Pennin Manathai Thottu

Pennin Manathai Thottu (Tamil: பெண்ணின் மனதை தொட்டு, English: Touching the heart of girl) is an Indian Tamil film released in 2000.^[1] It contains the song "Kalluri Vaanil" danced by Prabhu Deva Sundaram. The film did well in the box office.

Plot

Sunil (Prabhu Deva) is one of the leading heart surgeons in the country. He lives with Ganpat (Mouli), who is also a doctor and is loved by everyone in the family. Sunitha (Jaya Seal) arrives along with a kid who has a heart problem to the hospital. But she is shocked seeing Sunil there and lashes out when she learns that he is the doctor who is about to treat the kid.

The movie goes for a flash back. Sunil's brother Balaram (Sarathkumar) is a thug but does not want his brother to follow his foot steps, therefore sends him away to study. Sunitha and Sunil are class mates in medical college and they both fall in love. Sunil expresses his wish of marrying Sunitha to his brother Balaram for which he accepts. Meanwhile, Sunitha goes back to her village for her sister's child's ear piercing ceremony. Her sister's husband is money minded and tries to get Sunitha married to a rich man in return for money. Sunitha is not interested in this alliance as she is in love with Sunil and she calls Sunil asking him to come and rescue her, but he doesn't come on the day of marriage. Sunitha's sister commits suicide to stop the marriage. Sunitha is angered on Sunil as he didn't come to save her which also resulted in her sister's death. Sunitha takes her sister's child and leaves the place.

Sunil tries to meet Sunitha and convey the reason for not coming on the day of marriage to save her but Sunitha is not ready to listen to him. Sunil is worried and decides to leave to Canada accepting a job offer there. Finally Sunitha understands thae truth that Sunitha's sister's husband had killed Bala on the day of the marriage and therefore Sunil wasn't able to come on time to stop the wedding. Sunitha finds out and tries to find and stop Sunil who is going away to Canada. At the end, she finds him and they reunite.

Cast

• Prabhu Deva as Sunil
• Jaya Seal as Sunitha
• Sarathkumar as Balaram
• Vivek as Kandhasamy
• Mayilsamy
• Crane Manohar
• Chaplin Balu as Thozhar Arivumathi
• T. S. B. K. Moulee
• Vaiyapuri
• Madhan Bob
• S. N. Lakshmi
• Pandu
• Kanal Kannan
• Krishnamoorthy
• Indhu
• Rajasekar

Production

After the success of Thulladha Manamum Thullum Vijay and Ezhil immediately decided to follow up this film with another collaboration, Pennin Manathai Thottu, with either Isha Koppikar or Roja to be roped in as the lead actress. However soon after pre-production, Vijay was replaced by Prabhu Deva.^[2] Newcomer Jaya Seal who appeared in television advertisements was selected as heroine. Sarathkumar was selected to play a guest role while Madhan Bob was assigned to play a small negative role for first time.

The shooting for the film was held at locations in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. A song was shot on Prabhu Deva and his brother Raju Sundaram with a set resembling a market place was erected, and about 40 dancers participated in the dance with the duo.^[3]

Soramimi spoof

The song "Kalluri Vaanil" danced by Prabhu Deva Sundaram became widely known on the internet in the form of a soramimi spoof and viral video, following its subtitling as "Benny Lava" by YouTube user Mike Sutton (Buffalax).

The name Benny Lava comes from Sutton's homophonic translation of the Tamil lead line "Kalluri vaanil kaayndha nilaavo?" as "My loony bun is fine, Benny Lava!" (original meaning: "The moon (metaphor for 'my love') that scorched the college campus"). This video led other YouTube users to refer to Prabhu Deva as "Benny Lava".^[4]

Another soramimi spoof and viral video featuring this song became widely known among Brazilian internet users. For the creators of this spoof, the first verse of the song (Kalluri vaanil kaayndha nilaavo?) sounds like "Vai lá, Rivaldo, sai desse lago" (Portuguese for "Come on, Rivaldo, get out of that lake").^[5]

One version in Spanish became viral, where "Kalluri vaabil kaayndha nilaavo" became "Saluda Ivan, el pan de mi nabo" [Spanish for "Greet Ivan, the bread of my turnip" (Turnip can also mean Penis) ]

Another version by YouTube user mordonopolpo was in Italian, where "Kalluri vaanil kaayndha nilaavo" became "Ah lurida! Vin quando mi lavo" (Italian for "Hey dirty (f)! Come in when I wash up myself").

Reactions to the "Kalluri Vaanil" soramimi were mixed. Some felt that the video was done in "good fun" while others worried that their culture was being mocked. The video was described by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as a "Catchy melody, a battalion of back-up dancers, colorful costumes, impressive vocal gymnastics, jaw-dropping choreography this music video has it all. And if those aren't enough, the person who uploaded this vid also provided subtitles so you can sing along. They aren't the real lyrics though, but just what they sound in English, resulting in a lot of nonsense."^[6] The music video was featured on The Colbert Report on 4 December 2008^[7] and appeared on the Heavy Metal documentary Global Metal. As of at least 1 April 2011, the original video has been removed because of the disabling of Buffalax's YouTube account. However, several other users have uploaded copies of the original video on their YouTube accounts.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack is composed by S. A. Rajkumar. "Kannukkulle" was a hit. There are a total of 6 Tracks in this film.

Reviews

Balaji B wrote:"the intention of the director may have been to ratchet up the tension, it ends up feeling like an unnecessary extension of an already threadbare movie".^[8]

References