Time (1999 film)

The film marked the directorial debut of Geetha Krishna in Tamil, and began as a quadrilingual venture in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. Prashanth was initially announced as the hero in the film as early as November 1997 when the movie launch took place. Prashanth started working for the film in Kodaikanal during October 1998 but later backed out, while Ajith Kumar also refused the film due to lack of time.[2] After several delays, Prabhu Deva was subsequently selected to play the lead role and the film was made only in Tamil.[3] Two debutant actresses were announced to portray the lead female roles, Menaka Senail and Radhika Chaudhari, though the former was later replaced by Simran.[4] Model Bobbu Poonai made his acting debut as the antagonist.[5]

The songs were composed by Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics were written by Pazhani Bharathi.[6] To compose the songs, Ilayaraaja and Geetha Krishna, had gone on a recce to Maldives and had longlisted thirty songs for the film, before picking six.[7]

• "Kadhal Neethana" – Unni Krishnan, Sujatha Mohan
• "Muthu Nilave" – Devan, Gopika Poornima
• "Naan Thanga Roja" – S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Swarnalatha
• "Ninachapadi" – Unni Menon, Devan, Malgudi Subha
• "Niram Pirithu" – Sujatha Mohan
• "Thavikkiren" – Hariharan, Bhavatharani

The film received negative reviews from critics. BBThots wrote the film "has Ilaiyaraja's music and good photography. But inept direction and a muddled screenplay make a mess of the already flimsy story".[8] Thiraipadam wrote "The ending is implausible, the storyline weak, but you can watch it once, I guess, if you have the time (no pun intended) and if you're an avid lover of Tamil movies."[9] New Straits Times wrote the film has shades of Kadhal Kottai "the story gets a little muddled in the end".[10]