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Ye Maaya Chesave
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Wikipedia article
'Ye Maaya Chesave' is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language romantic drama film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The film stars Naga Chaitanya and Samantha in her debut. It was produced by Manjula Ghattamaneni under the banner Indira Productions with soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman. The film featured cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa, editing by Anthony Gonsalves, and dialogue by Umarji Anuradha.
The film was simultaneously shot in Tamil as 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa' starring Simbu and Trisha, however, with a different cast and climax. The film received positive reviews from critics and was successful at the box office. The film is considered one of the "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade" by 'Film Companion'.
Plot
Karthik is a mechanical engineering graduate who wants to be a filmmaker. Karthik's family rents the ground floor of a two-story Alappuzha, Kerala house that belongs to a conservative Syrian Catholic that lives upstairs. Jessie, their daughter, is two years older than Karthik. She has a brother Jerry. When Karthik meets Jessie for the first time, he falls in love with her. Karthik expresses his love to Jessie, who is afraid of speaking to men around her strict father, and ends up angering Jessie. Later Jessie goes to Alappuzha, her grandparents' place. Karthik gets to know this from his sister and goes to Alappuzha, along with his friend Krishna, where he gets introduces to her family as his classmate. Then Karthik tells her that they can be good friends. After coming to know from her that she is going back to Hyderabad alone, he decides to turn the friendship in to love in the train journey. In the train he kisses her for which she slaps him and later the two meet several times afterwards and Jessie begins to admit that she likes Karthik but wants to refrain from any problems because she knows her father won't accept a Hindu marrying their daughter. Now, Jerry finds that they like each other and in the fight that follows we come to know that Karthik is a part-time boxer where he beats up Jerry and his friends. Her parents learn about their affair with this fight and arrange a marriage for her. But at the wedding, she refuses to marry the groom, Roy Thomas, displeasing everyone in her family. Karthik and Jessie continue to love each other without the knowledge of their parents. Suddenly, Jessie is forced by her father to marry and seeks Karthik's help, who was in Goa for a film shooting. Busy Karthik is unable to attend to her calls and messages; Jessie is unable to reach him. After a tense phone call from Jessie, Karthik goes back one night to check on her. An angry and hurt Jessie makes a final decision to break up with Karthik because of her father's strong disapproval of their love.
Later on, Karthik learns that Jessie got married and is settled abroad. Two years later, Karthik meets Nandini, who falls in love with him. She is rejected by Karthik who cites his previous affair with Jessie whom he can not get over. He then comes up with a script for his first film, which happens to be his own love story. He calls upon Silambarasan as the film's protagonist and Trisha as the female lead. The film is eventually titled 'Jessie'.
He sees Jessie three years later in the U.S. and thinks she is married. She reveals that she is not. She refused to marry anyone her parents set up because they rejected Karthik. Out of anger, her parents leave. They then get married at a Hindu temple and a church. The film ends at a theater where they watch 'Jessie'.
Cast
Filming
Scenes were shot in the lakes of Alappuzha during April 2009 for a month, with the houseboats doubling up as caravans.
In May, the team moved to USA to film the song sequences for "Ee Hrudayam" and "Kundanapu Bomma", choreographed by Flexy Stu. For the particular song sequences in the film, Menon wanted "churches, water and halls" and convinced the producers to finance a trip to USA, and in the process, the team became the first South Indian film to shoot in the country. Scenes were shot in places including Princeton University, Van Sant Covered Bridge, Jersey City and Hyatt Regency, as well as in lanes, alleys, one church and during the time of a village feast. The makers brought along a crew of twenty-six people to USA, with ten local workers also helping on the production. The shoot lasted ten days and cost approximately 90,000.
In October 2009, the team flew to the United States to complete the final filming schedule. Scenes were shot throughout locations in Manhattan and New Jersey, with particular shots filmed at Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park and Times Square.
Soundtrack
Academy Award winning composer A. R. Rahman composed the soundtrack and background score of the film. 'Ye Maaya Chesave' / 'Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya', marked the beginning of a collaboration between Rahman and Gautham Menon. The album consists of seven tracks, with Telugu lyrics penned by Anantha Sreeram. Rahman's compositions for the Tamil version were retained without any change, in the Telugu version.
Rahman won his first Filmfare Award in Telugu for this highly successful album. Rahman reused the same tunes for the Hindi remake of the film ('Ekk Deewana Tha'), also directed by Gautham Menon.
Production
After the announcement of Gautham Menon's Tamil project, 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa', Manjula Ghattamaneni (Producer of the movie) approached Gautham Menon to do a Telugu version of the same, with Naga Chaitanya in the lead. Gautham, who was initially hesitant to do another version, later agreed to Manjula's proposal and scheduled the shoots of many portions simultaneously.
The film was made with a moderate budget of 10 crore. It was made following much speculation that Gautham Menon was set to remake it with Manjula's brother, Mahesh Babu. Shooting continued through the latter part of 2009, with the film garnering significant media interest, with schedules in the United States, with Princeton University being used as a backdrop for song picturisation.
The film was shot along with the Tamil version 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa' with a completely different cast and climax. This film is Menon's second Telugu venture, after the critically successful 'Gharshana'.
The lead pair Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu played guest roles in the Tamil version whereas Trisha and Silambarasan made a cameo in this version in the song "Aaromale". Telugu director Puri Jagannadh appears as himself in a guest role.
Awards and nominations
Legacy
The scene where Jessie addresses Karthik as her brother is parodied in the film 'Sudigadu' (2012). The title of the film inspired a similarly named film 'Ye Mantram Vesave' (2018) starring Vijay Deverakonda.
References
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