Kaadhal

Love)[1] is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film based on a true story, directed by Balaji Sakthivel, starring Bharath and Sandhya.

[2] It was remade in Kannada as Cheluvina Chittara in 2007, in Bengali as Chirodini Tumi Je Amar in 2008,[3] in Bangladesh as Nogor Mastan in 2015, in Marathi as Ved Laavi Jeeva in 2010, in Nepali as Manjari in 2013 and in Punjabi as Ramta Jogi in 2015.

[4] Murugan is a diligent scooter mechanic in Madurai, and life goes on smoothly for him until a rich student Aishwarya who is the daughter of a local goon and bar owner sets an eye on him.

The infatuation reaches a dangerous level when she coaxes Murugan to take her from the constraint of her family, who has other plans about her future.

After a few years, Aishwarya, while travelling with her husband and her child, comes across Murugan, where she finds him as a mentally deranged beggar roaming near a traffic signal.

The movie ends with title cards mentioning that this is a true incident narrated by the girl's husband to the director during a train journey, which prompted him to make a film.

[5][6] When Sakthivel was preparing a script for Vikram, he saw a school girl and a mechanic together which "hit my mind that they won’t end up with each other due to their societal and economic differences" and wrote a script on them while the film's ending was inspired from a true event happened in Madurai which he came to know after his interaction with a passenger during train journey.

[8][9] The film was initially turned down by actors Dhanush and Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, before Balaji Sakthivel consulted Shankar's advice for the lead role.

The team then picked Saranya Nag, then a Class IX student, when cinematographer Vijay Milton referred her on to Balaji Sakthivel.

[19] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "Kadhal [..] apart, from the otherwise run of the mill story of calf love, elopement and the consequences thereof.