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Thenali

Thenali (/θɛnɑːli/) is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed and co-written by K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Jayaram, Devayani and Jyothika, with Delhi Ganesh, Charle, Ramesh Khanna and Madhan Bob in supporting roles. It revolves around the title character who follows his psychiatrist Kailash on vacation to cure his numerous phobias. When Thenali becomes closer to Kailash's family, Kailash becomes increasingly obsessed with getting rid of him.

Thenali, inspired by the 1991 American film What About Bob?, is the first film produced by Ravikumar's company R. K. Celluloids, and the dialogues were written by Crazy Mohan. It was photographed by Priyan and edited by K. Thanikachalam, while the music was composed by A. R. Rahman. The film was shot predominantly in Ooty and Kodaikanal, while some song sequences were shot in New Zealand.

Thenali was released on 26 October 2000 to positive reviews and became a silver jubilee hit. The film won three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, including a Special Jury award for Jayaram's performance, and Ravikumar won the Cinema Express Award for Best Director – Tamil.

Thenali Soman is a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee who has come to Chennai for psychiatric treatment. This is because of numerous phobias he has developed due to the Sri Lankan civil war. B. Pancha Bhootam and his assistant, the doctors treating Thenali, are jealous of a relatively junior doctor Kailash getting all the media attention. They send Thenali over to him, believing his failure to cure Thenali of his phobias will derail his success. Soon after their first appointment, Kailash heads to his home in Kodaikanal on a vacation with his wife Jalaja and his two children. Kailash tells Thenali to wait until after the vacation before his therapy can begin, but Panchabhootham asks for Thenali to go meet Kailash while on vacation.

Thenali reaches Kailash's house. He falls in love with Janaki, Kailash's younger sister, which is vehemently opposed by the latter. Kailash becomes increasingly mad with Thenali's antics and even begins to suspect that his wife has an affair with Thenali, as she has a soft corner for the latter. He even tries to kill Thenali by tying him to a tree with a time bomb. Thenali, thinking it is a fake bomb used only to relieve him from his fears, removes it and puts it in Kailash's house for future use where it explodes. Seeing this, Kailash suffers a paralytic attack. Thenali later marries Janaki, during which time he believes Kailash was duped into buying a real bomb.

While Thenali, Kailash, and family are at a picnic, Thenali's long-lost wife whose name is also Janaki shows up and reunites with him. Enraged, Kailash jumps out of his wheelchair and berates Thenali for ruining his sister Janaki's life, but soon realises this was all a set-up by Thenali to cure Kailash's paralysis; the woman was actually actress Meena, who Thenali hired to pose as his wife. Kailash realises his mistake and thanks Thenali.

After the success of K. S. Ravikumar's directorial Padayappa (1999), Kamal Haasan approached him, since production on Haasan's Marudhanayagam was delayed and he wanted to act in two films in a year. While Haasan planned to direct one himself (Hey Ram), he offered Ravikumar to direct the other, and Ravikumar agreed. Haasan later asked Ravikumar if he would also produce the film. Though Ravikumar was initially in a dilemma, with encouragement from Rajinikanth, who starred in Ravikumar's Muthu (1995) and Padayappa, he agreed. The film thus became the first one produced by Ravikumar's company R. K. Celluloids, with his wife Karpagam handling production duties.

Due to Haasan's commitments to Hey Ram lasting almost a year, Ravikumar spent the time by "writ[ing] a few stories" for him. The title Thenali was suggested by Rajinikanth for the story that was finalised. The core premise, that of the lead character following his reluctant psychiatrist on vacation, was inspired by the American film What About Bob? (1991), but Ravikumar opted against making a shot-for-shot adaptation. Cinematography was handled by Priyan, art direction by Maniraj, dance choreography by Tarun Kumar and stunt choreography by Vikram Dharma.

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