Pachaikili Muthucharam

Pachaikili Muthucharam (transl. Green parrot and string of pearls) is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. It is loosely based on James Siegel's 2003 novel Derailed. The film stars R. Sarathkumar, Jyothika, Andrea Jeremiah and Milind Soman. The score and soundtrack were composed by Harris Jayaraj. The film was released on 16 February 2007, and performed average at the box office.

Pachaikili Muthucharam
Promotional poster
Directed by	Gautham Vasudev Menon
Written by	Gautham Vasudev Menon
Produced by	V. Ravichandran
Starring	R. Sarathkumar Jyothika Andrea Jeremiah Milind Soman
Cinematography	Arvind Krishna Additional cinematography: Nirav Shah
Edited by	Anthony
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Production company	Aascar Films Pvt. Ltd
Release date	16 February 2007 (2007-2-16)
Running time	150 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Venkatesh, a medical representative, is happily married to Kalyani, and they both have a son named Nanda. They all have a perfect life. That is, until Nanda falls sick and ends up in a hospital where he is diagnosed with diabetes, and things between Venkat and Kalyani cool down a bit. Kalyani begins to spend more time with Nanda and starts to ignore Venkat involuntarily. Venkat, feeling a bit lonely and neglected, walks in and out of his monotonous life without complaining much. He tries to understand Kalyani's feelings.

One morning while riding the train to work, Venkat notices Geetha and spends a few extra seconds admiring her. The following day again, he happens to stand next to her, and Geetha opens up the conversation with Venkat. Both married with kids, they feel that they have a lot of common things between them and start a friendship together. At first, it is platonic, and they meet only in the train, but they slowly start meeting at restaurants and coffee shops. Geetha begins to get a little physically close to Venkat, and she suggests that they both spend a day together watching movies or doing something alone. Venkat agrees, and they take a taxi and drive to Mayajaal on East Coast Road.

However, at the last minute, Geetha changes her mind and directs the taxi driver to go to a resort along the same road. Venkat books a room on Geetha's insistence. A knock on the door prompts Venkat to open the door. A goon who calls himself as Lawrence barges in, beats him up, robs the couple, and ties Venkat up before raping Geetha. Venkat is grief-stricken, and he and Geetha both part ways. Lawrence starts calling Venkat and Geetha to harass them for money. Venkat takes the full financial responsibility and starts paying off money that he had been saving for Nanda's medical expenses. With no choice left, Venkat confesses to Kalyani. Angry and disappointed, she leaves him, but she returns a few days later after realising that she is short of money and forgives him.

One day, Venkat finds Geetha and Lawrence laughing down the street. He follows them and realises that he has been conned and that this is their daily business. When the gang is pulling the same trick on another person named Ramachandran, he beats Lawrence, barges into a hotel, and explains it to Ramachandran. A fight occurs where Ramachandran is killed and Venkat accidentally shoots Geetha on her stomach. Angrily, Lawrence stabs Venkat on his hand and in a fit of rage, Venkat kills Lawrence. Venkat escapes but not before he gets a horrible beating from Geetha's men. He relocates with his family for a while, and then Geetha's men kidnaps Kalyani. Later, he realises that Geetha didn't actually die and she kidnapped Kalyani and his son to avenge Lawrence's death. She orders her men to beat Venkat up, after Venkat refuses to give her the money. After a long fight, Venkat kills Geetha, saves Kalyani. And the family lives happily ever after.

