confirmed that Parvathy would make a comeback to Tamil cinema with her role in the venture.[9]

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV.[10]

Soundtrack

Mejo Joseph who composed the original film had composed the songs thus marking his debut in Tamil.

• "Kanavey" (Female) – Shweta Mohan
• "Un Tholil Saaya" – Srinivasan
• "Iravin" – Sithara
• "Kanavey" (Male) – Kaushik Menon
• "En En Yenum" – Tippu
• "Theme Music" – Sangeetha Sreekanth
• "Massetonia" – Srinivasan

Critical reception

Behindwoods wrote:"On the whole, we have a movie which offers excitement and also educates us about a vital concept which can prove to be a life-changer to any of us in need".[11]

Baradwaj Rangan of the Hindu wrote "The back-and-forth-in-time narrative structure helps camouflage the inconsistencies..what’s missing is the nerve-jangling tension that Hollywood routinely infuses into this kind of product, but the periodic cliffhangers keep us invested in the outcome. This is the sort of outing Tamil cinema could use more of."[12]

References

1. "Hithendran, A P Hithendran Memorial Trust, Organ Donation Trust, organ donation, organ donation awareness, multi organ donation, heart transplantation, organ harvesting, hithendran, a.p.hithendran, dr.ashokan, dr.pushpajali, tirukalukundram, road safety awareness, dr.m.k.stalin, dr.kaliangar, a.p.hithendran memorial trust". aphithendranmemorialtrust.org. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
2. "Etcetera: Stellar line-up". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
3. "Tamil review: 'Chennaiyil Oru Naal' is an out and out racy thriller". CNN-IBN. 30 March 2013. Archived from the original on 6 April 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
4. "Chennaiyil Oru Naal Review". filmibeat.com. 30 March 2013. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
5. "Kamal Haasan caught in Traffic?". Sify.com. 20 April 2011. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
6. Sanjith Sidhardhan, TNN 2 November 2011, 08.20 pm IST (2 November 2011). "Sarath, not Kamal Haasan, in 'Traffic'!". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2012.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
7. "Radhika And Sarath Kumar in Malayalam Film Remake". Behindwoods. 8 February 2012. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
8. "Sarathkumar's 'Traffic'". IndiaGlitz. 20 March 2012. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
9. Sunayana Suresh, TNN 23 June 2012, 12.00 am IST (23 June 2012). "Parvathi's Kollywood comeback". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 July 2012.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
10. "TV Serial & New Episodes on – Latest News, Photos & Videos". Archived from the original on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
11. "Chennaiyil Oru Naal Movie Review". Behindwoods.com. 29 March 2013. Archived from the original on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
12. "Chennaieil Oru Naal: Street memories". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 August 2019.

External links

• Chennaiyil Oru Naal at IMDb