Yaare Neenu Cheluve

Starring: Ravi Chandran, Radha, N.S. Rao, Jaggesh, Vishnuvardhan, Ramesh Aravind, Doddanna, Ramesh Bhat,
Prakash Raj
Director: D. Rajendra Babu
Music Dir: Hamsalekha
Lyricist: Hamsalekha
Singers: S.P. Balasubramaniam, Shankar Shanbog, Suresh Peters, Anuradha Sriram, K.S. Chitra
Distributor: Sri Ganesh
Genre: Romance

Remake of Kaadal Kottai in Tamil,
Which was dubbed as Prema Lekha in Telugu

Synopsis
Kamali lives with her sister Jyoti and her brother-in-law (Prakash Raj) , in Kudremukh. She is looking unsuccessfully for work. She has gone to stay with her friend, Mary, who lives in Bangalore, so that she can attend a job interview there, one of many interviews that have been so far unsuccessful. Mary has gone to the station to see her friend off on the train to Mangalore. While sitting at the open window on the train, just as the train is leaving, a thief comes along and snatches her bag. He runs off with it, takes the money out, and throws the bag into an empty railway carriage. She is distraught, she has no money, and the bag contained her railway ticket, and all her University Certificates, which she needs for further job interviews. A young man on the train pays her fare, despite her protests and gives her money to pay for her journey home to Kudremukh, from Managlore. Kamali arrives home to an unfriendly welcome by her brother-in-law: he has a reason for being unfriendly to her, which he later explains.
Next we see Surya (Ravi Chandran) almost missing a train in Bangalore, on his way to Jaipur, where he now lives. He talks to a fellow passenger, and asks his date of birth, explaining that he sends greetings to all his friends on their birthday. He doesn’t know where he was born, as he is an orphan, brought up in an “ashram”. Surya finds Kamali’s bag on the train with all her certificates, and decides to post it to her. Kamali is delighted to receive her handbag, with her certificates, in the post, from Surya in Jaipur. She writes to thank Surya.
Surya lives with a friend (Doddanna), whom he regards as a brother. A Rajasthani girl called Rupa is in love with him, and tries to learn Kannada, as Surya does not speak Hindi. However, Surya does not reciprocate her love: in fact he does not believe in love. Surya, knowing Kamali’s date of birth from her certificates, sends her a Birthday Greeting, along with his other friends who have birthdays that month. They correspond and become attracted to each other. She eventually asks him to phone her at a phone-booth in Bangalore. While waiting for his call, she chats to its friendly, funny and happy owner (Sadhu Kokila). Unfortunately, when Surya phones, a group of protestors pass her phone booth, loudly shouting their protests, and Surya and Kamali cannot hear each other because of the noise.
Following an alercation at work, Surya gives in his resignation, and goes to work for another company, in Bangalore. By chance, Kamali is called for another interview in Bangalore. Their trains arrive at the same time. He bumps into her at the station, and she is really annoyed, despite his apology. He is befriended by Vishnu (Vishnuvardhan), an auto-rickshaw driver, because he treats Vishnu with respect, calling him “Sir”, something to which auto-rickshaw drivers are not accustomed. He goes to meet the MD of the Company he wants to work for: her name is Diana, she is young and beautiful, and falls in love with him. But he rejects her love, as he has fallen in love with Kamali. However, their paths cross several times, and she becomes more annoyed with him at every encounter. Meanwhile, Kamali’s brother-in-law finds a suitor for her, Ramesh (Ramesh Aravind). What will happen when Surya and Kamali find out each other’s identity? Watch the film to find out.

Songs:
1. Priya Please Love Me
2. Chakotha Chakotha
3. Bulbul Ki Dil Dil Ki
4. Kushalye Kehemave
5. Diana Naane Diana Naana
6. Chinte Yaake

Released Year: 1998
Running Time: 141 minutes/Colour/Kannada

Review
This delightful film tells a simple love-story, the story of two young people who have never met, but who write letters to each other, and gradually fall in love. They did not have Email, Internet Dating, nor Social Networking Websites in those days! There was no “Facebook”.

Hamsalekha fans are in for a treat in this film, with lovely songs, for which he has written both lyrics and music. Those who don’t know of Hamsalekha will, I am sure, be his fans in the future! Song 1. “Priya Please Love Me”, the Title Song, announces the theme of the film, “L-O-V-E”. The choreography is gentle and colourful, the varied picturisation is appropriate to set the mood of the film, sometime against a background of large 3-D letters saying “21st Century Lovers Day”. Song 2. “Chakotha Chakotha” is sung by a glamorous girl selling grapefruit from a large basket. She starts singing the song on the train, and is joined by all the men on the train. When the train stops at a station, the action continues in the station, on the station roof, and eventually on the train roof as the train moves slowly off. Song 3. “Bulbul Ki Dil Dil Ki” is a Rajasthani love-song, featuring Roopa and Surya and his adoptive brother, complete with elephants and camels and dancers in Rajasthani Costumes. It shows some of the beauty of the Rajasthani Palaces and scenery. When Surya first arrives back in Jaipur, there is an allusion to the very popular 1997 Hindi film, “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge” which would be playing in cimemas in India at the time this film was being made. His adoptive brother sings a few lines of the song “Ichak Daana Beechak Daana” from the 1956 Raj Kapoor film, “Chori Chori”, a song that was sung in “DDLJ” by an old grandmother with some children, in the house where Kajol lived, and where Shah Rukh Khan came to win her. The second allusion to “DDLJ” is in Song 4. “Kushalye Kehemave” is a love-song, featuring Kamali and Surya. Surya is seen with guitar, in a field of yellow flowers, just like Shah Rukh Khan in “DDLJ”. They are clever, these film-makers! The song is lovely, showing Surya with more backgrounds of Rajasthan, and Kamali in Karnataka. Song 5. “Diana Naane Diana Naana” is a love-song featuring Surya and Diana, who is a Rajasthani girl, and another song filmed in Rajasthan. Song 6. “Chinte Yaake” is sung by Vishnu and all the other auto-rickshaw drivers.

This sounds like a music review, rather than a film review. But film and songs are all excellent, making this a film to own, and to watch again and again. All the characters are superb, just right in their parts

5-stars

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]