Cast

• R. Sarathkumar as Venkatesh
• Jyothika as Smitha (Geetha)
• Andrea Jeremiah as Kalyani
• Milind Soman as Lawrence
• VTV Ganesh as Velu
• Armaan as Nanda
• Venkat as Muruga
• Hariraj as Ramachandran
• Mishalle as Debbai
• Cool Suresh as Dass
• Kannan as Kannan
• Manikandan as Elangovan
• Gautham Vasudev Menon as a bus passenger (uncredited)
• Veera as a bus passenger (uncredited)
• Karthik as a singer (uncredited)

Production

After reading the novel Derailed by James Siegel, Gautham Vasudev Menon decided to make a film loosely inspired by it rather than adapting the novel verbatim.^[1] The film was previously titled Vilai Uyirendraalum (Even If the Price Is Life Itself)^[2] and Silandhi (Spider),^[3] but later titled Pachaikili Muthucharam, after a song from Ulagam Sutrum Valiban (1973).^[4] Menon described the title (translated as "a parrot with a string of pearls") as a metaphor to the film's content, saying, "What will happen to a string of pearls if a parrot gets it? The pearls might scatter away."^[5]

For the lead female role several actresses were considered with Tabu, Kamalinee Mukherjee and Shobana as the frontrunners. Finally, the latter was chosen to play the role whom Menon described as the "finest actor in the country".^[2] However, Shobana was replaced by a newcomer Andrea Jeremiah, who previously collaborated with Menon in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006) as a playback singer.^[6] The lead role was initially offered to Kamal Haasan, who declined. Cheran showed interest, but declined due to scheduling conflicts. R. Madhavan also declined as he was uninterested in playing the father of a child. After Menon casually met R. Sarathkumar, the actor agreed to do the film.^[7]

Soundtrack

The film has five songs composed by Harris Jayaraj. The song "Karu Karu Vizhigalal" was noted for its musical structure being similar to Westlife's "Hit You With The Real Thing".^[8]

Tamil track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Unakkul Naane" (Version 1)	Rohini	Bombay Jayashri	4:43
2.	"Unakkul Naane" (Version 2)	Rohini	Madhushree	4:41
3.	"Un Sirippinil"	Thamarai	Sowmya Rao, Mohamed Raffee	5:35
4.	"Kaadhal Konjam"	Thamarai	Naresh Iyer	4:52
5.	"Karu Karu"	Thamarai	Karthik, Naresh Iyer, Krish	3:36
Total length:				23:27

Telugu track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Undaleni"	Anuradha Sriram, Raghu Kunche	4:38
2.	"Nee Talapuna"	Naga Saihithi	5:31
3.	"Challa Naina"	Raghu Kunche	4:45
4.	"Undaleni" (Version 2)	Chinmayi, Raghu Kunche	4:38
5.	"Daagudumoothal"	Karthik, Raghu Kunche	3:12
Total length:			23:06

All tracks are written by Vennelakanti

Release

The censors cleared the film with an "A" certificate for its theme with no visual cuts but a few dialogue muting. The film was initially scheduled to release on 9 February 2007, but was pushed to 16 February because Ravichandran wanted more time to publicise the film. The film's Karnataka distributor also asked him to delay the release as theatres in Bengaluru were temporarily blocked from screening Tamil films due to the Kaveri River water dispute.^[9]

Critical reception

Sriram Iyer from Rediff.com wrote that "One must hand it to Gautham Menon for keeping the film from degenerating into a melodrama by giving the right mix of action and drama".^[10] Lajjavathi of Kalki wrote it cannot be said that everyone will appreciate the softness that permeates the entire film. She added that although there are various reviews about the story of this film, a new attempt is welcome.^[11] Sify gave the film a positive review, appreciating its faithfulness to Derailed and wrote, "What makes the film so interestingly relevant is the fact that such a tragedy could strike anyone in the pulsating day to day city life".^[12]

Box office

The film performed average at the box office. In regard to the average run, Menon felt that Sarathkumar was "wrong for the film" and that he tweaked the story to fit his image; he also claimed that his father's ailing health and consequent death a week before the release had left him mentally affected.^[7]

Accolades

Award[a]	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards	Ananda Vikatan Award for Best Villain – Female	Jyothika	Won
Vijay Awards	Best Debut Actress	Andrea Jeremiah	Nominated	[13]

Notes

1. Awards, festivals and organisations are in alphabetical order.