Kadhal Virus

Deepak is a budding filmmaker trying to get his first production out. He meets and falls in love with Geetha, and decides to take his relationship with her further once his first film is made. Misunderstandings lead to their separation, and her eventual marriage to Rajiv, a struggling actor who is looking for a role in Deepak's next film.

A sequence in the film features guest appearances from:

Through the 1990s, Kathir developed a reputation of producing successful romantic films with critically acclaimed soundtracks by A. R. Rahman and his works in Kadhal Desam (1996) and Kadhalar Dhinam (1999) won commercial and critical acclaim.[1]

In January 2001, Kathir announced that his next film would also be a love story titled Kadhal Virus. Chennai-based model Srikanth was cast in the lead role and was coached acting skills by then-assistant directors such as Vetrimaaran and Mysskin.[2] Srikanth was later dropped and actor Richard, the brother of actresses Shalini and Shamili, was selected to make his debut in the leading role. Abbas, who Kathir introduced with Kadhal Desam, was also signed on to make a special appearance in the film.

Early reports suggested that Bhumika Chawla would star in the film but she later opted out.[3][4] Her role was later handed to Sridevi Vijaykumar, the youngest daughter of veteran actor couple Vijayakumar and Manjula, who would make her Tamil debut as a leading heroine with the film.[5] The team decided to film a sequence with several prominent directors as a part of the film's launch event.[6]

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Jaya TV. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu mentioned that "the screenplay is incoherent in parts" and that "the dialogue and expressions are sometimes too clichéd". The critic blamed the film's production delay revealing that "initially the film did kindle a lot of interest — what with A. R. Rahman as composer and a fresh lead pair to boot, but because it has been in the making for too long, the euphoria first triggered did wane a little".[7] Another critic from AllIndianSite.com mentioned that "Richard looks good and also performs well while Sridevi acts with ease and looks beautiful".[8]

The film became a box office failure and despite a high-profile launch, actor Richard has since struggled to get a meaningful breakthrough.[9] The director of the film, Kathir, also went into a hiatus and has yet to make a film since the failure of Kadhal Virus.[1] Debutant cinematographer Arjun Jena won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer for his work in the film. Lyricist Vaali received great appreciation.

The soundtrack consists of 6 songs composed by A.R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Vaali and Pa. Vijay.

• Kadhal Virus at IMDb