Remo is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan, in his directorial debut and produced by R. D. Raja under 24AM Studios. The film stars Sivakarthikeyan and Keerthy Suresh, while Sathish, Rajendran, Aadukalam Naren, Anson Paul, K. S. Ravikumar, Saranya Ponvannan and Sri Divya portray supporting roles. The cinematography was handled by P. C. Sreeram, and editing work was done by Ruben. Sound designer Resul Pookutty, was also a part of the film. The soundtrack album and background score has been composed by Anirudh Ravichander, and the soundtrack received positive response, upon release. The film follows an aspiring actor who decides to don as a female nurse, to test his acting skills and also to win the hearts of his lady love, who is a doctor by profession.
Remo is the first film produced by R. D. Raja, who earlier worked as a creative producer for Sivakarthikeyan, in his films Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam, Maan Karate, Kaaki Sattai and Rajinimurugan. The film was initially scheduled to release on 14 March 2015, but was briefly delayed due to the script completion, and finalising the cast and crew. The project was started, with the announcement of technical crew on 1 July 2015. Principal photography of this film took place on 25 October 2015 in Chennai, and continued till 2 August 2016. Filming was held in Chennai, Vizag and Pondicherry. The film's title Remo was announced in February 2016.
The film had a worldwide theatrical release on 7 October 2016, coinciding with the occasion of Dusshera festival. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and audience, praising Sivakarthikeyan's performance in the role of a female nurse, and the efforts he took for donning the make over, background score, soundtrack, cinematography and comedy. However, the film later faced criticism for glorifying stalking and the way in which Keerthy Suresh's character was written for the film. The film received three nominations at the 64th Filmfare Awards South, and five nominations at the 6th South Indian International Movie Awards, with two wins, and Sivakarthikeyan receiving the SIIMA Award for Best Actor. It was remade in Odia as Sister Sridevi (2017).
Plot This is a story of a boy who goes to extreme lengths of disguising his gender to win the love of his beloved.
Siva aka S.K is a theatre actor whose only aim is to become a superstar like Rajinikanth. However, his inability to act in romantic scenes hinders his path to the dream, and is even rejected by director K. S. Ravikumar during the audition for his new film Avvai Shanmugi 2, a sequel to his own 1996 film, Avvai Shanmugi. He comes across Kavya, who is a doctor, and instantly falls in love with her. He goes to her house to propose his love, only to find out that she is engaged to a doctor named Vishwanath alias Vishwa. Siva, though deeply saddened at this development, decides to woo Kavya anyway and somehow break her engagement with Vishwa. He disguises himself as a woman nurse, going by the name of "Remo" (short for "Regina Motwani", a combination of the names of actresses Regina Cassandra and Hansika Motwani), and takes up a job in the same hospital where Kavya works.
Ensuring that Kavya never finds out his true identity, Siva as Remo establishes a close friendship with her but is unable to convince her to end her engagement with Vishwa, no matter how many times he (As Remo) brings the subject up. Undeterred, he organises a massive surprise on her birthday and proposes to her as Siva. Kavya, who has been charmed by the surprise and fallen in love with Siva, is in a dilemma as she is unable to decide between Vishwa and Siva. Siva takes advantage of her dilemma and juggles the roles of both Siva and Remo with the aim of breaking her engagement, all the while hiding his dual identity from her. Eventually, Kavya gives in and admits her feelings to Siva, but, to the shock of both her and Siva, Vishwa has decided to prepone their marriage to the very next day because he had caught her sharing a romantic moment with Siva. Kavya decides to end her engagement and leave her house to be with Siva. While Kavya pours out her feelings to Siva (who is disguised as Remo), Vishwa arrives with some goons to forcibly take her away. Siva, still in his Remo guise, thrashes Vishwa and his goons, but at the same moment, he is forced to rush to the hospital to attend to a terminally-ill orphan named Nancy, with whom he had established a close bond. On Nancy's cajoling (Siva as Remo has earlier promised her that he would "change himself" to a man as a "magic trick"), Siva removes his Remo disguise, exposing his identity to Kavya. Betrayed and hurt, Kavya berates Siva for cheating her and ending her engagement and warns him never to go behind her again. Despite Siva's repeated pleas, Kavya refuses to budge and Siva sadly walks away.
A few months later, Kavya's new friend (an old man) sits next to her on the bus. Kavya tells her latest problem to him: Siva is still attracted to her and constantly calls her, despite her having changed her number 46 times. However, she also admits that she still loves Siva and is only avoiding him as she wants to punish him for cheating her earlier. At this juncture, she accidentally finds out that the old man is none other than Siva in disguise. After scolding Siva for cheating her yet again, she softens and asks him to marry her, to which he happily agrees.
The film ends with Siva finally achieving his dream: acting along with his best friend Vallikanth in a movie which seems to be his life story named 'Remo Nee Kadhalan', directed by K. S. Ravikumar, in which actress Sri Divya plays the role of Kavya as Dr. Divya.
