New (film)

New
DVD Cover
Directed by	S. J. Surya
Produced by	S. J. Surya
Written by	S. J. Surya
Starring	S. J. Surya Simran Manivannan Devayani
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	K. V. Guhan
Edited by	Anthony
Production company	Annai Mary Madha Creations
Release dates	9 July 2004
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹6 crore (US$890,000)

New is a 2004 Tamil fantasy comedy film directed, written and produced by S. J. Surya, who also features in the lead role. The movie's plot is borrowed from the 1988 Hollywood Tom Hanks starrer Big. Simran, Kiran Rathod and Devayani play supporting roles, while A. R. Rahman composes the music. New is about an 8-year-old boy who is turned into a 28-year-old man by a scientist.

Plot summary

Pappu is an eight-year-old boy who is very mischievous always troubling his mother. He frequently gets scoldings from his mother Indira due to his bed-wetting habit despite being a grown up. Pappu bumps with a young woman one day and both of them help each other to get up. Pappu's elder brother Kishore plans to watch a porn movie with his friends in his room to which insists on joining them. When Kishore refuses and gets rid of him, Pappu cuts off the power out of anger creating a short circuit at home. Indira scolds for his dangerous mischief and shouts at her husband for not stopping with one child as Pappu is troubling her a lot and to throw him away forever. This hurts Pappu and he runs away from home to end his life near a river. But he is stopped by a man who takes Pappu to his place. The man introduces himself as a scientist who has his own laboratory. He insists Pappu take a medicine invented by him which will transform a boy to a fully grown man. Pappu agrees and the scientist transforms him into a young man. Pappu starts to live as a young man physically but he is child-like psychologically. The only person other than a scientist who knows the truth is his child classmate friend. Pappu meets the girl at a park who helped him once he fell down on the road. Innocent child Pappu helps to remove dust from her eyes, smiles at her and leaves the place. The girl is very much attracted towards him and she looks for him every day.

Pappu goes for an interview in a company under the name of Vichu. The company is a toy manufacturing company and the owner who interviews him demands to have childhood memories and should be like a child to understand children's taste. Since Pappu himself is a child he grabs the job easily. Vichu is diverted to the daughter of the owner who is none other than the girl named Priya who helped Pappu once on the road and whom she was helped by him at the park. Priya is surprised and happy to see him in her company. Priya-Vichu intimacy creates a jealousy for Raj another employee in the company who intends to attract her and marry her. The cold war continues when Pappu overcomes Raj's idea for a new type of bed for kids and introduces his own idea creating a successful product. Pappu meets his brother as an anonymous man and hears that his mother is very depressed on Pappu's disappearance. Pappu meets his mother who fell sick since her son's disappearance. She feels bad for being so strict with him which she had done for his goodness. Pappu realised his mother's love and goes to the scientist to change him back to an eight-year-old boy. The scientist understands and he again transforms him into an eight-year-old boy and Pappu reconciles with his mother. But again at night, he changes back to a young man and he immediately rushes to scientist. But scientist does not know what has happened and both of them are shocked at Pappu's present condition.

Pappu now lives as an eight-year-old boy during daytime and as a twenty-eight-year man during nighttime. Priya expresses her love to him but Pappu tells her to love a man suitable for her age. The scientist tells Pappu to accept Priya and Vichu accepts her love. Priya tortures him always to which he cannot withstand. Priya tells him to accompany for a matinee show. Since Pappu is a boy during daytime he cannot come. But he sees Priya waiting in anger for him in the theatre while going to home from his school along with his mother. Pappu's mother befriends Priya as they are neighbours and Priya likes small boy Pappu. Priya gets angry on Vichu's (Pappu's) absence. She finally decides to both get married. Raj kidnaps Vichu on the day of marriage but Vichu changes to Pappu during the daytime. The kidnappers release him as they misunderstand of kidnapping a child. Pappu transforms to Vichu and marries Priya at evening time.(Hindu marriages take place usually at mornings). Vichu though a young man by the body but a small boy and does not know anything about marital life. Now Vichu lives as an eight-year son to his mother during days and as Vichu, an employee in his wife's company and as husband to his wife during nighttime. Pappu somehow manages his mother by disappearing during nights. Priya needs a child so she intentionally shows her skin to him by intentionally removing her clothes. Priya is now pregnant and Vichu is now a child dad. Vichu once meets Pappu's (his) mother and understands the difficulties of pregnancy for a woman. Hence he takes care of his wife with full affection. Pappu's child friend demands to spend time and come to play with him but Pappu refuses as has got the tight schedule as a son, as an employee, and as a husband. His friends get angry and reveal the truth to Priya. Priya is shocked to hear that she is bearing the child of a child.

