Jeans (film)

Made on a then-record budget of ₹20 crore (equivalent to ₹90 crore or US$11 million in 2023), the film was completed in a year and a half. Jeans, unlike Shankar's other films, was the first to be shot outside of India for major portions of the film. The producers of the film were Ashok Amritraj, Michael Soloman and Murali Manohar, whom all made their Tamil film debuts with Jeans.[10] Amritraj did not work on any Tamil film afterwards.[11] The film reunited Shankar with his award-winning technical crew from his previous film Indian, whilst the cast was finalised by him after he had completed the story.[12]

A difference of opinion exists regarding how the film got its name. According to Amritraj, the title Jeans was selected due to being a homophone of "genes", and "seem[ed] very appropriate to the movie".[12] However, the magazine Rashtriya Sahara stated that Genes was the film's initial title considered by Shankar because the film had Prashanth and Nasser playing dual roles each, adding, "birth of twins is governed by the behaviour of genes".[13]

The film's launch was held at the AVM Studios in Vadapalani, Chennai in December 1996. The Jeans invitation was printed, wrapped in denim and hand-delivered by Shankar to his close colleagues and friends in Chennai, which included prominent actors in the Tamil filmdom.[14] The cast and crew of the film wore their favourite pair of blue jeans to the launch, as requested by the film's producers.[14]

The original actor considered for the dual roles of Vishwanathan and Ramamoorthy was Abbas, who rejected the project citing that his dates were booked for the full year of 1997.[15] The second choice for the lead role, Ajith Kumar, also opted out due to call sheet problems.[14][16] The role eventually went to Prashanth, who sacrificed seven films in the process, and chose to work exclusively on the project during the period.[14] Aishwarya Rai, Miss World 1994, was the original choice for the roles of Madhumitha and Vaishnavi and collaborated with Shankar after she had been unable to work with him in his previous venture Indian.[14] Rai initially attempted to dub in her own voice, but was later dubbed over by Savitha Reddy.[17][18] The supporting cast included Senthil and Raju Sundaram, with the latter making his debut as an actor. Prominent supporting actresses Lakshmi and Geetha were signed up for the film, whilst Radhika agreed to appear in a guest appearance. Another supporting role was taken by S. Ve. Sekhar after playback singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam opted out of the role.[14] Shankar wanted Goundamani to appear in a dual role, but due to the actor's unavailability, the genre of the film was changed from comedy to romance; the roles offered to Goundamani went to Nassar.[19][20]

The other substitution in the project involved the cinematographer. Despite reports that Shankar would again sign-on Jeeva, whom he had worked within Kadhalan, Gentleman and Indian, Santhosh Sivan was announced as the cinematographer for the film. Though between the time of the announcement and the finishing stages of the film, cinematographer Ashok Kumar was publicised as the official cinematographer for the film. In mid-1997, film organisation FEFSI struck and in the midst of this, the film's art director Thotta Tharani, a FEFSI supporter, refused to sacrifice his position in FEFSI and stopped working in Jeans.[14] Without much choice, Shankar signed a newcomer Bala to take over the set design and artwork for the film. The film's art direction is credited with both Thotta Tharani and Bala. S. T. Venky was signed up to deal with the special effects in the film, with Jeans. The film also was assisted in graphics effects created by Pentafour Software.[14]

The Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World seen in the film

For the scenes set in the United States, the team toured various American cities with a tour party of 35 technicians, including eight from Hollywood.[21] The initial scenes of the Nachiyappan family's catering company were filmed in Las Vegas, whilst other scenes were shot in California at the Universal Studios, where the shooting of foreign films is usually not permitted. However, with influence from the film's producer Ashok Amritraj they were able to obtain special permission to film a few scenes inside. Besides the King Kong set, Jeans was also shot in the "simulated earthquake experience" sets.[14] The filming in Los Angeles received much publicity as well as the filming at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Other Jeans shooting locations in the United States of America included the Valley of Fire, Manhattan Beach, Malibu Lake and many scenic spots throughout California. The song Columbus was picturised as it at the shores of Venice Beach, California with some foreign male and female dancers. Shankar also filmed in New Jersey and New York City at the World Trade Center when co-producer Michael Salomon and his wife, Luciana Paluzzi visited the sets of Jeans.[14]

After a 45-day schedule in the United States, Shankar and the team returned to India to film a couple of scenes in the climax. The team then visited several other countries to picturise the song Poovukkul, with featured scenes with seven prominent buildings in the world, dubbing Aishwarya Rai as the "eighth wonder of the world".[10] Shankar admitted that due to no real list being present, thought had been put into which wonders were selected.[22] The team made a thirty-day trip around the world stopping to can scenes at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Empire State Building, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Egyptian pyramids, the Roman Colosseum and the Eiffel Tower.[23] During the shooting in Paris, Diana, Princess of Wales had died and shooting was delayed as a result of her death.[14] The team initially wanted to capture a top angle shot of The Statue of Liberty which got cancelled due to snowfalls in afternoon.[24] For the song "Anbe Anbe", Kasi designed costumes of Aishwarya Rai based on the paintings drawn by Raja Ravi Varma as suggested by Shankar.[25] Three weeks prior to the release of the film, on 1 April 1998 a screening was held labelled the Making of Jeans with prominent personalities invited, however, the short film showed the real manufacture of jeans courtesy of a company named Diana Garments. The prank was claimed by a Tamil journal who utilised an April Fools joke.[22]

Jeans received widespread critical acclaim, especially for the performance of Prashanth, Nassar, and Lakshmi. Rajitha, a reviewer from Rediff, praised the characters of Prashanth, Aishwarya Rai and Nassar as "ever dependable", whilst singling out praise for Radhika whom she describes that " with her startling cameo, sweeps the acting honours". The reviewer praised the technical crew describing Venky's FX as a "virtual reality", Ashok Kumar's cinematography as "throughout and outstanding", Raju Sundaram's choreography as "memorable" and A. R. Rahman's score as "entirely hummable". Shankar's directorial attributes were described to be to a "perfect flow of narrative and a penchant for demanding and getting perfection out of every element of his cast and crew" and that the film was an "easy fit".[41] The Indian Express called the film a "hilarious comedy" and drew significant praise to the performance of Aishwarya Rai and the music of Rahman.[42] D. S. Ramanujam of The Hindu said, "Many historic landmarks in the world are captured, and director Shanker employs all these factors gainfully in Amritraj Solomon Communications' ``Jeans″, but gives a go-by to the storyline (story and screenplay are also his)".[43] In contrast, Deccan Herald described the film as a "colossal waste", criticising Shankar's story and direction and the performances of Prashanth and Lakshmi.[44] R. P. R. of Kalki wrote Shankar in this film may have understood how the story can get bogged down if there is too much desire to scare with grandeur and felt love between Prashanth and Aishwarya and relationship between brothers has been needlessly dragged though he praised Rahman's music however felt cinematographer failed to capture locations thrillingly.[45]

Jeans was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1998,[46] but did not make the final shortlist.[47][48][49][50] The decision to submit the film met with heavy ridicule as it was seen as a "populist popcorn entertainer".[51] Sudhir Srinivasan, writing for The Hindu Thread in 2016, also disliked the decision to submit Jeans.[52] The film won four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards: Best Comedian (Senthil), Best Female Playback Singer (Nithyasree Mahadevan), Best Choreographer (Raju Sundaram) and Best Costume Designer (Kasi).[53] It also won a Filmfare Award for Best Music for A. R. Rahman,[54] and the National Film Award for Best Special Effects.[55]