April Maadhathil

April Maadhathil is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by newcomer S. S. Stanley. It stars Srikanth and Sneha, with Gayatri Jayaraman, Venkat Prabhu, Devan and Karunas among others in the supporting cast. The film, which had music scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography handled by M. V. Panneerselvam, released on 29 November 2002. The film was later dubbed into Hindi as Mr. Rangeela and in Telugu as Vaallidharu and released in 2004. The film's title is inspired by a song from Vaali.

Plot
It's a story of friendship among eight girls and boys. Kathir is an intelligent guy who grew up in a poor family. His younger brother stopped his education for Kathir. In college, Kathir meets a girl named Shwetha and over time they become friends. Many guys are interested in her, but she finds something different about Kathir. The friends then decide to visit each others homes for their vacation. At Shwetha's home, they learn that Shwetha's father is thinking of getting her married the next year. At graduation, they cut their names on a tree since it is their final year. Though Kathir and Shwetha love each other, they are unable to express it. The rest of the story is about how they get together.

Production
S. S. Stanley who had apprenticed with directors Mahendran and Sasi made his directorial debut with this film. It was Srikanth's second film after Rojakoottam.

The film was mostly shot at the YMCA College of Physical Education in Chennai, since a large part of the film plays in a campus, filming was held at locations in Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, Ooty and Visakhapatnam.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack, which released on 6 October 2002, was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, who himself had sung one of the songs. Opera singer Shekhina Shawn Jazeel sang one song under the name Prasanna. The soundtrack features 6 songs with lyrics written by five different lyricists, Palani Bharathi, Pa. Vijay, Thamarai, Na. Muthukumar and Snehan. The song "Bailomo Bailomo" originally composed for this film was used in Bala.

Release
After the success, S. S. Stanley and Srikanth again collaborated with films like Kizhakku Kadalkarai Salai and Mercury Pookal which failed to replicate the success of their first collaboration.

Critical reception
The Hindu wrote: "Stanley who heads [sic] direction, deserves special mention for a very decent handling of romance." Chennai Online called it "just another youth-based college campus caper, the scenes moving through college-time, vacations (to justify the title), and back to the college. The saving grace is the freshness of the teaming and the on-screen chemistry of the lead pair." Visual Dasan of Kalki wrote it is a college campus formula love story of friendship first then love but as if it has not been painted with an old color, the scenes are refreshingly new, often freeing us from the state of watching a film and making us feel like we are rewinding our college life.