Priyamudan
6 /10 1 Votes
Country India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 12 June 1998 (1998-06-12) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Priyamudan (English: With Love) is a 1998 Tamil romantic thriller film directed by Vincent Selva. The film features Vijay and Kausalya in the lead roles, while Sujith Sagar plays a pivotal role. The story focuses on the protagonist, who is of a hyper-possessive nature with negative shades and therefore, tries to achieve whatever he desires using any means. The film released with positive reviews and became a successful venture at the box office. This is the first movie where Vijay played a Negative Antagonistic role.
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The film was later remade as Preminche Manasu in Telugu in 2000; as Nata in Kannada in 2002 and as Deewana Main Deewana in Hindi (released in 2013). The 2000 Malayalam film, Darling Darling, had several similarities to Priyamudan. Vijay registered his 6th consecutive commercial success with this movie.
Plot
Vasanth (Vijay) is a son of a wealthy businessman and grows up with a possessive attitude. This is shown in one scene in a gift shop where he breaks a gift he likes solely because it had already been bought by someone else. He pays the owner to cover the damages, but he responds with a tagline - "If I can't get it, nobody can". He happens to visit Rajasthan, where he meets Priya (Kausalya) and falls in love immediately. Priya is injured in an accident and Vasanth's friend (Vasanth Kumar) rescues her by donating blood. Being unconscious, Priya doesn't know the face of her savior, only the name "Vasanth Kumar".
After she recovers, Priya comes to Chennai to meet Vasanth Kumar and stays in her uncle's (Madhan Babu) house. But Vasanth, who needs her at any cost, pretends himself to be Vasanth Kumar and makes advantage of her Soft-Corner. He also manages to hide her from the real Vasanth. One day, both Priya and Vasanth go to Sathyam Theater to watch Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1998) (his own movie in real) but he unknowingly comes to know that Priya and Vasanth Kumar already know each other. He gets anger and breaks the ice creams brought for them. One day, Vasanth Kumar comes to know about Priya-Vasanth affair and greets them. Priya's father Rangarajan (Jai Ganesh) also comes to know the affair, but not about the possessive Vasanth. Vasanth and Priya go to Jaipur from Chennai to meet Priya's father. While Priya is away from the home for a small work, Vasanth meets Priya's father and admits the truth to him, but he refuses. Angered by his action, Vasanth kills him but later realizes his foolish mistake. CBI officers (Nassar and Gopal (S. A. Chandrasekhar) begin to investigate the case. One day, Vasanth Kumar comes to Jaipur for a music audition, which he had missed when he donated blood to Priya. Vasanth arranges room for him but fears that he might find the truth. He goes to the hospital where Priya was admitted and tears the certificate of admission. Vasanth Kumar sees this and they go to a nearby hill station. Vasanth Kumar starts arguing with Vasanth for cheating his name. Vasanth apologizes and admits the truth but Vasanth Kumar abuses Priya. Hence he accidentally beats Vasanth but tries to save him. Having no way, Vasanth Kumar sacrifices his life for the sake of his friend. Shocked by this incident, Vasanth decides to transform himself to a good gentleman and he starts to take care of Priya. Meanwhile, the CBI officers come to know that the real murderer of Priya's father and Vasanth Kumar is none other than Vasanth himself. Priya also comes to know about this and runs from Jaipur. Vasanth searches for her and is finally beaten by Priya for killing her father. After that, she notices her ear ring which was taken by Vasanth when he first visited Jaipur. He tells all the truths and the incidents. She feels sorry for him and decides to reciprocate Vasanth's love. But the Police shoot him and he dies immediately, unable to bear the pain. Priya bursts out of tears. The film ends with a sad note, with Vasanth advising the audience" not to live like him, because they will realize their terrific destiny".
The film was declared as one of the Super -Hit Tamil films of 1998, after Ninaithen Vandhai.
Cast
Production
Vijay wanted to work with a debutant director and Vincent Selva's story impressed him, prompting Lakshmi Movie Makers to make the story into a feature film. Meena was initially approached for the film, but had to turn the offer down due to her busy schedule. The film's climax was shot at Kuldhara, Rajasthan.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack composed by Deva while lyrics were written by Ra. Ravishankar, Arivumathi, Pazhani Bharathi, Ponniyin Selvan and Vaasan.
Release
The film opened positive reviews, with the reviewer from Indolink.com praising Vijay for choosing to play an anti-hero role. It became a big success at the box office. The Hindu stated that Vijay "made sincere efforts to give shape to the negative character" that "he asserts himself in the climax". The critic goes on to describe that Kausalya "just fills the bill, while Sujit Sagar makes a neat essay".
Stunt choreographer Jaguar Thangam won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Stunt Coordinator, for 1998 for his work in Priyamudan. The film was later remade as Preminche Manasu in Telugu with Naveen and Keerthi Reddy in the lead roles.