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Chocklet
Chocklet
	Poster
Directed by	A. Venkatesh
Written by	Pattukkottai Prabakar ; (Dialogue)
Screenplay by	A. Venkatesh
Story by	R. Madhesh
Produced by	R. Madhesh
Starring	Prashanth; Jaya Re
Cinematography	S. D. Vijay Milton
Edited by	B. Lenin; V. T. Vijayan
Music by	Deva
Production; company	Movie Magic Films
Distributed by	Movie Magic Films; A. P International
Release date	7 September 2001;
Running time	158 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Chocklet is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film directed by A. Venkatesh with the story penned by and produced by R. Madhesh. Starring Prashanth and debutant Jaya Re, the film also has Livingston, Suhasini, Mumtaj (dual role) and Nagendra Prasad in supporting roles, while the score and soundtrack are composed by Deva. The film opened on 7 September 2001 to a positive response and was successful at the box office.^[1]

Plot

Aravind meets Anjali and falls in love at first sight without knowing her background. When they meet, Anjali tells Aravind she would like to go for a trial-romance for a week, which might lead to a long-term romance, with which he agrees. Anjali is the daughter of assistant Commissioner Jayachandran and Saradha. Aravind maintains a cordial acquaintance with both of them, not knowing Anjali is their daughter. Anjali acknowledges them as her parents. Jayachandran convinces Anjali to dispense with this trial romance and make a deeper commitment as he finds Aravind a gentleman. Aravind convinces Saradha to support him as her suitor, so Saradha makes Aravind marry Anjali.

Cast

Prashanth as Aravind
Jaya Re as Anjali
Mumtaj in dual role as Nirmala (Nimmi) & Bhama
Suhasini as Saradha, Anjali's mother
Livingston as ACP Jayachandran, Anjali's father
Nagendra Prasad as Guru, Aravind's friend
Charle as Sasi
Dhamu as Dhamu
Vennira Aadai Moorthy as College Principal
Cool Suresh as College Rowdy
Minnal Deepa as Anjali and Nirmala's friend
Master Udayaraj as Sasi's son

Production

The film began production in January 2001 and scenes were shot at Mayajaal for three days later that month.^[2] At an official launch event held soon afterwards, producer R. Madhesh donated seventy five kilogrammes of chocolate to poor children, equivalent to the weight of the film's actor Prashanth. Reema Sen and Richa Pallod were considered to play the heroines, though their high remuneration meant that the makers signed on Avantika, a former Miss Goa pageant winner.^[3]^[4] For the film, Avantika was given the stagename of Jaya Re.^[5] A fight scene was shot at Koyambedu Market Road near Chennai with 16 cameras, while scenes were shot in Japan and a song was shot on a cruise ship between Cambodia and Vietnam.^[6]

Music

The music was composed by Deva and lyrics by Vaali. The song "Malai Malai" was the anthem for many youth around the time of the movie's release. Producer R. Madhesh opted against having a traditional audio cassette release function and chose to distribute the cassettes to music shops enclosed with Cadbury chocolate.^[7]

Song	Singer(s)
"Anjumani"	Mathangi
"Chocolate"
"Dhuryodhana Dhuryodhana"	Shankar Mahadevan, Mahalakshmi Iyer
"Hosima Hosima"	Devan Ekambaram, Anupama
"Kappaleh Kappaleh"	Hariharan, Mahalakshmi Iyer
"Kokaragiri"	Sabesh–Murali, Mathangi
"Malai Malai"	Anuradha Sriram, A. R. Reihana
"En Nizhalai"	Srikanth, Timmy, Mathangi
"Oru Five Star Paarvai"	Niruban

Release and reception

The film opened to positive reviews in September 2001, after having an initial premiere at San Francisco Bay Area. A critic from Sify noted "The film tantalises in the beginning only to loose [sic] its fizz halfway through", adding "our heart goes straight out to Prashanth who despite the odds, comes up with a decent performance."^[8] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu reviewed the film and added that "this youthful bonanza gets stretched, testing one's patience towards the end, none but the screenplay is to blame."^[9] Rediff.com meanwhile gave the film a negative review noting "Matters are built towards a loud, dramatic, implausible climax. This one's a mess and what you keep wondering is why an accomplished actress like Suhasini Mani Rathnam had to make this the vehicle for one of her rare celluloid appearances."^[10] Visual Dasan of Kalki wrote in a state of comprehension, why a good story which is backed up by fine characterisation and mature direction needs the support of glamour, this chocolate is a glamour dot com which cannot be tasted with family.^[11]

The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu in March 2002 with the same name and won positive reviews from critics.^[12] The success of the film led Prashanth and A. Venkatesh to re-unite, and they announced a project called Petrol in 2005,^[13]^[14] but Prashanth's marital problems eventually led to delays in the director's schedule and the film remains uncompleted.^[15]

References

^ "Chocklet". BizHat. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
^ "Talk of the town". The Hindu. 26 January 2001. Archived from the original on 24 August 2002. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
^ Mannath, Malini. "Stars on the rise in Tamil films". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 26 April 2004. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
^ "Reema Sen demands hefty sum, gets dropped". Indiainfo. Archived from the original on 10 February 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
^ "கோவளத்தில் கோவா நிலவு" (PDF). Kalki (in Tamil). 1 July 2001. pp. 72–75. Retrieved 16 August 2023 – via Internet Archive.
^ Prasad, Ayyappa. "Chocolate: 16 cameras shoot an action scene". Screen. Archived from the original on 31 October 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
^ "Lara dutta released audio". Tamil Movies. 28 July 2001. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
^ "Chocklet". Sify. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
^ Rangarajan, Malathi (14 September 2001). "Film Review: Chocklet". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
^ Rajitha (4 October 2001). "Old wine, older bottle". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
^ தாசன், விஷுவல் (23 September 2001). "சாக்லெட்". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 1. Archived from the original on 17 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
^ Srihari, Gudipoodi. "Chocolate (Of ego clashes and foul play)". idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
^ Rangarajan, Malathi (6 January 2006). "Prashanth in Petrol". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
^ "Things are smoky in Prashanth's Petrol". Behindwoods. 24 November 2005. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
^ "Prashanth back on the right lane". IndiaGlitz. 29 September 2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2012.