Manadhai Thirudivittai

Manadhai Thirudivittai (Tamil: மனதை திருடிவிட்டாய்) ; English: You have stolen my heart!) is a 2001 Indian Tamil musical comedy film written and directed by newcomer R. D. Narayanamurthy, starring Prabhudeva, Kausalya and newcomer Gayatri Jayaraman in lead roles and also stars both the comedians Vivek and Vadivelu, being their most recent collaboration in Tamil films. The film, which has music scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja, released on 14 November 2001 and met with average results the box office. However, the film was nonetheless dubbed into Telugu and released as Manasuna Manasai in 2005. The film successfully ran for 100 days. The director R. D. Narayanamurthy and Prabhudeva celebrated the success in a grand manner. Vadivelu and Viveks comedy was well appreciated and a key point for success of this film.

Plot

Manadhai Thirudivittai Manadhai Thirudivittai

Deva and Shruti studies in the same college. Deva falls for Shruti and tries to win her with the help of his friend, Steve. One day, Shruti cheats and embarrasses Deva with the name of love which hurts him very deeply. Later, she understands his love and proposes to him. After some time, he meets his friend, Ashok on the road and goes to his house. There he meets Indu, Ashok's fierce sister. He got impressed with Indu's voice and wishes her to sing in his band. He tries to befriend Indu, but she complains to the police that he is eve-teasing her. The police brought him to the police station and thrashed him. This made Shruti very angry and she goes to Ashok's house and shouted at Indu for her mannerless behaviour towards men and also her boyfriend. Ashok and Deva came into and stopped the argument between both the ladies. When Ashok realise that Shruti is still angry, he opens up a story which reveals why Indu behaves such. It seems she has lost her virginity during her college tour. And no one questioned her more about the bad incident.

To bring back Indu to her jolly and happy life, he brought Indu's favourite singer, P. Susheela to her home. She was extremely happy to spend time with her favourite singer. After knowing Deva was the one who did that, she apologised for her rude behaviour to Deva and Shruti. By this time, Deva and Shruti were going to be engaged. Deva invites his best friend, Ranjith to the engagement and introduces his future wife to him. Deva pointed to Shruti, but when Ranjith sees, it turns out to be Indu walking towards them. Ranjith who was shocked, congratulated him saying he has a big heart that he was willing to marry the girl he raped. Then Ranjith narrates the story, when his friends went to Kuttraalam. There, Ranjith's friends have Deva a drink of beer and made him drunk enough to meet a call girl in the room 21 in the same hotel. Indu happened to be in the same hotel with her friends for her college tour. Deva mistakenly enters Indu's room when it was only her in the room alone. Deva mistakens her for the call girl and accidentally sleeps with her. When Ranjith comes looking for him, he saw Indu's face on the bed.

After knowing this truth, Deva is all over guilty towards both Shruti and Indu. He decides not to marry Shruti, and says this to Ranjith. Ranjith who wants Deva to be happy with his love, tells to Ashok that he was the one who raped Indu. Deva splits both of them saying he was the one ruined Indu's life. That night Indu confronts Deva and asks him to still marry Shruti as she thinks it was just an accident between them. The next morning, just before Deva tieing the auspicious thread on Shruti, she stands up and asks him to stop acting. She says that she already knows that Deva was the one who raped Indu through his unsend letters in his Deva's room. She created a havoc and refused to marry Deva, and also embarrassed Indu. Getting angry, Deva quickly marries Indu. As he ties the thaali on Indu, he looks at Shruti where she smiles at him. It turns out to be Deva himself has told Shruti about this incident and had asked her to act such in the wedding the next day. She agrees to Deva because of the love she has on him.

Production

The producers of the film initially tried to rope in Shilpa Shetty to play the lead heroine, but the actress refused as her previous pairing with Prabhu Deva in Mr. Romeo ended up being a commercial failure while Sonia Agarwal was rejected after make-up test and she was replaced by newcomer Gayathri Jayaram.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja was released on 22 September 2001 by Sa Re Ga Ma. It features 6 tracks, lyrics were penned by Pa. Vijay and Kalai Kumar. Though the songs didn't attract the masses overall, the song "Manja Kaattu Maina" was one of the most popular songs of 2001.

Critical reception

The movie received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Rediff wrote: "On paper, Manathai Thirudi Vittai seems to have everything going for it. Yet, somehow, it doesn't quite jell. For the most part, the film oscillates between the good and the merely banal". Hindu wrote:"Armed with a suspenseful story and a cohesive screenplay, director has come out with a fare that is reasonably appealing". Thiraipadam.com wrote, "This is a Prabhu Deva movie. What were you expecting, "Hey Ram"? It's enjoyable, entertaining fluff. The comedy, though not always successful, is sometimes very funny. The songs are great. Yuvan Shankar Raja has written some great music, and Prabhu Deva shows off his dancing skills (especially in a brief dance in "Color Color"), thankfully returning a little to his roots."