Paarthale Paravasam is a 2001 Tamil drama film directed by K. Balachander, who with the project completed one hundred feature films.^[1] The film produced by Balachander's home banner Kavithalayaa Productions featured Madhavan and Simran in the leading roles with Lawrence Raghavendra and Sneha playing other key roles. The film's music is composed by A. R. Rahman whilst A. Venkatesh was cinematographer.^[2]

Paarthale Paravasam tells the story of a couple going through a breakup after the husband is exposed for having a child from a juvenile relationship. It also shows the introduction of love interests for the couple, and if they reconcile forms the crux of the plot. The film released on November 14, 2001 to mixed reviews and became a commercial failure.^[3]

Plot[link]

Madhava (Madhavan) is a doctor, and a single appearance as hero in a film has made him the heartthrob of thousands of girls. He marries Simi (Simran), but a revelation about his past separates them and takes them as far as divorce. They remain friends though, even going so far as to fix up each other's second marriages.

Simi decides to get Madhava married to Chella (Sneha), a nurse at his hospital, while he tries to fix up her marriage with a dancer, Azhagu (Lawrence Raghavendra). In the end, Madhava's and Chella's wedding and Simi's and Azhagu's wedding are on the same date. Unfortunately Azhagu then marries his housemaid due to his father's greed for wealth. Chella's parents find out about Madhava's past and call off the wedding. In the end Madhava and Simi remarry. Chella marries Vivek, Madava's colleague, who was interested in her ever since he became Madhava's disciple in the hospital.

Cast[link]

• Madhavan as Dr. Madhava
• Simran as Simi
• Lawrence Raghavendra as Azhagu
• Sneha as Chella
• Vaali as Bala
• Cochin Hanifa
• Thalaivasal Vijay
• Vivek as Dr. Putham
• Dhamu
• Manivannan as Nellai Amaran
• Nizhalgal Ravi as Mr. Muddaliar
• Radhika Chaudhari as Rekha
• Kamal Haasan in a guest appearance
• Ramya Krishnan in a guest appearance

Production[link]

Paarthale Paravasam was launched as Balachander's 100th film at his office in Chennai. The original cast announced on the day included noted singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam. However, he was replaced by prominent poet Vaali before the shoot started.^[4] Moreover Raju Sundaram was initially supposed to play the role eventually portrayed by Lawrence in the film.^[5] Balachandar managed to rope in Kamal Haasan in a guest appearance but failed to do the same with Rajinikanth.^[6]

A song for the film was shot in Malaysia featuring Madhavan and Sneha.^[7] Another was shot at Bekal Fort, Kasargod, in Kerala with Madhavan and Simran.^[8]

Release and reception[link]

The film upon release garnered mixed reviews with critics citing it as a "disappointment". A critic claimed that the dialogues was "insipid", the narration "lacklustre" and the film was "a monotonous journey for the audience".^[9] Similarly the reviewer from Sify.com labelled the film as "insufferable" and drew criticism to the director and the lead actors, saying that only Vivek's position was the "silver lining".^[10]

After the commercial failure of Paarthale Paravasam, Balachander felt that the star cast was the reason for the failure and claimed that if it been made with newcomers it would have been successful.^[3]

Music[link]

The soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics by Vaali, Vairamuthu and Na. Muthukumar. The soundtrack featured nine songs with most of them remained chart-toppers for many months. Guitarist Rashid Ali had his debut as a vocalist through this film. Nithyasree Mahadevan told about the making one of the songs, "We did not have any lyrics except the words "Manmadha Masam", when Shankar Mahadevan, Rahman Sir and I started it. So we worked on improvisations with those two words and sent the meter to poet Vaali. Vaali Sir was so overwhelmed with the tune that he said he did not want to pollute it with more words. So the song has a very unique presentation with minimum lyrics."^[11] The track "Love Check" was a fusion number that had just two words "Love Check" with Sivamani's drums.^[12] The songs were choreographed by Lawrence Raghavendra; one was picturised from Malaysia.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Paarthale Paravasam at the Internet Movie Database
• Paarthale Paravasam at Bollywood Hungama