Kadhal Desam

1996 158’ col/scope Tamil d/s Kadir pc Gentleman Film Intl. p K.T. Kunjumon lyr Vali c Anandh m A.R. Rehman lp Vineet, Abbas, Tabu, S.P. Balasubramanyam, Srividya

Producer K.T. Konjumon’s follow up to his earlier spectacles Gentleman (1993) and Kadhalan (1994), which had introduced the genre of the megabudget musical into 90s Tamil film, is a ‘teen’ movie featuring a love triangle framed by rivalry between two men’s colleges focused on sport and sexual conquest. The impoverished intellectual Karthik (Vineet) and the rich Arun (Abbas) are rivals who get bonded together when Arun saves Karthik’s life and Karthik, in turn, lets Arun score the winning goal in a football match. Both fall for Divya (Bombay star Tabu), but she only sees them as friends and refuses to choose between them. When a student from yet another college tries to molest Divya, reprisals lead to full-scale war between three colleges as students set most of the city on fire. Eventually the triangle is maintained in favour of collective friendship. Set in two well known colleges, Loyola and Pachaiyappa’s, in Madras, its mention of both institutions led to protests from the students of these colleges.

Film