Malai Malai

<p>Palanivel and Vetrivel are inseparable brothers who eke out a living as a farmer and minivan driver respectively in a village on the foothills of Palani temple. When Vetri falls in love with a city-based RJ Anjali, who is on a visit to Palani, he finds Lakshmi to romance his brother. Meanwhile, Vetri goes to Chennai in search of a job and his ladylove. He gets a job as a driver in a courier company, where Vimala Hassan, a fanboy of , is an employee and becomes Vetri’s friend. Now enters Essaki, a dreaded don who controls the Saidapet area of the city. He initially helps Vetri but soon locks horns with him. Palani comes to Chennai to meet Vetri and runs into Essaki, and it is revealed that they are childhood friends. To not worry his brother, Vetri does not mention the ongoing feud between him and Essaki, and circumstances do not let Essaki and Vetri meet in front of Palani.After some twists and turns, Essaki learns that Vetri is Palani’s brother and plans to kill him. However, he stabs Lakshmi, who saves Palani, and she succumbs to her wound. Devastated and enraged, Vetri fights Essaki, who gets the upper hand until Palani stabs him. The brothers then live a peaceful life, with Vetri marrying Anjali. was originally cast as the lead actress, but later opted out. Instead, Vedhika was selected. The film was shot in locations including the in , and Sriperumbudur. The soundtrack is composed by with lyrics by . The audio was launched by in June 2009. Ahead of release, the makers pledged to donate the film’s first-day gross in Tamil Nadu for charitable causes. The film was released on 31 July 2009, became a major success and revitalised Arun Vijay’s previously struggling career. After the success of , the director and lead actor reunited for . Pavithra Srinivasan of wrote: ” is the sort of pot-boiler you can watch when you’ve got nothing else to do”. wrote, “a typical mass masala movie with all essential ingredients”. said it “may not have the greatest script, but it certainly is a vast improvement on the hero’s earlier films”. wrote, ” might lack logic but it definitely has a magic to woo the masses”.</p>