'96 (film)

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'96
Theatrical release poster
Directed byC. Prem Kumar
Written byC. Prem Kumar
Produced byS. Nanthagopal
Starring
Cinematography
  • Mahendiran Jayaraju
  • N. Shanmuga Sundaram
Edited byR. Govindaraj
Music byGovind Vasantha
Production
company
Madras Enterprises
Distributed bySeven Screen Studio
Khafa Exports (Overseas)
Release date
  • 4 October 2018 (2018-10-04)
Running time
158 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹18 crore[2]
Box office₹50 crore[3]

'96 is a 2018 Indian

Trisha Krishnan are in the prominent roles as Ram and Jaanu, while newcomers Gouri G. Kishan and Aadithya Bhaskar played the younger versions. The film also stars an ensemble cast including Bagavathi Perumal, Devadarshini, Aadukalam Murugadoss and others. The film revolves around the reunion of former students from the batch of 1996, twenty-two years after their graduation. The reunion also serves as an opportunity for two former lovers, Ram and Jaanu, to resolve issues surrounding their separation.[5]

Prem Kumar wrote the script in December 2015, during the period of

high school reunion. After the official announcement, the principal photography of the film commenced on 12 June 2017 at Kumbakonam, and was shot across various locations in Chennai and Pondicherry, while also being filmed in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kolkata, Rajasthan and KulluManali. The cinematography was handled by Mahendiran Jayaraju and N. Shanmuga Sundaram, with editing being handled by R. Govindaraju. The music and background score were composed by Govind Vasantha
.

'96 was released worldwide on 4 October 2018. The film received acclaim from critics, praising the script, direction, music, cinematography, and the nostalgic setting of the film, as well as the performances of Sethupathi and Trisha. It was a commercial success, grossing 50 crore (US$6.3 million).

SIIMA, Edison, Behindwoods awards each, and also won an Asiavision, Asianet and Vanitha film award for Trisha. The film was remade by Preetham Gubbi in Kannada as 99 (2019), and by Prem Kumar himself in Telugu as Jaanu (2020). The film was listed as one of the "All Time 150 Cult Indian Films" by Behindwoods in March 2020.[7]

Plot

Ramachandran aka Ram is a travel photographer. He visits his high school and is overcome by memories. A reunion is arranged through their school WhatsApp group. At the reunion, his friends Murali, Subhashini and Sathish catch up with him. Murali hesitantly mentions that Janaki aka Jaanu (Ram's childhood love) is visiting from Singapore.

In 1994, Ram and Jaanu are friends and classmates in 10th grade. Jaanu is a talented singer. Ram develops feelings for Jaanu and she reciprocates. Once their board exams are over, they have a moment with each other where Jaanu asks him not to forget her until they meet again after the holidays.

Back in the present, Jaanu arrives at the reunion and searches for Ram. When Subha points Ram to her, Jaanu walks towards him. She reminisces the first day of 11th grade when she eagerly awaits Ram's arrival to the classroom, but he does not show up. She finds that Ram has left the school because his father had financial difficulties and his family relocated to

Madras (now Chennai
) overnight. Jaanu is inconsolable and pines for Ram until she completes school.

Back in the present, Ram and Jaanu finally meet and find it uncomfortable to interact with each other, but gradually get along. Their friends talk about Jaanu's married life in Singapore and disclose that Ram is still single and has not moved on. After the reunion party, both go out on a drive. Jaanu reveals how she could not forget Ram and would have traded anything just to have met him once back then. She narrates how circumstances forced her to marry someone else. Then, Ram asks Jaanu if she really does not remember the day he came to her college to meet her. Ram says that he and Murali waited in front of Jaanu's college to meet her and passed on a message through a student. Jaanu refused to meet Ram and forbade him to contact her again. He returned sadly and hadn't tried to meet her since then. Jaanu is devastated after listening to this and reveals that she never saw them at her college and thought it was her stalker who was troubling her. Ram tells that except for the mistake of assuming that she hated him, he knew everything about her life. He also tells her about seeing her from afar at her wedding. Jaanu is heartbroken because she felt his presence and expected him to come for her until the last minute. Both feel sad about their misfortune and finally, come to terms with everything that has happened in their lives. Jaanu expresses her desire to spend the final few hours with Ram before she catches the flight back home.

