Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu

Plot

The film begins with Varun (Nani) gaining admission into an engineering college. He and his friends one day participate in a cultural programme, where Varun finds his childhood sweetheart Nithya (Samantha) participating in a dance show. He begins wooing her by singing on stage and later meeting her. As they meet, the film rewinds to their early days when both were in third standard. They become good friends after a small incident and their friendship blossoms. But due to a misunderstanding, Nithya decides not to meet Varun and to never talk with him. However, as destiny would have it, they meet again in their tenth standard. Nithya initially hesitates to talk with Varun, but sheds her inhibitions once Varun breaks the ice between them, and resumes her friendship with him. Nithya is elected as the pupil leader in school and as a pupil leader she is in constant interaction with Deepak, another pupil leader and her classmate, much to the dismay of Varun. As a result, they have another fallout.

The film moves to their current meeting in the college. Both forget their past misgivings and become friends again. This time, they fall in love. During the vacations, Nithya leaves India and Varun is left for himself. Varun's elder brother who works in a software company, wants to marry his colleague and confesses the same to his parents. His parents oblige by offering to negotiate with the girl's parents. However, his parents are humiliated at the negotiations. Varun, in the process of consoling them, realises that despite their embarrassment, his brother and parents care about him rather than themselves. He then decides to take his studies more seriously and begins preparing for CAT. Nithya comes back to India and sees Varun not spending enough time with her due to his busy schedule. Nithya too initially understands his situation. However, when she learns that Varun is going to IIM Kozhikode, she too proposes to go with him. Varun rejects her proposal citing that he is going to stay in a hostel as staying outside in a rented house would be too costly for his family. This leads to a heated argument between the two and eventually ends up in another break-up between them.

After graduating from IIM and landing a job, Varun goes about finding Nithya. He goes to Manapad in Tamil Nadu where Nithya is working as a school teacher at a tsunami relief camp. Nithya refuses to talk to him even after many attempts by Varun to start a conversation. When he finally gets her to talk, she rejects his advances saying that she is happy with her current position. Disgusted at her rejection, Varun leaves the place. After some days, Nithya invites Varun to her sister's marriage. At the same time, Varun also invites Nithya to his engagement. Nithya, shocked and surprised at this sudden development realizes that she couldn't fully understand Varun and breaks down before her sister. However, to the surprise of Varun, she attends his reception, which makes him think twice about his marriage. He realises that he is still in love with Nithya. So he breaks his current engagement with the consent of his father and goes to Nithya's home to win back her confidence. Nithya too apologizes to Varun about her past behaviour. They confess their feelings by sharing a kiss. The film ends with a note being shown that they are happily married and continue to quarrel and love each other.

Cast

Production

In January 2011 producer Bellamkonda Suresh announced that he had signed on Gautham Menon, Ram and Samantha for his next production, a bilingual in Tamil and Telugu, citing that the filming would begin from May 2011. In late September 2011, Ram was replaced with Nani, as the former walked out of the film due to unknown conflicts. Nani had previously worked in Gautham Menon's production Veppam. Menon's "regular crew" of editor Anthony and cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa were part of both films. Although A. R. Rahman was reported to compose the music, sources indicated that he would not work for this film, owing to his other commitments. Menon clarified that he never announced any music director for the film and that he wanted to keep it as a surprise. In January 2012, Ilaiyaraaja was revealed to be the composer.

Initially planned to be a bilingual, Menon decided to shoot the film in three languages simultaneously, with Samantha being retained in all three versions. The film was set to be titled Nithya, after Samantha's character in the film, but was eventually named as Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu, inspired by a song from the 1996 film Ninne Pelladutha. Singer Chinmayi will be providing the speaking voice for the female lead.

Filming began on 29 August 2011 with a photo shoot held along with the Tamil version. The teaser of the film is released on 14 February on the occasion of Valentine's Day

Soundtrack

The audio was released directly in the stores. The Tamil version Neethaane En Ponvasantham was released in a grandeur way with Ilayaraja's concert along with Europe's Budapest Orchestra in Chennai which was also attended by the cream of South Indian film directors and other musicians. Telugu actor Nani had also attended the audio launch-concert in Chennai.

The official audio track list of the film was released on 27 August 2012. Musicperk.com rated the album 8.5/10 quoting "Celebration of Music ! Celebration of Raja !". 123telugu.com gave a positive review stating "Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu has a few very soothing numbers that remind you of Ilayaraja’s golden years in the 80′s and 90′s. But on the whole, YVM has Ilayaraja’s stamp all over it. The songs will take time to grow on you, just like slow poison." telugu.way2movies.com gave a positive review stating "Yeto Vellipoindi Manasu is packed with Ilayaraja's signature style tracks and with a couple of songs he takes us to 90’s feel. As always, Ilayaraja stayed away from the typical formula numbers and offers us soothing, balmy and a pleasant album. YVM grows on you with the repeated listening…" Yeto Vellipoyindi Manasu which were successful at the box office.

Reception

The movie received positive reviews in general, with critics appreciating Gautham Menon's story, screenplay and dialogues, Nani and Samantha's performances, Ilaiyaraja's soundtracks and background score, The Times of India gave a review stating "the movie unravels at a pace of its own and has very few whistle-moments and has loads of drama. This movie is definitely a new feather in Samantha's cap." Radhika Rajamani of Rediff said that the film is a "believable love story. Yeto Vellipoyindi Manasu is packaged with all the right ingredients -- a fairly good and sensitive screenplay, fine performances by the lead pair, Nani and Samantha, melodious music by the maestro Ilaiyaraja and decent production values. The film is largely relatable." APHerald.com gave a review stating "Everyone who are in and out of love should not miss this flick. Only for people associated with love 'ever in their life', May do well at multiplexes but not a commercial hit." The Hindu declared that the film was like a "gentle breeze" and felt that the film should be watched "with the person you love. An extra dose of patience will help". IndiaGlitz, in its review, said "to be fair to Gautham Menon, he has delivered a realistic conversational love story. If it was AR Rehman's music that was Ye Maya Chesave's raison d' etre, it is the class act of both Samantha and Nani (who is nothing less than a revelation) that keeps some of us glued." Oneindia Entertainment wrote: "overall, Yeto Vellipoyindi Manasu has superb performance by Nani and Samantha. But its dragging narration kills the viewers' interest." Idlebrain.com felt that the film is a "daring attempt by Gowtam Menon to narrate a moments-based film without bothering about payoffs. On a whole, YVM is a multiplex film and we got to wait and see how it fares." CNN-IBN in its review, too felt that Gautham Menon has delivered a "realistic conversational love story" and lauded the lead pair for their "classy act". Nani and Samantha definitely have the hottest chemistry ".