Neethaane En Ponvasantham

Neethaane En Ponvasantham
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gautham Vasudev Menon
Screenplay by	Reshma Ghatala Gautham Vasudev Menon
Story by	Reshma Ghatala
Produced by	Elred Kumar Reshma Ghatala Gautham Vasudev Menon Venkat Somasundaram
Starring	Jiiva Samantha Ruth Prabhu
Cinematography	M. S. Prabhu Om Prakash S. R. Kathir Jomon T. John Santhana Krishnan Ravichandran Manoj Paramahamsa
Edited by	Anthony Gonsalvez Praveen Antony S. Kubenderan S. Raghunath Varma Jyoti Chetia Renganaath Ravee
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Production company	Photon Kathaas
Distributed by	RS Infotainment
Release date	14 December 2012 (2012-12-14)[1]
Running time	145 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Neethaane En Ponvasantham (transl. You are my Golden Springtime) is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film co written, co produced and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, starring Jiiva and Samantha.^[2] This film is shot simultaneously in Telugu, Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu, with Nani replacing Jiiva, while the team also briefly filmed an incomplete Hindi version (Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau) with Aditya Roy Kapoor, with Samantha playing the leading female role in all three versions. The film is based on a story written by Reshma Ghatala, who produced the film alongside Elred Kumar, Venkat Somasundaram and Menon. The cinematography was handled by M. S. Prabhu and Om Prakash. The film's background score and soundtrack were composed by Ilaiyaraaja which went on to become a chartbuster, and the soundtrack album sold a record 8.5 million units through various platforms on its release.

Neethaane En Ponvasantham tells the love story of Varun (Jiiva) and Nithya (Samantha) through three stages of their life; their school days, college life and then in their late twenties. The film was released on 14 December 2012, receiving positive to mixed reviews from critics, before enduring a good run at the box office.^[1]

The film was praised for its ravishing music and the chemistry between the lead actors; Jiiva and Samantha were appreciated for their performances, although the film's screenplay was criticised. At the end of its theatrical run Neethane En Ponvasantham received a number of awards, including the Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress for Samantha.^[3]

The film begins with Varun (Jiiva) gaining admission into an engineering college. He and his friends one day participate in a cultural programme, where Varun finds his childhood sweetheart Nithya (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) participating in a dance show. He begins wooing her by singing on stage and later meeting her. As they meet, the film rewinds to their early days when both were in third standard. They become good friends after a small incident and their friendship blossoms. But due to a misunderstanding, Nithya decides not to meet Varun and to never talk with him. However, as destiny would have it, they meet again in their tenth standard. Nithya initially hesitates to talk with Varun, but sheds her inhibitions once Varun breaks the ice between them, and resumes her friendship with him. Nithya is elected as the pupil leader in school and as a pupil leader she is in constant interaction with Deepak, another pupil leader and her classmate, much to the dismay of Varun. As a result, they have another fallout.

The film moves to their current meeting in the college. Both forget their past misgivings and become friends again. This time, they fall in love. During the vacations, Nithya leaves India and Varun is left for himself. Varun's elder brother who works in a software company, wants to marry his colleague and confesses the same to his parents. His parents oblige by offering to negotiate with the girl's parents. However, his parents are humiliated at the negotiations. Varun, in the process of consoling them, realises that despite their embarrassment, his brother and parents care about him rather than themselves. He then decides to take his studies more seriously and begins preparing for CAT. Nithya comes back to India and sees Varun not spending enough time with her due to his busy schedule. Nithya too initially understands his situation. However, when she learns that Varun is going to IIM Kozhikode, she too proposes to go with him. Varun rejects her proposal citing that he is going to stay in a hostel as staying outside in a rented house would be too costly for his family. This leads to a heated argument between the two and eventually ends up in another break-up between them.

