Alli Thandha Vaanam (transl. The sky gave me too much) is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by Sreedhar Prasadh in his debut. The film stars Prabhu Deva, Laila and Neha Bajpai, with Murali in a special appearance. Prakash Raj, Vivek, Moulee, and Rajeev play supporting roles. The film was released on 14 September 2001.
Contents
Plot
Sathyam is the carefree son of a rich businessman, owner of Sathyam Mills Lakshmipathi. He has been in New York for his college studies and returns to Coimbatore after years. Prakash, Sathyam's cousin, has continuously spoiled Satyam by secretly sending him money to spend away in the US, as Prakash wants to inherit Sathyam Mills. Disappointed by Sathyam's bohemian behaviour, Lakshmipathi asks Satyam to spend three months alone on the streets of Chennai to learn the value of money. He would have no money and could not use the information of who he is or his education (paid by his father), to gain favour or make a living from anyone.
So Sathyam sets out and from the very start, meets Divya, who plays an overexuberant 21 year girl, who cries or laughs constantly. In the next frame, he saves Meenakshi in the style of M. G. Ramachandran from would-be rapists, and in the third, he meets Julie, they both take each other as siblings. Sathyam promises Julie that he will help find her mother. Together they set out on a journey in search of her mum and to make a living (to survive to meet the daily need; food, shelter and medicine). Julie has her own sad story. He sees Meenakshi again, and the two of them fall in love.
Julie and Sathyam steal a suitcase from Madhavan, but later that night find out it is full of medicine. Without his medicine, Madhavan falls unconscious. Satyam goes to return the medicine and finds him unconscious. He then takes him to the hospital and learns he is going to need ₹ 5 lakhs to save him as he almost inadvertently killed him.
So Satyam enters the house of Divya's billionaire father, pretending to be his long-lost son Madhavan. He clears all confusion, reunites Madhavan with his dad and convinces Divya to let go of him. Prakash finds out about Sathyam and plans to kill him. Madhavan and Sathyam defeat Prakash and hand him over to the Police. Sathyam marries Meena and returns to his home with success.
Production
Alli Thandha Vaanam is the directorial debut of Viji, credited as Sreedhar Prasad. The role played by Murali was initially intended to be played by Karthik. Similarly Laila replaced Sneha in the lead female role.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Vidyasagar. "Kannalay Miya Miya" is the first released song for singer Srivardhini. Vidyasagar later reused "Vaadi Vaadi" as "Elu Elu Eloroda" for the Telugu film Ottesi Cheputunna. The hook music of "Vaadi Vaadi" was used in the song "Aa Re Pritam Pyare" in the Hindi film Rowdy Rathore.
Reception
Cinesouth wrote, "The director has presented the audience with eye-catching dances pleasant songs and endearing comedy in ample measure. But one sadly misses out a screenplay of quality". Reviewing the Telugu dubbed version Satti, Idlebrain.com wrote, "The first 15 minutes of the film is good. The rest of the film is boring, expect for occasional good moments by Prabhu Deva. On a whole, it is a badly made film". According to the director, the film performed below expectations because, with the exception of Prabhu Deva and Kalyani, none of the artistes worked well on the film.