As the film completes 16 years, we give you some interesting trivia on its making...

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Revisiting Ullam Ketkumae: A nostalgic look back at the college romance that sparked off a reunion pop-culture; lesser-known facts

Team CE

Updated:22nd Jan, 2021 at 2:24 PM

The film was first reported in April 2002, when it was revealed that Shaam and Richa Pallod were going to team up with director Jeeva, who had launched Shaam in the critically acclaimed 12B.

The film was first titled PEPSI, after the first letters of the five leads - — Priya, Emaan, Pooja, Shyam and Irene.

The film was later renamed because of copyright issues - after Pepsi brand's tagline in South India - as Ullam Ketkumae.

After Richa dropped out, Asin signed the film when she was eighteen, and the film was meant to mark her début in Tamil.

But the numerous delays in shoot meant that M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi released almost a year before this one, and marked Asin's Tamil debut.

While working as a software engineer, Arya was approached by Jeeva to audition for the film in 2003 as the pair had lived in the same neighbourhood and had attended the same local mosque.

Arya, whose original name was Jamshad Cethirakath, immediately signed on for the project and was given the stage name of Arya for the film by Jeeva.[

Pooja Umashankar, a Srilankan Indian model, was also signed to make her debut as Irene, an AngloIndian girl, but the delays meant that several of her other films released before Ullam Ketkume.

Art director Thotta Tharani created an entire college campus from scratch for the film, and his work drew widespread appreciation.

A scene featuring an inter college day cultural had 100 students from various states take part in the shooting while decorations and a podium were put up for a marriage scene in Taj Connemara hotel.

Raju Sundaram choreographed five songs including a song shot at hot water springs in New Zealand.

The film went through production hell, with three years being spent on the announcement till release.

The delays also led to the actors featuring in other projects during the period and Jeeva moving on to direct a Hindi remake of Madhavan's Run.

Despite an announcement that the film would release after delays on 14 April 2004, it was further pushed back due to financial issues.

In May 2005, the Supreme Court finally cleared the release, as earlier the Madras High court, in a landmark judgement, had appointed 'Joint Receivers' for the film, which was objected by Prasad labs.

It was subsequently agreed that the collections from the film will be received by 'joint receivers' who will pay Prasad Labs for the 72 prints of the film.

The film released on 3 June 2005 and became a commercial success at the box office. The film took a 90 percent opening in four Chennai screens with large collections reported at the Devi theatre.

The film surprisingly opened at number two at the Chennai box office despite stiff competition, just below the Rajinikanth starrer, Chandramukhi.

The success of the film brought in a slew of offers for Shaam, whose career was struggling prior to release, whilst Arya and Asin were able to consolidate their positions of budding actors.

The success of the film later prompted a dubbed Telugu version being released on 30 March 2006 as Preminchi Choodu.

The music and background score were composed by Harris Jayaraj, and the soundtrack went on to become a superhit, months prior to release.

Vairamuthu and Pa Vijay penned the lyrics for the film.

It was perhaps one of the first films in the reunion genre in Tamil cinema.

Here are a few more memorable snapshots from the film...

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