Love Today (1997 film)

Love Today
Poster
Directed byBalasekaran
Written byBalasekaran
Produced byR. B. Choudary
StarringVijay
Suvalakshmi
Manthra
CinematographyVijay Gopal
Edited byV. Jaishanker
Music byShiva
Production
company
Release date
  • 9 May 1997 (1997-05-09)
Running time
150 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹30 lakh
Box office₹3.80 crore[1]

Love Today is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Balasekaran in his directorial debut. Produced by R. B. Choudary, the film stars Vijay and Suvalakshmi in the lead roles while Manthra, Raghuvaran, Karan and Sriman play supporting roles. The music was composed by Shiva with cinematography by Vijay Gopal and editing by V. Jaishanker. The film received positive reviews from critics and was very successful at the box office, running for over 175 days. It was remade in Telugu as Suswagatham, in Kannada as Majnu and in Hindi as Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai.

Plot

Ganesh is a college graduate who lives with his father Chandrasekhar, a doctor. Chandrasekhar is easygoing and pampers Ganesh with whatever he wants. Sandhya is the daughter of a very strict police inspector Vasudevan, who is always suspicious that she would have a love affair. Sandhya makes up her mind that she would never fall in love, and her ambition is to get a gold medal in her college degree. One day, Ganesh spots Sandhya and falls in love with her at first sight. Even though Sandhya catches a good glimpse of him, she tells her friend Fathima that she likes no one. Ganesh goes to the bus stop everyday to see Sandhya. He tries to get advice from his friends Ravi and Peter to convince Sandhya to marry him. Their advice goes in vain as she does not care about him. She confronts Ganesh one day and tells him not to waste his time on her.

Ganesh gets hold of Sandhya's friend Preethi, and she tries to talk to Sandhya, but she is unmovable. Vasudevan becomes suspicious of Ganesh and Sandhya and uses physical force on Ganesh. He also verbally abuses Sandhya, though she tries to explain her innocence. Sandhya is forced to leave town because of this. Ganesh finds her whereabouts and leaves his father to go out of town and find her. As he is trying to find her, Chandrasekhar has an accident and passes away. Ganesh's friends desperately try to find his whereabouts but cannot trace him. Peter ends up performing Chandrasekhar's last rites. Ganesh returns and gets heartbroken that he could not even perform his father's cremation.

At this point, Sandhya reveals her feelings for Ganesh, telling him that she loves him and wants to spend the rest of her life with him. However, Ganesh rejects her feelings and tells her that he lost everything because of falling in love and could not even do his father's last rites; therefore, it is not worth it. Nevertheless, the following day, Sandhya is seen standing at the bus stop, waiting for Ganesh to come. Meanwhile, Ganesh takes the recommendation that his father had written for him before his death and goes for his first interview.

Cast

Production

Ajith Kumar was initially considered to play the lead role.[2] In an interview during the release, Vijay mentioned that he signed the film to give the audience what they want — fights, fast songs and a message — mentioning he had similar success from Poove Unakkaga (1996). [3]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is composed by newcomer Shiva, whose real name is Rakneesh Omar and who earlier composed an album.[4][5] The song "Enna Azhagu" was reused by Shiva in the 2001 Telugu film Priyamaina Neeku as "Nelanadiga Puvvulanadiga", also produced by R. B. Choudary and directed by Balasekaran.[citation needed]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsArtist(s)Length
1."Yen Pennendru" (duet)VairamuthuMohammed Aslam, Bombay Jayashri05:22
2."Yen Pennendru" (solo)VairamuthuP. Unni Krishnan04:05
3."Enna Azhagu Ethanai Azhagu"VairamuthuS. P. Balasubrahmanyam04:57
4."Kuppayi Kuppayi"SelvanYugendran02:37
5."Aalai Ethikinu Ooru Suthum Pallavan"VairamuthuMano, Kalpana04:53
6."Salamiya"VaasanMano, Malgudi Subha05:12
7."Monica Monica"'Pattukottai' Shanmuga Sundaram.Suresh Peters, Febi Mani04:41
Total length:30:27

Reception

Ananda Vikatan rated the film 42 out of 100.[6] The film became one of several successful films in the romantic genre which Vijay featured in throughout the late 1990s.[7] The success of the film prompted the director and actor to come together again immediately for a film titled Priyamudan; however, the title was later used by Vijay for a different project which released in 1998.[8]

Remakes

Year Film Language Ref.
1998 Suswagatham Telugu [9]
2002 Majnu Kannada [10]
2002 Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai Hindi [11]

References

  1. ^ "விஜய் – சுவலட்சுமி நடிப்பில் வெளியாகி ஹிட்டான 'லவ் டுடே'… இப்படத்தின் மொத்த வசூல் இத்தனை கோடியா?". Filmy Focus (in Tamil). 1 April 2022. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  2. ^ "அஜித் தவறவிட்ட படங்கள்...ஜாக்பாட் அடித்த விஜய், சூர்யா, விக்ரம்!". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 16 November 2016. Archived from the original on 22 May 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  3. ^ Umashanker, Sudha (19 February 1999). "Spelling success in a short span". The Hindu. p. 25. Archived from the original on 29 July 2001. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Tamil Movie News--Pudhu Edition 1". Google Groups. 7 January 1997. Archived from the original on 31 July 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  5. ^ "A-Z Continued..." Indolink. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  6. ^ சார்லஸ், தேவன் (22 June 2021). "பீஸ்ட் : 'நாளைய தீர்ப்பு' டு 'மாஸ்டர்'... விஜய்க்கு விகடனின் மார்க்கும், விமர்சனமும் என்ன? #Beast". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  7. ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (22 January 2011). "Bodyguard in form". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  8. ^ "1997–98'ன் கோடம்பாக்கக் குஞ்சுகள்" [1997–98 Kodambakkam babies]. Indolink.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  9. ^ "Valentine's Day 2021: 'RX 100' to 'Omkaram', Telugu films on the dark side of love". The Times of India. 12 February 2021. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  10. ^ "'MAJNU' GOOD IN BITS". Chitraloka.com. 20 November 2001. Archived from the original on 20 November 2001. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  11. ^ Shukl, Pankaj. "ONE MORE REMAKE FILM FAILS TO LIVE UP TO THE EXPECTATIONS". smashits.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.