Sollamale

Sollamale
Directed by	Sasi
Produced by	R. B. Choudary
Written by	Sasi
Starring	Livingston Kausalya Karan Vivek Anand Prakash Raj
Music by	Bobby
Cinematography	Arthur A. Wilson
Edited by	V. Jaishankar
Production company	Super Good Films
Distributed by	Super Good Films
Release date	31 July 1998 (1998-07-31)
Running time	158 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Sollamale (transl. Without Saying) is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Sasi, who made his directorial debut with the film. The film featured Livingston and Kausalya in lead roles while Karan, Vivek, Anand, and Prakash Raj play supporting roles. The film opened in July 1998 to positive reviews and became a box office success.

It was later remade Telugu as Seenu (1998) with Venkatesh and Twinkle Khanna and in Hindi as Pyaar Diwana Hota Hai (2002) with Govinda and Rani Mukerji in the lead roles. It was also dubbed into Hindi as Dil Faink.

Plot

Nataraj (Livingston) is an honest, not-too-good-looking, village artist who comes to the city to find a job. He ends up being a banner artist. Shweta (Kausalya) is a US citizen who loves India and its culture and stays with her relatives to learn Bharatnatyam. She is a soft-natured, loving girl who loves to help people in distress but cannot stand it if anyone lies or cheats. Initially when these two meet, she mistakes Nataraj to be a mute and pities him. Shweta's occasional friendlier association with Nataraj, in the means of helping, gradually blossoms into love. By this time, it is too late for the guilt-ridden Nataraj to disclose the truth as he feared the risk of losing her. Despite all his efforts to reveal the truth, Shwetha comes to know of his sham by herself. However at the end, she realises Nataraj's true intentions for acting as a mute and forgives him. However at the climax, when Shwetha asks Nadaraj to speak to her, he keeps silent because he had asked a doctor to cut his tongue so that he could be the Nataraj that Swetha had come to love.

Cast

• Livingston as Nataraj
• Kausalya as Shweta
• Karan as Vikram
• Vivek as Wilson
• Anand as Riyaz
• Sakthi Kumar as Vaiyapuri
• Prakash Raj as Dr. Surya Prakash
• Dhamu as Shanmugam, painter
• Vaiyapuri as Painter
• Fathima Babu as Vikram's mother
• Mohan Ram as Vikram's father
• Lavanya as Shweta's friend
• Crane Manohar as Hairdresser
• Bava Lakshmanan
• M. J. Shriram as Advertising agency owner
• Raju Sundaram in a special appearance
• Kalyan in a special appearance
• Alphonsa in a special appearance
• Kanal Kannan as Coconut Seller (special appearance)

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by debutant Bobby.

No.	Song	Singers
1	"Columbus Kaadhalaa"	Mano
2	"Sollathae"	Hariharan, Chitra
3	"Chindamaniye Vaa"	S. P. Balasubramaniam
4	"Sollu Chollu"	Bobby, Chitra
5	"Rathirida Roundadida"	Sabesh
6	"Sollathae"	Hariharan

Release

Initially, Sasi had Prabhu Deva to play the lead role for the script, but Choudary insisted Livingston to do the lead role. The film brought Livingston acclaim after years of playing supporting roles. The film began Sasi's career in Tamil films and he has since gone on to direct other successful romance stories including Rojakootam (2002) and Dishyum (2006). Bobby went on to win the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director for his music in the film. Indolink wrote "Amidst all the recent love stories that go like 'Boy does not meet girl, boy loves girl,..' etc. this has a refreshingly new story line. The story and the way the movie is made is very simple and it is this simplicity that makes the movie good".

Remakes

The movie was later remade in Telugu as Seenu (1998) with Venkatesh and Twinkle Khanna and in Hindi as Pyaar Diwana Hota Hai (2002) with Govinda and Rani Mukerji in the lead roles.

External links

• Sollamale on IMDb