Thirumalai

For other uses, see Tirumalai.

Thirumalai
Poster
Tamil	திருமலை
Directed by	Ramana
Written by	Ramana
Produced by	Pushpa Kandaswamy
Starring	Vijay Jyothika Vivek Raghuvaran Kausalya Karunas
Cinematography	R. Rathnavelu
Edited by	Suresh Urs
Music by	Vidyasagar
Distributed by	Kavithalayaa Productions
Release date	24 October 2003 (2003-10-24)
Running time	166 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Thirumalai is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film written and directed by Ramana. This film stars Vijay and Jyothika, while Vivek, Raghuvaran, Kausalya and Karunas play supporting roles.

Produced by Kavithalayaa Productions banner, Thirumalai shows Vijay playing a bike mechanic of the Pudupet area in Chennai. This film was a turning point in Vijay's career as he transitioned himself into a leading action hero from a romantic hero in his acting career. The filming began in June 2002 and the film was finally released on 24 October 2003, on account of Diwali, and was a declared as a successful venture at the box office.

The film was remade in Telugu as Gowri with Sumanth and Charmme Kaur in 2004 & Dhallywood(Bangladesh) as Kotha Dao Sathi Hobe with Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas in 2007.

Plot

Thirumalai (Vijay) is a mechanic who lives with his friends in Puthupet, Chennai. On the occasion of 2002 New Year's Eve, he meets Swetha (Jyothika) and falls in love with her. He starts stalking her. But she beats him up with the help of her goons. After realizing his good nature, she reciprocates his feelings. This is opposed by her father Ashok (Avinash), who calls a thug named Arasu (Manoj K. Jayan), who has a reputation of being a big mafia crime boss in Chennai. Hence, Thirumalai fights with them and this makes Arasu realize all of his misbehavior. In the end, Arasu changes his mind about the match, and Ashok also realizes his mistakes. He accepts their love finally, and both reunite with each other.

Cast

• Vijay as Thirumalai
• Jyothika as Swetha (Voice dubbed by Jayageetha)
• Vivek as Palani
• Raghuvaran as Selvam
• Kausalya as Nagalakshmi Selvam
• Karunas as Gopi
• Five Star Krishna as Krishna
• Manoj K. Jayan as Arasu
• Avinash as Ashok, Swetha's father
• T. P. Gajendran as Gopal, Gopi's father
• Shanthi Williams as Anju Mahendran's mother
• Ajay Rathnam as Traffic Police Officer
• Lavanya as Uma
• Bonda Mani as Fake Astrologer
• Anju Mahendran as Thirumalai's friend
• Pasi Sathya as Paravatham, Palani's grandmother
• Cell Murugan as a Telugu devotee of Tirumala Vishnu
• Annadurai Kannadasan as S. Raja (Company Owner)
• Kalairani as Palani's mother
• Nizhalgal Ravi as Dass, Arasu's assistant
• Vijay Krishnaraj as Rathanavelu, Uma's father
• Sakthi Kumar
• Master Udayaraj as Suma, Thirumalai's friend
• R. Sundaramoorthy as a victim of Arasu
• Nellai Siva as Thirumalai's friend
• Raghavendra Lawrence in a special appearance in the song "Thaamthakka Dheemthakka"
• Kiran Rathod in a special appearance in the song "Vaadiyamma Jakkamma"
• Ashok Raja in a special appearance in the song "Vaadiyamma Jakkamma"

Production

The filming began in June 2002, when Vijay was simultaneously shooting for his previous action flick, Bagavathi (2002). Directing the film was debutant Ramana who had apprenticed with director R. K. Selvamani. The shooting was finally ended in August 2003. On 15 April 2003, Vijay stated that he had started dubbing for his portions of the film.

Namrata Shirodkar was chosen initially to play the female lead. But the director was not satisfied with her onscreen presence and she was replaced by Jyothika.

A set resembling a market place with a mechanic shop in it was erected at Mohan Studios at a cost of about ₹ 50 lakh. Designed by art director Kathir, shooting took place there for 30 days. The film's shooting occurred in Chennai, Nellore and Vishakhapatnam, while the songs were filmed in Egypt and Switzerland.

Soundtrack

Thirumalai
Soundtrack album by Vidyasagar
Released	20 June 2003
Recorded	2002-2003
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	New Music Hit Musics Classic Audio Ayngaran Music
Producer	Vidyasagar
Vidyasagar chronology
Nilaave Vaa (1998) Thirumalai (2003) Iyarkai (2003)

Music is composed by Vidyasagar. The audio's album consisting of five songs, was released on 20 June 2003. The audio was also well received among the audience. The recording of the songs took place during 2002–2003.

Song	Singers	Lyrics	Picturization
Thaamthakka Dheemthakka	Tippu, Karthik	Na. Muthukumar	Vijay, Raghavendra Lawrence
Vaadiyamma Jakkamma	Udit Narayan	Kabilan	Vijay, Kiran Rathod
Neeyaa Pesiyadhu	Shankar Mahadevan	Yugabharathi	Vijay, Jyothika
Azhagooril Poothvale	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sujatha Mohan	Arivumathi	Vijay, Jyothika
Dhimsu Katta	Tippu, Srilekha Parthasarathy	Pa. Vijay	Vijay, Jyothika

Release

The film was released on 24 October 2003. The film was later dubbed into Hindi as Dum 2 in 2015 by Goldmines Telefilms with Vijay's voice dubbed by Chetanya Adib. Despite the remade Telugu version, the original film was again dubbed in Telugu as Gharana Mogudu.

Reception

Now running gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated "Yet another poor-boy rich-girl romance with parental opposition and mafia interference". Chennai Online wrote "There's nothing fresh here that we haven't seen in an earlier Vijay film. The Vijay-Jyotika pair, after their successful combination in Khushi, was expected to re-create the same magic on screen. But it doesn't happen". Thiraipadam wrote "Thirumalai sees director Ramana working within two big limitations. He has an age-old poor boy-rich girl love story in hand and has to contend with Vijay's mass image. Considering these restrictions, he has done a commendable job. By fashioning the hero's character a little differently and designing a fast screenplay that contains several stock situations but resolves them differently, he overcomes those negatives to deliver an entertaining feature".

External links

• Thirumalai at IMDb