Pachaikili Muthucharam

Pachaikili Muthucharam
Promotional poster
Directed by	Gautham Menon
Produced by	Viswanathan Ravichandran
Written by	Gautham Vasudev Menon
Starring	R. Sarathkumar Jyothika Andrea Jeremiah Milind Soman
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography	Aravind Krishna Nirav Shah
Edited by	Anthony
Distributed by	Aascar Film Pvt. Ltd
Release date	13 February 2007 (2007-02-13)
Running time	150 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Pachaikili Muthucharam (lit. Green parrot and string of pearls) is a 2007 Tamil-language romantic thriller directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon which is based on 2005 British-American thriller film Derailed.^[1] The film stars R. Sarathkumar, Jyothika, Andrea Jeremiah and Milind Soman. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Harris Jayaraj. The soundtrack was released on 20 January 2007 to positive reviews. The film was released on 13 February 2007. The movie was dubbed in Telugu as Drohi.

Plot

Venkat (R. Sarathkumar), a medical representative, is a happily married person with a son. His wife Kalyani (Andrea Jeremiah) is very loving, and both of them, along with their son Nanda (Armaan), have a perfect life. That is, until their son falls sick and things between the husband and wife cool down a bit. Kalyani begins to spend more time with their son and starts to ignore her husband involuntarily. Venkat, feeling a bit lonely and neglected, walks in and out of his monotonous life without complaining much. He tries to understand his wife's feelings.

One morning while riding the train to work, Venkat notices Geetha (Jyothika) and spends a few extra seconds admiring her. The following day again, he happens to stand next to her. And Geetha opens up the conversation with Venkat. Both married with kids, they feel they have a lot of common things between them and start a friendship together. At first it is platonic and they meet only in the train, but slowly they start meeting at restaurants and coffee shops.

Geetha begins to get a little physically close to Venkat, and she suggests they both spend a day together watching movies or something alone. Venkat agrees and they take a taxi and drive to Mayajaal on East Coast Road. But at the last minute, Geetha changes her mind and directs the taxi driver to go to a resort along the same road. Venkat books a room on Geetha's insistence.

A knock on the door prompts Venkat to open the door. A goon barges in and beats him up, robs the couple, and ties Venkat up before raping Geetha. Venkat is grief-stricken, and they both part ways.

The goon who calls himself Lawrence (Milind Soman) starts calling Venkat and Geetha to harass them for money. Venkat takes the full financial responsibility and starts paying off money that he had been saving for his son's medical expenses. With no choice left, Venkat confesses to Kalyani. Angry and disappointed, she leaves him, but she returns a few days later and forgives him.

One day, Venkat finds Geetha and Lawrence laughing down the street. He follows them and realizes he has been conned, and this is their daily business. When the gang is pulling the same trick on another person, he beats Lawrence, barges into a hotel, and explains it to new guy. A fight occurs where Lawrence is killed, and Venkat assumes Geetha is killed too. Venkat moves relocates with his family for a while, and then Geetha kidnaps Venkat's family. Finally, he kills Geetha and the family lives happily ever after.

Cast

Production

It was previously titled as Vilai Uyirendraalum (Even If the Price Is Life Itself), Parundhu (Eagle) and Silandhi (Spider). Gautham Menon described the title Pachaikili Muthucharam (translated as "a parrot with a string of pearls") as a metaphor to the film's content, saying, "What will happen to a string of pearls if a parrot gets it? The pearls might scatter away."^[2] Earlier for the lead female protagonist role several actresses was considered with Tabu, Kamalinee Mukherjee and Shobana as the frontrunners. Finally the latter was roped in to play the role whom as described by Gautham as "finest actor in the country".^[3] However Shobana was replaced by newcomer Andrea Jeremiah, who previously collaborated with Gautham Menon in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu as a playback singer.^[4] Sarath Kumar's character was originally slated for Madhavan and Cheran.

Soundtrack

The film has 5 chartbuster classic songs composed by Harris Jayaraj. The song lyrics were penned by Thamarai (exceptions are noted). The song "Karu Karu" is was partially adapted from "Hit You With the Real Thing" by Westlife.^[5]

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Kalaignar.The censors cleared the film with an "A" certificate for its theme with no visual cuts but a few dialogue muting. Those who saw the film are raving about its bold and daring content and say that it looks like a Hollywood thriller.^[6]

Reception

The film was above average at the box office, especially because it was a typical A center movie. It performed badly at B and C centers due to its storyline. In regard to the average run, Menon went on to claim that Sarath Kumar was "wrong for the film" and that he tweaked the story to fit his image; he also claimed that his father's ailing health and consequent death a week before the release had left him mentally affected.^[7][8]

References

External links

• Pachaikili Muthucharam on IMDb