Thirumanam Enum Nikkah

Plot

Ragava (Jai) and Vishnu Priya (Nazriya Nazim) are travelling in the train from Chennai to Coimbatore under the identities Abu Bakar and Aayisha. Ragava acquires the identity of Abu as he gets a ticket reserved in that name and Priya acquires the identity of Aayisha as she is impersonating her Muslim friend for a project. Abu/Ragava helps her from a stalker and in course falls in love with her. She too develops feelings for him. Back in Chennai, they start to get to know each other. They assume that the other person is a Muslim. But soon Priya feels guilty and asks Ragava to keep away from her. Saddened by this, Ragava meets a Unani doctor Showkhat Ali (Jamal) and learns about Islam just for the sake of Aayisha. Showkhat's daughter Naseema (Hebah Patel) falls in love with Ragava, assuming him to be Abu Bakar. On the day of Ramzan, Priya confesses her love to Ragava and they start a relationship. Under certain circumstances, they both come to know about their true identities. Though their family arrange their marriage, they feel that they had true love only for their Muslim counterparts. On the day of their marriage, they break up and move away. Meanwhile, Naseema comes to know about Ragava's marriage and her cousin Ashraff (Dinesh) plans for revenge. Ragava and Priya attend Priya's friend Aayisha's marriage and they feel that they still have love for each other. As Ragava leaves the venue, Ashraff and his friends beat him up. Naseema stops them and confesses that only she had mistaken Ragava. Priya notices the brawl, realizes her love and hugs Ragava. Finally, they both get married.

Cast

Production

The project was first announced as Anis's directorial debut in February 2012 with Jai and Samantha announced as the lead cast, with Sakthi and Aascar Ravichandran being cinematographer and producer respectively. However Samantha's busy schedule led to Nazriya Nazim replacing her in October 2012 to play the lead role and the film was subsequently shot in ten-day schedules in periods at the end of 2012. It was the first Tamil film that the actress had signed, though all her other Tamil ventures Neram, Raja Rani, Naiyaandi and Vaayai Moodi Pesavum ended up releasing earlier. Hebah Patel, who had worked only as a model in commercials, was selected to play the other female lead. Deekshitha Manikkam, runner up of the Miss South India 2013, was signed up to play the pivotal character of Nazriya's friend in the film.

The film was shot largely in Chennai, Hyderabad and Kozhikode. Scenes of actual Hindu and Muslim festivals like golu at the Sri Adikesava Perumal Temple in Sriperumbudur and Avani Avittam as well as Ramadan in Malabar and Muharram in Hyderabad were captured for the film. The director explained that waiting till the actual ceremonies took place during the year added to the delay in shooting.

Soundtrack

The film's score and soundtrack are composed by M. Ghibran. The soundtrack was released on 24 December 2013. The Times of India wrote "with Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah, Ghibran gets to explore a variety of genres and gives us a finely textured album that manages to find that sweet spot between being creative and being listener-friendly"

Release

Claiming that the muharram chest-beating procession had been portrayed in a derogatory manner in the film, a Chennai-based organization, Tamil Nadu Shia Muslim Jamath, filed a writ petition in the Madras high court to stall the release of the film. In the petition, the Jamath vice-president Tablez Ali Khan of Thousand Lights said the chest-beating procession is mourning the martyrdom of the grandson of Muhammad, and the occasion is sentimental having religious sanctity. He stated that it was a direct attack on the principles of secularism enshrined in the Constitution. The petitioner wanted the court to direct the complaint and forbear the producers from releasing the film.

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Jaya TV. Producer Ravichandran announced that the film would be released in the middle of 2014, and the theatrical trailer was released in April 2014.

The film was scheduled to release on 24 June 2014.