Cast
Production Development R. D. Raja, who worked as a production consultant for movies Boss Engira Baskaran, Enthiran and Jilla, turned into a creative producer for P. Madan under the banner Escape Artists Motion Pictures. The company had produced Maan Karate and Kakki Sattai which stars Sivakarthikeyan in the lead role. During the post-production works of the latter in early February 2015, Sivakarthikeyan announced that he would work on a film, which will be produced by R. D. Raja under the banner 24AM Studios and directed by newcomer Bakkiyaraj Kannan.Sivakarthikeyan`s amazing line-up. Sify.com. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
The film was launched on 15 March 2015, but was briefly delayed to allow Bakkiyaraj Kannan to complete the script and finalise the cast and crew. Anirudh Ravichander who had composed for his earlier films, too joined as the composer in late June 2015. The project started on 1 July 2015, with the announcement of technical crew, which includes veteran cinematographer P. C. Sreeram, Academy award-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty, film editor Ruben, art director T. Muthuraj, stunt choreographer Anal Arasu, dance choreographer Raju Sundaram, Chennai-based costume designers Nalini Sriram, Anu Parthasarathy, Chaitanya Rao, Sean Foot from Weta Workshop, VFX Supervisor R. C. Kamalakannan as the crew members.
Sivakarthikeyan reported in the media to be sporting a female look for certain scenes. The makers officially announced the title as Remo on 17 February 2016, coinciding with the actor's birthday, which was inspired from Vikram's character in Anniyan (2005) directed by S. Shankar.
Casting Shruti Hassan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Amy Jackson were signed on to portray the lead female role, but they turned down the offer, due to schedule conflicts. In October 2015, Keerthy Suresh was finalised as the heroine, collaborating with the actor for the second time after Rajinimurugan (2016). Sathish and Rajendran were signed in as the comedians for the film. Saranya Ponvannan was chosen to play the role of Sivakarthikeyan's mother in the film. The supporting cast of the film includes Yogi Babu, Arunraja Kamaraj, Aadukalam Naren, Mayilsamy and Anson Paul, where the latter playing the villain role. In late June 2016, director K. S. Ravikumar and actress Sri Divya signed in to make a special appearance in the film. Keerthy Suresh's maternal grandmother, Saroja, made her acting debut through this film.
Characters and looks Sivakarthikeyan was spotted in three different looks, a youngster, woman, old man in the film. Sean Foot of Weta Workshop, who was a part in Vikram's I (2015), was revealed to be on board for make-up and special effects. It was also known that Sivakarthikeyan, will feature as a nurse in 60% of the film. He also dubbed in female voice, for his role as a nurse in the film, with the assistance of sound designer Resul Pookutty.
The actor opened up about this in an interview with Kaushik LM, for The News Minute:
Filming The film's principal photography commenced on 25 October 2015 with a photo shoot organised by Venket Ram.Sivakarthikeyan's biggie begins with a photo shoot. Sify.com. Retrieved 28 January 2016. The film's introduction song was thereafter shot during November 2015 in the newly opened Chennai Metro and was choreographed by Raju Sundaram. After filming many portions which took place extensively in Chennai, the team moved to Vizag, in March 2016, for a new schedule. The last schedule of the film was commenced in May 2016, amidst post-production works. The film's shooting was wrapped up on 2 August 2016, and Sivakarthikeyan moved for his next film's shooting, which was directed by Mohan Raja.
Themes and influences Sivakarthikeyan's lady getup in the film, gets inspired from Kamal Hassan's Avvai Shanmughi (1996). The Times of India, referred the film as a rejig of all other films – Tootsie (1982), Minnale (2001) and the actor's own Maan Karate (2014).
In an interview with Galatta, about the promotions for his upcoming film Velaikkaran (2017), Sivakarthikeyan explains that the director Bakkiyaraj Kannan, inspired this from Alaippayuthey (2000), which was a classic film, in which the character Karthik (played by Madhavan in this film), woos his love Sakthi (Shalini) and then falls in love. So Sivakarthikeyan, told that "If one woos his lover, by donning a lady getup, then it is a comedy film." says Sivakarthikeyan.
Music
The soundtrack and background score of the film were composed by Anirudh Ravichander, in which he collaborates with Sivakarthikeyan for the fifth time. The album features seven songs, and a bonus track with lyrics were written by Vignesh Shivan, Vivek, Ku. Karthik, Inno Genga and L. H. Harish Raam. The audio rights were acquired by Sony Music India. Before the album being released, four songs, "Remo Nee Kadhalan", "Senjitaley", "Sirikkadhey" and "Come Closer" (a reprised version of "Sirikkadhey"), were released as singles on 23 June, 1 July, 18 and 26 August. The entire album was launched on 5 September 2016, by composer A. R. Rahman, and it was made available to download on the internet. Post-release, a bonus track "Veshangalil Poiyillai" was released on 16 October, coinciding with the composer's birthday.
Release The film was scheduled for its worldwide theatrical release on 7 October 2016, coinciding with the Dusshera holidays, and also clashing with Rekka and Devi, which were slated to release on the same day. On 27 September, the film was censored with a U certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification, making eligible for exemption of state government's thirty-percent entertainment tax as well. The dubbed Telugu version of the film, which was bagged by Dil Raju, scheduled to release on 4 November. But the film released worldwide on 25 November 2016. The film was released on 9 October 2016, in Japan, at the New Minato Aeon Mall in Nagoya region and the ticket sales were around 2000, thus becoming the first Tamil film to release in this region.
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