Nerrukku Ner
Poster
Directed byVasanth
Written byVasanth
Produced byMani Ratnam
Starring
CinematographyK. V. Anand
Edited by
Music byDeva
Production
company
Release date
  • 6 September 1997 (1997-09-06)
Running time
151 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Nerrukku Ner (/neɪrʊkkʊ neɪr/ transl. Face to Face) is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language romantic action thriller film written and directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam. The film stars Vijay and Suriya, while, Simran, Kausalya, Raghuvaran, Shanthi Krishna, Baby Jennifer, Karan, Vivek, Manivannan and Prakash Raj play supporting roles. This is the debut film of Suriya. Deva and K. V. Anand handled the music and cinematography respectively. Nerrukku Ner released on 6 September 1997 and became a commercial success.[1]

Plot

The story starts off with Raghu, a passport-issuing officer, and his wife Shanthi, who live in Chennai. Raghu, being an honest man, tells Shanthi that he cheated on her with a coworker when he was in Goa. She immediately leaves for her mother's house. Raghu, being a transformed gentleman, tries to stop her by apologising, but in vain. Raghu's brother Vijay, being a good and supportive brother, and Shanthi's brother Suriya, being a non-emotive but supporting brother, meet in a cinema theatre. Vijay blames Shanthi to be the cause of the problem, and Suriya blames Raghu for the same. They keep on fighting at every chance. Meanwhile, both Vijay and Suriya find their own lovers in Akhila and Asha respectively and fall in love.

One day, Raghu finds a bundle of cash on his table and meets Muthukumaraswamy, the person who kept the money there. Raghu finds out that Muthukumaraswamy is a businessman who is wanted by the police for the crime of forex fraud. Muthukumaraswamy wants to leave the country to escape from the police, and he needs a fake passport to flee the country; otherwise, the police will catch him. Since his passport is confiscated by the police, he tells Raghu to get one for him, but Raghu, being a sincere officer, disagrees and calls the police instead. Muthukumaraswamy gets angry and promises to take revenge on Raghu. Meanwhile, Raghu and Shanthi apply for a divorce according to the Hindu Law of Divorce. Child custody of their daughter Sona, who was in Shanthi's sister's house when the break-up occurred, is given to the mother by the court. One day, Suriya takes Sona to a festival fair and somehow loses her. In the confusion that follows, Sona falls from a Ferris wheel and is taken to the hospital by Vijay. She is brought to Raghu's house once she recovers. Soon, Vijay discovers that Sona has lost her hearing in the accident. Some days later, Suriya finds that Sona is missing. Suriya finds Vijay, and the two get into a huge fight. Then, Raghu tells everyone that Sona is in his sister's house. Since Sona's custody is given to the mother, this action of Raghu's is wrong in the eyes of the law.

Shanthi and Suriya, accompanied by a lawyer, come to Raghu's house to get Sona back. At that time, Raghu suffers a serious asthma attack while in the bathroom, and everyone saves him. After recovering, Raghu tells everyone that Sona is not in his sister's house but has been kidnapped by Muthukumaraswamy, who is out on bail. In a turn of events, Raghu issues a fake passport to Muthukumaraswamy, but Raghu does not want him to escape from the police. The two heroes join hands to make sure that this does not happen. Sona is with Muthukumaraswamy's wife, Maya and brother-in-law, Kachiram in a van. Vijay and Suriya both search for Sona, then find out that she is in a van. Sona, after seeing both Vijay and Suriya on a bike, throws her family photo from the van. Meanwhile, the van reaches the safe place, and Kachiram calls Muthukumaraswamy to share the news of their arrival. They both decide to insert a bomb in Sona's hearing device. Maya then decides to save the child. Her brother Kachiram fights her and puts her in the van and activates the bomb which will explode in 10 mins. Then, Vijay and Suriya catch the van, and a fight between Kachiram and Vijay ensues. Meanwhile, Suriya takes Sona home along with her hearing device which still has the bomb. In the middle of the fight, Kachiram drives away in a car. Maya shouts to Vijay to save Sona by telling him about the bomb. At the airport, Kanthaswamy, the Chennai Deputy Commissioner of Police, arrests Muthukumaraswamy. As Suriya reaches home, Vijay follows them. Once Vijay reaches home, he throws away Sona's hearing device before the bomb goes off. The film ends Vijay and Suriya becoming best friends again after a long time and reconciling with their lady loves, and Raghu and Shanthi also embrace each other with Sona.

