Pammal K. Sambandam

When stuntman Pammal Kalyana Sambandham and a reputed surgeon Dr. Janaki come across each other at his younger brother Anand's and her best friend Malathi's elopement, they instantly develop a dislike for each other. They both have a very low opinion of the opposite gender, and also refuse to believe in the concept of marriage. Janaki, in particular, hates Sambandham for his uncouth manners and language. She gets Sambandham arrested when he argues with her at the police station over Anand and Malathi's marriage. Sambandham is eventually released on bail.

Anand and Malathi's marriage soon turns rocky as Malathi feels that Anand had lied to her over a job assignment in Australia before they had eloped. On the advices of Janaki, Malathi harasses Anand at every opportunity and makes him do the household work. On hearing about Anand's plight, Sambandham decides to fix the relationship by "hooking up" Anand with a woman named Vanaja in order to make Malathi jealous and a more caring and dutiful wife to Anand. But, unfortunately for Anand, Janaki makes Malathi to believe that Anand is cheating on her and forces her to file for divorce.

Meanwhile, Janaki tries to get Sambandham into trouble by barging into an advertisement shoot involving Sambandham and claiming that he is "involved" in animal cruelty since he is using a bull as part of the advertisement. In the chaos that follows, the bull gores Sambandham in his stomach. Janaki performs an emergency surgery on him and saves his life, but during the surgery, her prized possession (a wristwatch gifted to her by her aunt) falls into his stomach, which is detected by the X-Ray. She pretends to fall in love with Sambandham, with the intention to somehow sedate him and perform the surgery again to retrieve the watch. Sambandham, who is unaware that Janaki's watch is in his stomach due to a mix-up with another patient's X-Ray, mistakes Janaki's romantic overtures to be genuine, and falls in love with her. He also inadvertently foils all her plans to sedate him. Eventually, Sambandham provides another shock to Janaki; they are to be engaged at his grandfather's house at Pammal. During the engagement ceremony, Janaki finally manages to sedate Sambandham and retrieve her watch. Following the surgery, Janaki reveals the truth to Sambandham and ends their engagement, leaving Sambandham heartbroken. Sambandham's troubles increase when he realises that his grandfather had signed a legal document transferring his lodge to him once he is married. When his grandfather finds out that Janaki cancelled the engagement, he suffers a massive heart attack and dies. Meanwhile, Malathi and Anand manage to reconcile and get back together, cancelling their divorce.

Janaki feels guilty over being responsible for Sambandham's grandfather's death. She also finds out that Sambandam had decided to transfer the ownership of the lodge to her and convert it to an orphanage if they had got married, and on this revelation, she realises that she has fallen in love with him. She decides to confess her love to Sambandham, but instead she inadvertently convinces him to get married to his relative, a weightlifter Rajeshwari "Raji", within the next two days, as he would lose the possession of the lodge if he doesn't get married by then. However, it turns out that Raji has no interest in the marriage and is in love with a Malayali boy. In a hilarious climax, Sambandham, Janaki, Anand and Malathi help Raji in eloping with her boyfriend, and Sambandham and Janaki too elope as well, thus ensuring that the lodge remains under Sambandham's ownership.

Kamal Haasan initially approached Moulee to make a film for his own production house, but efforts were unfruitful. Subsequently, the film was started under P. L. Thenappan in August 2001 and the shoot was complete within three months.[3] The film's invitation card for the launch was shaped in the form of the alphabet "K", which formed a significant theme throughout the film. The card also featured images of Devayani who was later replaced in the film by Sneha.[4][5] Devayani was removed after she went on honeymoon following her sudden marriage and thus she was unable to fulfil her original schedules.[6] Kamal Haasan's character was a stunt double under Vikram Dharma in the film and the stunt director had used the air-ramp for the first time in a Tamil film.[7]

The film was initially slated to be released coinciding with the Diwali season of 2001, but due to the delay of Kamal Haasan's other film, Aalavandhan, it was shifted to January 2002.[8] During the making of the film, the significance of the initial "K" was hidden before Kamal Haasan revealed at a press conference two weeks before release that it stood for "Kalyanam" (Marriage), which the lead characters despised.[9]

Soundtrack is composed by Deva and lyrics for all songs were written by Vaali, Kabilan, P. Vijay and Kamal Haasan.[10]

The satellite rights of the film were secured by Sun TV. The film was given a "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board.

The film was initially slated to be released coinciding with the Diwali season of 2001, but due to the delay of Kamal Haasan's other film, Aalavandhan, it was shifted to January 2002.[11] Pammal K. Sambandam took a big opening at the box office,[12] running 100 days in 80 centers.[13][14]

The film received above average reviews with The Hindu claiming that "if Mouli had sustained the humorous strain throughout, PKS would have turned out to be a complete comic treat from start to finish. Why he did not do it remains a riddle." The critic also praised the lead performances and Crazy Mohan's dialogue writing.[15] Rediff.com described it as "an average film", stating that the only "real highpoint is 'Crazy' Mohan's dialogues".[16]

Upon release, the film was also dubbed into the Telugu language as Brahmachari. It was later remade in Hindi as Kambakkht Ishq in 2009 by Sajid Nadiadwala with Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles.[17][18]

• Pammal K. Sambandam at IMDb