Oh Manapenne!

Oh Manapenne! (pronounced [maɳappeɳɳeː] transl. Oh Dear Bride!) is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Kaarthikk Sundar in his directorial debut and written by Deepak Sundarrajan. A remake of the Telugu film Pelli Choopulu (2016), it stars Harish Kalyan and Priya Bhavani Shankar as a boy and girl who meet during a matchmaking event. How their aspirations bring them together forms the rest of the story.

Oh Manapenne!
Official release poster
Directed byKaarthikk Sundar
Screenplay byDeepak Sundarrajan
Sanjeev
Kaarthikk Sundar
Based onPelli Choopulu
by Tharun Bhascker
Produced bySatyanarayana Koneru
Ramesh Varma Penmesta
StarringHarish Kalyan
Priya Bhavani Shankar
CinematographyKrishnan Vasant
Edited byKripakaran
Music byVishal Chandrashekhar
Production
companies
A Studios LLP
A Havish Production
SP Cinemas
Madhav Media
Third Eye Entertainment
Distributed byDisney+ Hotstar
Release date
  • 22 October 2021 (2021-10-22)
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

The rights to remake Pelli Choopulu in Tamil were initially acquired by Gautham Vasudev Menon in 2016, and the film titled Pon Ondru Kandein (transl. I saw a girl) was to be directed by Senthil Veerasamy, with Vishnu Vishal and Tamannaah Bhatia starring. The project faced delays and was ultimately shelved due to budgetary constraints; by November 2019, it had undergone a complete change in cast and crew. The new film, Oh Manapenne!, began principal photography in December 2019 and wrapped in February 2020. It was released on 22 October 2021 via Disney+ Hotstar.

Plot

Karthik, lethargic by nature, completes his B.E by clearing his subjects after almost five years. His dream is to become a chef and open a restaurant, but he receives no support from his father. Shruthi is a very focused girl who works hard to fulfill her dreams of going to Australia. However, her father shows no interest, as she is a girl and he wanted a boy instead. When Karthik and Shruthi meet at a matchmaking event, her younger cousin, Barath, accidentally locks the door which jams very often and they get stuck eventually. To pass time, they talk about their past.

Shruthi reveals that she was in love with a man named Arjun. They both wanted to start a food truck business. Arjun went to Bangalore to talk with his father about their love and business. Meanwhile, Shruthi started her plan eagerly, and was ready to surprise Arjun by buying the truck. But things went wrong and Arjun did not come back, overpowered by greed of getting dowry. Shruthi and her father waited for him but when they realised Arjun was not coming back, her father decided to get her married to someone else.

On his turn, Karthik reveals that he was unemployed and always went out with his two friends Sathya and Faizal. So Karthik and his friends made cooking videos, as he is passionate about cooking. But it was not profitable enough, so they took to prank videos and were caught by Karthik's father, which ended their plan.

It is then revealed, after the door is fixed, that Karthik came to the wrong address for his matchmaking event. Later, Karthik goes to his actual matchmaking event, which was with a rich family. Meanwhile, Shruthi tells the man coming to her matchmaking event that she is not interested in the marriage. The family of Karthik's prospective bride want him to be able to run a business, so he and Shruthi decide to operate the food truck themselves, with Karthik as the chef, and Shruthi in charge of the business side of things. At first, they face many difficulties, mainly because of Karthik and his friends' laziness as well as fighting with Shruthi and giving up the food truck.

Later, Karthik visits Shruthi's house and informs her father that he should be proud to have such a responsible daughter. He also claims that if he ever gets a son like him, that he would wish to have a daughter like Shruthi and insists him to let her pursue her dreams. Because of this, Shruthi understands the good nature of Karthik and later convinces Karthi's father that he is a talented cook by cooking them Karthik's recipe. Then they kickstart their business with the support from both their parents. After this, their food truck becomes a major success. In the process, they fall in love without realising it, but both of them are engaged to other people, so they drift apart. After realising they love each other, they come back together through a radio show organised by Shruthi's friend Ramya. With the support of their family and friends, Karthik and Shruthi reunite successfully.

Cast

Production

Pre-production

In late October 2016, Gautham Vasudev Menon bought the rights to remake the Telugu film Pelli Choopulu (2016) in Tamil, under his banner Ondraga Entertainment.[6] The film was titled Pon Ondru Kandein, and was to be directed by Menon's assistant Senthil Veerasamy.[7] In March 2017, Menon chose Vishnu Vishal and Tamannaah Bhatia as the lead actors.[8] S. R. Kathir was chosen as the cinematographer, with Darbuka Siva and Praveen Anthony as the music composer and editor respectively.[9] Though Vishal anticipated that filming would begin in July or August 2017,[10] the start of filming faced repeated delays,[11] and ultimately by December, Vishal opted out of the project as he could no longer allot new dates due to the delays. Followed by the uncertainty prevailing over the film's lead cast after Vishal's exit,[12][13] adding to the reason was budgetary constraints which prompted Menon to shelve the project.[14]

Development

Though Menon initially planned on reviving the project with a new cast and lower budget,[15] by November 2019 the project had undergone a complete change in cast and crew.[16] The new film was jointly produced by A Studios LLP, A Havish Production, SP Cinemas, Madhav Media and Third Eye Entertainment,[17][18] with Kaarthikk Sundar, a former associate of A. L. Vijay, making his directorial debut,[19] and Satyanarayana Koneru and Ramesh Varma Penmesta handling production duties. The screenplay was written by Deepak Sundarrajan, cinematography was handled by Krishnan Vasant, and editing by Kripakaran.[18] The title Oh Manapenne! was revealed on 1 October 2020, derived from the song of the same name from Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010). Kaarthikk said, "We wanted to have a title that refers to weddings/matchmaking. The names that we had zeroed in on were either too old or not interesting enough", but when he was listening to the song, he chose that as the film's title.[20] Kaarthikk chose not to do a shot-for-shot remake, but kept the original film's essence, and added, "Since Southern States have many commonalities, there was not much to change".[21]

