Friendship (2021 film)

Friendship is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language film directed by John Paul Raj and Sham Surya. A remake of the 2018 Malayalam film Queen, it stars Harbhajan Singh, Arjun, Losliya Mariyanesan and Sathish.^[1] The film marks the acting debuts of Harbhajan Singh and Losliya Mariyanesan, after the latter's stint at Bigg Boss Tamil.^[2][3] The music was composed by D. M. Udhayakumar with cinematography by C. Santha Kumar and editing by Deepak S. Dwarakanth. The film was released on 17 September 2021.^[4]

Friendship
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Paul Raj Sham Surya
Produced by	JPR Stalin
Starring	Harbhajan Singh Arjun Losliya Mariyanesan
Cinematography	C. Santha Kumar
Edited by	Deepak S Dwaraknath
Music by	D. M. Udhayakumar
Production companies	Seantoaa Films Cinemass Studio
Release date	17 September 2021 (2021-09-17)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Cast

• Harbhajan Singh as Bhagat Singh alias Bhajji
• Arjun as Advocate Sylender
• Losliya Mariyanesan as Anitha
• Sathish as Jeeva
• Kuttikara Rajesh Saudi as Doctor
• M. S. Bhaskar as Advocate Chanakyan
• J. Satish Kumar as Politician^[5]
• Venkat Subha as Politician
• Monika Thomas Puthuran as Madhu
• Robin Prabhu as Prabu
• KPY Bala as Vettukili
• Pala. Karuppiah as Judge
• Badava Gopi as Professor

Production

Principal photography began in March 2020.^[6] Harbhajan Singh was chosen to play the main lead role after becoming popular in the state of Tamil Nadu since playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League. He often interacted with Tamil spectators while playing for CSK and apparently was offered the role to portray a college student from Punjab in the film.^[7] Sri Lankan news anchor Losliya Mariyanesan who rose to prominence after taking part in Bigg Boss Tamil 3 was signed on as the female lead role opposite Singh.^[8] In February 2020, Arjun signed on to play a role in the film, while Sathish was chosen to play the supporting role of the friend of Singh's character.^[9][10]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by D. M. Udhayakumar. The first single, "Superstar Anthem" was released 3 July 2020,^[11] coinciding with Harbhajan Singh's birthday.^[12] It was revealed that the single was meant to be a tribute to actor Rajinikanth.^[13]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Superstar Anthem"	Gowtham R	Silambarasan
2.	"Friendship Folk"	Raja Gurusamy	Deva, Losliya
3.	"Friendship Gaana"	Gana Achu	Gaana Achu

Critical reception

Sify wrote, "Friendship offers nothing new as it only follows the tried and tested format" and was a "one-time watch".^[14] Srinivasa Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote, "Friendship is a dreary watch that has little focus on any of its material. The only clever aspect about the sequences, directed by John Paul Raj and Sham Surya, is that they mostly place Harbhajan among a group of friends and do not get him to talk often", commenting on Singh's poor lip synching.^[15] M. Suganth of The Times of India wrote, "For much of its running time, Friendship feels like a checklist of movies set in a college".^[16] Thinkal Menon of OTTPlay wrote, "The technical aspects aren't bad, but with a weak screenplay, there is only little which cinematography and background score can enhance".^[17]