Marina (2012 film)

Marina is a 2012 Tamil-language comedy drama film written, produced, and directed by Pandiraj and starring Sivakarthikeyan in his feature film debut along Oviya, Pakkada Pandi, and Gautham Purushoth. The music was composed by Girishh G. The movie released on 3 February 2012. It won 2 Tamil Nadu State film Awards for Best Dialogues and the Special Jury Award for Best Film. It received good reviews and had a decent run at the box-office.

Plot
Ambikapathy (Pakkada Pandi) is an orphan runaway who escapes from his cruel uncle to Chennai and eventually ends up at Marina Beach. He earns his livelihood by selling drinking water packets and later poached chickpeas to people visiting the beach. His calm and mature manners win him the admiration and later the friendship of other boys employed at the beach. Ambikapathy dreams of being educated, so he works in the day to save money for schooling whilst trying to study at night on his own. His desire to be enrolled in a proper school slowly begins to rub off on the other children at the beach. An old man (Sundararajan) and postman (Jithan Mohan) are the guardians of sorts for these street-children. The beach also attracts many lovebirds; one such couple is Senthilnathan (Sivakarthikeyan) and Swapnasundari (Oviya).

Cast

 * Sivakarthikeyan as Senthilnaathan (Senthil)
 * Oviya as Swapnasundari (Swapna)
 * Pakkada Pandi as Ambikapathy
 * Gautham Purushoth as Kailasam
 * Jithan Mohan as the postman
 * Jaya Shri as Annamma
 * Sundararajan as the old man
 * Attakathi Arumugham as the singer
 * Senthi Kumari as Swapnasundari's mother
 * Sathish as Makudu, Senthil's friend
 * Sathish Kumar as a vendor
 * Ramesh Thilak as a courier boy
 * V. Jayaprakash in a guest appearance as the school owner

Special appearances in Promotional song by :
 * Vikram
 * Prakash Raj
 * Sasikumar
 * Ameer
 * Sneha
 * Vimal

Production
Like Pandiraj's debut film Pasanga, Marina too revolves around children, focusing on the street-children at Chennai's the Marina beach, who peddle snacks and knick-knacks to survive. The film is said to be inspired from Mira Nair's critically acclaimed Hindi film Salaam Bombay! (1988). Pandiraj approached Sivakarthikeyan to play the lead role and he signed the project. Sivakarthikeyan prepared for the role by paying close attention to Pandiraj's instructions and visiting Marina Beach extensively to study the surroundings, while revealing that he hoped that his natural talent of humor would come through onscreen.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack of Marina, composed by the debut music director London based musician Girishh G, was released on 9 January 2012 at the Marina Beach. The song "Vanakkam Vaazhavaikkum Chennai", penned by Na. Muthukumar, which talks about life in Chennai, would feature several noted film personalities. The songs received positive reviews.

Critical reception
Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com rated Marina 3/5 stating that it is "worth a watch." The Times of India gave the film the same rating and wrote that ""Director Pandiraj does, and comes up with a fairly engaging screenplay. He details with some depth some of their lives, and wins hearts all the way — much like in his debut film ‘Pasanga’. His dialogues are crackling with wit and humour and he draws the best performances from his ensemble cast. Behindwoods Review Board rated it 2.5/5 calling Marina a "pleasant beach". On the contrary, Rohit Ramachandran of Nowrunning.com rated it 2/5 calling it a "failed attempt at making a companion piece to Pasanga." Sify's Moviebuzz dismissed the film as "boring."

Box office
Marina opened at No.1 accounting for 51% of the takings in Chennai box office and 39% in its second weekend.The movie had a long run at the box-office.