Kadhal Virus

Kadhal Virus
File:Kadhal Virus.jpg DVD cover
Directed by	Kathir
Produced by	Kathir
Written by	Kathir
Starring	Richard Sridevi Vijaykumar Abbas
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Arjun Jena
Edited by	V. T. Vijayan
Production company	Sound & Light Studios
Release date	20 December 2002 (2002-12-20)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Kadhal Virus (transl. Love virus) is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language romance film written, directed and produced by Kathir. The film featured Richard and Sridevi Vijaykumar making their acting debuts in Tamil in the lead roles with Abbas in a supporting role. A. R. Rahman composed the music for the film, while Arjun Jena was the cinematographer for the project. The film tells the story of a young director, trying to pursue his dream by overcoming all hurdles. After much delay, the film opened in December 2002. Unlike his previous two films Kadhal Desam and Kadhalar Dhinam, Kathir's Kadhal Virus was ultimately panned by critics and fared poorly at the box office.

Plot

Deepak is a budding filmmaker trying to get his first production out. He meets and falls in love with Geetha, and decides to take his relationship with her further once his first film is made. Misunderstandings lead to their separation, and her eventual marriage to Rajiv, a struggling actor who is looking for a role in Deepak's next film.

Cast

• Richard as Deepak
• Sridevi Vijaykumar as Geetha
• Vivek as Puthir
• Abbas as Rajiv
• Raghuvaran as Raghu
• Manorama as Aavudai Aachi
• Pyramid Natarajan as Film producer
• Laxmi Rattan as Geetha's father
• Jaya Murali as Geetha's mother
• Ragasudha as Geetha's friend
• Arvind Kathare as Deepak's friend and Geetha's cousin
• Ramesh Maali as Deepak's friend
• Deepak Dinkar as Deepak's friend
• Vasudevan Baskaran as Sudhakaran
• Srinath as Postman
• Cell Murugan as Police inspector
• Lekhasri as Woman at the bus stand
• Vellai Subbaiah as Protester
• Theni Kunjarammal as Old woman
• Sakthivel as Theatre owner
• T. G. Thyagarajan as Himself (Cameo appearance)
• Kathir as Himself (Cameo appearance)
• Mysskin as Kathir's assistant (uncredited role)
• Vetrimaaran as Deepak's assistant (uncredited role)

A sequence in the film features guest appearances from:

• A. R. Rahman
• Bharathiraja
• Chithra Lakshmanan
• G. M. Kumar
• K. Balachander
• K. S. Ravikumar
• Keyaar
• Mani Ratnam
• Manjula Vijayakumar
• Mansoor Ali Khan
• Nassar
• Nikkil Murugan
• P. Vasu
• Parthiban
• Prashanth
• Raj Kapoor
• Rajkiran
• Ramesh Khanna
• Saran
• Shankar
• Silambarasan
• T. Rajender
• Thalaivasal Vijay
• Vaali
• Vijayakanth
• Vijayakumar
• Vikraman

Production

Through the 1990s, Kathir developed a reputation of producing successful romantic films with critically acclaimed soundtracks by A. R. Rahman and his works in Kadhal Desam (1996) and Kadhalar Dhinam (1999) won commercial and critical acclaim.

In January 2001, Kathir announced that his next film would also be a love story titled Kadhal Virus. Chennai-based model Srikanth was cast in the lead role and was coached acting skills by then-assistant directors such as Vetrimaaran and Mysskin. Srikanth was later dropped and actor Richard, the brother of actresses Shalini and Shamili, was selected to make his debut in the leading role. Abbas, who Kathir introduced with Kadhal Desam, was also signed on to make a special appearance in the film.

Early reports suggested that Bhumika Chawla would star in the film but she later opted out. Her role was later handed to Sridevi Vijaykumar, the youngest daughter of veteran actor couple Vijayakumar and Manjula, who would make her Tamil debut as a leading heroine with the film. The team decided to film a sequence with several prominent directors as a part of the film's launch event.

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Jaya TV. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu mentioned that "the screenplay is incoherent in parts" and that "the dialogue and expressions are sometimes too clichéd". The critic blamed the film's production delay revealing that "initially the film did kindle a lot of interest — what with A. R. Rahman as composer and a fresh lead pair to boot, but because it has been in the making for too long, the euphoria first triggered did wane a little". Another critic from AllIndianSite.com mentioned that "Richard looks good and also performs well while Sridevi acts with ease and looks beautiful".

The film became a box office failure and despite a high-profile launch, actor Richard has since struggled to get a meaningful breakthrough. The director of the film, Kathir, also went into a hiatus and has yet to make a film since the failure of Kadhal Virus. Debutant cinematographer Arjun Jena won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer for his work in the film. Lyricist Vaali received great appreciation.

Soundtrack

Kadhal Virus
Soundtrack album by A R Rahman
Released	2002
Recorded	Panchathan Record Inn
Genre	World Music
Label	Sony BMG
Producer	A.R. Rahman
A R Rahman chronology
Baba (2002) Kadhal Virus (2002) Saathiya (2002)

The soundtrack consists of 6 songs composed by A.R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Vaali and Pa. Vijay.

Track #	Song	Singer(s)	Lyrics
1	"Ye Ye Ennachu Unakku"	Vasundhara Das	Pa. Vijay
2	"Sonnalum"	P.Unnikrishnan, Harini	Vaali
3	"Vaan Nila"	Srinivas, Karthik	Vaali
4	"Enthan Vanil"	S.P.Balasubramanyam, Swarnalatha	Pa. Vijay
5	"Bailamore"	Silambarasan, Tippu	Vaali
6	"O Kadhale"	Mano, Clinton Cerejo	Vaali

External links

• Kadhal Virus on IMDb