Devathaiyai Kanden

Devathaiyai Kanden is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Boopathy Pandian in his directorial debut. It stars Dhanush and Sridevi Vijaykumar in the lead roles, while Karunas and Kunal play supporting roles. The film shares its name with a song from another Dhanush film, Kaadhal Kondein. Devathaiyai Kanden was released on 14 January 2005 and was a commercial success. The film was remade in Kannada as Jaaji Mallige.

Plot

Babu is a struggling tea vendor in Chennai, who makes a living by selling milk tea, carrying the business on his bicycle. He falls in love with Uma, a rich college girl. Gradually, Uma also reciprocates Babu's feelings for his good nature, and things go smoothly for a while.
Uma's parents find her a groom Bala, who is wealthy and well-educated. Uma is in a dilemma about whom to choose as her life partner. She thinks of her future if she chooses the impoverished Babu, where she visualises herself giving birth to a child in a government hospital, her husband unable to raise the required money for her medical expenses, and overall a complicated life; in contrast to a life where everyone pampers her, her every need is taken care of almost instantly if she chooses to marry Bala.
While Babu is on a religious trip to Sabarimala, Uma decides to marry Bala so that she can continue to lead a comfortable life. Babu is devastated when he learns of this and heartbroken when Uma goes to the extent of shouting at him. He accuses her parents of changing her mind.
Babu gets arrested after trying to attempt suicide during a Valentine's Day gathering. He is taken to the police station and beaten up by an inspector. Babu's best friend Kaduppu Subramani pleads with the inspector, saying that he and Babu are orphans and there is no one to ask after them if they get killed. This changes the inspector's mind and makes him look at Babu's plight kindly, and he agrees to file a case against Uma.
Uniquely, Babu files a case against Uma for not holding the promise made to him of sharing a life for a good 50 years. The case soon gathers momentum and has the public discussing it everywhere. As the case progresses, several sacrifices made by Babu for the sake of Uma come to light through revelations made by people known to him and by his close friends. Uma has a change of heart and, on the final day of the hearing, decides to reunite with Babu.
When Uma offers an apology letter with a rose to Babu, he refuses to accept her, saying that the case was filed not to win her back, but to prevent other men from suffering like him. He justifies further by saying that yesterday she hated him because of his status, but today she loves him, and tomorrow she may again find him unattractive. Babu also says that as he does not know English, she left him. While leaving the court complex, much to the surprise of the visibly embarrassed Uma, he utters his last word to her in what little English he knows, "Goodbye".

Production

In October 2002, Dhanush signed a film titled Ennai Mattum Kadhal Pannu soon after the success of his debut film Thulluvadho Ilamai. The venture, which is the directorial debut of Boopathy Pandian, was also set to star Dhanush's Thulluvadho Ilamai co-star Sherin. The film was later retitled Kadhalna Summava and then finally as Devathaiyai Kanden. Sridevi Vijaykumar replaced Sherin. Despite being announced in 2002, the film faced delays because the production company Roja Combines postponed the shooting schedules. Amidst this, Dhanush prioritised other films including Kaadhal Kondein, Thiruda Thirudi, Pudhukottaiyilirundhu Saravanan, Sullan and Dreams. He also worked on a number of dropped films during the period including K. S. Ravikumar's Odipolaama, Selvaraghavan's Doctors, and Sibi Chakravarthy's Raghava. This was Sridevi's last film release in Tamil.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Deva.

Release and reception

Devathaiyai Kanden was released on 14 January 2005, during Pongal alongside films like Ayya, Iyer IPS, Aayudham and Thirupaachi. Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "It is Bhoopathypandian's first directorial venture and he can be appreciated for trying out something out of the routine here. If only he had polished up the earlier scenes too!". Visual Dasan of Kalki praised Pandian's direction, the performances of Dhanush and Sridevi. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "Coherence is a casualty in and so is tautness. The first half just languishes in light-hearted happenings that are anything but funny. It is in the last hour that the story gains some momentum". Sify wrote, "Bhoopthy Pandian, the debutant director has no clue about what he was trying to convey to the audience. All the characters are etched out in poor light and less said about the lead pair, the better! For a change, Deva’s lifted music is a blessing. The story, script, presentation is amateurish and the direction is incredibly lifeless and uninvolving".