In Chennai, a traditional rivalry has always existed between the students of Pachaiyappa's and Loyola colleges. Karthik is a poor orphan who studies in Pachaiyappa's, a hobo in a rented room, travels by the bus, hangs out with a number of friends, and is the captain of his football team. He is also a good poet and daydreams about his dream girl. Arun, by contrast, comes from a wealthy family, studies in Loyola, drives his own car, hangs out with numerous friends, and is also the captain of his football team. In a nasty intercollege riot, Arun saves Karthik's life. So in return, Karthik lets Arun win in a soccer game because he thinks Arun cannot take losses easily. Arun realises that the victory is because of Karthik's sacrifice.
They become good friends, setting a good example of friendship to others in their college. Things go smooth until a new girl Divya joins the college. Both Arun and Karthik fall in love with her, but neither of them realises that both are in love with the same girl. Following a sequence of events, when they realise that both are loving the same girl, their friendship is strained, and they fight with each other. At the end, Divya says that she likes them both but does not want to choose one, thereby losing the other and disrupting their friendship. Hence the film ends with Arun and Karthik regaining their friendship and remaining friends with Divya.
Kathir, while writing a script, "wanted some drama rather than plain love and so wrote a story of warring colleges and two boys in them". He narrated a five-minute plot summary to K. T. Kunjumon, who was impressed with it and insisted Kathir to change the film's title to Kadhal Desam from Kalloori Saalai (transl. College road).[2] The film also took inspiration from the real-life rivalry between Pachaiyappa's College and Loyola College.[3]
Casting
Abbas, then a Mumbai-based model, was in Bangalore on vacation and hanging out at a cybercafé near Brigade Road, when he bumped into Kathir, who asked him to act in his Tamil film.[4] Initially reluctant due to his limited knowledge of Tamil, he opted out and left for Mumbai. A year later, Abbas received a call from Kunjumon asking him to come over for a screen test as a result of Kathir's insistence.[5]Vineeth was signed on to play another lead role in the film due to his association with Kunjumon, having previously worked in the 1993 Shankar-directed film, Gentleman.[6]Tabu was signed on to make her debut in Tamil films and worked on the film alongside Mani Ratnam's Iruvar. Then struggling actor Vikram had dubbed his voice for Abbas, while Sekar dubbed the voice for Vineeth and Saritha for Tabu. A. Karunakaran, who became a successful director in Telugu cinema, started his career as a clap assistant with this film.[7]
Filming
Kathir mentioned that he dreamt of a "beautiful place full of young people" and was inspired by College Road in Chennai,[8] with a setting by the beach which formed as "opening visual idea" for the film.[2] Since it did not exist, he ordered it to be created for the film, costing ₹1 crore (equivalent to ₹5.5 crore or US$640,000 in 2023).[8][9]Kadhal Desam is the first Tamil film for cinematographer K. V. Anand. Vineeth has stated that Anand, unlike other Indian cinematographers, was able to mold actors, and would offer suggestions to him and Abbas during filming. Significant portions of the song "O Vennila" were shot at a beach from 4:00 am till sunrise at 6:00 am, over the course of 10 days.[10] Filming took place in and around the cities of Chennai, Bangalore, Ooty, Mudumalai, Bandipur, Mumbai and Vishakhapatnam. Raju Sundaram was originally chosen as the dance choreographer, but during the shoot of the song "Hello Doctor", he had to attend another shoot. Therefore, his assistant Cool Jayanth did the clash work for the song. Kathir, who was impressed with his sincerity, promised him to make him a proper choreographer. Jayanth ended up choreographing the songs "Ennai Kaanavillaiye", "Kalloori Saalai" and "Thendrale".[11]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vaali. The soundtrack was also released in Telugu as Prema Desam and in Hindi with the title Duniya Dilwalon Ki, with lyrics written by P. K. Mishra and Mehboob Kotwal.
Kathir revealed that the first song to be recorded was "Kalloori Saalai", he wanted it to be a fast number, but wanted it to start the song "with a melodious line". Rahman asked for a dummy lyric for it which started with "Inbathai karuvakkinal penn", which Vaali liked and retained it for the final cut as well.[2]
For the song "Musthafa Musthafa", Kathir wanted a song on the lines of an old song "Paravaigal Meethu", which was about friendship. Rahman gave him the tune during a flight journey which Kathir liked it.[2]
Kadhal Desam was released on 23 August 1996.[12] D. S. Ramanujam from The Hindu wrote "Grandiose trappings in the form of giant sets, never before erected on such a scale in an Indian movie, offer a fitting backdrop for a love story.[13] R. P. R. of Kalki praised Rahman's music, Anand's cinematography and grand sets but panned Abbas's acting, unnecessary villain track and Kunjumon's acting attempt.[14] Regarding the Hindi dubbed version, a critic from The Indian Express wrote that "It is Tabu’s lively performance that holds the film together".[15]
The film's initial response was average as audience found the second half to be boring which prompted Kunjumon to approach editor B. Lenin who managed to re-edit the film especially trimming the length of the climax fight,[16] and the film became a large commercial success.[17] Rahman won his fifth consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil,[18] and Anand received the Screen Award South for Best Cinematography.[19]
Other versions
Kadhal Desam was dubbed and released in Telugu as Prema Desam and became an equally big success.[2][20] The Hindi dubbed version, Duniya Dilwalon Ki, however, did not perform as well.[21] The film was remade in Bangladeshi Bengali as Narir Mon (2000).[22]
Legacy
The climax of Kadhal Desam broke a taboo in the Tamil film industry, where a love triangle would be decided with a happy ending.[23] Post-success, Abbas revealed that he felt that "Mustafa Mustafa" song catapulted him to stardom and enjoyed a strong female base after Kadhal Desam.[24] The success of the film prompted Rahman to collaborate with Kathir again in Kadhalar Dhinam (1999) and Kadhal Virus (2002). As a result of respect for his first director, Abbas made a guest appearance in the latter film. The film triggered off a string of youth-based stories in films with Minsara Kanavu and Ullaasam featuring similar story lines.[25]
In popular culture
"Kalluri Saalai" and the instrumental theme of the song and flowers falling on the road was parodied in Tamizh Padam 2 (2018).[26] The line "Nanban Oruvan Vantha Piragu" (transl. After a friend came) in the song "Mustafa Mustafa" inspired a 2024 film of the same name.[27]
