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Revision as of 10:12, 10 December 2019

Sethu...
File:Sethu 1999 poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBala
Written byBala
Produced byA. Kandasamy
StarringVikram
Abitha
CinematographyR. Rathnavelu
Edited byRaghu Baabu
Music byIlaiyaraaja
Distributed bySharmasha Productions
Release date
  • 10 December 1999 (1999-12-10)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Box office₹6 crore

Sethu is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by debutant Bala. The film stars Vikram and Abitha in the lead roles with Sivakumar and Sriman in other pivotal roles, widely considered as a trendsetter and cult film. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Ilaiyaraaja.[1]

The film opened in October 1999 at a single suburban theatre but later became a popular commercial success. Sethu won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil and secured wins in the Best Film category at the Filmfare Awards and the Cinema Express Awards, while Bala and Vikram won several awards for their contributions to the film. The film was remade in Hindi as Tere Naam, in Kannada as Huchcha and in Telugu as Seshu.[2] This film was also remade in Bangladesh as Tor Karone Beche Achi.

Plot

Sethu aka Chiyaan (Vikram) is a rough and macho college rowdy and also The Students Union Chairman of the college, who uses violence as the only way to deal with people. He lives with his brother, a Magistrate (Sivakumar), and his sister-in-law, who is the only person who seems to understand him properly.

The movie opens with Sethu winning the elections to the office-bearers of the college's Students Union followed by celebrations and in-campus fight between the rival candidates.

Sethu has a staple diet of yes-sir friends surrounding him. He comes across a timid girl, Abitha, who is the daughter of a poor temple priest, and starts to woo her. When she initially rejects him, he kidnaps her and forces her to fall in love with him.

After Abhita falls in love with him, Sethu is attacked by brothel goons who take revenge on him for interfering with their business. Sethu suffers from brain damage as a result and ends up in a temple ashram. Suffering from amnesia and having developed an unusual behaviour, he starts to recollect memories. At one point, he is completely back to his normal self and tries to convince the Swamiji that he's back to normal. However, the Swamiji ignores him and the wardens beat him up. Desperate, Sethu attempts to escape from the ashram by climbing over the gates. Unfortunately, he fails and ends up with serious injuries.

Whilst sleeping with his injury, Abitha makes a surprise visit. However, Sethu is asleep and she leaves with this woeful memory of him. As she is about to leave the institution, he wakes up and realises that she had come to see him. As he calls out, she leaves unable to hear him.

Persistent to meet her he makes another attempt to leave the institution and this time he is successful. When he arrives at her house he is presented with his love unfortunately dead. He realises that she had committed suicide.

Distraught after what he saw, Sethu just walks out and his friends and family try to help him regain his memory. Although he is aware of what's happening around him, Sethu pretends to be unconscious. At that point, he is met with the mental institution wardens who came to take him back to the ashram. The film ends with Sethu leaving with them as he has nothing to live for after his true love's death.

Cast

Production

Bala, an erstwhile assistant of Balu Mahendra wrote the script of the film, then titled Akhilam, in the mid-1990s and offered the film's lead role to his housemate Vignesh who refused the film, then he chose J. D. Chakravarthy as the lead in the film. He liked the script but unable to sign the film as he was stuck in another project. The film was based on a real-life incident of a friend of Bala's, who had fallen in love, lost his mind and ended up at a mental asylum.[3] Murali was then also considered for the lead role in the project, but did not sign up.[4][5] In 1997, debutant director Bala offered Vikram the role of the rogue, Sethu (Chiyaan), in the film of the same name. Keerthi Reddy was initially signed on to play the lead female role, but was later replaced by Rajshri and then subsequently Abitha.[1][6] To prepare for the character, Vikram shaved his head, thinned down to half his size by losing 21 kilograms and grew nails for the role.[2][7] Furthermore, Bala did not want Vikram to accept any other offers during this period to maintain the continuity of his looks and asked him to cease working as a dubbing artiste. The film's launch was held on April 1997 and production lasted close to two years as the film languished in development hell. The FEFSI strike of 1997 halted filming across the Tamil film industry from June to December 1997 and as a small budget film, Sethu was unable to progress during the period.[3] When the strike was called off, the producer left the project and Vikram and Bala's assistant Ameer had to go and plead the producer to return, with filming resuming in January 1998. After further slow progress, the film was finally ready in June 1999. M. S. Bhaskar lent his voice for S. S. Raman who appeared as temple priest in this film.[8] Rathnavelu who worked as a cameraman revealed that he gave the asylum scenes a predominantly green tone for the intense psychological impact.[9] Vikram has described the period of production as "the worst phase of his career" as he was weak economically, and "his fire was in danger of dying down".[7]

