London (2005 Indian film)

Plot

Sivaraman (Prashanth), an easy going young man, comes to London in search of a job. He loses all his certificates. Finds Kadhir (Pandiarajan), wandering in London aimlessly without a job. Now they need job & money. Kadhir persuades Sivaraman to join in a bank robbery planned by Baskar (Manivannan) - his stammering brother Natrajan (Mayilsamy) & Aishwarya (Mumtaj), who is Baskar‘s lover which lands them in more trouble as the robbery ends vainly. Aishwarya informs the police about the robbery & tells that the entire plan was hatched by Baskar. Baskar hides the money before getting arrested & the place is known only to his lawyer - Vedimuthu (Vadivelu). Aishwarya fakes to be in love with Vedimuthu to find where the money is hidden.

Meanwhile, to find a safe cover Sivaraman & Kadhir plan to imitate Saravanan, the grandson of rich elderly couple, (Vijayakumar and wife Parvathy (Srividya)). They haven't seen their grandchild since his birth. Sivaraman & Kadhir end up disguising with the body of Kadhir & the voice of Sivaraman to make up for Saravanan in front of the blind couple. Ganesh (Delhi Ganesh), who knows Kadhir before, makes several attempts to expose the truth to the old couple. But all fail to the luck of the Sivaraman & Kadhir. All of a sudden Anjali (Ankitha) arrives in the disguises of lover of Saravanan. She calls on all the relatives of the blind couple. The relatives arrive in the absence of Sivaraman. Finding no-way out Kadhir pretends to have fainted unconscious & he gets admitted to hospital. Sivaraman comes to his rescue & says that he is Dr. Karthikeyan, a friend of Saravanan from America.

Amidst their drama, Kadhir tries to steal the statue of Lord Muruga for which he plays a trick to injure the old blind woman which keeps all others out of the house for sometime. Sivaraman engages in a fight with Kadhir when he tries to leave with the statue he had stolen. The old man accuses his relatives for his wife’s accident & asks all his relatives to leave at once. Sivaraman & Kadhir gets desperate. Anjali reveals that she is Saravanan's actual lover & Saravanan died in an accident in America. She had come to intimate this to the old couple. After revealing all this she gives them money & asks them to get out of the house. Sivaraman refuses to take the money & asks Kadhir not to take the money. Kadhir leaves Sivaraman in anger taking the money with him. Sivaraman returns to the old man & confesses all his mistakes. The old man asks them to continue the drama for the sake of his wife Parvathy, who loves her grandson more than her life. Parvathy comes & calls Saravanan but she gets no replies but finally gets hold of Kadhir's arms who has returned in remorse.

Cast

Production

Prashanth and Sundar C had previously worked together in the successful 2003 action film Winner, and chose to work again in a film titled London in mid 2004. Ankitha, previously seen in Telugu films, was added to the cast in October 2004 to play the lead female role. Mumtaj, Vadivelu, Manivannan and Pandiarajan were added to the cast and the film was described to be an "out and out comedy". The film was announced to be the first Tamil film production of Spice Team Entertainment, a wing of Inspired Movies in the UK and also signed up to distribute the film.

In late 2004, the team shot scenes for 25 days across London and due to the early sunset, ended up having early starts to make most of the daylight hours. Scenes were filmed primarily in studios in Chennai, though outdoor scenes were shot near Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus amongst other locations. The film was completed and ready for release in February 2005 and Prashanth opted to release London before his other completed film, Adaikalam.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack consists of six songs composed by Vidyasagar, and was released on 24 February 2005.

Release

The film opened in March 2005 to predominantly positive reviews from film critics, who praised the film's entertainment value. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu revealed "London comically stresses on the importance of wealth in this mercenary world and in the bargain logic, credulity and spontaneity go for a toss." Sify.com gave the film a positive review noting that "Please leave your logical mind at home when you watch a Sundar.C film. The trio of Prashanth-Sundar.C-Vadivelu has a “Winner” in London". Critics from Indiaglitz.com noted "If you forget a thing called logic, this is indeed a hilarious roller-coaster ride." The critic added that "Prashanth, as Sivaraman and Saravanan, does not complicate things. He sticks to a neat and simple path. Ankitha has nothing much to do, except simpler and look good. And she does look ravishing." Another reviewer added "on the whole Sundar.C has given a colorful movie which people could sit through, laugh, smile and relax for two and half hours." Thiraipadam.com wrote, "Prashanth seems lost in the ocean of characters surrounding him and is mostly a spectator to the goings-on around him. Ankitha's face looks kinda asymmetrical and she certainly doesn't deserve the accolades Prashanth heaps on her in a song. Pandiarajan raises a few laughs in Prashanth's company. Vadivelu is very funny both when drooling over Mumtaj and when caught in some unexplainable position with Nalini. Mumtaj gets to do more than an item number while Vijayakumar and Srividya are solid. Only Yaaro Oruthi makes an impression in Vidyasagar's otherwise weak soundtrack." The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu as Namasthe London by Gayatri Movies.