Kandukondain Kandukondain (also released internationally as I Have Found It) is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical film directed and co-written by Rajiv Menon. Based on Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility, it features an ensemble cast of Mammootty, Ajith Kumar, Tabu, Aishwarya Rai and Abbas. Veterans Manivannan, Srividya and Raghuvaran play supporting roles.
After several delays, Kandukondain Kandukondain opened to Tamil Nadu audiences on 5 May 2000 and was commercially successful. The producers released subtitled versions worldwide. The film also won a National Film Award and two Filmfare Awards South, and was featured in international film festivals.
Plot
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Major Bala, an Indian Peace Keeping Force personnel, loses a leg in an explosion triggered by Tamil militants while fighting in the jungles of war-torn Sri Lanka. Elsewhere, Manohar, a film director, is greeted at a filming location by his parents, who want him to marry Swetha, so that he will inherit her family's company. Sisters Sowmya and Meenakshi are part of a close-knit family living in a Chettiar mansion in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, with their mother Padma, maternal grandfather Chandrasekhar, servant Chinnatha and younger sister Kamala. Sowmya is a school principal while Meenakshi is passionate about classic Tamil poetry, music and dance. Sivagnanam, a friend of Bala, lives with his mother. His mother has breathing issues, which is fixed as soon as he says the word marriage. After his mother says she wants to see a marriage, Sivagnanam shows her two cats, Raj and Viji, getting married, much to her dismay.
Bala, who now runs a floral business, has become depressed and alcohol-dependent since losing his leg. He quits drinking after an argument with Meenakshi, with whom he falls in love and supports her family when in need. At her behest, he stops drinking in exchange for her to learn music, which she does. Meenakshi, who, considers Bala as a friend, falls in love with Srikanth, a charming businessman who shares Meenakshi's interests. Manohar visits Meenakshi's house for a film shoot where Sowmya and Manohar fall in love with each other.
On his deathbed, Chandrasekhar tries to say something about his will but no one understands him. After his death, their lawyer breaks open the box and find he has bequeathed all of his property to his younger son Swaminathan, at the time when his elder daughter Padma had eloped and married without his knowledge, but was unable to change the will as he was paralysed and unable to speak a few years down the lane when his daughter assisted him. Vidya and Sowmya silently submit themselves to Swaminathan and his wife, Lalitha's demands, but Meenakshi is unable to accept the change in lifestyle. Sowmya and her family move to Chennai when they can no longer stand Lalitha's arrogant behaviour upon inheriting the mansion.
Upon arriving in Chennai, the family struggles and they work as cooks at a local restaurant. While eating a vazhaipoo vada (banana flower vada), Bala and Sivagnanam recognise its taste and immediately go to the kitchen. They are surprised to see such a rich family working tirelessly in the restaurant. After attending several interviews, Sowmya gets a job as a telephone operator at a software company. She is later promoted to a junior programmer due to her qualifications while Meenakshi becomes a playback singer with Bala's help, but keeps searching for Srikanth whom she has lost contact with. After Sowmya's promotion she gets a home loan approved and they are able to buy their own apartment. Meanwhile, Swaminathan dies of electrocution and in his will the Chettinad house is left to Padma and her family. Ultimately they decide against taking the home away from Lalitha as was done to them, especially as they now have a home of their own.
In the meanwhile, Srikanth's finance company goes bankrupt and he has to pay back his investors. A minister offers to bail out Srikanth and his company in exchange for Srikanth marrying his daughter to the minister. Srikanth agrees but Meenakshi is shocked and overwhelmed at his hypocrisy. She meets Srikanth and his future wife at the time of her first recording and after recording her first song, Meenakshi falls into an open manhole and is rescued by Bala. Realising Bala's love for her, Meenakshi reciprocates his feelings.
Manohar's first film project is in disarray and he is thrown out. While talking to Sowmya's family, he says the name chosen as the film's title was bad omen and attributed the failure to its bad luck. Sowmya who chose the name of the film translates it her being bad luck to him. For his next project, he plans to make an action film with Nandhini Varma, a well-known Telugu film actor, as the heroine. Nandhini is attracted to Manohar; rumours of an affair between them spread and his lack of attention to Sowmya hurts her deeply. Meanwhile Srikanth tries to explain himself to Meenakshi, but she refuses to listen and leaves him. Bala introduces Meenakshi to Vinod, an army officer, as he does not want Meenakshi to dedicate her life to caring for him because of his disability. Meenakshi tells Vinod and his family that she is not interested in him and declares her love to Bala. Manohar's film is a commercial success but when he visits Sowmya's house in Chennai, he finds she is moving to California for her company's project. Manohar and Sowmya tearfully argue and he tries to persuade Sowmya to marry him, and she accepts his proposal. The film ends with Manohar marrying Sowmya and Bala marrying Meenakshi.
