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Pammal K. Sambandam
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Wikipedia article
'Pammal K. Sambandam' is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by Moulee and scripted by Crazy Mohan. The film stars Kamal Haasan in the title role alongside Simran, Abbas and Sneha. The film was produced by P. L. Thenappan under Media Dreams, while Deva composed the soundtrack for the film.
The film released on 14 January 2002. It received positive reviews and became a commercial success. The 2009 Hindi film 'Kambakkht Ishq' was based on this film. It was Abbass 25th film as an actor.
Plot
When a stuntman Pammal Kalyana Sambandham and a reputed surgeon Dr. Janaki come across each other at his younger brother Anand's and her best friend Malathi's elopement, they instantly develop a dislike for each other. They both have a very low opinion of the opposite gender, and also refuse to believe in the concept of marriage. Sambandham humorously often censors his middle name "Kalyana" as it means "marriage". Janaki, in particular, hates Sambandham for his uncouth manners and language. She gets Sambandham arrested when he argues with her at the police station over Anand and Malathi's marriage. Sambandham is eventually released on bail.
Anand and Malathi's marriage soon turns rocky as Malathi feels that Anand had lied to her over a job assignment in Australia before they had eloped. On the advices of Janaki, Malathi harasses Anand at every opportunity and makes him do the household work. On hearing about Anand's plight, Sambandham decides to fix the relationship by "hooking up" Anand with a woman named Vanaja in order to make Malathi jealous and a more caring and dutiful wife to Anand. But, unfortunately for Anand, Janaki makes Malathi to believe that Anand is cheating on her and forces her to file for divorce.
Meanwhile, Janaki tries to get Sambandham into trouble by barging into an movie shoot involving Sambandham and claiming that he is "involved" in animal cruelty since he is using a bull and a snake as part of the movie. In the chaos which was accidentally created by Janaki as she accidentally throws the snake on to the bull's head, the bull goes mad, the snake gets killed and the bull gores Sambandham in his stomach when he was trying save Janaki from the bull as it was trying to attack her. Janaki performs an emergency surgery on him and saves his life, but during the surgery, her prized possession (a wristwatch gifted to her by her aunt) falls into his stomach, which is detected by the X-Ray. She pretends to fall in love with Sambandham, with the intention to somehow sedate him and perform the surgery again to retrieve the watch. Sambandham, who is unaware that Janaki's watch is in his stomach due to a mix-up with another patient's X-Ray, mistakes Janaki's romantic overtures to be genuine, and falls in love with her. He also inadvertently foils all her plans to sedate him. Eventually, Sambandham provides another shock to Janaki; they are to be engaged at his grandfather's house at Pammal. During the engagement ceremony, Janaki finally manages to sedate Sambandham and retrieve her watch. Following the surgery, Janaki reveals the truth to Sambandham and ends their engagement, leaving Sambandham heartbroken. Sambandham's troubles increase when he realises that his grandfather had signed a legal document transferring his lodge to him once he is married. When his grandfather finds out that Janaki cancelled the engagement, he suffers a massive heart attack and dies. Meanwhile, Malathi and Anand manage to reconcile and get back together, cancelling their divorce.
Janaki feels guilty over being responsible for Sambandham's grandfather's death. She also finds out that Sambandam had decided to transfer the ownership of the lodge to her and convert it to an orphanage if they had got married, and on this revelation, she realises that she has fallen in love with him. She decides to confess her love to Sambandham, but instead she inadvertently convinces him to marry his relative, a weightlifter Rajeshwari "Raji", within the next two days, as he would lose the possession of the lodge if he doesn't marry by then. However, it turns out that Raji has no interest in the marriage and is in love with a Malayali boy. In a hilarious climax, Sambandham, Janaki, Anand and Malathi help Raji in eloping with her boyfriend, and Sambandham and Janaki too elope as well, thus ensuring that the lodge remains under Sambandham's ownership.
Cast
* Kamal Haasan as Pammal Kalyana Sambandam (P.K.S), a stunt double
* Simran as Dr. G. Janaki , a doctor as well as social worker
* Abbas as Anand, Sambandam's younger brother
* Sneha as Malathi, Anand's lover turned wife
* Manivannan as Rajeshwari's father
* Ravichandran as Sambandam's uncle
* Ramesh Khanna as Biscuit Kanna
* Vaiyapuri as Dili
* Sriman as Malathi's brother
* Charle as Sambandam's Lawyer
* Unnikrishnan Namboothiri as Sambandham's grandfather
* Santhana Bharathi as Sambandam's uncle
* R. S. Shivaji
* Bayilvan Ranganathan as Mudhaliyar Sangam member
* Madhan Bob as Srivilliputhur Kulasekara Periyasamy (S.K.P.)
* Yugi Sethu as himself
* T. P. Gajendran as Film director
* Balu Anand as Police Inspector
* Kavithalaya Krishnan as lift operator
* Neelu as Police inspector
* Scissor Manohar as owner of Snake
* Nellai Siva as Mudhaliyar Sangam member
* Singamuthu as Mudhaliyar Sangam member
* M. N. Rajam
* S. N. Parvathy
* Sukumari as Alaram Mami
* Kalpana as Koorkenchery Mariya Kutty Thomas (K.M.T)
* Kuyili
* Nithya Ravindran as Rajeshwari's mother
* C. R. Saraswathi as Malathi's mother
* K. S. Jayalakshmi
* Jaya Murali
* Crazy Mohan as ENT doctor (cameo)
Production
Kamal Haasan initially approached Moulee to make a film for his own production house, but efforts were unfruitful. Subsequently, the film was started under P. L. Thenappan in August 2001 and the shoot was complete within three months. The film's invitation card for the launch was shaped in the form of the alphabet "K", which formed a significant theme throughout the film. The card also featured images of Devayani who was later replaced in the film by Sneha. Devayani was removed after she went on honeymoon following her sudden marriage and thus she was unable to fulfil her original schedules. Kamal Haasan's character was a stunt double under Vikram Dharma in the film and the stunt director had used the air-ramp for the first time in a Tamil film.
The film was initially slated to be released coinciding with the Diwali season of 2001, but due to the delay of Kamal Haasan's other film, 'Aalavandhan', it was shifted to January 2002. During the making of the film, the significance of the initial "K" was hidden before Kamal Haasan revealed at a press conference two weeks before release that it stood for "Kalyanam" (Marriage), which the lead characters despised. The title was inspired by Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar, who was considered as one of the father's of Tamil theatre.
Soundtrack
Soundtrack is composed by Deva and lyrics for all songs were written by Vaali, Kabilan, P. Vijay and Kamal Haasan.
Release
The film was initially slated to be released coinciding with the Diwali season of 2001, but due to the delay of Kamal Haasan's other film, 'Aalavandhan', it was shifted to January 2002. 'Pammal K. Sambandam' took a big opening at the box office, running 100 days in 80 centers.
Reception
The film received above average reviews with The Hindu claiming that "if Mouli had sustained the humorous strain throughout, PKS would have turned out to be a complete comic treat from start to finish. Why he did not do it remains a riddle." The critic also praised the lead performances and Crazy Mohan's dialogue writing. Rediff.com described it as "an average film", stating that the only "real highpoint is 'Crazy' Mohan's dialogues".
It was later remade in Hindi as 'Kambakkht Ishq' in 2009 by Sajid Nadiadwala.
References
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