Happy Days (2007 film)

Happy Days
Directed by Sekhar Kammula
Produced by Sekhar Kammula
Written by Sekhar Kammula
Starring Varun Sandesh
Tamanna Bhatia
Nikhil Siddharth
Sonia Deepti
Music by Mickey J Meyer
Cinematography Vijay C Kumar
Distributed by Amigos Creations
Release dates
 28 September 2007 (United States)
October 2007 (India)
Country India
Language Telugu
Malayalam
Budget ₹20 million (US$300,000)
Box office ₹250 million (US$3.7 million)

Happy Days is a 2007 Telugu film directed by Sekhar Kammula. The target audience for this movie was primarily the engineering college students in the Telugu speaking states. The Kannada remake was called Jolly days and in Tamil as Inidhu Inidhu by noted Indian actor Prakash Raj. The film won 6 Filmfare Awards South,[1] and 3 Nandi Awards.[2] The Hindi remake of Happy Days will be directed by Sekhar himself,and it will be co-produced by Salman Khan.[3][4][5]

Plot

Happy Days tells us a story that explores the lives of eight friends through the four years of their engineering course. Each one of them joins Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology with their own set of idiosyncrasies, eccentricities, beliefs and ideals. What starts off as a journey of individuals, slowly becomes a collective one over time. They bond over as they go through bullying seniors, stringent professors, intense examinations, over the top celebrations, love, betrayal, sacrifice and every other possible emotion that an individual can experience in a college. The movie portrays the mindset of a typical engineering student which helped youth to connect with the characters involved.

The film is a true representation of the wonderful & formative years in college. It depicts the stories of concerned parents and inspiring professors. It captures the raw energy in college going students. Full of dance, romance, music and masti… It has all the class rooms tiffs, mandatory fights, hot looking professors, love at first sights, crushes, break ups, first kisses, hostel humor, bikes, friendships and betrayals, birthday parties, prom nights, achievements, failures, exams, summers, picnics and parties, careers and true loves... The film brings back the nostalgia of college days which are the most memorable days of everyone's lives.[6]

Cast

Production

Casting

Sekhar Kammula held a talent search at Big FM and idlebrain.com and managed to select 7 of the 8 lead actors. He had to cast Tamanna as a suitable actress was not found.[7] The main lead of the film was selected using the internet without any direct audition. Varun Sandesh did not audition for his role. He sent his photograph by e-mail in response to idlebrain.com advertisement and subsequently sent a video clip of himself enacting certain scenes along with a song via Google Video.

Location

Most of the movie was shot at Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT), with select scenes shot outdoors. Sekhar is an alumnus of CBIT and he found it to be a suitable location. He had to arrange a special screening of Anand to the chairman of CBIT and its board members to convince them for an on-site shoot. Apparently, after watching Anand, the board granted their permission to shoot the film.[8]

Cost cutting measures

Sekhar Kammula cut costs of producing the film though various methods. By casting newcomers, he cut expenses to a reasonable level. As most of the shooting took place in the college, there was no need to construct sets. By partnering with Pantaloon Group, he saved another Rs 1 million in the costumes budget.[9]

Release

Happy Days was released on 28 September 2007 in the United States and 2 October 2007 in India. In addition, it was dubbed into Malayalam. This film was super hit in Kerala too. This film is one of the highest grossing films in 2007 in Kerala.

Response

Though the film featured mostly new-comers, it became a commercial hit throughout India. It collected ₹ 180 million (180 million) in 50 days.[10] The film received extremely positive reviews for its fresh story,cast,screenplay,and songs.[11][12][13][14]

Awards

Filmfare Awards South – 2008[1]
Nandi Awards – 2008[2]
CineMAA Awards – 2008

Music

The film has seven songs composed by Mickey J. Meyer.

Telugu

Malayalam

Trivia

The film was dubbed into Malayalam as Happy Days and re-made in Kannada as Jolly Days and released in 2008. Both versions proved to be successful. The Tamil remake, Inidhu Inidhu,[15] was directed by noted cinematographer K. V. Guhan under actor Prakash Raj's Duet Movies banner, which flopped at the box-office due to its lack of richness and fresh feel. The first schedule was completed in Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore (also called VIT University) and featured newcomers as protagonists. Mickey J. Meyer was retained as the music director and the project was his first venture in Tamil.

References

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Bommarillu		 Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu)
2007 		Succeeded by
Gamyam
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