Star (2001 film)

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Star
Star (2001 film).jpg
Poster
Directed by Praveenkanth
Written byPraveenkanth
Produced byVijaykrishna
Starring
Cinematography Priyan
Edited byM. N. Rajan
Music bySongs:
A. R. Rahman
Score:
Sabesh–Murali
Production
company
Sri Subajothi Movies
Release date
  • 27 July 2001 (2001-07-27)
Running time
168 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Star is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Praveenkanth and produced by Vijaykrishna. The film stars Prashanth and Jyothika while Raghuvaran, Vijayakumar, and Praveenkanth play other pivotal roles. The film features songs by A. R. Rahman reused from his own Hindi films Thakshak and 1947: Earth , while the background score was composed by Sabesh–Murali due to Rahman's unavailability. The film was released on 27 July 2001 and failed at the box office.

Contents

Plot

Murthy earns his living taking the blame for the mistakes of other people, and so the jail is his second home. Dhanushkodi has sworn to kill ex-collector Ramanathan's son Santhosh, and so, Ramanathan has transferred Santhosh to Mauritius while telling the world he has run away. Wishing to save his son, he hires Murthy to act like him, hoping Dhanushkodi would kill him instead of his actual son. Murthy too accepts the gig since his lover Preeti is Ramanathan's niece. In the climax, Santhosh supports Dhanushkodi for killing his father, but Dhanushkodi kills Santhosh. The film ends with Murthy taking the blame for killing Santhosh and surrendering himself to the police.

Cast

Production

The success of Jodi (1999) prompted director Praveenkanth to collaborate with Prashanth and Simran again in a project called Star, but Simran soon dropped out. [1] [2] Praveen moved on to relaunch the film with Ajith Kumar in the lead and producers Vijayam Cine Combines. Praveen began pre-production work and cast Nagma in a proposed item number, but was later dropped from the project after falling out with Ajith. Vijayam Cine Combines moved on to instead make Dheena (2001) with Ajith, selecting debutant AR Murugadoss, an assistant of Praveen, as the project's director. [3]

After their successful association in Ratchagan and Jodi, Praveen Kanth wanted Rahman to provide the music yet again, but the composer was short on time, so Rahman compromised to reinvent tunes earlier composed for films like Thakshak and Earth for the project. [4] Prashanth and Jyothika were later confirmed as the lead pair, though Praveenkanth's sudden decision to act in the film irked Prashanth and his father, who threatened to opt out of the project, before the issue was mediated. [5]

The introduction of Jyothika's character was filmed on the streets of Chennai. [6] The team then went on a shooting stint to Kurinji village at Gobichettipalayam and during the time there provided Rs 2 lakhs to help renovate a temple, which had been closed for twenty years. [7]

Soundtrack

A. R. Rahman was approached to compose music for the film, but Rahman could not accept the film owing to his busy schedule. The director sought permission to re-use four songs from Rahman's Hindi film, Thakshak and one song from Earth . The director followed the same approach in his previous film Jodi . [4] Initially, songs were going to be reused from Taal , but since that film was already dubbed in Tamil, songs were not reused from that film. [4] Playback singer Karthik made his playback debut with this soundtrack. [8] Ezekiels of Chennai Online wrote, "Compared to the earlier hits of Rahman-Vairamuthu, 'Star' fails to keep up to the standards set by this gifted pair. Let us just hope that this 'Star' twinkles in A.R Rahman's firmament". [9]

The background score was composed by Sabesh–Murali due to Rahman's unavailability.

TitleArtist(s)LyricsDurationNotesRef.
"Manasukkul Oru Puyal"Sujata Trivedi, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sadhana Sargam Vairamuthu 5:11Reused "Boondon Se Baatein" from Thakshak [10]
"Thom Karuvil Irundom"Surjo Bhattacharya, Shankar Mahadevan Vairamuthu5:28Reused "Dheem Ta Dare" from Thakshak
"Rasiga Rasiga"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sujatha Mohan Piraisoodan 6:53Reused "Rang De" from Thakshak
"Machha Machhiniye" Unni Menon, Ganga Sitharasu Vairamuthu5:01Reused "Rut Aa Gayi Re" from Earth
"Adi Nenthikkitten" Karthik, Chitra Sivaraman Palani Bharathi 6:15

Release and reception

Star was released on 27 July 2001. [11] Malini Mannath of The New Indian Express criticised the "shoddy" script and narration, adding that "the director’s attempt to try his hand at acting, and his taking on one of the crucial characters in the film, makes matters worse". She added, "It’s impossible to rise above a script of this type though Prashanth makes a futile attempt. Jyotika’s expressions are becoming repetitive". [1] Prabhu from Lollu Express added that the film would not give a boost to Prashanth's career as he had anticipated stating that it was a "below average movie". [12] Visual Dasan of Kalki wrote that one must not rush to the theatre if anyone screams time killing. [13] K. N. Vijiyan of New Straits Times reviewed the film more positively, calling Rahman's music the "highlight" and concluded, "Go for Star if you are a fan of Prasanth or Jothika". [14]

The failure of the film ended the partnership between Rahman and Praveen Kanth, with the composer refusing to score the music for the director's next venture, Thullal . Plans were made in 2003 to remake the film in Telugu as Mahendra, but the venture never took off. [15]

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References

  1. 1 2 Mannath, Malini. "Star: A multi-starrer flop". The New Indian Express . Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Jyothika fills up Simrans slot in "Star"". Yahoo! Groups . Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  3. ↑ A.R ரஹ்மான் எழுதிய பாடல் - Praveen Gandhi | Unknown Secret About Jodi | Making Of Jodi |உழைப்பாளி | (in Tamil). Aadhan Cinema. 19 August 2020. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021– via YouTube.
  4. 1 2 3 Rajitha (31 May 2000). "While on A R Rahman..." Rediff.com . Archived from the original on 18 May 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "Masala!". Cinesouth. Archived from the original on 28 July 2001. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  6. ↑ "Jothika in illicit liquor sale?". Cinematoday2.itgo.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  7. ↑ Rasika. "A remarkable deed!". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 3 March 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  8. ↑ Raman, Sruthi Ganapathy (25 January 2018). "Karthik interview: 'Nothing else could give me the joy that music gave me'". Scroll.in . Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  9. ↑ Ezekiels. "Music Review of STAR". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 18 October 2004. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  10. ↑ "20 Years of Prashanth and Jyotika's Star: Four interesting facts about the film". The Times of India . 31 July 2021. Archived from the original on 18 March 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  11. ↑ "Star / ஸ்டார் (2001)". Screen 4 Screen. Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  12. ↑ Prabhu. "STAR" – A NEW TAMIL MOVIE REVIEW BY YOUR PRABHU". Lollu Express. Archived from the original on 28 October 2005. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  13. ↑ தாசன், விஷுவல் (12 August 2001). "ஸ்டார்". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 80. Archived from the original on 10 August 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2023– via Internet Archive.
  14. ↑ Vijiyan, K. N. (4 August 2001). "Prasanth the 'star'". New Straits Times . pp. Life Is... Reel Stuff 4. Retrieved 22 February 2024– via Google News Archive.
  15. ↑ Kumar, G. Manjula (7 October 2003). "'Star' to 'Mahendra'". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 18 July 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
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