After graduating from IIM and landing a job, Varun goes about finding Nithya. He goes to Manapad in Tamil Nadu where Nithya is working as a school teacher at a tsunami relief camp. Nithya refuses to talk to him even after many attempts by Varun to start a conversation. When he finally gets her to talk, she rejects his advances saying that she is happy with her current position. Disgusted at her rejection, Varun leaves the place. After some days, Nithya invites Varun to her sister's marriage. At the same time, Varun also invites Nithya to his engagement. Nithya, shocked and surprised at this sudden development realizes that she couldn't fully understand Varun and breaks down before her sister. However, to the surprise of Varun, she attends his reception, which makes him think twice about his marriage. He realises that he is still in love with Nithya. So he breaks his current engagement with the consent of his father and goes to Nithya's home to win back her confidence. Nithya too apologizes to Varun about her past behaviour. They confess their feelings to each other and the film ends with a note being shown that they are happily married and continue to quarrel and love each other.

After agreeing terms with RS Infotainment to direct their next venture, Gautham Menon co-wrote a screenplay based on a story by Reshma Ghatala. The director then met Jiiva to discuss a potential collaboration in May 2011 for his next venture, which would begin following the completion of his current project Ekk Deewana Tha.^[4] Menon then cast Jiiva in the Tamil version of a bilingual film that he had originally planned to make featuring Ram and Samantha.^[5][6] Film editor Anthony, cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa and composer A. R. Rahman were all touted to be a part of the film;^[7] however M. S. Prabhu replaced Paramahamsa and in December 2011 sources indicated that Rahman too would probably not work for this film, owing to his other commitments.^[8] Reports subsequently suggested that Harris Jayaraj may work with Menon again,^[9] but the composer dismissed those few days later.^[10] Menon clarified that he never announced any music director for the film and that he wanted to keep it as a surprise.^[11] In late January 2012, Ilaiyaraaja confirmed that he would be working with Gautham Menon.^[12][13]

A Telugu and a Hindi version, titled Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu and Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau, were also being simultaneously made, with Nani in the former and Aditya Roy Kapoor playing the lead role in the latter, while Samantha played the female lead in all versions.^[14][15][16] Initial suggestions indicated that the film was also set to be titled Nithya, after Samantha's character in the film, but this turned out to be untrue.^[17] The title was revealed through the first publicity posters to be Neethaane En Ponvasantham, inspired by a song from the 1982 film Ninaivellam Nithya. An official announcement was made by the producers of the film, RS Infotainment, that a photo shoot was planned in August and the film would also shoot portions across the United Kingdom.^[18] To prepare for his role, Jiiva had to lose weight for the film and had to undertake diet regimens and work out sessions to get in shape for the character. Furthermore, it was revealed that he would sport three different looks in the film as the film encompasses 15 years.^[19] Ravi Raghavendra and Anupama Kumar were added to the cast to play Jiiva's parents, while Santhanam was also chosen to play a college student in the film.^[20][21] Film historian Mohan Raman's daughter Vidyullekha Raman,^[22] a theatre artist,^[23] made her acting debut in this film as the female lead's friend.^[24]

The film had been set to begin the first schedule on 15 August 2011 but delays led to it only starting fortnight later.^[25] It eventually commenced the initial shoot from 29 August 2011 with a photo shoot held and publicity posters were released the following week.^[26] The team shot across Chennai in the first week of the first schedule, with scenes filmed at the cinema multiplex Mayajaal and at a coffee shop, Cafe Coffee Day, on the East Coast Road.^[27] Many scenes were shot in SSN College of Engineering near Kelambakkam, a college in Chennai, where Jiiva's character was shown to be studying. The film was shot alongside the two other versions, with the film shooting the same scene thrice with the various casts.^[28] In late August 2012, important scenes were canned in Kalpakkam.

