26-540: Balaji Mohan (born 25 May 1987) is an Indian filmmaker and actor in Tamil-language films. After discontinuing his engineering studies to pursue his passion for becoming a director, he enrolled at a film academy and attended courses and workshops, besides participating in short film contests. After shooting more than half a dozen short films, he directed his first full-length film, a romantic comedy Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi based on one of his own short films. Balaji
52-617: A bilingual titled Vaayai Moodi Pesavum in Tamil and Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram in Malayalam. The film marked Balaji Mohan's debut in Malayalam cinema and Dulquer Salmaan's debut in Tamil cinema. His third film was Maari , starring Dhanush and it released in July, 2015. Next up he will be teaming up with Actor Dhanush again for Maari 2 a sequel to Maari . He then produced, written and directed
78-492: A hit. Arun and Parvathi give an interview about their love story, but they fight even before the interview gets over. The movie then rewinds five months earlier. Arun meets Parvathi in a college canteen, and they soon become friends. Parvathi has problems at her home, as her mother Saroja (Surekha Vani) wants to divorce her father Akilan/Aravind. Arun and Parvathi fight for trivial reasons and then get together. The film revolves around how little things may contribute to break-up of
104-399: A relationship. One day, while Parvathi is stressed and wants to talk to Arun, he does not answer his phone. They fight on that issue, and gradually, the frequency of their fights grows. Arun introduces her to his parents, and Arun's father Prabhu recognises her as one of his client's daughter. He tells his son that Parvathi's parents are getting divorced. As time progresses, they break up, but
130-469: A watch". The Times of India critic Karthik Pasupleti gave the Telugu version 3.5 out of 5 and said: "Right from its unusual-yet-amusing characterization, the background score and the writing, the film is loaded with humour. As if that wasn't enough, it is nicely sugar coated from inside out". Radhika Rajamani from Rediff.com gave it 3.5 out of 5 and noted that the film was "refreshing", further citing: "It
156-561: A web series titled As I'm Suffering From Kadhal , in which he also played an important role. The series was made in Tamil and dubbed in Telugu . It was released in Hotstar Originals on 15 June 2017. In late 2022, he began directing Kaadhal Konjam Thookala , an adaptation of the novel Make it 2 by Sharada Subramanian, with Kalidas Jayaram and Stand-Up Comedian Nirmal Pillai in the lead roles;
182-411: Is a 2012 Indian Tamil -language romantic comedy film written and directed Balaji Mohan based on the same‑titled short film he made. The film stars Siddharth and Amala Paul . A few scenes of Siddharth, Amala Paul, Suresh and Surekha Vani were reshot for the Telugu version, which was titled Love Failure . It was released worldwide on 17 February 2012 to critical acclaim and was declared
208-463: Is a playboy and accepts Vignesh true love. At last, Parvathi and Arun reunite after a silly quarrel in the same canteen that they met earlier. Siddharth had said that he watched the ten-minute Tamil short film Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi by Balaji Mohan and found it interesting, developing an interest to turn it into a mainstream full-length feature film. Incidentally, Balaji Mohan was holding talks with S. Sashikanth of YNOT Studios then and
234-684: Is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Tamil and Malayalam films. The son of film actors Jayaram and Parvathy , Kalidas made his debut in the Malayalam film Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal (2000) at the age of six. Later, he starred in Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum (2003), which won him the National Film Award for Best Child Artist . In 2016, he made his debut in Tamil cinema with Meen Kuzhambum Mann Paanaiyum (2016) and returned to Malayalam with Poomaram (2018), written, co-produced and directed by Abrid Shine . Kalidas
260-466: Is his problem. Since Cathy becomes friendly with Arun, a misunderstanding crops up between Cathy and John. Meanwhile, Prabhu advises Akilan/Aravind to reconcile with Saroja after learning that Akilan/Aravind is Parvathi's father. Akilan/Aravind and Saroja unite during Parvathi's grandparents' marriage anniversary. Consequently, John realises that Arun and Cathy are just being friendly, and he reunites with Cathy. Also, while Rashmi realises that her boyfriend
286-404: Is well written and talks about love and failure in the context of life today. It gives an urbane, contemporary and realistic take on the subject. well written and talks about love and failure in the context of life today". Vishnupriya Bhandaram of The Hindu claimed: " Love Failure is a remarkably easy film to watch – no pressure, no headache. Right from the word go, its fresh, the narrative,
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#1732895552362312-512: The Alchemy Institute, Adyar, Chennai. Balaji Mohan got married in June 2012 to Aruna. In May 2016, Balaji announced his divorce due to irreconcilable differences. In January 2022, he married Dhanya Balakrishna , who co-starred with him in his directorial As I'm Suffering From Kadhal (2017). Balaji began his career as an assistant director for the Tamil film called Kulir 100° (2009). While
338-448: The Telugu version. Filming took place in Chennai and Bangalore for an urban, modernistic backdrop. Siddharth later confirmed that filming was completed in a record 35 days. Deepa Venkat dubbed for the speaking voice of Amala Paul in Tamil. The soundtrack was composed by S. Thaman . While Madhan Karky penned the lyrics for three songs, director Balaji Mohan himself wrote the lyrics of
364-446: The characters and the music". Idlebrain.com reviewer Jeevi, too, gave the film 3.5 out of 5, concluding that it was a "well-made urban romantic comedy told in a fresh an novel [ sic ] style". Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi and Pizza became trendsetters and sparked a short-lived boom of short filmmakers making their feature debut in Tamil cinema. Kalidas Jayaram Kalidas Jayaram (born 16 December 1993)
