Seenu is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language musical drama film directed by P. Vasu. It stars Karthik and Malavika. The film is a remake of 1991 Malayalam film Bharatham.^[1]

Plot

Kesavan (P. Vasu) is a famous Carnatic singer who performs concerts. He lives with his family, consisting of his wife and son. Seenu (Karthik) is his younger brother who leads a joyful life. Seenu is very much fond of Kesavan and could not tolerate anyone speaking ill about him. Unfortunately, Kesavan develops a habit of consuming alcohol, which is only known to his wife. Kesavan's wife tries hard to stop him from consuming alcohol, but all her efforts go in vain. She does not reveal this to her family members. Seenu falls in love with his relative (Malavika). When the family members come to know about Kesavan's habit of drinking, they advise him to stop it as it will bring down the fame what he has earned so far. Kesavan does not listen to them and gets angry if someone starts advising him to stop drinking.

Slowly, Kesavan's habit of consuming alcohol increases, and one day he goes to a concert after drinking and stumbles on stage. Seenu is shocked to see this and rushes to the stage. Also to calm down the crowd, Seenu starts singing in place of Kesavan in the concert. To everyone's surprise, Seenu's singing ability is great, and he is appreciated by everyone. Seenu feels happy seeing this, but on the other hand, he worries as he is thinking about his brother's condition. Seenu's image increases among people, and he starts performing in concerts. Although Kesavan feels happy seeing his brother grow well, he develops an ego within him, thinking that Seenu will overpower him. This makes Kesavan behave rude towards his family members, especially Seenu, and also descend into alcoholism. Kesavan feels embarrassed when people start approaching Seenu for concerts instead of him. Above this, Seenu gets an opportunity to sing in Thiagaraja Aradhanai, which further angers Kesavan.

However, Seenu understands the reason behind Kesavan's behavior and decides to stop performing on stage. Seenu also meets Kesavan and explains how much he respects him and makes his point clear that overpowering Kesavan was never his aim. Kesavan feels bad hearing Seenu's emotional conversation and realizes his mistake. Kesavan and Seenu also have a sister whose wedding is fixed. The entire family gets back to happy mode on the event of the wedding. Kesavan is also recovered and decides to go on a pilgrimage trip before his sister's wedding so that he could return pure. On the day before their sister's wedding, Seenu gets the information that Kesavan has met with an accident while he was on the pilgrimage trip and has died. Seenu is shocked but does not reveal this to his family members as it would stop his sister's wedding. Seenu rushes to the hospital to confirm the news and finds it to be Kesavan. He hides the information and instead attends his sister's wedding. Seenu informs that Kesavan could not make to the wedding as he was busy in a temple. Once the wedding is completed, Seenu reveals the truth, which shocks the entire family. Seenu later becomes a famous Carnatic singer, and the legacy continues, but he attributes all his success to Kesavan.

Cast

• Karthik as Seenu
• Malavika as Geetha
• P. Vasu as Kesavan
• Vivek as Palanisamy
• Janagaraj as Mani
• Thyagu as Seenu's uncle
• Kaka Radhakrishnan as Seenu's grandfather
• Thalaivasal Vijay as Seenu's uncle
• Sathyapriya as Seetha, Seenu's mother
• Sabitha Anand as Janaki
• Ennathe Kannaiah as Servant
• Thalapathy Dinesh as Police inspector
• Crane Manohar as Groom
• Mayilsamy as Troupe song leader

Production

The film initially developed under the title Thambikku Oru Paattu and then Poojai, before the name of the lead character was finalised as the title.^[2][3]

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by Deva.^[4][5] Lyrics were written by Vaali.

• "Dey Nandakumara" - Unnikrishnan, Chitra
• "Kuchalaambaal" - Unni Menon, Harini
• "Madhava Sethumadhava" - Hariharan
• "Paadukiran Oru Paattu" - Unnikrishnan
• "Vanakkam" - Hariharan

Release

A critic from the entertainment portal Tamilet noted "The knot is taken from a Malayalam film. But somewhere along the way, the intensity and the emotional impact of the original is lost."^[6] Visual Dasan of Kalki praised the acting of Karthik but panned Vasu's acting and loud dialogue delivery of actors and Deva's music and called Vivek's comedy as the only relief and concluded saying Bharatham which rocked in Malayalam completely limps in Tamil as Seenu.^[7] K. N. Vijiyan of New Straits Times wrote "This movie should go down well with those who like family stories".^[1] India Info wrote "The actors were left with little to do justice to their roles with the director watering down the intensity of the original and making Malavika dance in shorts and Karthik in frenchie. Vivek's comedy is another great letdown and Deva gangs up with Vasu to spoil the pitch by giving a bad musical score. Camerawork by Vijay is nothing to write home about".^[8]

References