Remo is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan, in his directorial debut and produced by R. D. Raja under 24AM Studios.
The film stars Sivakarthikeyan and Keerthy Suresh, while Sathish, Rajendran, Aadukalam Naren, Anson Paul, K. S. Ravikumar, Saranya Ponvannan and Sri Divya portray supporting roles.
The film follows an aspiring actor who decides to don as a female nurse, to test his acting skills and also to win the hearts of his lady love, who is a doctor by profession.
The film was initially scheduled to release on 14 March 2015, but was briefly delayed due to the script completion, and finalising the cast and crew.
However, his inability to act in romantic scenes hinders his path to the dream, and is even rejected by director K. S. Ravikumar during the audition for his new film Avvai Shanmugi 2.
While Kavya pours out her feelings to Siva (who is disguised as Remo), Vishwa arrives with some goons to forcibly take her away.
Siva, still in his Remo guise, thrashes Vishwa and his goons, but at the same moment, he is forced to rush to the hospital to attend to a terminally-ill orphan named Nancy, with whom he had established a close bond.
Kavya tells her latest problem to him: Siva is still attracted to her and constantly calls her, despite her having changed her number 46 times.
R. D. Raja, who worked as a production consultant for movies Boss Engira Baskaran, Enthiran and Jilla, turned into a creative producer for P. Madan under the banner Escape Artists Motion Pictures.
The film was launched on 15 March 2015, but was briefly delayed to allow Bakkiyaraj Kannan to complete the script and finalise the cast and crew.
The project started on 1 July 2015, with the announcement of technical crew, which includes veteran cinematographer P. C. Sreeram, Academy award-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty, film editor Ruben, art director T. Muthuraj, stunt choreographer Anal Arasu, dance choreographer Raju Sundaram, Chennai-based costume designers Nalini Sriram, Anu Parthasarathy, Chaitanya Rao, Sean Foot from Weta Workshop, VFX Supervisor R. C. Kamalakannan as the crew members.
[4][11] Shruti Hassan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Amy Jackson were signed on to portray the lead female role, but they turned down the offer, due to schedule conflicts.
The supporting cast of the film includes Yogi Babu, Arunraja Kamaraj, Aadukalam Naren, Mayilsamy and Anson Paul, where the latter playing the villain role.
[13] In late June 2016, director K. S. Ravikumar and actress Sri Divya signed in to make a special appearance in the film.
[15] He also dubbed in female voice, for his role as a nurse in the film, with the assistance of sound designer Resul Pookutty.
I finally shared this idea with my friends, including Sathish and Arunraja Kamaraj, and narrated the script to them for about 45 mins.
[3] The film's introduction song was thereafter shot during November 2015 in the newly opened Chennai Metro and was choreographed by Raju Sundaram.
The album features seven songs, and a bonus track with lyrics were written by Vignesh Shivan, Vivek, Ku.
[45] The making video of the film was released on 2 July 2016, at the 5th South Indian International Movie Awards event held at Singapore, which shows Sivakarthikeyan's extreme makeover as a female nurse.
[61] P. L. Thenappan, the general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Producers Council, has told a website that K. E. Gnanavel Raja of Studio Green, Madan of Escape Artists and Madhan of Vendhar Movies have filed formal complaints accusing the actor of taking advance amounts to act in their films, but failing to fulfill his commitments.
[68] Apart from stalking, the weak characterisation of the film's lead actress Keerthy Suresh (where her character had similarities to the typical loosu ponnu trope in mainstream cinema),[69] were also noted by critics.
"[78] Studioflicks rated the film 3 out of 5, stating "Remo is a feel good movie with a regular Rom-Com pattern but manages to keep the audiences engrossed with beautiful visuals and technical elegance along with screen presence of Sivakarthikeyan.
"[79] S. Saraswathi of the Rediff rated 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated "Sivakarthikeyan does make a pretty picture as a girl, but other than that debutant director Bakkiyaraj Kannan's Remo has nothing new to offer.
"[83] Top10Cinema gave a rating of 2.5 out of 5, stating "Remo despites having some drawbacks would definitely impress the family audiences, specifically for this festive season of long holidays."
"[85] Silverscreen reviewed that "With a film like Remo, the audience knows that brains and sensibilities need to be left behind at home.
"[86] Anupama Subramanian of Deccan Chronicle, rated 2 out of 5, stating "Remo', turns out to be a marketing effort that targets young males with very stereotypical behaviors that are generally found in other films.
[94] Totaling up to ₹6.45 crore (US$750,000), Remo, stands at third place crossing the 6-crore mark, followed by other profitable ventures Thani Oruvan and Vedalam.
[95][96] However, the film's box office performance was slightly affected by the Diwali releases,[97] as well as the 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation.
[106] Another YouTube channel Put Chutney, used some of the references from the film, for an awareness video about workplace harassment, which featured Venkatesh Harinathan, Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli and Vinodhini Vaidyanathan.
[111] A Chennai-based startup company led by Sakthivel Panneerselvam and team, recreated a huge set based on a scene where Sivakarthikeyan proposes to Keerthy Suresh, for a wedding purposal.