390-706: The film was in its pre-production stage, he got the opportunity to join the Gateway to Hollywood , a show that was aired in Sony TV. His short film Treasure was featured in the contest and Balaji became one of the 6 finalists of the show. He later joined as an assistant director for Sudha K. Prasad's Tamil film Drohi (2010), while simultaneously participating in Kalaignar TV 's first season of Naalaya Iyakunar . He directed five short films namely Kodi , The Juniors , Addi Tail , Mittai Veedu and Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi for
416-415: The film, despite some filming progress, ended up languishing in production hell . In 2023, Mohan produced the Tamil -language comedy drama television series Accidental Farmer & Co which streamed on SonyLiv . Mohan made a guest appearance in the 2023 rom-com Thrishanku . Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi Kadhilil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi ( transl. How to mess up in love )
442-666: The mimicry performed during a Vijay TV award show and an advertisement for a chocolate brand made him familiar to people. At the age of 7, he made his debut in Sathyan Anthikad 's Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal (2000). He received the National Award for Best Child Artist for his second film Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum (2003), directed by Siby Malayil . Kalidas played the lead in Balaji Tharaneetharan 's second directorial venture Oru Pakka Kathai . He made his debut as
468-461: The reason is not revealed. Arun's friend Vignesh tries to propose to his college junior Rashmi, but she addresses him as brother and then introduces her boyfriend, who is Vignesh's college senior. Arun tries to recover from the break-up just as his friend invites him to a trip to Pondicherry/Yanam to see his friend John. John's girlfriend Cathy starts chatting up with Arun and asks him why they broke up. Arun says that he does not have any reason, and that
494-443: The screenplay was "cleverly written" and the dialogues were written in an "easy, conversational tone and are sure to strike a chord with youngsters". Karthik Subramanian from The Hindu wrote: " KSY [...] is not just an experience. It is a festival. Make sure to take your entire gang along". The New Indian Express wrote, "Targeted at the urban youth, [ Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi ] is refreshing, engaging and definitely worth
520-507: The show and was one of the winners of the series award for consistent performance. Among his works, Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi was most popular and went viral on YouTube, garnering overwhelming response. Cinematographer Nirav Shah saw the short film and initiated the idea to make it into a full-length feature film. Balaji took three months to develop the script, while Nirav Shah reached out to producers and actors, introducing him to producer Sashikanth of YNot Movies. Siddharth , who too
546-623: The song "Ananda Jaladosam"; Sri Mani wrote all lyrics in the Telugu version. Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi was released on 17 February 2012. The satellite rights of the film were acquired by STAR Vijay . Sify ' s reviewer said that the film was an "enjoyable romantic ride" that worked "largely due to its fresh script which dwells on the magic of love and its illusions", going on to label it as "jolly good fun". The Times of India critic N. Venkateswaran gave it 4 out of 5 and commented that Balaji Mohan had made an "impressive debut with his tale of love and forgiveness", while pointing out that
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#1732895552362572-514: Was also sent to film festivals and won. Although he had initially planned to complete his education before following his passion and pursuing a career in filmmaking, he did not want to "wait for too long" after making Velicham . After convincing his parents, he discontinued his engineering course two years later and went on to join the L. V. Prasad Film and TV Academy in Vadapalani, Chennai , to learn editing and sound design. He also studied acting at
598-641: Was born on 25 May 1987 in Tiruchirappalli . He pursued his schooling at Campion Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School , Tiruchirappalli, and later joined the Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering in Chennai for his higher studies, albeit he had decided in 10th grade already that he wanted to become a director. He recalls that his parents bought him a handycam in his third semester, and he made his first short film called Velicham , which
624-539: Was born the elder of two children, to actors Jayaram and Parvathy in Perumbavoor , Kerala , India. He has a younger sister Malavika Jayaram. He did his schooling from Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan , Chennai and his plus-two from Choice School , Cochin , Kerala . He received his Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication from Loyola College, Chennai . Like his father, he is good at imitating actors, and
650-542: Was keen on turning the short film into a feature film after he had seen it, entered the project, playing the lead role besides co-producing the venture. The film was partially reshot in Telugu given Siddharth's popularity. The project was completed in a record 36 days, and the film was released in February 2012. Opening to highly positive critical response, the film went on to become a sleeper hit . Balaji Mohan collaborated with Dulquer Salmaan for his second directorial venture,
676-472: Was planning to approach Siddharth to play the male lead role; Siddharth joined the crew and also decided to co-produce the venture with cinematographer Nirav Shah on their newly launched banner Etaki Entertainment. Cinematography was handled by Nirav Shah , and editing by T. S. Suresh . Amala Paul joined the project in August 2011. Owing Siddharth's popularity in Telugu cinema, a few scenes were reshot for
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