Chennaiyil Oru Naal

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) joins back duty, after having been suspended from service for taking bribes. The day is special for Dr. Robin (Prasanna) who is celebrating his first wedding anniversary. Karthik Vishwanathan (Sachin), an aspiring television journalist, starts his first job with an interview with Gautham Krishna the very same day. On the same day, at a crowded traffic junction in Chennai, Karthik, who was set to interview Gautham Krishna, and Ajmal (Mitun), traveling in a bike are hit by a speeding car at the signal, and Karthik is rushed to Global Hospital. Also at the junction, in another car, was the surgeon Dr. Robin. Karthik is injured in different parts of his body, especially his spinal cord and nervous system. Karthik goes into coma and is declared brain dead although he is kept alive using ventilator. Meanwhile, Gautham's ailing daughter Ria's (Gabriella Charlton)heart condition becomes worse and she urgently needs a heart transplant. At first Karthik's parents do not agree to take their son off the ventilator and donate their son's heart but Ajmal and Karthik's girlfriend (Parvathy) persuade them into it. Now that the heart is available, the problem was transporting it from Chennai to Vellore. No chartered flights or helicopters were available and so the heart had to be taken by road. Someone had to drive the 150 kilometers in under two hours during the rush traffic. City Police Commissioner Sundara Pandian (R. Sarathkumar) is asked to carry out the mission. He initially refuses considering the complexity and risk involved in the mission, but finally heeds to the persuasion of Dr. Arumainayagam (Vijayakumar). Satyamoorthy, being an experienced driver who has driven for ministers, volunteers to be the driver of the Jeep carrying the heart. Mainly takes this initiative to regain the name he lost to the bribe incident. Accompanying him on the mission was Dr. Robin and Ajmal. As instructions are given from Sundara Pandian, Satyamoorthy follows the fastest route to the hospital. However, 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 hope that he'll be able to transport the heart in time, resulting in cancelling the mission.Just in time, Satyamoorthy manages to get connection, which motivates every one to get the heart safely in time. As the mission proceeds, it was discovered that before Dr. Robin committed to accompany Satyamoorthy on this mission, he had attempted to kill his wife, due to her affair with his best friend. In hopes to escape from the police, Robin tries to sabotage the mission, but Gautham's wife (Raadhika Sarathkumar) convinces him to save her daughter's life. He not only felt a mother's pain, but as a doctor realized the value of a life. After startles and twists, all goes well and they reach the hospital in time to save the girl's life just as Karthik's father (Jayaprakash) and mother (Lakshmy Ramakrishnan) prepare to cremate their son.

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 while Rajesh Pillai would be the film's director. 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 in the film, with the director also postponing the film, mentioning it would restart after the Hindi version was complete. Soon the actor's wife, Raadhika Sarathkumar, also joined the film and agreed to produce the venture alongside Listin Stephen. Actors including Prakash Raj, Cheran, Prasanna and Nassar were slated to play key roles, while Remya Nambeesan was signed on to reprise her role from the original. In March 2012, Rajesh Pillai walked out the remake citing date issues and was replaced by his assistant Shaheed Khader. Prithviraj was approached to play one of the lead roles in the film but refused the opportunity citing date issues.

The film was officially launched on 21 June 2012 with Raadhika subsequently listing out the members of the cast on her Twitter page. She also went on to confirm that Parvathy would make a comeback to Tamil cinema with her role in the venture.

Soundtrack

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

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".