Anantha Poongatre
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Anantha Poongatre
| image = Anantha Poongatre.jpg
| caption = Poster
| director = Raj Kapoor
| writer = Shivaram Gandhi (dialogues)
| screenplay = Raj Kapoor
| story = Raj Kapoor
| producer = M. Kaja Mydeen
| starring = Ajith Kumar
Meena
Karthik
Malavika
| cinematography = Priyan
| editing = B. Lenin
V. T. Vijayan
| music = Deva
| studio = Roja Combines
| released = {{Film date|1999|5|27|df=y}}
| runtime = 154 minutes
| country = India
| language = Tamil
}}
Anantha Poongatre ({{translation|Breeze of happiness}}) is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Raj Kapoor. The film stars Ajith Kumar and Meena in the lead roles, with Malavika in a supporting role and Karthik in a guest appearance. The film is based upon how respect can be mistaken as love by circumstances.
Anantha Poongatre released on 27 May 1999. It received positive reviews and became a commercial success, winning the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Dialogue Writer and Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film Portraying Woman in Good Light. The film was remade in Telugu as Subhakaryam (2001) and later in Kannada as Rajakumari (2009).
Plot
Meenatchi is a widow living with her son, Nandu. Jeeva, who lives in the same colony, has been pining silently for her for the last four years. He runs an organization called A-to-Z, which can get anything done for anybody.
Jeeva follows Divya to get some information on her for her suitor but, she ends up falling for him and pursues him relentlessly. He avoids her, telling her that he is already in love with someone else, and when cornered, reveals that it is Meenatchi.
This leads to some surprising revelations about Meenatchi's past. The flashback is revealed. Meenatchi is a music student of Haridas. Haridas has a child, Nandu, whose mother, Banu, died giving birth to him. Their mutual respect is mistaken for romance by her father, Dharmalingam, who is a zamindar, and Haridas is killed in the fracas. Later, Meena vows to live like a widow, taking care of Haridas's child. However, that very day, Jeeva and his parents were about to see Meenatchi as a prospective bride. When Jeeva sees this scene unfold before his eyes, he starts admiring her courage. Despite his parents' protests, he assures Meenatchi's father that he would make her change her mind and that he would marry her. But Meenatchi's world turns upside down when Divya's father, a staunch supporter of love marriage, kidnaps Nandu and asks Jeeva to marry Divya. Jeeva of course accepts and things are then resolved in the climax.
Cast
{{cast listing|
- Ajith Kumar as Jeeva
- Meena as Meenatchi
- Karthik as Haridas (special appearance)
- Malavika as Divya
- Manivannan as Zamindar Rajadurai
- Vadivelu as Subramani, Jeeva's friend
- Chaplin Balu as Jeeva's friend
- Vijayakumar as Zamindar Dharmalingam, Meenatchi's father
- Raj Kapoor as Ranjith, Divya's uncle (director)
- Rajan P. Dev as Shanmugam, Divya's father
- Kovai Sarala as Saradha, Rajadurai's wife
- C. R. Saraswathi as Colony neighbour
- Crane Manohar
- Bala Singh as Viswam,
- Manobala as Poongavanam
- Madhan Bob as Advocate Krishnan
- Mayilsamy as Mani, Jeeva's friend
- Ambika as Janaki
- Bhanupriya as Bhanu, Haridas's wife (guest appearance)
- Raju Sundaram cameo in song "Meenatchi Meenatchi"
- Japan Kumar (special appearance in the song "Udhayam Theatre")
}}
Production
During production, the producer M. Kajamydeen had attempted unsuccessfully to oust Ajith Kumar from the project and replace him with Prashanth.{{Cite web |date=20 July 2005 |title=Kaja Moideen blames it on Ajith |url=http://www.behindwoods.com/features/News/News23/20-7-05e/tamil-movies-news-kaja.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131161756/http://www.behindwoods.com/features/News/News23/20-7-05e/tamil-movies-news-kaja.html |archive-date=31 January 2012 |access-date=8 September 2011 |website=Behindwoods}} Initially Vindhya was assigned to play Malavika's role in the film, but due to her commitment to Sangamam, she was later dropped from the project.{{Cite web |date=19 January 1999 |title=<<<<<<< TAMIL FILM NEWS >>>>>>>>> |url=https://groups.google.com/g/soc.culture.malaysia/c/nzL3VgR66sE/m/Nv9t7WKzXDAJ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613135023/https://groups.google.com/g/soc.culture.malaysia/c/nzL3VgR66sE/m/Nv9t7WKzXDAJ |archive-date=13 June 2023 |access-date=13 June 2023 |website=Google Groups}} Sathyaraj was reported to play a cameo where he would appear in two scenes after the interval, this proved untrue.{{Cite magazine |date=6 September 1998 |title=அரைகுறை மனதுடன் ஏ.ஆர்.ரஹ்மான்! |url=https://archive.org/details/kalki1998-09-06/page/n13/mode/2up |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230603064231/https://archive.org/details/kalki1998-09-06/page/n13/mode/2up |archive-date=3 June 2023 |access-date=2 June 2023 |magazine=Kalki |pages=12–13 |language=ta |via=Internet Archive}}
Soundtrack
