Ini Ellam Sugame

Ini Ellam Sugame is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by A. R. Ramesh.^[1] The film stars Abbas, Sanghavi and Sruthi Raj, with R. Sundarrajan, Jai Ganesh and K. R. Vatsala playing supporting roles. It was released on 18 March 1998.^[2][3]

Ini Ellam Sugame
Directed by	A. R. Ramesh
Screenplay by	A. R. Ramesh
Story by	E. Ramdoss
Produced by	A. L. Azhagappan
Starring	Abbas Sanghavi Sruthi Raj
Cinematography	S. Kumar
Edited by	B. S. Vasu–Saleem
Music by	Sirpy
Production company	Valli Cine Arts
Release date	18 March 1998 (1998-03-18)
Running time	130 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Aravind (Abbas) comes to Chennai to participate in a singing competition. During the competition, Aravind falls in love at first sight with the female spectator Nandhini (Sanghavi) and so does she. He eventually wins the first prize. Aravind and Nandhini want to meet and express their feelings.

Aravind decides to stay in Chennai to find Nandhini. Meanwhile, he befriends the clever Chennaite Mani (R. Sundarrajan) and his neighbour Nirmala (Shruthi Raj).

Nandhini is the boss of an advertising company. Later, he is hired as a model in her company but Aravind and Nandhini don't express their love. With Aravind's help, Nirmala is also hired in Nandhini's company. Nirmala eventually falls in love with Aravind. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.

Cast

• Abbas as Aravind
• Sanghavi as Nandhini
• Sruthi Raj as Nirmala
• R. Sundarrajan as Mani
• Jai Ganesh as Nandhini's father
• K. R. Vatsala as Nirmala's mother
• Pandu
• D. Rajan as Rajan
• Balu Anand
• Vasuki
• Ravishankar
• Sudhakar
• Idichapuli Selvaraj
• Tirupur Ramasamy
• Mannangatti Subramaniam
• Subramani
• Singamuthu
• Ramesh Prabha in a guest appearance
• Udhaya in a cameo appearance

Production

The film was produced by A. L. Azhagappan. His son Udhaya under his original name Senthilkumar made his acting debut with this film appearing in a small role.^[4]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Sirpy.^[5]

Song	Singer(s)	Lyrics	Duration
"Ae Poongatru"	Mano, Swarnalatha	Arivumathi	4:29
"Kangalilae"	P. Unni Krishnan, K. S. Chithra	Palani Bharathi	5:05
"Devi Enakkaha"	Mano		4:48
"Kudaigal Silirkkum"	Sumangali		4:55
"Onna Iranda"	Mano, Sirpy	Kalidasan	5:24

Reception

D. S. Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote, "A stale story, made staler by the slip-shod direction of A. R. Ramesh (``Thayagam″), who has also penned the screenplay, offers dull hours in Valli Cine Arts, ``Eni Ellam Sukamae″. The lead pair Sanghavi and Abbas just go through the movie, the latter still in the infancy stage of acting".^[6] Two years after release, the producers were given a ₹5 lakh (equivalent to ₹21 lakh or US$24,000 in 2023) subsidy by the Tamil Nadu government along with several other films.^[7]