The film was shot on a Red One camera. Produced by SPI Cinemas and Aghal Films, the film's Tamil version was distributed by Ayngaran International. The music was composed by Sharreth, with cinematography handled by Balasubramaniem and editing work done by Kishore Te. The film was released on 25 June 2011.
Plot
Dr. Ajay "AJ" Kumar comes to Hyderabad (Chennai in the Tamil version) and introduces himself as Mano. He stays with the elderly couple S. V. S. Murthy and Jayam. A do-gooder, Ajay lives life with a purpose. He gets along with everyone and wins the hearts of those whom he is close with. D. "Vidya" Vidyalakshmi, a newspaper photojournalist, gets acquainted with him. Ajay is the sort of person who finds satisfaction in helping others. He sponsors the education of street children with the help of Vidya, who is attracted by his good nature. Things take a turn when she tells him about her feelings. Ajay, without informing her, decides to leave the city. Meanwhile, a flashback reveals that Ajay was a doctor in San Francisco, where he meets Renuka "Renu" Narayanan, an interior designer. They get married only to be told months later that Ajay has cancer and has about six months before he dies. As Ajay is about to leave Chennai, Vidya meets with an accident . Ajay takes Vidya to San Francisco for treatment. While in San Francisco, he meets his friend RJ "Sam" Sambasivam who asks Ajay to meet Renu, but Ajay leaves as he sees her life happier without him. It is revealed that Ajay had faked his death to make Renu believe that he had died so that she would not suffer thinking about him every day. Now seeing her content, he decides not to meet Renu. He misses his flight to India and goes to Brazil instead. Now in Rio de Janeiro, he goes by the name Jose. He is seen playing football, waiting for his death.
Cast
Siddharth as Dr. Ajay "AJ" Kumar alias Mano and José, a doctor in San Francisco. He goes by Mano when he visits Chennai (Tamil)/Hydrabad (Telugu) and José in Rio de Janeiro.
Nithya Menen as D. "Vidya" Vidyalakshmi, a photojournalist in Hyderabad (Telugu)/Chennai (Tamil). She meets Mano when she visits India and fall in love with him.
Priya Anand as Renuka "Renu" Narayanan, an interior designer in San Francisco. She and AJ met at his hospital and got married shortly afterward.
Janaki Sabesh as Annapurna (Telugu)/Annalakshmi (Tamil), Renu's mother.
M. S. Narayana as Vidya's boss in Hyderabad (Telugu)/Chennai (Tamil).
Boys Rajan as Vidya's father
Tushar Tharayil as Nandha
Production
Advertisement film maker Jayendra announced his first feature film, as a bilingual on 15 June 2010 at AVM Studios in Vadapalani, Chennai; featuring Siddharth in the lead role, marking his return to Tamil cinema after seven years since Aaytha Ezhuthu (2004).[2]Priya Anand and Nithya Menen were roped in to play the lead roles alongside Siddharth. This film marks Menen's Tamil debut.[3] The film crew features Sharreth, Balasubramaniem and Kishore Te as the composer, cinematographer and editor respectively.
Filming took place on 15 June 2010, at the day on the launch, and shot in Chennai, Hyderabad and San Francisco; and was shot using Red Digital cinema camera. The film is titled as 180 but for Tamil version title was speculated to be Putham Pudhu Kadhali, before announcing the title as Nootrenbadhu, which means 180 in Tamil, in order to get tax-exemption.[3]
The soundtrack for 180 was composed by Malayalam composer Sharreth. The film was his third project in Tamil and second in Telugu. Think Music, a subsidiary of SPI Cinemas, the film's production company, acquired the music rights for both Tamil and Telugu versions. The album consists of 7 tracks, primarily performed by Malayalam playback singers, and also features an additional track "Continua" which was composed by Mani Sharma.
The film's first posters were released in Tamil and Telugu on 14 February 2011, coinciding with Valentine's Day.[6][7] A formal press meet held at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai on 30 March 2011, where the makers launched the film's official website.[8] Theatrical trailer of the film's Tamil version was unveiled on 25 May 2011, and the Telugu version was released on 28 May 2011, during the film's audio launch event. It was unveiled by Ram, Shruti Hassan and producer Allu Aravind.[5]
Initially, the film was scheduled to release on 20 May 2011, and pushed to 10 June 2011, but the makers finally announced that the film will be released on 25 June 2011, in both Tamil and Telugu versions.[9]
The satellite rights of the film's Tamil version were sold to Jaya TV, and the Telugu version was sold to Gemini TV. The media rights include satellite rights and ringtones.[10]
On 4 August 2011, Ayngaran International released the Tamil version of the movie on Blu-ray, DVD and VCD formats.[11] The Telugu version was released by Volga Video on 15 September 2011.[12]
Reception
Critical reception
180
Idlebrain.com gave three out of five and stated that the plus points of the film were "casting and technical aspects (cinematography, music and post-production). On the flip side, the narration of the film is very slow and the last half-an-hour of the film is a bit confusing".[13]Daily News and Analysis gave one and a half and said: "180 feels like there was an explosion at the sob story factory and little pieces from dozens of different films were jammed together into one dreadful mutant. The whole terminal illness melodrama attacks your chest so relentlessly, that by the time it's over you’re forced to beg for a defibrillator".[14] A critic from 123telugu wrote that "180 has an interesting storyline about a mysterious do-gooder who lands up with no background to him".[15] A critic from Full Hyderabad wrote that "180 is a film that intends to be all philosophical and profound, but that is as cold as the steel-grey of the San Francisco skyline and as emotionally in-depth as an ad for fairness cream" and added that "Another put-off is the fact that except for Tanikella Bharani and Sri Charan (who plays AJ's friend), no one in the cast speaks good Telugu or even has good diction".[16]
Nootrenbadhu
Behindwoods.com gave two and a half out of five, claiming the film had "great visuals, wonderful colors, weak screenplay" further citing that "one gets a feeling that the screenplay, especially in second half might be the weakest link".[17]CNN-IBN rated it two and a half, claiming that "Jayendra has made a stylish film using the essentials of an ad film" and that the film had come out as a "finely made film with some good performances without novelty or the gripping element".[18] Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff also gave two and a half out of five, concluding: "180 is a visual feast, no doubt about it. Sadly it falls prey to clichés and lagging pace".[19]Sify.com noted the film was totally different from the "assembly line mass masalas that is flooding the screens" and "worth a look for its superior packaging with a touch of class".[20] Karthik Subramaniam from The Hindu criticized that the film lacked is in its screenplay and narration, that the story failed to engage and that the pace was slow. He summarized that the film felt like a "present with more attention paid to the wrapper than what's inside".[21] N. Venkateswaran from The Times of India gave two and a half stars out of five and said "The weakest link in the story/screenplay (by Jayendra and Subha) is the character of Dr Ajay Kumar – though he is shown to be a highly educated doctor, he loses the plot when he finds out that is suffering from pancreatic cancer".[22] However, Rohit Ramachandran of Nowrunning.com rated it four out of five stars, stating that there was not "a flash of brilliance in Nootrenbadhu but instead, a big heart and an empathetic soul giving it honesty, meaning and eloquence", further citing it had "both high and low spirits but it tugs at your emotional chords mainly in the second half".[23] He also hailed it as the best film of 2011.[24]
Box office
The film collected ₹8 million in Chennai in the first three days with theaters reporting around 90% occupancy.[25] After two weeks, it collected ₹12 million with occupancy going up to 90%.[26]