Cast

Production

Initially, Vasanth chose his lead hero from Aasai, Ajith Kumar and Vijay to play the lead roles, though Ajith withdrew from the film 18 days after production began as a result of issues with director Vasanth on not revealing the story to the actor as it involves dual hero subject.[2][3] The film was briefly reported to be titled Manasukkul Varalaama? (Can I Come into your Heart?) and also featured Swathi in the cast.[4] Prabhu Deva was touted as a potential replacement to Ajith, though Vasanth then opted to replace Ajith with a debutant as he was able to commit under short notice.[5] Vasanth then approached Suriya, son of actor Sivakumar, to make his acting debut in the film.[6] Vasanth had earlier unsuccessfully tried to persuade Suriya to star in his previous film, Aasai, in 1995 but the actor's father insisted that Suriya was finally ready to act.[7][8]

During the test shoot for the film, cinematographer K. V. Anand revealed that the team were worried how Suriya was going to stand opposite Vijay and that they made him wear two inch heels and made him put some shoulder pads. He added that for the first four days during the shoot in Kolkata, Suriya appeared to be uncomfortable in front of the camera and used to tell the team that he didn't want to do the film.[9][10] The film was the first Tamil project signed by Simran who was signed by Vasanth after he was impressed with her looks in Tere Mere Sapne, though Once More and VIP released earlier.[11][12] Vasanth signed on Kausalya after seeing and being impressed with her picture at a jewellery shop and was unaware that she had already made her debut in the hit film Kaalamellam Kadhal Vaazhga.[13] The director revealed he had great difficulty in filming the song "Engengae", as crowds in Kolkata refused to co-operate with the technical team. The filming mainly took place in and around Trivandrum and Kochi, with some minority portions being shot in Chennai.[14][15]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Deva, with lyrics by Vairamuthu. The song "Akila Akila" is based on Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier".[16]

Track listing
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Engengey"Hariharan, Asha Bhosle05:52
2."Aval Varuvala"Hariharan, Shahul Hameed06:08
3."Akhila Akhila"Srinivas, Anupama05:36
4."Thudikindra Kadhal (Evar Kandaar)"Anupama, Mano, Bhavatharini04:45
5."Manam Virumbuthey" (female)Harini06:03
6."Manam Virumbuthey" (male)P. Unnikrishnan06:03
Total length:33:49

Release and reception

Nerrukku Ner was released on 6 September 1997.[17] R. P. R. of Kalki bemoaned that the "nalla director" (good director) Vasanth gave a garam masala by having villain, bike chase, fights, sada songs, cheesy comedy and regular climax.[18] The film went on to win two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for 1997 with the child artiste, Jennifer, securing the Best Child Star award for her performance. Harini also won the Best Female Playback Singer award for her rendition of "Manam Virumbuthae" in the album aged just 18.[19][20]

References

  1. ↑ "Superstars Success Streak | Vijay". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  2. ↑ "Ajit backs off Nanda". Rediff.com. 21 July 2000. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  3. ↑ "From 'Itihasam' to 'Mirattal': Check out 11 movies of Ajith that were shelved". The New Indian Express. 16 October 2019. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "A-Z Continued..." Indolink. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ↑ Sitaraman, Sandya (14 March 1997). "Tamil Movie News—Kutti Edition 1". Google Groups. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  6. ↑ "சூர்யா: From பனியன் கம்பெனி To சினிமா கம்பெனி" (PDF). Kalki (in Tamil). 21 September 1997. pp. 14–16. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  7. ↑ "1997–98'ன் கோடம்பாக்கக் குஞ்சுகள்" [1997–98 Kodambakkam babies]. Indolink. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ↑ Pillai, Sreedhar (24 July 2002). "A chip off the old block". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 October 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ↑ "'Ameer, Bala and Gowtham (Menon) transformed Surya into an actor par excellence'". Rediff.com. 31 March 2009. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "My first break – Suriya". The Hindu. 9 May 2008. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ↑ Rao, Subha J (23 January 2009). "Ready for the ride?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 January 2009. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  12. ↑ Ashok Kumar, S. R. (2 May 2008). "My first break – Simran". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  13. ↑ Sandya (September 1997). "Kutti News". Indolink. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  14. ↑ Allirajan, M. (12 January 2004). "ART of filmmaking". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 April 2004. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  15. ↑ Rajitha (4 April 1997). "Haute shot". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  16. ↑ Rajitha (5 October 1998). "Romance in binary". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  17. ↑ "Suriya completes 25 years in cinema". The Times of India. 6 September 2022. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  18. ↑ ஆர். பி. ஆர். (21 September 1997). "நேருக்கு நேர்". Kalki (in Tamil). pp. 12–13. Archived from the original on 23 May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  19. ↑ Srikanth, Maithri (11 December 2008). "Harini unplugged". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 October 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  20. ↑ "Awards Tamilnadu Government Cinema Awards For 1997 Announced: Best Film Award For "Arunachalam", "Surya Vamsam"". Dinakaran. 27 November 1998. Archived from the original on 3 February 1999. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
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