Minsara Kanna

Indra Devi is a rich and arrogant entrepreneur who lives in Udhagamandalam (Ooty). She has a hatred for the opposite sex, which is such that she hires only female staff and refuses to allow men into her compound. Among her staff includes her personal assistant Priya. One night, Kasi, while escaping from the police, enters into Indra's compound where he witnesses Indra and Priya cornered by goons who work for Indra's arch-rival Vedhachalam. Kasi subdues the goons and manages to convince Indra to make him as her bodyguard, thus becoming Indra's first male employee. Soon, Priya falls for Kasi, but the feeling is one-sided.

One day, Ishwarya, who is Indra's younger sister, arrives from Germany, where she is pursuing her education. Ishwarya and Kasi hate each other and constantly play pranks and try to outsmart one another. Meanwhile, Indra, realising that her hatred for men has left her with no heir, decides to get Ishwarya to get married to Ashok, who is Vedhachalam's son. Vedhachalam agrees, with the intention to acquire all of Indra's wealth and properties. When Ashok goes to meet Ishwarya, he notices, to his shock, she and Kasi sharing a romantic moment. Ishwarya reveals that she had fallen in love with Kasi while in Germany and tells her story.

Indra, who used to work in a garment factory, was in love with Indra Kumar, who refused to marry her after her face was disfigured in a fire accident. This incident made her hate men. Since then, she worked hard and became rich, and restored her face through plastic surgery. She also took care of and educated Ishwarya. On reaching adulthood, Ishwarya left for Germany to pursue higher studies, where she met Kasi, whose real name is Kannan, the son of industrialist Devanathan, and soon fell in love with him. In order to somehow convince Indra to get them married, Ishwarya and Kannan, along with Kannan's family, came to India. Kannan, Devanathan, Kannan's younger brother Vetri as well as Kannan's elder brother and younger sister took up work in Indra Devi's estate under the guise of bodyguard, cook, servant boy, security guard and servant maid respectively. Priya, on finding out about Kannan's love for Ishwarya, sacrificed her love and joined with Kannan and his family to help him and Ishwarya unite.

In the present day, Ashok, on hearing Ishwarya's story, decides to sacrifice his love. However, Indra is firm on getting Ishwarya and Ashok married. When she finds out the real reason for Kannan's presence in her house, she throws him and his family out and forcibly tries to get Ishwarya married to Ashok. But Ashok calls off the wedding and leaves the place with Vedhachalam, who reluctantly accepts his son's decision. Indra, in a fit of rage, attempts suicide, but is stopped by Kannan, who says that Ishwarya will die of guilt if she loses her for him. Kannan and his family decide to return to Germany, unsuccessful in their mission.

However, when Kannan and his family reach their home in Germany, they are in for a surprise; Indra and Ishwarya both are present. Indra, who has had a change of heart, wholeheartedly accepts Kannan's and Ishwarya's relationship and unites them. Indra Kumar too is present next to Indra, implying that Indra has forgiven him and they are both reunited.

Following the success of Padayappa (1999), producer K. R. Gangadharan signed on K. S. Ravikumar to direct a film and was insistent that the title should be Minsara Kanna, after the popular song from Ravikumar's earlier film. The story and script of the film was then subsequently worked on by Ravikumar and co-written by M. A. Kennedy, who had previously worked in the film Pistha.[4] The film was launched in March 1999 at the Kavithalaya Studio, with Rajinikanth, Vijay, Ravikumar and K. Balachandar attending the inaugural event and the filming began in May 1999. The film saw the first and only collaboration to date between K. S. Ravikumar and Vijay, with the actor mentioning he was delighted with the pace and commitment that the director injected into production.[5]

It was initially reported that Vijay would play a dual role but this proved to be untrue. For the female lead role, Simran was approached by Vijay, but the actress refused the offer due to the role has not much importance than the second lead and the antagonist which is played by Kushboo. Priya Gill was approached before debutant Monica Castelino got the opportunity to feature.[6] Furthermore, Isha Koppikar and Meena were linked to play the second lead in the film before Rambha was confirmed.[7] Actress Bhawana was signed on to play Vijay's sister in the film.[8]

Shooting took place in and around Ooty, ECR in Chennai,some scenes were shot in Germany where other few scenes were shot in Interlaken which is located in Switzerland, with two songs being canned in the Alps area.[9][10]

The soundtrack of the film was composed by Deva, was well received by the audience. The lyrics were written by Vaali, Kalaikumar, Na. Muthukumar.

The film was awarded with pure 'U' certificate by the CBFC. The satellite rights of the film were purchased by Sun TV. The film opened to average reviews, with the critic of Indolink.com claiming the film "jogs along easily before becoming enmeshed in sentiments and cinematic cliches which make the last part of the movie all but watchable".[11] The New Indian Express criticized Vijay's performance claiming "greatest actor", and that "film drags on aimlessly" though praised Deva's soundtrack.[12] Deccan Herald also gave the film a negative review labelling that Vijay "is painful to watch and even worse to listen to", labelling it is "an exercise in how to waste a good movie".[13]

Post-release, the film garnered attention after video recording equipment was found at Suriyan Theatre in Chennai which had been showing the film. The equipment was found out to be a unit of a group known as Saravanas Video, who had been hired by a TV production company owned by director K. Balachander.[14] Vijay's father S. Chandrasekhar intervened, seized the equipment and alleged that Balachander was potentially involved in piracy activities. Balachander subsequently stepped down as president from the trade union body FEFSI, complaining that he was being harassed by Chandrasekhar. As a result, members of the film industry threatened to ban Vijay and Chandrasekhar from working on Tamil films.[15] During the unofficial ban, actor Ajith Kumar notably spoke out in favour of Vijay.[16] The parties later reconciled and Balachander withdrew his resignation.[17]

In February 2020, producer P. L. Thenappan, who had bought the film's rights from K. R. Gangadharan, announced plans to sue the makers of the Korean film Parasite for plagiarism.[18][19]

• Minsara Kanna at IMDb