Casting

In November 2019, Harish Kalyan was announced as the lead actor,[16] and a month later Priya Bhavani Shankar as the lead actress.[22] In a December 2019 interview, Kaarthikk said that after watching Pelli Choopulu, he told Harish he would be a "perfect fit" as the lead actor if the film was to be remade in Tamil.[23] In an October 2020 interview, Kaarthikk said that when he thought of the lead characters of Pelli Choopulu, Harish and Priya came to his mind and he was convinced they could pull off the roles of a "boy-next-door" and "bossy character" respectively with conviction.[24] In preparation for his role as a chef, Harish learnt cooking from Siddhanth, the owner of the barbecue food truck Spitfire BBQ, on whose life the original film was based. The team also approached Siddhanth to play a minor role.[25][26] The film is the feature debut of theatre actor Abishek Kumar, who Kaarthik cast because of their friendship and Kaarthik's belief that he was a "natural actor".[3] Abishek said he sought to avoid deep preparation and method acting, but that he was "just trying to fit the role in the most natural way possible".[27]

Filming

Principal photography began on 11 December 2019,[19] and wrapped in February 2020,[28] a week before the COVID-19 lockdown in India was announced. Post-production works began soon after filming wrapped. According to Kaarthikk, "The lockdown only helped us as we could patiently edit and get it done".[24]

Music

The soundtrack was composed by Vishal Chandrashekhar.[29] It consists of four songs and two instrumentals.[24] The song "Lazy Song" fuses Carnatic music with the western blues and jazz genres. It was released on 26 February 2021 as a single.[30] Another single "Bodhai Kaname" was released on 30 July 2021.[31] The third single "Aao Ji Aao" was released on 15 October 2021.[32]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Oh Manapenne"Mohan RajanSinduri Vishal3:32
2."Lazy Song"Mohan RajanSinduri Vishal, Lady Kash3:10
3."Nee Yenadharuginil Nee"Niranjan BharathiShakthisree Gopalan2:42
4."Aao Ji Aao"Mohan RajanGana Bala2:58
5."Bodhai Kaname"VivekAnirudh Ravichander, Shashaa Tirupati4:22
6."Sakiye"Mohan RajanYazin Nizar4:00
Total length:20:44

Release and reception

Oh Manapenne! was released on 22 October 2021 via Disney+ Hotstar.[33] M. Suganth of The Times of India called it "a worthy remake that is as charming and delightful" as the Telugu original.[34] Ashameera Aiyappan of Firstpost said Oh Manapenne! "is a light, breezy film about love and aspirations. It might work better if watched as a stand-alone film, without the lingering presence of Pelli Choopulu looming ahead of it".[2]

References
  1. "Oh Mana Penne motion poster revealed! Harish Kalyan, Priya Bhavani look 'mismatched'". Zoom. 5 February 2021. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  2. Aiyappan, Ashameera (22 October 2021). "Oh Manapenney movie review: Harish Kalyan, Priya Bhavanishankar lead a faithful remake". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  3. CR, Sharanya (10 January 2021). "Abishek Kumar makes his film debut; stars in Oh Manapenne". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  4. Behindwoods Review Board (22 October 2021). "OH MANAPENNE MOVIE REVIEW". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  5. Vijayakumar, Bharath (22 October 2021). "Oh Manapenne Review – A breezy watch!". Moviecrow. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
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  11. "'Pellichoopulu' Tamil remake to roll from November". The News Minute. 21 October 2017. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
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  18. Vijay Deverakonda [@TheDeverakonda] (1 October 2020). "Wishing the team of #OhManaPenne all my very best. #Pellichoopulu was special and it brings the biggest smile and fondest memories when I look back at it, I hope this movie does the same for you @iamharishkalyan @priya_Bshankar" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  19. Vyas (12 December 2019). "'Pelli Choopulu' Tamil Remake Shooting takes off". The Hans India. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  20. "Harish and Priya's romcom film titled 'Oh Manapenne'". The Times of India. 1 October 2020. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  21. Sundar, Anusha (6 October 2021). "Oh Manapenne: Harish Kalyan and Priya Bhavani Shankar starrer soon to stream on Disney+ Hotstar". Silverscreen India. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  22. "Priya Bhavani Shankar part of Pelli Choopulu Tamil remake". Cinema Express. 11 December 2019. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
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  27. Ganguly, Shrija (10 January 2021). "Journey to the Big Screen from Theatre Via Comedy: 'Accidental' Comedian Abishek Kumar on His Foray into Tamil Cinema". Silverscreen India. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
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  29. "Oh Manapenne (2021)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  30. Raman, Sruthi (26 February 2021). "I would love to explore Carnatic fusion, since that is sort of my forte: Sinduri Vishal". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  31. "Second single Bodhai Kaname from Harish Kalyan's Oh Manapenne". The Times of India. 30 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  32. Think Music India (15 October 2021). Aao Ji Aao Lyric Video | Oh Manapenne | Harish Kalyan | Priya Bhavanishankar | Kaarthikk Sundar. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2021 – via YouTube.
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