Shakalaka Baby (film)

A mindless comedy film which starts with the kidnapping of two grooms on their wedding day by the brides and somehow ends with a spoof on Veerappan. Two unattractive grooms are married to two sisters. The guys get henpecked and they don't have a happy marriage. Enter Shakalaka Baby (Roja) who attracts both the grooms (Vivek and Vadivelu) and their father in law (Manivannan). Then she moves into their house, claiming she is pregnant but she does not know who the father is. Then there is a side track with Ramki who is an escaped convict. Another romantic sidetrack with Udhaya (Roja's brother) and Ramki's sister. To change his daughters' behaviour towards their husbands, Manivannan acts like he is dead. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.

The popular song composed by A.R. Rehman and sung by Vasundara Das, becomes the title for a Ramanarayanan film. 'Shakalaka Baby' has Ramki playing the hero and Roja the female lead. Ramki, who was without films for a long time, is slowly making his way back into the Tamil film arena. So what if it is either a negative or secondary role in some 'Goddess' film? Manivannan, Vivek, Sorna, Vadivelu, Kovai Sarala, Ponnambalam, and Anu Mohan form the supporting cast. Produced by Shivakami Productions Private Ltd., the film's story is by Kalaimani, while Ramanarayanan pens the screenplay and directs the film. It is a love story told in a humorous way, typical Ramanarayanan style.

Some scenes were pictured inside a building that had a departmental store and a line of other shops. Roja, Manivannan, Vadivelu and Vivek participated in the shooting. The huge shopping complex has a departmental store run by Aruchamy. Right next-door is a textile shop and provision store run by Aruchamy's two nephews Pandi and Sundara Chozhan. The trio, idling away with nothing much to do, one day get a pleasant surprise, when they see a beautiful girl getting down from her car, and making her way towards them. She goes into each of the three shops and makes her purchases. The trio hardly realise what she is up to; so immersed are they in their fantasies about her. A dream song was picturised on Roja and the three men Manivannan, Vivek and Vadivelu. While Ramanarayanan guided the artistes, cinematographer N.K. Vishwanathan canned the shots.[2]

A sensuous song was pictured on Roja at Mohan studio, where 30 dancers accompanied Roja, dressed in a sexy outfit. The film has music by S.A. Rajkumar, editing by Raj Keerthi and V.K. Padmanabhan designs the sets. The film has been a long time in the making with the director busy with other projects.

There are 5 songs in Shakalaka Baby are composed by S. A. Rajkumar, while lyrics written by Kalidasan, P. Vijay, Viveka and K. Subash.[3]