May Maadham

May Maadham (transl. The Month of May) is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical film directed by Balu and produced by G. Venkateswaran via GV Films. The film stars Vineeth and Sonali Kulkarni, and has music by A. R. Rahman. It is based on the 1953 American film Roman Holiday.^[1] The film was released on 9 September 1994.

May Maadham
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Balu
Written by	Balu Crazy Mohan (dialogues)
Produced by	G. Venkateswaran
Starring	Vineeth Sonali Kulkarni
Cinematography	P. C. Sreeram
Edited by	B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Production company	GV Films
Release date	9 September 1994 (1994-09-09)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Cast

• Vineeth as Eeshwar^[2]
• Sonali Kulkarni as Sandhya^[3]
• Manorama as Aandal
• Kaka Radhakrishnan as Sadha Sivam
• Janagaraj as Captain
• R. Sundarrajan as All in All Ayyasamy
• P. C. Ramakrishna as Rangarajan, Sandhya's father
• Rajeshkumar as Rajeshkumar
• Pandu as Police constable
• Anand Krishnamoorthi as Thirugnana Sambanthan (Calcutta)
• Oru Viral Krishna Rao as Colony resident
• Madhan Bob as Ramasamy
• S. N. Lakshmi as Sandhya's grandmother
• C. R. Saraswathi
• Sathyapriya as Female pimp
• Pasi Sathya as Poongodi
• A. V. Ramanan
• Marthandan as Mad man
• Vellai Subbaiah as Customer
• Jaya Prahasam as Gurusamy
• Mounika in a special appearance in song "Aadipaaru Mangatha"
• Silk Smitha in a special appearance in song "Palakattu Machanukku"

Production

Ajith Kumar was initially considered to play the lead role before Vineeth was cast.^[4] The film marks Sonali Kulkarni's only Tamil film to date.^[5] She was encouraged to audition for the film by Mani Ratnam.^[6] The song "Madrasa Suthi" was filmed in Marina Beach.^[7]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics by Vairamuthu.^[8] The song "Margazhi Poove" is set in Hindolam raaga,^[9] while "Enmel Vizhundha Mazhaithuli" is set in Kapi.^[10] In a 2018 interview, Vairamuthu recalled that after he had written most of the lyrics for "Margazhi Poove", Rahman wanted him to write further lyrics for "a short tune that plays between the BGM". Vairamuthu felt it was impossible to fit words into the tune but Rahman remained adamant. Though irritated, Vairamuthu accepted the challenge and found the perfect lyrics: "Venba... Paadivarum Vandukku/ Senthaen... Thandhuvidum sempookkal/ Konjam... Paadavarum Pennukku/ Sandham... Thandhuvidum Mynahkkal".^[11] Rahman reused the songs in the Hindi film Love You Hamesha (2022).^[12]

Tamil

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Adi Paru Mangatha"	Suneeta Rao, T. K. Kala and G. V. Prakash Kumar	04:26
2.	"Palakkattu Machanukku"	G. V. Prakash Kumar, Noel James, A. R. Rahman (backing vocals)	04:37
3.	"Marghazhi Poove"	Shobha Shankar, Chorus	06:18
4.	"En Mel Vizhunda"	P. Jayachandran, K. S. Chithra	05:05
5.	"Madrasai Suthi"	Shahul Hameed, Swarnalatha, G. V. Prakash Kumar and Manorama	04:51
6.	"Minnalae"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	05:37

Telugu^[13]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Achampeta Mangatha"	Vennelakanti	Anupama, Suneeta Rao, T. K. Kala and G. V. Prakash Kumar	04:26
2.	"Madarasu Chuttivaste"	Ghantasala Ratnakumar	Srinivas, Swarnalatha, G. V. Prakash Kumar, Noel David, Malgudi Subha	04:51
3.	"Maanasa Veena"	Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry	K. S. Chithra, chorus	06:18
4.	"Edapai Jarina"	Bhuvana Chandra	K. S. Chithra, Unnikrishnan	05:05
5.	"Palakollu Mavayya"	Bhuvana Chandra	G. V. Prakash Kumar, Gopal Rao	04:37

Release and reception

May Maadham was released on 9 September 1994.^[14] Malini Mannath of The Indian Express wrote on the same day, "Despite its flaws, May Maadham is an engaging little film that is worth viewing".^[15] Thulasi of Kalki appreciated the film for Sreeram's cinematography, Rahman's music, Mohan's dialogues and the cast performances.^[16] The film was commercially unsuccessful, breaking GV Films' success streak that began in 1990.^[17] The film was subsequently dubbed in Telugu under the title Hrudayanjali in 1998.^[18]