Jayamkondaan

Plot

Arjun (Vinay Rai) is a Information technology (IT) professional. who resigns his job in London and returns to India following his father’s sudden death. He decides to set up a real estate business in Chennai from the funds he has saved so far. He goes to the bank to withdraw the money, but is shocked to see that only Rs.18,000 cash to be available in his account. He estimated the amount to be Rs.65 lakhs. Arjun doubts that his father must have invested the money somewhere in India. He inquires with his father’s friends to get to know about the money. At last, Arjun finds that his father has purchased a house in Madurai with the money, but also is shocked to know that his father had another wife in Chandrika (Malavika Avinash), who is a French teacher and has a daughter named Brinda (Lekha Washington) through her.

Brinda gets admission to study in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States Of America (USA), but her education loan is rejected. So, she decides to sell the house in Madurai and get the money needed for her education. Arjun comes to meet Chandrika and Brinda asking her not to sell the property, as it was purchased through his money. Chandrika understands that her daughter’s activities are not right and the house should actually belong to Arjun. But, Brinda is short tempered and doesn't listen to Chandrika. Chandrika hands over the house documents to Arjun and he leaves to Madurai to sell the house immediately.

At Madurai, he meets Durai Raj (Nizhalgal Ravi), a chilli vendor and his daughter Annapurani (Bhavana), who are the tenants. Durai Raj is a friend of Arjun’s father. Arjun explains his situation and requests them to vacate the home so that he can sell. To convince Annapoorani, Arjun cooks up a story that both Annapoorani and Arjun are childhood friends. To his surprise, Brinda also comes to Madurai to prevent Arjun from selling the property. She approaches Guna (Kishore), a local goon to help her from stopping Arjun. Guna comes along with his wife Poongodhai (Vasundhara Kashyap) to the registrar office to stop the deal. A quarrel erupts between Arjun and Guna and when Guna tries to hit Arjun with a hammer, it accidentally hits Poongodhai and she dies on the spot. This angers Guna and he wants to take revenge on Arjun by killing him, thinking that he was responsible for his wife’s death.

Arjun escapes to Chennai along with his sister Brinda. But, Brinda’s mother Chandrika passes away suddenly and Brinda has no one to care for now. Arjun takes Brinda to his home and asks her to stay with him. She agrees, but still she hates Arjun. Slowly, Arjun develops affection towards Brinda and decides to give the money to her for education. Annapurani comes to Chennai for a Volleyball match and love blossoms between her and Arjun. To Arjun’s surprise, Arjun and Annapurani were really childhood friends and were so close during childhood days. Arjun decides to leave to London and join his previous job, as Guna keeps searching for Arjun, just for revenge. On the day of Arjun’s flight to London, Guna kidnaps Brinda. Arjun comes back from the airport to rescue Brinda and in the fight, Guna gets killed. Finally, Brinda realizes her mistake and gets close with Arjun.

Cast

Reception

The film received positive reviews and lauded by critics for its simplicity in its presentation.The film was described by Sify.com as a "breezy entertainer", with the reiewer taking a liking to the film, comparing Jayamkondaan to the films Run, Sandakozhi and the Malayalam film Kireedom. The script and direction is described as "successful due to straightforward narration and packaging". Lekha Washington's performance was praised, citing that she "sparkles as the half sister in a well etched role" and is "the surprise packet and has the credentials to make it big". Vinay Rai "looks too thin and fragile" but "adds to the film’s energy", while Bhavana has nothing much to do other than "looking prim and proper". Out of the comedians, Sify reports that Krishna and Santhanam were more effective than Vivek who at times you feel speaks more dialogues than necessary. Praise is also heaped on Athisaya as the small town girl who gets enamored by the rowdy, describing her as a "revelation", while Kishore "fits the bill as the bad guy".

In unison, Rediff.com also praise the film as a "nice blend of the cinematic and logic". The reviewer describes Vinay Rai, "as the protagonist is very comfortable in his role" and thathe has "expressive eyes, emotes well, and makes sure his audience isn't disappointed. However Lekha Washington is clearly the surprise package", echoing Sify.com's views. However it claims that Bhavana, with her "soulful eyes and acting talent, could have done with a meatier role". "The film has risen above the clichés as per the review of The Hindu and the reviewer has praised Vinay for choosing this film as his second project".

Critics claimed that Kannan deserves credit for a "good job" on his story and screenplay. Vidayasagar’s music was described as is "so-so", there is a feeling that you have heard these tunes before with the "picturisation is nowhere near the high standards set up by the director’s guru (Mani Ratnam). Rediff claims that Balasubramaniam's camera makes sure the "viewers aren't treated to bizarre angles" and that V. T. Vijayan's editing is "slick and smooth".

Soundtrack

The film has six songs composed by Vidyasagar with the lyrics primarily penned by Vaali and Pa. Vijay. The audio of the film released worldwide on 3 June 2008, two months prior to the release. The soundtrack was successfully received with praise.