Neeyum Naanum


Neeyum Naanum is a 2010 Tamil musical dance film written, produced and directed by S. V. Solairaja. The film features Sanjeev and newcomer Chetna Pande in lead roles, with Sampath Raj, Vadhan, Rinson Simon, Master Sachin, Anju, Manobala, Singamuthu and Halwa Vasu playing supporting roles. The film had musical score by Sriram Vijay and was released on 27 August 2010.

Plot

The film begins Surya with joining a school as an aerobics instructor. That school is owned by Sampath who is the chairman of a group of institutions and also a very influential person. Surya then befriends with Sampath's niece Diya and he helps the poor student Karthik to get admission in the school. In the meantime, Karthik's mother falls ill and Karthik needs to find money for her operation. Karthik decides to enter an inter-collegiate dance competition that carries prize money. At a dance practice session, Surya is impressed by the rookie Karthik and he wants him to be the main dancer of their school but Siddharth, a spoiled brat and Sampath's son, is irritated by his decision. The class is split into two teams: one team led by Karthik and the other team led by Siddharth. One day, Karthik's mother is in serious condition in hospital and Karthik cannot attend the pre-selection session, thus his team is disqualified. Meanwhile, Surya and Diya fall in love with each, but Diya gets engaged to Sampath's brother Arun.
Both Karthik and Surya leave the school and they form a dancing team composed of poor slum kids. Surya and Diya continue to meet each other and Sampath then convinces Arun to forget her. At the intercollegiate dance competition, Karthik's team and Siddharth's team qualify to the finals. During the finals, Karthik faints in the backstage but he manages to wake up and to dance on stage. Karthik's team eventually wins the competition.

Cast

Director S. V. Solairaja, who had directed more than 7000 TV serial episodes in many languages, made his directorial debut with Neeyum Naanum under the banner of Team Visions. Sanjeev who acted in Kulir 100° was selected to play the hero while Chetna Pande, national level badminton player, was chosen to play the heroine. Music baton was wielded by Sriram Vijay, S. Ashok Mehta took care of the editing and the cinematography was by Prem Shankar. The film was shot in 35 mm film camera and the audio was released in 3D.

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer Sriram Vijay. The soundtrack features 7 tracks written by Piraisoodan, Palani Bharathi, Sriram Vijay and Wattabottles. The audio was launched on 19 May 2010 by actress Khushbu Sundar at South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce in Chennai. V. C. Guhanathan, Pandiarajan, R. K. Selvamani and T. G. Thyagarajan attended the audio launch.

Release

The film was released on 27 August 2010 alongside five other films.

Critical reception

Behindwoods.com rated the film 1.5 out of 5 and said, "We have yet another movie which is predictable and makes you yawn. More so because this one involves school going kids. The direction and screenplay have a lot of loopholes. The one thing which makes an exception in the movie is the choreography of a couple of dance sequences". S. R. Ashok Kumar from The Hindu wrote, "Director Solairaja has worked a lot on television, and still has a long way to go in films. But, his effort in portraying school children, and their life, with its share of egos and friendships, is commendable.". A reviewer from The New Indian Express stated, "The better moments in the film are the scenes where Surya selects his team and prepares them. The dance scenes were also ably executed. Otherwise, there is nothing novel about the script or its treatment". Another reviewer rated the film 2.75 out of 5 and said, "Since it deals with the dance competition of the kids, the energy levels are good but then the consistency was not maintained throughout the film The film would have scored well if there was some depth in the scenes and few twists added to it".

Box office

The film took an average opening at the Chennai box office.