They go out into the city and then to a restaurant and catch up on more memories. There, they meet Ram's photography students who assume Jaanu is his wife and request her to share their story. Jaanu obliges and narrates an improvised version of the time when Ram tried to meet Jaanu at her college. She tells about how they finally met and made up and have been together ever since and got married. Albeit feeling awkward, Ram tries his best to play along. The students leave and Ram suggest Jaanu to rest at his apartment as it is already late at night. On the way, they get drenched in the rain and Ram gives Jaanu some of his dry clothes.

At his apartment, Jaanu is visibly upset that Ram does not have a love life and requests him to move on and get married and have a family. She finally sings Ram's favourite song - "Yamunai Aatrile" from the film Thalapathi (1991) (Jaanu had purposefully avoided singing in school in spite of his repeated requests). Ram shows Jaanu a collection of their old memories like love poems, dried flowers, and their school uniforms. They realise that time is running out and go to Jaanu's hotel so she can get ready for her flight in a few hours. Jaanu is sad that she'll leave Chennai and Ram very soon. At the Chennai Airport, Ram escorts her to the boarding gate and they bid a teary farewell. Jaanu then gets into the flight and departs.

Back at his home, Ram finds Jaanu's clothes that he had put to dry the previous night. He folds them neatly, puts them along with his treasured collection of school memories, and shuts the suitcase as the screen cuts to black.

Cast

  • Vijay Sethupathi as Ramachandran "Ram" Krishnamoorthy
    • Aadithya Bhaskar as Young Ramachandran "Ram" Krishnamoorthy
  • Trisha as Janaki "Jaanu" Devi Saravanan (née Sugumar) (Voice dubbed by Chinmayi Sripaada)
  • Devadarshini as A. Subhashini "Subha", Ram and Jaanu's best friend
  • Janagaraj as "Kaval Deivam", the school watchman, his nickname means "guardian deity"
  • Bagavathi Perumal as Murali, Ram's schoolmate and his close friend
    • Surya Prakash as Young Murali
  • Rajkumar as Surya
  • Aadukalam Murugadoss as Sathish
    • 96 Gowthamraj as Young Sathish, Ram and Jaanu's schoolmate and his closest friend.
  • Varsha Bollamma as Prabhavathi "Prabha", a trainee photographer and Ram's closest student
  • Kavithalaya Krishnan
    as Kalai Selvan, a barber
  • Shyam Prasad as Hotel Manager – Guest Relations

Production

Development

Once I finished writing the script, I knew that it was a performance-oriented film. The film was not going to rely on a budget or camera work. It is about two people and the change in their moods. It is a very intense film that needed seasoned actors.

— C. Prem Kumar about the writing of '96 in an interview with Sruthi Raman, editor of Scroll.in

In October 2016, it was first reported that Trisha had agreed to be part of a project opposite Vijay Sethupathi that was to be directed by cinematographer C. Prem Kumar, who worked with the latter in Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2012).[8][9] Two months later, Trisha announced the project via her Twitter and revealed the title as 96.[10] Prem Kumar originally had Manju Warrier in mind for the role of Janaki, but he was not able to reach her and was replaced by Trisha.[11] Furthermore, the film was considered to be a romantic thriller genre, but was later revealed to be a "light-hearted romance film revolving about the childhood sweethearts who rekindle their relationship at a school reunion gathering".[12]

From May 2017, Prem Kumar first talked about the film, telling that Vijay Sethupathi would play the role of a travel photographer, and that the film revolved around "characters who belong to the same batch: 1996", revealing the meaning of the film's title.