Cast
As per the opening and closing credits:
Production
Development
After the success of his directorial debut Minsara Kanavu (1997), Rajiv Menon was signed by producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu to direct a film in the final quarter of 1998. After showing parts of the film to audiences in Udumalpettai and Pollachi, the team later held a group discussion before thanking the volunteers with gifts while receiving positive feedback. Next, Menon approached Manju Warrier, who liked the script but was hesitant to commit to appear in the film due to her impending wedding with Dileep. Aishwarya Rai was then signed onto the project, making her third appearance in Tamil films after roles in Mani Ratnam's Iruvar (1997) and Shankar's Jeans (1998). While writing the character, Menon was inspired by his experiences as a junior technician looking to make a breakthrough in the film industry.
Srividya was signed to play the mother of Tabu and Rai while Shamili played their sister. Prominent actors Raghuvaran and Manivannan were selected for supporting roles in the film while Hindi actors Dino Morea and Pooja Batra appeared in small character roles, with Batra playing an actor. Cameraman Arvind Krishna appeared in a small role as Ajith Kumar's friend.
Rajiv Menon and Dhanu retained several of the technical team from his previous venture, adding Sujatha as a writer. Menon said he often thought of dialogue in Malayalam—his native language—before telling writer Sujatha to translate it into Tamil.
Filming
thumb|right|The title song was filmed at [[Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland. Menon used the location to show Rai's character Meenakshi is living in a fantasy world so he filmed the song with a blue and green theme. In comparison, the team wanted to contrast the colours for Tabu's song by using red and brown as the main colours. The audio launch was held at Devi Theatre on 15 March 2000.
"Kannamoochi" is set in the Carnatic raga Nattakurinji. Rajiv Menon, who is a fan of this raga, presented Rahman with the song "Kavalaiyai Theerpathu Naattiya Kalaiye" from Sivakavi (1943) and asked him to compose at least one piece based on the raga. set to the raga Misra Kirvani. Menon personally asked Shankar Mahadevan to sing the song "Enna Solla Pogirai".
Release and reception
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A function was held to mark the release of the soundtrack to Kandukondain Kandukondain with Kamal Haasan in attendance. The film was initially scheduled for release in the 1999 Diwali season but delays led to the producers announcing it would be released on 1 January 2000, becoming the first film of the new millennium. Further delays due to the success of other films, including Padayappa and Vaalee ensured the film missed that date. The release of Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey led to the further postponement of the release of Kandukondain Kandukondain to May 2000. In the review for Rediff.com, Shobha Warrier stated although the film has "too many songs, too little emotion", it has "a powerful story with intense and well-developed characters. One of the most poignant scenes in the film is Mammootty's outburst against the system, which forgets war heroes who lay down their lives for a cause." Tamil Star wrote, "Rajiv Menon, who has ideas and vision, has put his heart and soul into this film with broad family appeal and fine performances from the impressive star cast". Krishna Chidambaram of Kalki praised Rajiv Menon for crafting realistic scenes in a poetic manner and also called his strength of making people believe the thought process of characters and also added Ajith, Aishwarya Rai, Tabu, Abbas, A. R. Raghuman and Sujatha have given their contribution without any slip. S. Theodore Bhaskaran of The Hindu wrote "Menon's film works well because it tells a touching tale in an inventive manner and in the process, makes certain important social comments, through well-crafted cinema". The film was a commercial success and completed 150 days at the box office in Tamil Nadu. It was initially unsuccessful in Kerala because Mammootty was not promoted as one of the lead artists.
The film was later released by Shyam Shroff of Shringar Films in a limited number cinemas in Mumbai and New Delhi, earning positive reviews from critics and performing well at the box office. Shroff said, "although the film didn't make pots of money ... it created tremendous brand equity". Outlook gave the film a favourable review and wrote, "This winner of a new-age entertainer is actually a tribute to the 'complete'-ness of the ancient Indian film structure."
Kandukondain Kandukondain was showcased at the Regus London Film Festival in November 2000 and critics from the UK newspaper The Guardian rated it as one of the top-12 films of the event's 270. Critic Peter Bradshaw said it "is an entertaining reinvention of the novel" and that "the richly complicated plot allows it to be exuberantly transposed to modern-day India", ranking it alongside Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. US-based Kino Films bought the home video rights to the film.
Accolades
;2001 National Film Awards
- Won — National Award for Male Playback Singer – Shankar Mahadevan for "Enna Solla Pogirai"
;2001 Filmfare Awards South
- Won — Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Film — Kandukondain Kandukondain – Kalaipuli S. Thanu
- Won — Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Director — Rajiv Menon
Legacy
The script of Kandukondain Kandukondain was translated into English and published as a book by Westland Publishers in October 2000. Kannamoochi Yenada (2007), Konjum Mainakkale (2012) and Enna Solla Pogirai (2022). The character Anjali in the Telugu film Chi La Sow (2018) was inspired by Tabu's character in Kandukondain Kandukondain.
References
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