Priya argues with Pappu for marrying her and made her pregnant but Pappu shouts at her arrogance of having involved him in trouble in spite of his warning to marry a suitable man of her age. Pappu turns to Vichu in front of her and Priya is further shocked to see the transformation by her own eyes. But Vichu reveals that he loves her anything else in this world. Priya now gets labour pain and Vichu takes her to the hospital. But on the way Vichu is stopped by Raj's men seeking revenge. Vichu overcomes the difficulties and admits her in the hospital. Everybody now comes to know the truth about Pappu and Priya gives birth to Pappu's son and she is upset on her fate of being a child's wife.

Twenty years pass by. Now Pappu is a real young man of twenty-eight years old.He still lives with Priya as her husband. He goes inside his room as young man and comes out as a forty-eight-year-old man who is now husband of forty-year-old Priya and father of a twenty-year-old son who looks like him. Pappu calls the scientist to find if he had found the remedy for his transformation to which he gets a negative reply from him.

Now Pappu shall live a life as a man with actual age during dawn to dusk and live as a man with actual age plus twenty years from dusk to dawn.

Cast

• S. J. Surya as Pappu / Vichu
• Simran as Priya
• Kiran Rathod as Sivagami Maami
• Devayani as Indira / Pappu's Mother
• Aishwarya as Priya's Friend Seema
• Nassar as Priya's Father
• Manivannan as Scientist 'Science'
• Karunas as Vishwanathan a.k.a. X
• Janagaraj as Doctor
• Brahmanandam as Sathyam
• Ali as Siruthai
• Ravi Mariya as Teacher (Cameo)

Production

The film was first announced by S. J. Surya in 2000, where he reported that Ajith Kumar and Jyothika would play the lead roles in the film, with Kareena Kapoor in a guest appearance.^[1][2] Surya noted that script-writing began in 2001, while production with the final cast began in 2002.^[3]

Release

The film was given an "A" certificate (adult rating) by the Indian Censor Board. New sold 4 million tickets worldwide. It opened well grossing ₹11.2 million from 120 screens on Day One.^[4] A critic from The Hindu claimed that "belonging to a genre that is rare to our cinema, "New" however, gets bogged down in a mire of duets and double entenders", but hinted at potential success citing that director "seems to have hit the bull's eye."^[5]

Controversy

Women activists in the state of Tamil Nadu demanded a ban on a film after release, which they say contained obscene sex scenes. S. J. Surya responded by claiming that the sex scenes are there because the story line requires them and described his film as "fiction laced with sex and comedy".^[6]

In August 2005, the Madras High Court revoked the censor certificate for the film and directed the Chennai Commissioner of Police to investigate two criminal complaints registered against S. J. Surya. They ruled that the film did not provide a "clean and healthy entertainment" and that it would be failing in its duty if it did not revoke the censor certificate of the film, claiming it originally attained an "A" certificate "under questionable circumstances". Surya was arrested by city police on 22 August 2005 in connection for allegedly throwing a mobile phone at a woman censor board official in a fit of anger during the post-production of the film. According to the complainant, Vanathy Srinivasan, Surya was denied permission to add a song to the film New due to excessively obscene scenes and as a result he allegedly threw a mobile phone at her.^[7] He was late released without charge.^[8] A fresh case was launched in March 2006, with the Censor Board filing a complaint against Surya for using stills from scenes that were deleted from the film, with a poster which showed S.J. Surya resting on Simran’s cleavage resurfacing.^[9] He was subsequently arrested for the second time before being released.^[10]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman and all lyrics by Vaali except "Spiderman" song which was written by Vairamuthu ,was critically well received.^[11][12] In an interview in 2001, Surya earlier stated that Deva had composed ten songs for the film, but he was later replaced by Rahman.^[13] Rahman remixed the 1964 hit Tamil song "Thottal Poo Malarum" from the movie Padagotti with completely modified orchestration, tune and singers.

All music composed by A. R. Rahman. 

Remakes

It was Remade in Hindi again as Aao Wish Karein which was both produced and starring Aftab Shivdasani while simran role was done by Aamna Shariff and Manivannan role was done by Johny Lever and devyani role was done by Rati Agnihotri.

References

External links

• New at the Internet Movie Database