high school reunion.[16] He missed the reunion but when talking to his classmates who attended the function he became fascinated about two people they were speaking about and began meeting the two and developing a story around their characters.[15] The film's story was originally supposed to happen over a week, before the time span was changed to 24 hours, and eventually to a night.[15][17]

Casting

Trisha Krishnan and Vijay Sethupathi at the launch of the film

The technical crew of the film includes N. Shanmuga Sundaram and Mahendran Jayaraju as the

editor, Vinoth Raj Kumar handling the production design and Uma Devi and Karthik Netha as the lyricists.[18] Apart from the lead actors, Bagavathi Perumal, Devadarshini, Rajkumar, Aadukalam Murugadoss and Varsha Bollamma were roped in for supporting roles. Veteran actor Janagaraj made a comeback with this film, essaying the role of a school watchman. About his role, Kumar had said that "School watchmen, in general have child-like behaviour and innocence that schoolkids have. He wanted someone to have that naturally in him" and thought of Janagaraj in mind. After approaching Janagaraj in his home, he gave the script papers without taking much time to decide, he eventually agreed to be on board.[19]

The crew was then looking for suitable actors to play the younger versions of Sethupathi and Trisha's characters,[20] which delayed the commencement of principal photography.[21] The team eventually selected Aditya Bhaskar, son of actor M. S. Bhaskar, and Gouri G. Kishan for the roles, both making their acting debuts with the film.[22] Devadharshini's daughter, Niyathi Kadambi, played the younger version of her role. Subhashree Kaarthik Vijay, who was recruited as the costume signer, was a close friend of Prem Kumar and created the look of the lead female character Jaanu based on her own style.[23][24] The team shot a scene where the lead characters meet singer S. Janaki, though this was later deleted from the film. Post-release, the makers uploaded the scene to YouTube.[25]

Characters

Vijay Sethupathi's character Ram, was a travel photographer. Discussing about his portrayal, Prem Kumar stated that his life was considered to be "inconsistent and nomadic and his thoughts were unsettling like his job". The character was also unable to forget his first love in childhood, even though she was married, which had Kumar referred of a "few men who have remained the same as they were in their teens".[17] He also quashed rumours that the title 96 was not referred to Sethupathi, playing a 96-year-old man, unlike Orange Mittai (2015) and Seethakaathi (2018), where he played an aged person in the film.[16] Initially, Kumar wanted to write the script under the perspective of Trisha's character Jaanu, as she had a significant role and also his idea of writing characters with his women in mind, felt that women are superior to men and have many layers in their life, apart from other male writers who write stories on a man's point of view.[16]

The character also had a connection with music, since she had a rich and textured voice with that of singer S. Janaki.[26] Kumar believed that in some ways or the other, the film serves as a tribute to the singer.[26] Both the characters, along with the similar artists are in their mid-30s, where the "unusualness and experimentation stops after 25", however, the two characters were in abnormal situation, which excited Kumar to write the film.[27] The common aim is to depict the emotion of love without boundaries, as Kumar stated that "There is a sort of imperative about how a man and woman should be. The same way, love too is regulated. But love comes out even in uncommon situations. Love is the purest form of expression. That is what we have underlined in the film."[27]

Filming

Few scenes of the film was shot at Accord Metropolitan Hotel, Chennai.

Principal photography of the film began production on 12 June 2017 at

Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh.[32] The team first headed to Pondicherry in August 2017, to shoot crucial sequences.[33] It has been reported that Janagaraj had joined the shoot and filmed some portions in Kumbakonam, where the school featured in the film was shot at Town Higher Secondary School.[34] The film was also shot at Intercontinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort, Accord Metropolitan Hotel, Chennai International Airport and also around T. Nagar, Nungambakkam and Kodambakkam.[35] Despite being delayed due to the lead actor's commitments in other films, which led to intermittent schedule breaks and Tamil Film Producers Council strike over Virtual Print Fee hike,[36] the film completed production in June 2018.[35]

Soundtrack