Anantha Poongatre

Anantha Poongatre (transl. 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 Karthik in a guest appearance. The film is based upon how respect can be mistaken as love by circumstances. The film released on 27 May 1999. It subsequently opened to positive reviews and became a commercial success.

Anantha Poongatre
Poster
Directed byRaj Kapoor
Written byShivaram Gandhi (dialogues)
Screenplay byRaj Kapoor
Story byRaj Kapoor
Produced byM. Kaja Mydeen
StarringAjith Kumar
Meena
Karthik
Malavika
CinematographyPriyan
Edited byB. Lenin
V. T. Vijayan
Music byDeva
Production
company
Release date
  • 27 May 1999 (1999-05-27)
Running time
154 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

Meenatchi is a widow living with her son Nandu. Jeeva, living in the same colony, has been pining silently for her for the last four years. He runs an organisation 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 Meenakshi's past. In the flashback, Meenatchi is a music student of Haridas. Haridas has a child, 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' child. However, that very day, Jeeva and his parents were about to see Meenatchi as a prospective bride. When Jeeva sees this scene unfolding 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

Production

During production, the producer M. Kajamydeen had attempted unsuccessfully to oust Ajith Kumar from the project and replace him with Prashanth.[1] The producer and Ajith later clashed following the failure of their action film, Jana in 2004. 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.[2] Sathyaraj was reported to play a cameo where he would appear in two scenes after intermission, this proved untrue.[3]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Deva.[4]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Vaikasi"VairamuthuHariharan01:29
2."Akka Akka"VairamuthuSrinivas, Swarnalatha04:35
3."Meenatchi Meenatchi"Ponniyin SelvanDeva, Sabesh05:03
4."Paatukku Palaivanam"VairamuthuHariharan, Krishnaraj05:41
5."Semmeena Vinmeena"VairamuthuHariharan05:28
6."Solaikuyil"VairamuthuHariharan, Sujatha05:16
7."Udhayam Theatre"VairamuthuDeva, Sabesh04:49
Total length:32:21

Release and reception

The film 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 then also later remade in the Kannada language in 2009 as Rajakumari.[5][6][7] 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"[8] 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.[9]

References
  1. "Kaja Moideen blames it on Ajith". Behindwoods. 20 July 2005. Archived from the original on 31 January 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  2. "<<<<<<< TAMIL FILM NEWS >>>>>>>>>". Google Groups. 19 January 1999. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  3. "அரைகுறை மனதுடன் ஏ.ஆர்.ரஹ்மான்!". Kalki (in Tamil). 6 September 1998. pp. 12–13. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  4. "Ananda Poonkaatrae". JioSaavn. 29 June 1999. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  5. "Kanika comes in for praise". IndiaGlitz. 16 June 2007. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  6. R, Priyadarshini (27 May 2023). "24 Years of Anantha Poongatre : பாடல்கள் பயங்கர ஹிட்! அஜித், மீனா நடிப்பு அபாரம்! இதமாக மனதை வருடிய ஆனந்த பூங்காற்றே!". Hindustan Times (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  7. "Awards: Tamilnadu Government Announces Cinema State Awards -1999". Dinakaran. 29 December 2000. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  8. Vijiyan, K. N. (5 June 1999). "Worthwhile for Ajith's fans". New Straits Times. pp. Arts 4. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  9. கே. பி. எஸ். (13 June 1999). "ஆனந்த பூங்காற்றே..." Kalki (in Tamil). p. 16. Archived from the original on 11 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
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