En Swasa Kaatre

Infobox_Film
name = En Swasa Katre


caption =
director = Vasanth
starring = Arjun
Jyothika
Meena
Manivannan

cinematography = Arthur A.Wilson
released = 2000
language = Tamil
music = A. R. Rahman
imdb_id = 0485205

"En Swasa Katre" (My Life Breath) is a Tamil language motion picture released in 1999.The film stars Arvind Swamy,Isha Koppikar, Prakash Raj, and Raghuvaran. The music is by A.R.Rahman.The director of this film is K. S. Ravikumar. The film was released in Feb 1999 in India and worldwide. The actress Isha Koppikar debuted in the South Indian film industry with this film. She stars alongside one of the famous hearthrob of 1990s, Arvindswamy as the male lead.En Swasa Katre is a desi version of typical hollywood romance with commercial elements. The film despite not winning box office acclaim, was much remembered for its endeared creative music and song sequences best described as innovative and fresh. The breathtaking cinematography complements the romantic musical nature of the film very well with the song sequences filmed in exotic locales and settings. The soundtrack of this film was well received upoun its initial release. Notably, song sequences in this film got considerable TV audience via music dedication through various primetime programs on Indian television and remained on the top 10 charts for a period of time.

Pre release

The film was first announced in 1997 as Love Letter and was later retitled En Swasa Katre. There was lot of speculation that A.R. Rahman, the film's composer was producing this film along with the production house.But this turned out to be false. The pre release publicity for this film had been generally low except for the news of the actor Arvind Swamy's projects which made this film to be thrown into the limelight occasionally. The actor has made waves in the 1990s in films which had music by A.R. Rahman, turning out to be huge musical hits. Along with this film, two more films, "Engineer" starring Arvind Swamy and Madhuri Dixit and "Mudhal Mudhalaaga" starring Arvind Swamy and Karisma Kapoor, were announced at the time. Both this films were to have music by A.R Rahman. Unfortunately these films had remained unmade till date.

Production

The motion picture is produced by Nikaba films. The re-recording of the film is done on DTS 5.1 sound. Coupled with vibrant cinematography, a wide variety of locales such as the temples of Indonesia, Sand mines, Indoor studio apartments for film and song sequences has been used. An impressive song sequence found in the film was filmed entirely in rain in contemporary city settings to a foot tapping melody.

Plot

A seemingly down to earth guy Arun (played by Arvind Swamy) by day leads a life of a computer hacker and thief by night. When he meets a girl (Isha Koppikar) whom he fancies, he wishes to turn into a new leaf. But Arun's rogue brother whom has been blackmailing him since young to do his dirty deeds does not think likewise. A deep love hate relationship between them which unfolded during their childhood days traps Arun into a life of crime. How Arun must chooses between his family and his love forms the crux of the story.

oundtrack

Album infobox
Name = En Swasa Katre:
The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Type = Album
Artist = A. R. Rahman
Background = Gainsboro
Released = 1999
Genre = Soundtrack
Length =
Label = Pyramid
Producer = A. R. Rahman

The soundtrack features 6 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu.

oundtrack

*En Swasa Katrae   - M. G. Sreekumar, K. S. Chitra

*Jumbalakka  - Rafi

*Kaathal Nayagara - Sreeram, Anupama, Harini

*Chinna Chinna Mazhai Thuligal  - M. G. Sreekumar

*Theendai Mei Theendai   - S. P. Balasubramaniam, K. S. Chitra

*Thirakkatha   - P. Unni Krishnan, K. S. Chitra

The soundtrack was well received by music fans upoun its initial release.The film's background score also done by A.R Rahman manages to seamlessly flow into the story and draws the viewer into the scene.The soundtrack has been acknowledged as one of A.R. Rahman's best works to date in the 1990s.Parts of the song "En Swasa Katre" are syncopated as in Karnatak music compositions. In the style of Enigma, the French group which blends religious music and pop, a church chorus is used in one of the interludes.

Trivia

*The director K.S. Ravi had not been seen in new projects in the film industry since the release of this film.

*This is the last film of Arvind Swamy in a commercial lead role who seems to have retired from the acting scene.The actor then re-appeared in a low profiled arthouse movie "Sasanam" in 2006

*Actress Isha Koppikar moved on to have a brief successful stint in Bollywood.

*The shelved film Engineer which was to have Arvind Swamy and Madhuri Dixit in lead roles has been restarted in 2007 with a different cast.

Reference

*imdb title|0485205|En Swasa Katre