The music was composed by Deva.{{Cite web |date=29 June 1999 |title=Ananda Poonkaatrae |url=https://www.jiosaavn.com/album/ananda-poonkaatrae/NOeMvgPJskg_ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613133739/https://www.jiosaavn.com/album/ananda-poonkaatrae/NOeMvgPJskg_ |archive-date=13 June 2023 |access-date=13 June 2023 |website=JioSaavn}}{{Cite web |title=Ananda Poonkatrae Tamil Film Audio Cassette by Deva |url=https://mossymart.com/product/ananda-poonkatrae-tamil-film-audio-cassette-by-deva/ |access-date=24 January 2024 |website=Mossymart |language=en-US |archive-date=2 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402122919/https://mossymart.com/product/ananda-poonkatrae-tamil-film-audio-cassette-by-deva/ |url-status=live }}
{{Track listing
| extra_column = Singer(s)
| headline = Track listing
| title1 = Vaikasi
| extra1 = Hariharan
| length1 = 01:29
| lyrics1 = Vairamuthu
| title2 = Akka Akka
| extra2 = Srinivas, Swarnalatha
| length2 = 04:35
| lyrics2 = Vairamuthu
| title3 = Meenatchi Meenatchi
| extra3 = Deva, Sabesh
| length3 = 05:03
| lyrics3 = Ponniyin Selvan
| title4 = Paatukku Palaivanam
| extra4 = Hariharan, Krishnaraj
| length4 = 05:41
| lyrics4 = Vairamuthu
| title5 = Semmeena Vinmeena
| extra5 = Hariharan
| length5 = 05:28
| lyrics5 = Vairamuthu
| title6 = Solaikuyil
| extra6 = Hariharan, Sujatha
| length6 = 05:16
| lyrics6 = Vairamuthu
| title7 = Udhayam Theatre
| extra7 = Deva, Sabesh
| length7 = 04:49
| lyrics7 = Vairamuthu
| total_length = 32:21
}}
Release and reception
The film was released on 27 May 1999. It won two Tamil Nadu State Awards with the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Dialogue Writer going to Shivaram Gandhi while it also won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film Portraying Woman in Good Light. The film was remade as Subhakaryam in Telugu and later in Kannada as Rajakumari.{{Cite web |date=16 June 2007 |title=Kanika comes in for praise |url=https://www.indiaglitz.com/kanika-comes-in-for-praise-kannada-news-31822 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613134359/https://www.indiaglitz.com/kanika-comes-in-for-praise-kannada-news-31822 |archive-date=13 June 2023 |access-date=13 June 2023 |website=IndiaGlitz}}{{Cite web |last=R |first=Priyadarshini |date=27 May 2023 |title=24 Years of Anantha Poongatre : பாடல்கள் பயங்கர ஹிட்! அஜித், மீனா நடிப்பு அபாரம்! இதமாக மனதை வருடிய ஆனந்த பூங்காற்றே! |url=https://tamil.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/the-songs-were-huge-hits-great-performance-by-ajith-and-meena-ananda-park-that-gently-touched-the-mind-131685111573088.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230527030740/https://tamil.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/the-songs-were-huge-hits-great-performance-by-ajith-and-meena-ananda-park-that-gently-touched-the-mind-131685111573088.html |archive-date=27 May 2023 |access-date=13 June 2023 |website=Hindustan Times |language=ta}}{{Cite web |date=29 December 2000 |title=Awards: Tamilnadu Government Announces Cinema State Awards -1999 |url=http://www.dinakaran.com/cinema/english/awards/29-12-00/state.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622010121/http://www.dinakaran.com/cinema/english/awards/29-12-00/state.htm |archive-date=22 June 2008 |access-date=15 August 2023 |website=Dinakaran}}
Critical reception
K. N. Vijiyan of New Straits Times, writes "Generally go for this movie if you are an Ajith, Karthik or Meena fan. It has star value and good comedy".{{Cite news |last=Vijiyan |first=K. N. |date=5 June 1999 |title=Worthwhile for Ajith's fans |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0MwyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yBQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6121%2C1436175 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240618083510/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0MwyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yBQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6121%2C1436175 |archive-date=18 June 2024 |access-date=13 June 2023 |work=New Straits Times |pages=Arts 4 |via=Google News Archive}} K. P. S. of Kalki praised Raj Kapoor's screenplay, performances of Ajith and Karthik and Deva's music but felt Meena and Malavika came and went and concluded saying due to routine plot and sentiments could not enjoy happiness in this breeze of happiness.{{Cite magazine |last=கே. பி. எஸ். |date=13 June 1999 |title=ஆனந்த பூங்காற்றே... |url=https://archive.org/details/kalki1999-06-13/page/16/mode/2up |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230611110953/https://archive.org/details/kalki1999-06-13/page/16/mode/2up |archive-date=11 June 2023 |access-date=10 June 2023 |magazine=Kalki |page=16 |language=ta |via=Internet Archive}} D. S. Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote, "The triangle love tale takes enjoyable proportions thanks to the good handling of the plot by director Raj Kapoor", also appreciating the cinematography and dialogues.{{Cite news |last=Ramanujam |first=D. S. |date=4 June 1999 |title=Film Reviews: Aanantha Poongatrae / Pathram |url=http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/1999/06/04/stories/09040225.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010413133737/http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/1999/06/04/stories/09040225.htm |archive-date=13 April 2001 |access-date=18 June 2024 |work=The Hindu}}
References
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