Ala Modalaindi
Ala Modalaindi is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Nandini Reddy under the Sri Ranjith Movies banner. It stars Nani, Nithya Menen and Sneha Ullal in the lead roles. The film was released on 21 January 2011. The film opened to favorable reviews by critics and turned out to become one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, and successfully completed 100 days. The film collected a revenue of till 100 days.
A Bengali remake of this movie named Olpo Olpo Premer Golpo starring Niloy Alamgir and Anika Kabir Shokh was released on 29 August 2014. A Tamil remake of this movie named Yennamo Yedho starring Gautham Karthik and Rakul Preet Singh was released on April 2014. The Kannada version of the film was titled as Bhale Jodi and directed by Sadhu Kokila. A Hindi Sequel has been planned, which would be directed by Nandini Reddy. The film marked the debut of famous comedian Thagubothu Ramesh, and actress Nithya Menon.
Plot
The film begins with an accident. Gautham is abducted by John Abraham. On the way, Gautham is forced to narrate his tale as he talks of stopping a marriage and John too talks of preventing a wedding. Hence, the flashback. Gautham is ready to propose to Simran with a bunch of red roses, but destiny has other plans. Elsewhere, Nithya is playing cricket and hits Gautham with her shot. He is then taken to the hospital in the stretcher. Simran falls in love with the doctor treating Gautham and they get married eventually. Gautham is invited and goes to the wedding but cannot face Simran. When he walks out, he gets drunk and meets a drunk Nithya who actually was in love with the doctor. They go around freaking during the night and part ways the next day. As destiny has it, they happen to meet in a pub after a few days. Gautham accompanies her everywhere. He realises he's in love with her, but before he could tell her, he finds out that she is already engaged. Gautham steps back and stays secluded. Nithya and her fiancé end their engagement over an argument about Gautham. Unaware of this and having moved on, Gautham starts dating a veterinary doctor, Kavya, but they break up after an altercation. Nithya realizes that she loves Gautam and goes to his house after his mother dies, to propose to him, but is shocked to see Kavya in his house. Thinking that they both are married, she leaves to Bangalore and accepts the marriage proposal her parents set for her. After realizing Nithya misunderstood him, Gautham and his friends leave for Bangalore to stop the marriage. On the way to Bangalore, their car stops and Gautam asks for a lift and they accept and that is where he was kidnapped. After a big fight between Gautam and the kidnapper, it is revealed that the kidnapper was looking for the one who gave Gautam a lift not Gautam. The kidnapper helps Gautam to reach the wedding. Gautam's friends reveal the truth to Nithya. In order to meet Gautham, Nithya escapes from the wedding and ends up asking the kidnapper for a lift. After a whole confusion, Nithya unites with Gautham.Cast
- Nani as Gautam
- Nithya Menen as Nithya
- Sneha Ullal as Kavya
- Ashish Vidyarthi as John Abraham
- Rohini as Revathi, Gautam's mother
- Chaitanya Krishna as Deepak, Nithya's fiancé
- Thagubothu Ramesh as Gautham
- Pragathi as Nithya's mother
- Sivannarayana Naripeddi as Sivannarayana, Nithya's uncle
- Mirchi Hemanth as Gautham's friend
- Snigdha as Pinky
- Praveen as Rowdy
- Dhanraj as Rowdy
- Chanti as Rowdy
- Nandini Reddy as Pinky's neighbour
- Kriti Kharbanda as Simran
Production
Development
It started with the idea of two people meeting in a crisis situation. It will be more interesting than a boy meeting a girl in a regular way. I was in Chennai at that time and discussing with Anjana Ali Khan. The basic seed of the story came out of that conversation. I gave a 10-minute narration to Nani and he said that its awesome. We wanted to title the movie as 'Prema Thokka Tholu'. I am basically a lazy writer. Hence, Anjana threatened me by putting a deadline of 10 days to complete the script. I wanted the scenes, characters and characterisations come out of the experiences from my life and from the people I have observed. To stay in that zone/space, I repeatedly watched Friends, When Harry Met Sally and A Lot Like Love during that period. I wrote a 60-scenes order on a pair of yellow papers. I write very little on paper for a scene. I don't want to slow down my mind while writing as our mind works faster than our hand.Casting
John Abraham – Asish VidyardhiI wanted to take the film to next level and I felt that I needed one more layer. I watched a film titled 'In July' in my initial days. In that film a guy is carrying a dead body to cross the border. Another guy takes a lift, but notices the dead body. The entire film is about misrepresentation. I took that movie as reference and created a character called 'John Abraham' who is a professional kidnapper. I wanted to derive humor by showing the human angle in him. I have also used John Abraham character to ask the questions to Nani on the behalf of audiences.
I liked the layer of Johan Abraham character, but the entire team is not convinced about it. That idea was put in cold-storage. After the 3rd schedule of the film, a friend and a co-director Srinivas came to the sets. I narrated him the John Abraham thread. Srinivas loved it and convinced the producer by talking to him. Since it involves casting a notable actor, it is a big decision to the producer. Asish Vidyardhi was my original preference. But tried Prakash Raj as I personally know him. Prakash Raj loved the character but said that he is playing a similar character in Orange movie. Then I spoke to Asish Vidyardhi and narrated the script. He loved it and quoted his price. It was unaffordable to the producer. After a few days, Asish Vidyardhi called us again and lowered him remuneration.
Scrat – Ramesh
I used to love the scrat character in Ice Age movie. Scrat character has nothing to do with the story of Ice Age, but creates chaos. I wanted to create such a character for my movie. Producer Damu suggested that we should have a guy hit with recession. Writer Bhupal said that we should have a drunken character. It was Bhupal who suggested Ramesh for that character. Ramesh worked for Mahatma and Bheemili in the past, but didn't get any recognition. He is a simple and hardworking boy. His work in Ala Modalaindi is being appreciated well.
Shooting of the climax was very difficult as we have many character, links and threads. Writer Anil Ravipudi provided great help in climax.
Introduction of Sneha Ullal's character
Anjana pointed out that Nani's character is always rejected by all the girls. He should reject a girl by choice. That's how we created the character of Sneha Ullal.
Reception
Rediff gave a four star rating, stating "All in all Ala Modalaindi is a fun ride" explaining "Nani and Nithya are at their natural best. Both are so effortless and at ease and share a great chemistry. They are expressive in a range of emotions too."Sify also gave a 4/5 star rating, noting "Nandini Reddy's plot is simple but her screenplay is knitted with many twists and turns and that makes the movie a pleasant watch. Nani and Nithya Menen score in performance."
Review sites IdleBrain and GreatAndhra, which also gave 4 ratings, praised the lead pair's performance.
The film released early in the year and due to Nani and Nithya's performances, it became the first blockbuster of the year at the box office. This film gave Nani a commercial break after his successful debut, and paved his way towards stardom. At the end of its 100-day run, this movie was the fifth highest-grossing movie of the year.