Release

The film struggled to find a distributor and only after sixty-seven screenings did the film manage to find a buyer, with most refusing the film due to the tragic climax.[10] During the period, Bala and Vikram used Vikram's wife Shailaja's money to organise press previews and despite garnering good reviews, no-one was interested in purchasing the film and it remained finished but unreleased.[7] Made on a shoestring budget, Sethu was a sleeper hit grossing almost ₹4 crore at the box office. The film was released on 10 December 1999,[11] and initially began running at a single noon show at a suburban theatre but gradually built up audiences through word-of-mouth publicity and ran over 100 days at several cinema halls across Chennai, with Vikram being mobbed by people on the streets as a result of the film's success.[2] Critics lapped up Vikram's performance with reviewer Easwaran Haricharan of Indolink stating that "Vikram is a revelation" and that "he is very natural and his acting in last few scenes are just too good and could even be compared with the best we have seen".[12] Similarly, a critic from the New Straits Times described the film as an "unforgettable experience" and described Vikram's performance as "praise-worthy".[13]

The following year, Sethu won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil, while also securing wins in the Best Film category at the Filmfare Awards and the Cinema Express Awards. Bala won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Director and the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil for his directorial debut. The performance also drew accolades for Vikram who won the Filmfare Special Award – South and the Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for his portrayal of the title character, he was nominated for the National Film Award for Best Actor but lost to Mohanlal.[14] Post-success, Vikram has described the film would have been close to him regardless of the commercial success and that it put him on the "right path", with Vikram choosing to adapt the prefix of Chiyaan to his screen name.[7] Owing to its success, the film was remade in Hindi as Tere Naam starring Salman Khan which became a success and also in Kannada as Huchcha which gave a major breakthrough to actor Sudeep. Jeevitha then remade the film in Telugu as Seshu with her husband Rajasekhar playing the lead.

Legacy

The film was a milestone in the career of Vikram who was struggling for breakthrough. The success of the film made Bala as one of the most sought directors in the industry. The film continued the trend of films with different themes that focused on realism and nativity. K. Jeshi, who is a journalist in The Hindu, placed it in the category of films which propagates social issues, like Kaadhal (2004), Veyil (2006), Mozhi (2007) and Paruthiveeran (2007).[15]

Sethu was parodied in various films. In a comedy scene from Alli Thandha Vaanam (2001), Vivek who acted as a Tamil teacher would lie in a similar way as Vikram while the song "Enge Sellum Indha Paadhai" playing in the background.[16] The scene where Vikram kidnaps and threatens Abitha to accept his love was imitated by Vadivelu in Style (2002).[17] In Ragasiyamai (2003), Karunas who appears as a barber, shows to a person (who asked for hairstyle of Kuruthipunal Kamal) that one of his customers is lying in a position similar to Vikram from Sethu.[18]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album and background score were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The lyrics were penned by Arivumathi, Palani Bharathi, Mu Metha and Ilaiyaraaja. All songs are chartbusters.

Sethu
Soundtrack album by
Ilaiyaraaja
Released1999
Recorded1999
GenreSoundtrack
Length34:03
LabelLucky Audio
ProducerIlaiyaraaja
Track list
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Enge Sellum Intha"ArivumathiIlaiyaraaja05:07
2."Gaana Karunkuyile"PonnadiyanKovai Kamala05:13
3."Kadhalenna Kadhalenna"Palani BharathiSwarnalatha05:13
4."Maalai En Vethanai"ArivumathiUnni Krishnan, Arun Mozhi, S. N. Surendar05:04
5."Saranam Bhava" Sujatha01:59
6."Sethuvukku Sethuvukku"Mu MethaArun Mozhi, S. N. Surendar02:27
7."Sikaadha Sitrondru"Palani BharathiUnni Krishnan, Arun Mozhi05:12
8."Vaarthai Thavari Vittai"ArivumathiIlaiyaraaja03:01
9."Vidiya Vidiya"Mu MethaUnni Krishnan00:47
Total length:34:03

References

  1. ^ a b Krishna, Sandhya (12 December 1997). "Kodambakkam Babies". Indolink.
  2. ^ a b c Warrier, Shobha (17 August 2004). "Vikram's obsession gets its reward". Rediff. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  3. ^ a b Rangan, Baradwaj (1 December 2013). "Man of Steel". The Caravan Magazine. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  4. ^ "Intl. Water Day – Thaneer Thaneer". indiaglitz.com. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  5. ^ "Tamil Cinema News – Tamil Movie Reviews – Tamil Movie Trailers – IndiaGlitz Tamil".
  6. ^ "Tamil Movie News: March Edition". Indolink Tamil. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d "`I am a director's actor'". Frontline (The Hindu). 19 September 2004. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  8. ^ "Talent bides its time". 13 November 2009 – via www.thehindu.com.
  9. ^ Reddy, T. Krithika (29 November 2014). "Lingaa through Randy's lens" – via www.thehindu.com.
  10. ^ Kamath, Sudhish (2 January 2003). "Making films for the real world". The Hindu. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  11. ^ "People expect me to do something spectacular: Vikram – Times of India".
  12. ^ Hariharan, Easwaran (December 1999). "Sethu". Indolink.com. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  13. ^ Vijayan, K. N. (12 February 2000). "Laughs and tears galore in 'Sethu'". New Straits Times. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  14. ^ Rajitha (21 July 2000). "Ajit backs off Nanda". Rediff.com. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  15. ^ "Formula is passé, freshness is in". 23 November 2007 – via www.thehindu.com.
  16. ^ Allithandha Vaanam DVD
  17. ^ Style DVD
  18. ^ Ragasiyamai DVD
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