The Hindi remake of the film was temporarily stalled, following the box office failure of Ekk Deewana Tha and Menon noted he planned to observe the reception of the Tamil and Telugu versions and then probably go ahead with its remake in Hindi after completing pending projects.^[29] However, Gautham Menon insisted that only Aditya's dates had been a problem and that instead the team would go ahead with the Tamil and Telugu release while postponing the Hindi version.^[30] Although statements were released by Photon Kathaas suggesting the venture was set to resume, it has been indefinitely shelved.^[31][32][33]

Menon approached Ilaiyaraaja to compose music for the film. The soundtrack album consists of eight tracks, with lyrics penned by Na. Muthukumar, replacing Gautham Menon's usual associate lyricist Thamarai for the first time.^[34] 7 singers have lent their voices for the songs, including composer Ilaiyaraaja, Karthik, Raaja's son Yuvan Shankar Raja, N. S. Krishnan's grand daughter Ramya NSK, Suraj Jagan, Sunidhi Chauhan and Bela Shende.^[35] Touted as one of the most anticipated musicals of 2012 in Tamil cinema,^[36] the production house sold the musical rights at an altitudinous price of ₹22 million (US$260,000), setting a record price for audio rights acquirement which were sold to Sony Music India.^[37][38] Over one lakh audio CDs were booked in advance, prior to the audio launch.^[39] Neethaane En Ponvasantham's soundtrack was released on 1 September 2012 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai in a grand event,^{[40][non-primary source needed]} during which the songs were performed live by the original artists along with the Anglo-Indian Music Productions orchestra and Hungarian session musicians who had also worked on the film's score.^[41][42][43]

Neethaane En Ponvasantham was given a U certificate by the Indian Censor Board, without any cuts.^[44] The movie along with its Telugu version saw worldwide release on 14 December 2012, clashing with Prabu Solomon's Kumki, both becoming the most anticipated films of the year, because of the success of the soundtrack.^[45] Two days before the release of Neethaane En Ponvasantham along with Kumki, the advanced bookings for the first weekend were sold out.^[46]

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Neethanae En Ponvasantham took a grand opening, grossing around ₹8.7 million (US$100,000) in its first two days in Chennai. The film grossed ₹175.5 million (US$2.1 million) at the Chennai box office in the 16th weekend. It totally grossed ₹475 million (US$5.7 million).

The first poster of Neethane En Ponvasantham depicting the lead pair was unveiled in early September 2011.^[47] On Valentine's Day 2012, a teaser trailer of 50 seconds featuring Samantha and Jiiva with an instrumental version of the song "Neethaane En Ponvasantham" playing in the background was released, claiming the film to be a Summer 2012 release.^[48] However, due to the lead actors' other commitments that shifted dates of filming, eventually release was rescheduled to 4th quarter of 2012.^[49] On 1 September 2012, the official theatrical trailer of the film was released.^[50] The response to the theatrical trailer was highly positive, that it crossed 1.2 million views in two days of its release, breaking the record of the most ever viewed Tamil film trailer held earlier by Billa 2.^[51][52]

Neethaane En Ponvasantham received mixed reviews upon release. The Times of India rated it 3.5 out of 5 and called it "an ideal date movie, despite the slow pace and the flaws".^[53] Vivek Ramz of in.com rated it 3 out of 5 and wrote, "Neethaane En Ponvasantham is not a bad film at all and has its moments, but one expects more from director of Gautham's calibre. Overall, it's a one-time watch!"^[54] OneIndia gave the film 3/5 stars, saying, "Like Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa and Vaaranam Aayiram, the film runs in a slow pace and at parts it is boring."^[55] However, Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff gave the movie 2.5/5 stars, calling the movie "disappointing... The second half of the story is full of tears, recriminations and quarrels that make little sense. The arguments and debates...fall flat, and you get tired of the back-and-forth."^[56] IBN Live said the movie "sadly...fails to engage the audience with its clichéd presentation".^[57] Moviecrow.com gave the film 3/5 and stated, "The story drags and the moments are mostly pedestrian... Situations and scenes are sometimes repetitive. It is unclear why the director chose to shoot so many important scenes without any cuts and in wide range".^[58]

• Neethaane En Ponvasantham at IMDb