Kadhal Virus

Kadhal Virus (transl. Love virus) is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language romance film written, directed and produced by Kathir. The film featured Richard and Sridevi Vijaykumar making their acting debuts in Tamil in the lead roles with Abbas in a supporting role. A. R. Rahman composed the music for the film, while Arjun Jena was the cinematographer for the project. The film tells the story of a young director, trying to pursue his dream by overcoming all hurdles. After much delay, the film opened in December 2002. Unlike his previous two films Kadhal Desam and Kadhalar Dhinam, Kathir's Kadhal Virus was ultimately panned by critics and fared poorly at the box office.

Kadhal Virus
DVD cover
Directed byKathir
Produced byKathir
Written byKathir
StarringRichard
Sridevi Vijaykumar
Abbas
Music byA. R. Rahman
CinematographyArjun Jena
Edited byV. T. Vijayan
Production
company
Sound & Light Studios
Release date
  • 20 December 2002 (2002-12-20)
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

Deepak is a budding filmmaker trying to get his first production out. He meets and falls in love with Geetha, and decides to take his relationship with her further once his first film is made. Misunderstandings lead to their separation, and her eventual marriage to Rajiv, a struggling actor who is looking for a role in Deepak's next film.

Cast

A sequence in the film features guest appearances from:

Production

Through the 1990s, Kathir developed a reputation of producing successful romantic films with critically acclaimed soundtracks by A. R. Rahman and his works in Kadhal Desam (1996) and Kadhalar Dhinam (1999) won commercial and critical acclaim.[1]

In January 2001, Kathir announced that his next film would also be a love story titled Kadhal Virus. Chennai-based model Srikanth was cast in the lead role and was coached acting skills by then-assistant directors such as Vetrimaaran and Mysskin.[2] Srikanth was later dropped and actor Richard, the brother of actresses Shalini and Shamili, was selected to make his debut in the leading role. Abbas, who Kathir introduced with Kadhal Desam, was also signed on to make a special appearance in the film.

Early reports suggested that Bhumika Chawla would star in the film but she later opted out.[3][4] Her role was later handed to Sridevi Vijaykumar, the youngest daughter of veteran actor couple Vijayakumar and Manjula, who would make her Tamil debut as a leading heroine with the film.[5] The team decided to film a sequence with several prominent directors as a part of the film's launch event.[6]

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Jaya TV. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu mentioned that "the screenplay is incoherent in parts" and that "the dialogue and expressions are sometimes too clichéd". The critic blamed the film's production delay revealing that "initially the film did kindle a lot of interest — what with A. R. Rahman as composer and a fresh lead pair to boot, but because it has been in the making for too long, the euphoria first triggered did wane a little".[7] Another critic from AllIndianSite.com mentioned that "Richard looks good and also performs well while Sridevi acts with ease and looks beautiful".[8]

The film became a box office failure and despite a high-profile launch, actor Richard has since struggled to get a meaningful breakthrough.[9] The director of the film, Kathir, also went into a hiatus and has yet to make a film since the failure of Kadhal Virus.[1] Debutant cinematographer Arjun Jena won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer for his work in the film. Lyricist Vaali received great appreciation.

Soundtrack
Kadhal Virus
Soundtrack album by
A R Rahman
Released2002
RecordedPanchathan Record Inn
GenreWorld Music
LabelSony BMG
ProducerA.R. Rahman
A R Rahman chronology
Baba
(2002)		 Kadhal Virus
(2002)		 Saathiya
(2002)

The soundtrack consists of 6 songs composed by A.R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Vaali and Pa. Vijay.

Track #SongSinger(s)Lyrics
1"Ye Ye Ennachu Unakku"Vasundhara DasPa. Vijay
2"Sonnalum"P.Unnikrishnan, HariniVaali
3"Vaan Nila"Srinivas, KarthikVaali
4"Enthan Vanil"S.P.Balasubramanyam, SwarnalathaVaali
5"Bailamore"Silambarasan, TippuVaali
6"O Kadhale"Mano, Clinton CerejoVaali

References
  1. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/32804.html
  2. https://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/tamil/2020/mar/04/18-years-in-cinema-actor-srikanth-says-he-is-unaffected-by-trolling-2111737.html
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20040815062454/http://www.chennaionline.com/entertainment/filmplus/kadalvirus.asp
  4. "rediff.com, Movies: On the floors". Rediff. 27 January 2001. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  5. "rediff.com, Movies: Juniors in senior stakes". Rediff. 20 July 2001. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20040426143227/http://www.chennaionline.com/entertainment/filmplus/kadalvirus.asp
  7. "Kadhal Virus". The Hindu. 3 January 2003. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  8. "<!-#echo var="stitle" -> - Kadhal Virus — It's All About movie". Kollywood.allindiansite.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  9. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/11000.html
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