Love Today (film)

Love Today
Directed by	Balasekaran
Produced by	R. B. Choudary
Written by	Balasekaran
Starring	Vijay Suvalakshmi Manthra Raghuvaran
Music by	Shiva
Cinematography	Vijay Gopal
Edited by	V. Jaishanker
Production company	Super Good Films
Distributed by	Super Good Films
Release date	9 May 1997
Running time	151 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹3.2 crore

Love Today is a 1997 film written and directed by Balasekaran, who made his debut with the venture. This film features Vijay and Suvalakshmi in the lead roles while Manthra, Raghuvaran, Karan and Bindu Panicker all play other supporting roles. The film opened to positive reviews from critics and did well at the box office.^[1][2] It was also dubbed in Hindi as Dil Ki Dagar in 2013.^[3] It was remade in Hindi as Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai and in Kannada as Majnu.

Plot

Ganesh (Vijay) is a college graduate who lives with his father Chandrasekhar (Raghuvaran), a doctor. Chandrasekhar is easygoing and pampers his son with whatever he wants. Sandhya (Suvalakshmi) is the daughter of a very strict police officer Vasudevan (Rajan P. Dev), who is always suspicious that she would have a love affair. Sandhya makes up her mind that she would never fall in love and disappoint her father, and her ambition is to get a gold medal in her college degree.

One day Ganesh spots Sandhya and falls in love 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 (Sriman) and Peter (Karan) 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 does not give up, and gets hold of Sandhya's friend Preethi (Manthra), and she tries to talk to Sandhya, but she is unmovable. Vasudevan becomes suspicious of Ganesh and Sandhya, and uses physical force on him. He also verbally abuses Sandhya, even though she tries to explain her innocence. She 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 roaming around trying to find her, Chandrasekhar has an accident and passes away. His friends desperately try to find his whereabouts, but they cannot trace him. Peter ends up performing Chandrasekhar's last rites. Ganesh arrives and gets heartbroken that he could not even perform his father's cremation.

At this point, Sandhya realizes her love for Ganesh. She reveals her feelings for him, tells him that she loves him, and says she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. But he rejects her feelings and tells her that he's lost everything because of love, and he didn't have a chance to see his father's grave, so it's not worth it. The next day, Sandhya is found to be standing at the bus stop, waiting for Ganesh to come. Ganesh meanwhile, takes the recommendation that his father had written for him before his death and goes for his first interview.

Cast

• Vijay as Ganesh
• Suvalakshmi as Sandhya
• Manthra as Preethi
• Raghuvaran as Chandrasekhar
• Karan as Peter
• Rajan P. Dev as Vasudevan
• Dhamu as Siva
• Sriman as Ravi
• Vaiyapuri
• Ramji as Peter's friend (Special appearance)

Production

In an interview around the time of 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.^[4]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is composed by newcomer Shiva. His real name was Omar and he earlier composed an album. The lyrics were written by Vairamuthu, Vaasan, Vaigarai Selvan, 'Pattukottai' Shanmuga Sundaram. The Song, Enna Azhagu was reused by Shiva in the 2001 Telugu film Priyamaina Neeku as Nelanadiga Puvvulanadiga.

Tracklist

Release

The satellite rights of the film were secured by Sun TV. The film was given a "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board.

Critical Reception

The film generally received positive reviews. Prabha and Pady Srinivasan of Indolink.com appreciated the film due to "its different ending", and said Vijay and Suvalakshmi both sparkle in their respective roles.^[5] The film became one of several successful films in the romantic genre with Vijay featured in throughout the late 1990s.^[6] 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.^[7]

It was remade in Hindi as Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai with Aftab and Amisha Patel which was released in 2002.^[8] Dwarakish remade the film in Kannada as Majnu starring his son Giri in lead role.^[9]

References

External links

• Love Today on IMDb